As we age, it is natural for our energy levels to decline. In Chinese medicine, this is explained by the concept of Kidney Essence—the fundamental reserve of vitality we are born with. This essence determines our capacity to generate energy from food and air, supporting growth, fertility, resistance to illness, and recovery from injury.
Each person is born with a different amount of this reserve. From early adulthood, typically after the mid-twenties, it gradually declines in everyone. Healthy living can slow this process, but it cannot stop it entirely.
One traditional way of supporting vitality later in life is through the use of tonic herbs. In Chinese medicine, tonics are never used as single herbs or universal remedies. They are prescribed as carefully balanced formulas, tailored to the individual’s constitution, digestion, temperature sensitivity, and overall state of health.
This is why the common Western habit of taking isolated tonic herbs, such as ginseng, without proper assessment is considered inappropriate in Chinese medicine and may even be harmful for some people.
Classically, people over the age of fifty—particularly those who feel cold easily, have chronic digestive weakness, or are less robust—may benefit from taking a tonic formula during the winter months, when the body naturally turns inward and rebuilding is most effective.
If you are considering a winter tonic, it is essential to seek individual advice rather than self-prescribing. A short consultation can help determine whether a tonic is appropriate for you, and if so, which type would best support your health at this stage of life.
Photo by “The Tran Dynasty” via Wikimedia Commons, reproduced under Creative Commons License CC BY-SA 4.0.
Many people considering undertaking treatment with Chinese herbal medicine ask me what the cost will be. It is obviously a reasonable question, but the answer is not simple for a variety of reasons:
Chinese medicine rarely uses single herbs. The usual way they are used is in a mixture of between 4 and 18 herbs, which is termed a “formula”. If a formula can be purchased already mixed and that is suitable for the client, that is cheaper for the client than for me to buy each separate herb and make up the formula myself.
The herbs can come in different forms, such as dried herbs, pills or soluble granules, each with its own advantages, disadvantages and costs.
Herbs come in different quality grades, and obviously the best quality costs the most.
The evolution of the symptoms under treatment is not entirely predictable. We may have to continue longer than expected, we may have to modify the formula, we may have to stop, reconsider, and start with a different formula. It is not a case of, “Take this for a couple of weeks and you’ll be cured”.
There are other considerations apart from cost. Making a tea from the dried herbs is the traditional way of taking herbs, and hundreds or thousands of years experience has shown this way to be effective. However, in a busy life it might be considered laborious, as the herbs need to be weighed out accurately and boiled for up to an hour each day or each second day. On the other hand pills and granules are quick and easy to dispense and take. However, it is not always so easy to provide a personalised formula when using pills.
But back to cost. Let us consider the relatively uncomplicated case of a middle-aged patient who since a couple of months has been experiencing fatigue, decreased appetite, abdominal distension, gas, loose stools, loss of appetite, a feeling of heaviness and lethargy, a sticky feeling in the mouth and a cough with small amounts of white sputum.
This person’s symptoms point to a Chinese diagnosis of “Spleen Qi Deficiency with Wetness accumulating”. I could prescribe a formula of six herbs called “The Six Gentlemen”. It contains ginseng, licorice, aged tangerine peel, two other herbs called atractylodes and pinellia, and a fungus called poria. This will strengthen the digestion, improve energy levels and eliminate the phlegm and the cough. Let us say the person needs to take this for a month and that resolves the symptoms satisfactorily.
Below, we will consider and cost out in detail a number of treatment options. But before that, and if you just want the hard facts, the outlay for the herbs in the case described would likely be between €140 and €270, depending on which form of the herbs were available.
The options considered for the costings are:
(A) Dried herbs purchased individually and mixed by me for the client.
(B) The dried herbs already mixed by the supplier. (Not always available).
(C) The formula ready-made and presented as concentrated extracts in pill form.
(D) Soluble granules of each separate herb mixed by me for the client.
(D) The formula ready-made and presented as soluble granules of concentrated extract. (Not always available.)
(A) Dried Herbs Purchased Individually and Mixed by Me for the Client
For 30 days:
Herb
Price per g (€)
Amount (g)
Price
Ginseng
0.86
225
193.50
Atractylodes
0.10
270
27.00
Poria
0.09
270
24.30
Licorice
0.07
90
6.30
Tangerine peel
0.06
180
10.80
Pinellia
0.12
270
32.40
Totals
1305
294.30
To this add:
Shipping from Andorra: €17.00
IVA (10%) on herbs and shipping: €31.13
My fee for providing herbs (10% cost of herbs): €29.43
My fee for mixing and packing the herbs: €37.50
Total cost to client: €409.36
(B) The Dried Herbs Already Mixed by the Supplier
(But for many formulas this option may not be available.)
Price per 100 g: €15.00
So for 30 days supply (1300 g), the price is: €195.00
To this add:
Shipping from Andorra: €16.00.
IVA (10%) on herbs and shipping: €44.31
My fee for providing herbs (10% cost of herbs): €19.50
Total cost to you: €274.81
(C) The Formula Ready-Made and Presented as Concentrated Extracts in Pill Form
(For some formulas this option may not be available.)
Blue Poppy Brand x 2 pots of 120 pills: €110.90
To this add:
Shipping (Spain): €8.95
IVA (10%) on herbs and shipping: €11.99
My fee for providing herbs (€15 minimum fee): €15.00
So for 1 month’s supply, the price is: €146.84
(D) Soluble Granules of Each Separate Herb Mixed by Me for the Client
For 30 days:
Herb (From KPC – Belgium)
Price per g (€)
Amount (g)
Price
Ginseng
1.7806
45
80.13
Atractylodes
0.3700
54
19.98
Poria
0.2700
54
14.58
Licorice
0.3141
18
5.65
Tangerine peel
0.2711
36
9.76
Pinellia
0.7762
54
41.91
Totals
261
172.01
To this add:
Shipping from Belgium: €20.00
IVA (4%) on herbs and shipping: €7.68
My fee for providing herbs (20% cost of herbs): €34.40
My fee for mixing and packing the herbs: €37.50
Total cost to client: €271.59
(E) The Formula Ready-Made and Presented as Soluble Granules of Concentrated Extract
(But for many formulas this option may not be available.)
KPC Brand from Sinecura (Belgium), 260 g of 1:5 concentrate (equivalent to 1305 g dry herb): €96.04
To this add:
Shipping from Belgium: €20.00
IVA (4%) on herbs and shipping: €4.64
My fee for providing herbs (20% cost of herbs): €19.21
So for 1 month’s supply, the price is: €139.89
Summary Table
Provision of 1 Month’s Supply of Herbs
Total Cost to Client (€)
Dried herbs purchased individually and mixed by me for client
409.36
Dried herbs already mixed by supplier (may not be available)
274.81
Formula ready-made as pills (may not be available)
146.84
Soluble granules of each separate herb mixed by me for client
271.59
Formula ready-made as soluble granules (may not be available)
139.89
From this it can be seen that the purchasing of each herb in the formula separately is by far the most expensive way of working with these herbs. For simple cost reasons I would rarely recommend this option unless for short courses of treatment.
I will always choose the most economical kind of good quality product that is suitable for the individual patient and that is available in the necessary time frame.
Chinese and modern Western medicine are very different in terms of how disease and ill-health are conceived and treated, and in terms of their relative advantages and disadvantages. I will attempt to describe these differences below, but I should point out that what follows is just my own understanding, and others may have other opinions.
Western medicine attempts to identify biological abnormalities in the body’s tissues. It gives a short name to each disease, according to the distinct abnormalities that characterise each one. And it seeks to treat disease by chemically manipulating the body in very specific ways to cure the disease or failing that to mitigate its impact or reduce its symptoms. If the disease is severe and of a structural nature, surgery is used to remove the offending tissue or replace it. This is of course a generalisation, and I do not want to be accused of promoting a stereotype. I know there are many amazing methods that are currently used or are in development which go beyond this characterisation, but still, nobody can deny that the lion’s share of medicine as practised today is pharmaceuticals or surgery. A big problem with modern Western medicine is the side-effects, and a big advantage is its success in treating life-threatening disease and trauma.
Chinese medicine looks at illness and treats it in a completely different way. Illness is described in terms of groups of symptoms which Chinese doctors have noticed over many centuries of observation to commonly occur together. These are called patterns. The patterns are related energy flow in the body and indeed also in relation to that in the outer environment. There are different kinds, qualities and levels of energy in the body, that all move in their own particular ways. Ultimately everything boils down to the interaction of Yin and Yang, the two opposing yet inseparable and complementary energetic tendencies that are the essence of everything in existence. Treatment – by herbs, diet, acupuncture, cupping, moxibustion and massage – aims to restore balance in the energy flow within the body and harmonise it with that in the outside environment. Chinese medicine is gentler than Western medicine, producing fewer side-effects, and aims to eliminate the underlying reasons for the illness so far as possible. It is less applicable than Western medicine when disease is very serious and in emergency situations.
Robert Hale Herbalist 