Personal Healthcare FAQs

What is a Medical Herbalist?

A Medical Herbalist is trained to diagnose and treat illness using herbal medicines. Much of their training is the same as a GP would have, and they can be considered as a herbal equivalent of a GP. Many are members of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists (NIMH), who ensure excellence in herbal treatment. NIMH have strict membership criteria and all members are:

UK trained in approved establishments, usually to Degree level.
Insured to practice.
Required to abide by a Code of Ethics.
Required to demonstrate ongoing learning and professional development.

How does herbal medicine work?

Herbal Medicine works on the assumption that given the right resources your body can return to a healthy state. Unlike conventional treatments which just work on the part that appears to have gone wrong, during herbal treatment we seek out the root causes of your health problems and carefully choose the right herbs to correct them.
When you break a bone or cut yourself, your body’s inner wisdom and life force automatically fixes it. The same life force is what turned you from two cells into a complete baby, and this ability is what we aim to support with herbal treatment.

Is Herbal Medicine the same as Homeopathy and Chinese Herbal Medicine?

The approaches are similar in that all three aim to treat the whole person, and the underlying causes of their illness rather than the individual symptoms. Traditional Chinese Medicine is based on a very ancient system which is quite alien to the way we do things in the west.

Although it’s very effective, it’s also very complicated and not an approach we understand very well. Homeopathy works purely on an energetic level, so that the medicines used can’t be tested in a laboratory as science hasn’t yet found a way of understanding energetics. Both Traditional Chinese Medicine and Homeopathy use animal and mineral extracts as well as herbs.

Western Herbal Medicine is also very old and comes from the ancient Greek and Middle Eastern traditions, so it’s much more comfortable for us to use in this part of the world.

Why do you combine coaching with herbal medicine?

We’ve always loved Herbal Medicine but experience has taught us that there’s inevitably a psycho-emotional element to illness which also needs to be addressed. By combining the two and adding in other elements like nutrition, lifestyle changes and stress management we get much faster, more profound results.

I’ve been told that my condition is incurable, so what makes you think you can help me?

When doctors say that a condition is ‘incurable’, they usually mean that they don’t know of any effective treatment for it. When we work holistically there’s far greater potential to improve your health because we’re working on all aspects of your illness at the same time.

Nature has incredible power when it comes to treating illness, and whilst we don’t make any promises, we have seen and heard of numerous cases where people have defied all the odds and made a good recovery, even when their prognosis was very poor. You may be interested to read the story of Louise Hay which is a well known example.
As with conventional treatment, the longer you leave a health problem without seeking help, the more difficult it becomes to treat. So if you’re interested in herbal treatment it’s best to book a short consultation sooner rather than later.

The doctors don’t know what’s wrong with me. Does that matter?

The wonderful thing about herbal medicine is that we can still offer treatment even if you’re a ‘medical mystery’ and your Doctor doesn’t quite understand what the problem is. If you’re on our Intensive Care programme you’ll start by having a 90 minute consultation which may include a physical examination, urine test, and possibly some other medical tests. By the end of that we’ll have a good idea as to what’s going on for you, even if it doesn’t have a particular ‘label’ and we’ll be able to put a treatment plan together for you.

Can I still see you if I’m already taking other medication?

Yes but we’ll need you to bring a full list to your first appointment please, and if you’re starting on an Intensive Care programme you’ll need to bring all your current medication and supplements with you.

What do I need to bring to my first appointment?

If you’re just having a short 10-15 minute initial chat, please just bring a list of the medications you’re on, including oral contraceptives, painkillers, and supplements.

If you’re starting on the Extreme Self Care or Intensive Care Course, your first consultation will be 60 or 90 minutes long and you’ll need to bring:

A urine sample taken first thing in the morning and kept refrigerated during the day.
All your medication, including oral contraceptives, vitamins, minerals, herbal remedies, and painkillers.
All your test results, correspondence from Doctors and hospitals relating to your investigations and treatment so far.
A note of questions to ask if you’re worried you won’t remember at the time.

Do you treat children?

Yes, we treat people of all ages. Minor children’s ailments can usually be treated following a short consultation and more complex problems may need a longer course of treatment.

How do we keep in touch during my treatment?

Whichever course you’re following, you can ring us anytime 8am-8pm Monday-Friday to ask questions. If we can’t take your call please leave your name, number and message and we’ll call you back ASAP.

If you’re on the Extreme Self Care programme, we’ll have a short consultation about halfway through and again at the end to see how you are.

On the Intensive Care Programme we’ll be in touch at least once a week for our coaching and catch up calls, as well as a review at the end of your course.

How long does treatment take?

It really depends on what the problem is. You can expect minor and acute problems like ear infections, cystitis, and sprains & strains to be resolved within 2-3 weeks, and these will generally only need a short consultation.

The Extreme Self Care programme is 6 weeks long, and the Intensive Care programme lasts a minimum of 12 weeks.

Everyone’s different and the amount of time it takes to recover varies enormously from person to person, but the more committed you are to put into making the recommended improvements, the quicker it will be.

I don’t want to do a full programme. Can’t I just pay as we go?

If you have a minor, acute condition that’s fine as we can normally get big improvements with one or two short consultations. Otherwise we’ve found that a full programme of treatment gets much better results for our patients, so we no longer offer PAYG for chronic complaints.

What happens if my treatment doesn’t work?

If you follow the advice given and take all your medicine & supplements as prescribed, you will see an improvement. However if you’re following your Intensive Care programme properly and not happy with the result after 3 months, We will ask a colleague to look at your case with a ‘fresh pair of eyes’ at no cost to you. We can then discuss their recommendations and take it from there.

Do you have a cancellation policy?

We ask for 48 hours notice of cancellations for all appointments as a courtesy please. This and other T’s & C’s will be outlined in our written agreement which you’ll be asked to sign when you book your course.