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There is no pot or stove involved: Christine prescribes herbal granules in labelled containers, with written measuring, preparation and storage steps for your own product.

The first time someone takes home a bottle of herbal granules, a few questions often surface. How much goes into each dose? What should it be mixed with? Where should the bottle be kept, and for how long can it be used? These are fair questions, and they are much easier to answer in the clinic room than at the kitchen bench.

Granules, not a bag of herbs to cook

Dr Christine Shen, Acupuncturist, prescribes Chinese herbal medicine at the Lane Cove clinic as concentrated granules in labelled containers. The clinic does not supply raw herbs to cook at home, so there is no pot, stove or cooking recipe involved. What matters is identifying the correct bottle and reading the directions written for it.

Why the details belong on paper

A spoken explanation at the end of a consultation is easy to lose once you are home. Christine prefers that nobody relies on memory, so she sets out written preparation, measuring and storage instructions for your own product rather than for herbal medicine in general.

What to check before you start

• Identity: the product name on the bottle matches your written sheet.
• Measuring: the amount for each dose and how to measure it.
• Preparation: what the granules are mixed with and when to take them.
• Storage: where to keep the bottle and its use-by date.

Please do not swap these directions for a cooking recipe found online, a routine a friend follows or an amount you remember from an earlier prescription. If anything is unclear, contact Christine before taking the granules.

Keeping your herbal plan organised

Store the written sheet with the original bottle so the name and directions stay together. Let Christine know whenever a doctor starts, stops or changes another medicine, because that shapes her review of the plan. If you notice a new symptom and wonder whether the granules are involved, ask her rather than changing the amount to see what happens.

Bringing it to your next visit

Bring the bottle and its sheet to your follow-up appointment in Lane Cove. Christine can check how the routine has worked in daily life and rewrite any step that turned out to be confusing. This page is general information, and your own prescription is always discussed with you individually.