Vinh Khang Herb & Ginseng

im totally confused by Julia T. M’s review… if you read it you too will think you are crazy. I went to this guy many years ago and he had a strong following of people who were had lots of faith in his practice. I did have one of his teas, it’s as herbal as it gets, he gives you roots and leaves, you boil it down and drink it up. Good to have as a source of Chinese Herbalist and Medicine.

I give 3 stars which is an average of 5 start for diagnosis and 1 star for treatment. This is a review for the doctor.
Cons: This doctor knows how to diagnose! I went to 6 or 7 acupuncturists and herbalists, none of them said anything making sense (the majority didn’t even try). This doctor identified the Chinese root cause of my problem and explained what’s going on with me.
Pros: My husband (autoimmune arthritis) and I (chronic insomnia) both got significantly worse after 3 months of treatment. I got a little better after 1 month, and then it became much worse than before I started the treatment.
Being somewhat familiar with Chinese medicine (not a professional, otherwise I would’ve seen the problem right away) and looking closer at the formula, I noticed that it was kind of «flat», simple, non-​classical. I have a complex condition where Cold in one meridian causes Heat in another one, but the formula didn’t direct the herb actions (i.e. to warm one meridian and cool the other one, it rather worked on the entire body). The formula looked more like bunches of herbs with similar properties, rather then a classical formula where herbs act as a combination. My complains to the doctor that I felt cold didn’t help, he kept «cooling» me. I ended up cold like an icicle, and my Cold root cause made my insomnia much worse. For my husband overcooling also seemed to be the worsening factor of his condition.
The good diagnosis helped me to find better classical formulas.
I would recommend this place if you cannot get a good Chinese diagnosis and/​or you have some recent/​simple condition and you need to take only 1 – 2 weeks of herbs. I wouldn’t recommend it if you have a chronic or complex condition, where treatment is required for more then a month. Cooling herbs are helpful is taken for 1 – 2 weeks but they might have adverse effects if taken longer.

i got a serious headache last month, that i had been taking some pills for stopping that. that’s was useless. until my friends told me that i have to see a Chinese doctor.
i went there at 10am and it just opened. i didn’t make an appointment. Luckily, it was less crowded in the early morning. The Chinese doctor is very nice, also he advised me not to eat too much beef, shrimps and not to drink hard-​alcohol. Basic the fuctions of my liver is not so good. Plus, i caught cold the day before. That’s why i had headache for a few days. then i got 5 packs of herbs tea and boiled them at home. after a day, i felt much better. Yea… Chinese medicine is really helps me. i used to have chinese medicine when i was kid. Now i moved to SF, i am glad i could find a good Chinese doctor in my neighborhood. oh… that’s one thing, i didn’t finish the 5 packs of medicine, since when i had taken the 3 of them, i got diarrhoea. maybe i was so weak at that time and the medicine was too strong for me. i should have told him. anyway, i finally got rid of the irritated headache.

Just like restaurants, I will say is that you have plenty of choices for herbalist. Over the years, our extended family have seen herbalist in many areas of San Francisco (Chinatown, Sunset, Richmond), but we have found that the owner (doctor) at Vinh Khang to be the most honest and patient. The two «herb pickers» are fast and accurate at what they do.
On every trip, he will ask many questions (regarding diet, sleep, bowel movement, etc), check both your pulse and tongue.
He is up front and tells you approximately how long the prescription will need to be followed for. For the most part, he is spot on. And no you don’t get cured overnight. Only ailment he could not cure for me was gout which I had to take an American prescriptions for.
He speaks Chinese, English and Vietnamese. His explanations in English is good (not «perfect»). I’ve seen an array of clients that he has including Russians and Americans.
One thing you have to understand is the prescription is for as bunch of herbs that need to be boiled/​simmered down to one bowl of tea. Generally speaking, it doesn’t smell good… but then again what is good for the body usually doesn’t smell/​taste good. Personally, I don’t have a problem with the taste as I know it will be good for me (no lollipop needed for me!). In addition to the prescription, he may recommend curbing your diet (the tough part). The herbal prescription is $ 7.50/per day with a usual order being 5, 7 or 10 days. Reevaluation and updates on prescriptions are done on subsequent visits.
When asked what is a good oil/​intment to rub he recommended «A or B», but when we said we have «C» at home, he said «that’s fine, no need to purchase A or B if you already are using C». I appreciate that he did not push selling A or B to us.
If you ever want to give Eastern Medicine a try, I would suggest Vinh Khang!

I was able to be seen by the herbalist at Vinh Khang without an appointment. They had a deep inventory of herbs and were able to come up with a prescription that I have found helpful. Top notch.
This business is located in the Inner Richmond of San Francisco, not Richardson, Texas!