HI i know that it is not nail related, but has anybody ever been and got herbal medication from one of these places? They are normally vietnamese (sp?) or chinese people i think and they seem to be setting up their shops in many places. My mum is considering going to get medication from them as she suffers from irritable bowel syndrome quite badly, but wanted to know if anyone could recommend them first as they are quite expensive (£35-40 per week & she would have to go for at least a month)

thanks x

We got some stuff from them for Natalies eczema many years ago. I boiled it up like we were supposed to and the smell was disgusting! I threw it straight out as it would have been more like a torture treatment to drink it and defo not for a 10 year old! So don't know if it worked or not, and it took days to get the smell out of the house!!!!

Hi there,

from my experience it doesnt work for 'IBS'.

I have suffered from what my doctors called 'IBS' for six years, it was bad, really bad, caould not leave the house for 9 months, ad to be near a toilet. nothing i tried seemed to ease it, they told me that I would have to live with it.

I was determined to get rid of it, so I went to one of the chinese herb shops, they seemed very sympathetic and gave me confidence that seeing them once a week for accupuncture and a concoction of medicine would do the trick. I admitt that the accupuncture made me feel really relaxed but after 10 weeks, no more money(spent around £900) and most importantly no result I decided to all it a day. Have to say they did there best to talk me in to carrying on, but how long can you pay for something like that.

Anyway what bit of money i did have left I spent on an hour long bupa consultation with a bupa gp. He said that there were 8 more tests my original doctor could have done before diagnosing me with IBS. So now i have had tham done and it was an overgrowth of bacterial in my small bowel curable with anitbiotic (£6.65)

If you want my advice I would ask you mum to get it cheaked out further by a professional to rule all other things out. WHAT IS IBS ANYWAY.

hope this helps and your mum gets better soon.

there's a chap not far from me who is fab with homeopathic/herbal remedies, he calls himself a doctor, not sure if he is or not, he comes from India and has an ayurvedic spa.
he treated my friends daughter when she was having stomach problems, her recovery was fantastic.
I would always say go by recommendation, or ask your doctors surgery if there's someone near your mum who they can recommend, many doctors have a natural therapist who they work alongside, our old doctors surgery used to have one.

my other half went to one of these for hisnasal polyps and sinuses, wanted him to have a course of treatments including cupping and the little needle things plus the foul brew, we did the brew every day for a week, coz of his sinus probs he couldn't smell it but the rest of us were heaving it lingered long enough for my clients to smell it, thing is they wanted the money for the courses up front and the herbs to boil were £5.00 a bag you were supposed to have a bag a day, suffice to say he gave up in the end. have to say this ones springing up in the shopping centres seem to be all about the money.

Irritable Bowel syndrome

yeah i know, i just meant that there is no specific cause for it and the symptoms over lap with many other medical conditions. so how can you treat something when you dont know the cause.

oh sorry pearl i thought you didn't know what i was talking about!

thanks for all your replie, i think i will tell my mum not to bother, now that you all mention it, yes they were very good at trying to talk her into having them make her a medicine and a 'soup'! they said to her, 'with our treatment your problem is reversable', bless her she was on cloud nine thinking they could cure her but i said that i would ask on here first.

I have suggested to her to have colonic irrigation but has anyone had that done? She seems to think it may be a bit embarassing!

As with any condition hun consult your doctor first before embarking on alternative treatments. I've heard that colonic irrigation can improve IBS, and it can make it a hell of a lot worse. Have you tried seeing if you can find a forum for sefl help advice?

The doctors don't seem to be doing much, they have not even done proper tests, just asked what are the symptoms and then said its IBS! Its difficult as you have to watch what foods you eat and its difficult pin pointing which ones are causing it!

maybe she should do what pearl done and visit Bupa. Its worth a try i suppose

Thanks for all your replies anyway i think she will be better off saving her money than visiting Dr herb!

a lot of the time watching what you eat helps the symptoms of IBS, I find mine is a lot better when I cut out some of the major carbs in my diet, ie bread, pasta, rice etc.
have a read of this site... http://www.ibsnetwork.org.uk/portal/ they have a lot of good info on there.
Stress and food intolerance plays a huge part in IBS.

Was reading all the way down this thread and thought damn! Sandi got there first! lol

I was going to suggest keeping a food diary too. It really helped my cousin and my auntie - Their doc 'diagnosed' IBS - when infact it was chrones disease (sp?)

I would deffo suggest Bupa - they can do soo many more tests quickly - to get to the bottom of it. Food allergy test is always a good one with stomach / bowel probs.

I have to say - I have been to my Dr & Herbs, I was at work and the pain in my lower back was awful - I couldnt go to the docs as they were 'short staffed' So in desparation I went there hoping for some lotion or potion, I had played squash a couple of nights before and I twisted funny, so I knew what the prob was. They suggested accupuncture(sp?) eeeek no way - so I paid £9.00 for a 'herbal patch' like a huge plaster, stuck it on my back and the pain went away! I stunk like a chinese takeaway for the rest of the day, and they all moaned lol - but it did work.

However - I wouldnt dare 'drink' anything they gave me... all their stuff has NO english instuctions on it from what I have seen, and I think when your putting something inside your body like that, I would personally be a bit cautious of places like Dr & Herbs x