Snack 84: Why Doesn't My Clinic Want Me To Take Herbs?

The Whole Pineapple

The Whole Pineapple welcomes back Dr. Lee Hullender Rubin, specialist in acupuncture and integrative East Asian Medicine, this time to talk about herbs and East Asian medicine in general.

While acupuncture may be the most well-known, East Asian medicine incorporates many different modalities of treatment. So let's talk integrative medicine.

As Dr. Lee says, “integrative” means that many different treatments and providers come together to collaborate and support patients. In the US, we don’t always reach this goal, as Western medicine has traditionally been less open to collaboration, but with more providers welcoming alternative therapies and more patients advocating for holistic wellness care, it’s getting better!

That said, because the herbal industry isn’t regulated the same way prescription medication is, you’ll want to be as informed as possible before you start adding things to your treatment plan.

Some things to expect:

1. Your provider will likely ask you to get your labs done before starting treatment. This is so they can understand how your body functions at baseline.
2. You’ll probably answer a lot of questions. Again, your provider needs to know a lot about you — sleep, stress, diet, goals, etc. — before designing your treatment plan.
3. There will likely be continued tweaking of your plan. These formulae can be complicated, so it takes some time to get things just right. Then as your body and/or circumstances change, more tweaking may be necessary.
4. You should keep your entire care team apprised of all the changes you’re making and any new treatments (including herbs!) that are added or removed from your program.

There’s so much to learn in this episode, and you may want to have some of this information handy when you talk with your care team, so be sure to bookmark or favorite the episode! And as always, please share with anyone else who could benefit.

Learn more about Dr. Lee and schedule an appointment at Rosefinch Health at rosefinchhealth.com

Learn more and hear more from The Whole Pineapple at thewholepineapple.com.