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The Secret to Easier Menstrual Periods: Herbal Remedies for Menstrual Cramps & More

Does your menstrual cycle feel like a roller coaster ride from hell? 


Are you looking for a solution to a smoother cycle? Let’s say one that doesn’t involve unpredictable periods, excruciating pain, canceled plans, and gobbling over the counter painkillers like candy. 


Whether you’re dealing with premenstrual mood swings and emotional turmoil, irregular cycles, or painful periods - you’re in the right place. If it feels like the seven dwarves are trying to dig their way out of your uterus with an ice pick every month - there are solutions. If every cycle throws you into a pit of despair - it can be better. And if your periods aren’t that bad, but you’re still just over missing out on the fun you could be having - you’re also in the right place. 


Here’s the good news. Chinese Medicine has been helping women have easier cycles for thousands of years, through the power of some amazing herbs and - most importantly - using pattern differentiation to identify which herbs and formulas will work for each person. In other words, by not treating every woman as the same. Because people are not machines, and we all need different care based on specific symptom patterns. 


So how does Chinese herbal medicine help regulate cycles, relieve menstrual cramping and pain? And which herbs do I need to take?


In this article, I’m going to cover how Chinese Medicine addresses menstrual health, from PMS & PMDD to PCOS, fibroids and heavy bleeding to herbal remedies for run of the mill menstrual cramps. We’ll go into how the Chinese Medicine’s approach works, the difference in historical and cultural approaches to women’s health in Asia vs the Western world, and we’ll cover the different herbs that you can use to feel better a lot more of the time. 


a woman drinks herbal remedy for menstrual cramps.

Table of Contents



Before we go further, I want to tell you that - spoiler alert - I am a man. Now that wasn’t anyone’s plan - my parents and older brother were expecting a little girl that they would name Kate. Surprise! Childhood photos show clear evidence that my mom was really excited about having a girl: long blonde locks, ballet classes, and a lot of time playing with flowers in the garden. My mom raised three boys, and she made sure to teach us to care about and listen to women. I’ve had female friends as long as I can remember, and though I have not and will never experience any of the menstrual difficulties we’ll cover in this article, I respect how much they can suck. 


So when I learned that none of the menstrual problems that are so common in America are considered normal in Chinese Medicine - I paid attention. One of my teachers told our class that if we studied Chinese herbal medicine well, we would be able to help women with a myriad of menstrual problems. So I listened and studied hard accordingly. 


One more thing I want to clarify - I am not a white knight crusader for women’s health. Do I think it’s bullshit that Western medical culture has been ignoring and sidelining women’s health for hundreds of years? Yes, I do! 


Am I on a mission to “save women” from the oppression of Western culture? No, because overturning hundreds of years of bigotry is going to take a lot more than one guy with some herbs. Also, most women I know don’t want or need saving. 


What I am is a clinician and a problem solver. I’ve been practicing Chinese herbal medicine for over 12 years, and I’ve helped thousands of patients - 80% of which have been women. So I have helped a lot of women with the problems we’ll cover in this article. And my hope is that in reading this you will learn about some of the amazing tools that can help make your cycle, and your life, easier. 



Chinese Medicine Theory in Women’s Health


If you’re new to Traditional Chinese Medicine, you’re going to find that we have a very different thought process around diagnosis and treatment. We think about problems from a different perspective and use terminology that may sound strange and poetic. This is a result of translation across very different languages and different systems of medical theory. 


A different system of medical theory, you say? How does that make sense - don't we have all the medical theory figured out in modern medicine by now? Well, apparently not. Because the current modern treatment options for menstrual problems are pretty much birth control, painkillers, and hysterectomy. Not exactly the pinnacle of sophisticated medicine. 


So what we need to do here is to think differently if we want a different outcome. Welcome to a new way of problem solving, which is actually a very old way. 


I want to give an example of how we approach things differently. Chinese Medicine language will often sound overly simplistic, but is actually the result of elegant and complex thought. And vice versa, many times the Western medical answer sounds sophisticated but is actually overly simplistic thinking. A good example is “hormone imbalance.”


Whatever is wrong with your period - be it painful periods, fibroids, PMDD - it can always be explained in Western medicine by the answer “hormone imbalance.” Now I’m not going to say that’s wrong. But it is an answer that’s next to meaningless. 


Ok so let’s say your hormones are imbalanced. First question is why are they imbalanced? DUTCH test be damned, it still doesn’t answer this question. And then, if they are unbalanced - why not just balance them? Add a touch of estrogen here and a splash of progesterone there. How much exactly though? This assumes that your body is a simple math equation - a machine. And if this were true, your problems would have been solved long ago. 


The reason they haven't been solved is that Western medical theory is asking the wrong questions and making erroneous assumptions about the body - that it’s a simple machine. The hormonal system is incredibly complex, changing all the time. This is why approaches that seek to directly alter hormone levels - whether with HRT, medications, or herbs like wild yam or vitex - more often than not do not work well. 


You can also have all your hormones perfectly balanced on paper and still have all kinds of symptoms that bother you. This is because the linear, reductionist thinking of Western medical theory is not asking the right questions. It assumes that the problem is simple, asks the wrong questions, and then fails to find a simple answer - because it’s not a simple problem. 


Chinese Medicine on the other hand assumes the problem is highly complex, and instead of trying to force our human ideas about how the world should work, it listens to how the world, and your body, actually works and seeks to understand its complexity. 


Chinese Medicine is a purely clinical medicine. It was developed thousands of years before any hormone panel or lab testing of any kind. It was developed by a keen observation of patterns and how to match specific herbs and formulas to patterns of clinical symptoms to get resolution of those symptoms. 


In other words, you will never see a TCM practitioner that says “well, your tests look normal so I guess your symptoms are…normal. So maybe suck it up because that’s part of being a woman?” Umm no, that kind of bullshit doesn’t fly in a Chinese Medicine clinic. 


Chinese Medicine is a pragmatic, practical approach that takes you from having bothersome symptoms to not having them. 


Excess and Deficiency Patterns


Pattern differentiation is what we call our diagnostic process in TCM, and it’s how we determine what herbs to choose to make you feel better. This next part is going to seem overly simplistic, but it’s one of the most basic and overlooked aspects that leads people to pick herbs that don’t work for them. 


Chinese Medicine patterns have many different levels of specificity. At the broadest, most big picture level, all patterns are divided into Excess or Deficiency. 


Excess is where there is too much stuff and it’s obstructing normal function. This could be too much of a hormone, a cyst or fibroid, old scar tissue, metabolic waste, or dead blood cells that haven’t been shed or metabolized. 


In the context of the menstrual cycle, if you feel worse the week before bleeding, this is an excess pattern. That goes for whether it’s pain, PMS, acne, migraines, whatever. This is the part of your cycle where your body is getting ready to shed the uterine lining and it’s at its most full, or excess state. Once bleeding starts, people with excess patterns feel better. Sometimes it takes a day or two of bleeding to get that relief, but the overall trend in excess patterns is that you will feel best the week after bleeding, and worse the week leading up to bleeding. 


Deficiency is the opposite of excess. Instead of too much stuff, there’s not enough stuff to support normal function. Deficiency patterns include deficiency of hormones, nutritional deficiencies that are often complex and multifaceted. Anemia is one example of a deficiency pattern. In the most basic sense, your body is lacking  resources to function normally. 


In the context of the menstrual cycle, if you feel worse the week after bleeding this is a deficiency pattern. You may also feel worse during bleeding, and for more than a week after bleeding. Fatigue, anxiety, and depression that is worse during and after bleeding, dizziness, night sweats, shortness of breath are all common deficiency patterns. 


So what if you feel bad before and after your period, or have some symptoms of an excess pattern and some symptoms of a deficiency pattern? This is called a mixed pattern, and it means you’re one of the lucky ones. Just kidding. This just means the treatment approach has to take more factors into account, and many traditional formulas do exactly that. 


Condition vs Pattern


In Chinese Medicine, we categorize problems by the symptom pattern rather than the Western medical disease diagnosis or name of the condition. This is more practical to the TCM practitioner, because unlike Western medicine where a diagnosis is often just a magical latin name used to describe how your body is betraying you at the moment - a TCM pattern diagnosis is always paired to a corresponding solution, its herbal formula. 


But for the sake of this article, I am going to categorize these problems by condition or disease diagnosis name to hopefully make it more accessible and easy to understand. 


Dysmenorrhea aka Painful Periods & Menstrual Cramps


If you’ve seen any of the viral period pain simulator videos (in which they hook men up to a fancy TENs unit to give them an approximate sensation of menstrual cramps) you may have seen the messaging “Period Pain is Not Normal.” In America, period pain has been normalized. And it is very common, with around 75% of women experiencing painful periods to some degree, but common and normal are not the same thing. Painful cramping is not a physiologic part of menstruation, meaning it doesn’t have to be that way. It is a sign of imbalance, an imbalance that is very common in modern America. 


Why is it so common here? Well that’s a long answer, so I'm going to cover that in a separate article.


It is great to see that messaging and awareness getting out there. But most of the supplements and products being sold to address this unfortunately don’t really work - because they’re not being created by people who know how to craft herbal formulas. But you know who has been developing herbal formulas that work for painful menses for thousands of years? Chinese Medicine doctors. So let’s break down some of the most famous women’s health formulas of all time. Hold onto your seats though, it’s about to get a little poetic and a little weird. 


Painful periods always fall under the category of what we call a Blood Stagnation pattern. Sharp, severe, stabbing pain is the most characteristic of Blood Stagnation pain. It is often worse with cold, better with heat, and worse at night. Spotting at the beginning or end of the period, dark colored blood, clots in the blood are all common Blood Stagnation pattern signs. The tongue body may have a slight dusky (a subtle shade of purple) color. 


Blood Stagnation is an excess pattern. The body is shedding the uterine lining which means a bunch of blood has to leave your body. If that process isn’t happening smoothly, then there is pain. Blood Stagnation patterns are worse before the menstrual period starts, and lessen as the bleeding process gets going. This is because your body is moving some blood out, so there is now less stagnation. 


Ever notice other symptoms that are worse before bleeding begins? Maybe migraines or acne? Yep, these are also part of the Blood Stagnation pattern. Chronic UTIs and interstitial cystitis often present as a Blood Stagnation pattern as well. 


There are a variety of patterns that can cause Blood Stagnation patterns, including Cold Stagnation, Qi Stagnation, Yang Deficiency. Blood Stagnation patterns can co-mingle with other excess patterns like Phlegm and Dampness, or with deficiency patterns like Blood Deficiency. 


So which Chinese herbal remedies do we use for menstrual cramps and painful periods?


Gui Zhi Fu Ling Wan treats Blood Stagnation and Phlegm patterns. This formula was originally developed for treating ovarian cysts, and it has been used to treat a wide variety of menstrual imbalance patterns including dysmenorrhea, ovarian cysts, uterine fibroids, and more. In my practice this has been the most important formula in the treatment of menstrual pain. It tends to work best in women under 35 because pure excess patterns are more common in women 35 and younger. However, it can be used at any age if the symptom pattern matches. Pain that is better with heat is a hallmark sign for Gui Zhi Fu Ling Wan.


A bottle of Gui Zhi Fu Ling Wan

This formula uses 5 herbs: Cinnamon, Poria, Peony, Peach seed, and Tree Peony. Cinnamon (Gui Zhi) is aromatic and warming and helps move blood by increasing circulation with warming. Poria (Fu Ling) aids fluid metabolism to treat water retention  and phlegm (masses like cysts and fibroids). Fu Ling and Gui Zhi work together to help stabilize blood sugar. Blood sugar instability plays a significant role in driving hormone imbalance and cardiovascular inflammation. This is why metformin is used to treat PCOS. Peony (Bai Shao) is a powerful anti-spasmodic that relieves cramping pain by both nourishing Blood and moving Blood. Peony is one of the most slept-on herbs in the Western world. Peach seed (Tao Ren) invigorates blood circulation and helps break down solid masses (fibroids, clots, scar tissue). Tree Peony (Mu Dan Pi) invigorates blood circulation and works synergistically with Bai Shao to reduce muscle spasms and sharp pain. 


Dang Gui Shao Yao San treats Blood Deficiency with Blood Stagnation and Dampness. This formula is suitable for menstrual pain where there are also indications of a deficiency pattern. This includes symptoms where you feel worse before bleeding and after bleeding. The quality of pain can be sharp, but the most characteristic pain is a strong dull ache. Fatigue, insomnia, night sweats during or after bleeding are indications for Dang Gui Shao Yao San. The tongue may be pale or pale and dusky. Water retention, digestive bloating, and anemia may be present in this pattern. 


I tend to use Dang Gui Shao Yao San more often in women over 35 because mixed patterns with Blood Deficiency are more common. However, it can be appropriate at any age if the pattern matches. Blood Deficiency patterns are more common in women with digestive issues that impact nutrient absorption (celiac, SIBO, leaky gut), and women on vegetarian diets. 


A bottle of Dang Gui Shao Yao San

This formula uses 6 herbs: Peony, Angelica, Atractylodes, Poria, Sichuan Lovage, and Alisma. Peony (Bai Shao) is the lead herb in this formula, a powerful anti-spasmodic that relieves cramping pain by both nourishing Blood and moving Blood. Angelica (Dang Gui) nourishes Blood and moves Blood. Atractylodes (Bai Zhu) and Poria (Fu Ling) work together to aid fluid metabolism and digestion. This supports digestion and reduces water retention and bloating. Alisma (Ze Xie) also encourages fluid metabolism. Sichuan Lovage (Chuan Xiong) invigorates Blood circulation. 


Easy Cycle Support is a modern modification of Gui Zhi Fu Ling Wan. If Gui Zhi Fu Ling Wan

was a margarita, Easy Cycle Support is a spicy margarita with a tajin rim. This herbal formula was developed in my clinical practice helping hundreds of women with painful periods and irregular cycles. Building on the already tried and true formula, Easy Cycle Support includes seven additional herbs. Corydalis yanhusuo is a powerful anti-spasmodic that invigorates blood circulation and works synergistically with Peony root to alleviate menstrual cramps. Bai-zhu Atractylodes and Ginger are warming, aromatic herbs that support digestion and circulation. These work together with Cassia twig (Gui Zhi) and Poria to support healthy blood sugar regulation. Red Sage (Dan Shen) and Cyperus (Xiang Fu) move Qi and Blood to relieve cramping and support emotional well-being. 






In my clinical practice, most of the work I do involves working with clients one-on-one. I start with an in-depth consultation and gather all the information I need to assess your specific pattern. Then I can either recommend standardized formulas, like those listed above, or create a custom formula for you. Custom formulas have been the mainstay of Traditional Chinese Medicine for thousands of years because it allows for a high degree of specificity for each individual. Some conditions can only be treated with custom formulas. When it comes to menstrual health, it is often possible to use standardized formulas because there are many good options - since TCM has been diligently working on women’s health for a long time. 


PMS & PMDD


Anxiety, depression, breast tenderness, mood swings, frequent sighing, irritability, emotional outbursts. This is a list of classic PMS symptoms. It’s also a list describing the TCM pattern we call Liver Qi Stagnation. Liver Qi Stagnation is the most common symptom pattern in PMS or PMDD. 


It’s also one of the most misunderstood TCM terms. So let’s make sure this is clear: if you experience these symptoms, I am not saying there is something wrong with your liver. Neither “liver” or “qi” are well understood terms, because again we’re translating across a very different language and a very different worldview and medical theory. The Chinese word Gan is translated to “Liver” in English, but a more accurate translation would be “straightening system.” In TCM, Liver Qi is describing a function of keeping everything flowing smoothly in a controlled fashion. Now this does relate to some of the functions of the liver as understood in Western medicine - like how the liver regulates how much glucose is in your blood and how much is stored as glycogen. The liver also regulates things like blood volume. It regulates nutrient storage and metabolism. It regulates hormone concentration in your blood. It regulates what chemicals are allowed to be in your blood, and which ones will be metabolized out (toxins). 


When functioning well, it is operating with a smooth, flexible level of control that keeps us feeling healthy. Liver Qi Stagnation describes when this system is not working so well. Our emotions affect our physiology, and our physiology affects our emotions - it’s a complicated two-way street. Here’s an example. Let’s say you get really stressed by an external life event. Your adrenal glands release cortisol as part of your evolutionary stress response. Why? Because cortisol stimulates your liver to convert glycogen stores into glucose to spike your blood sugar. Why? Because for nearly all of human history, your stress response was indicating that you needed to fight or run for your life - and so you need MAX blood sugar in that moment. But in today’s world you can’t just use that glucose power up to book it out of your office or punch your boss in the throat. So now…you’ve got glucose and cortisol running wild through your blood. You’re not running or fighting. Everything is just…stuck. And that’s what we call a Stagnation pattern.


Now let’s look at it from another angle. Let’s say you like sweets. Who doesn’t? Humans existed for millions of years often on the brink of starvation. Sugar and carbohydrates mean survival to your ancestral brain, tastebuds, and gut receptors. Only now we have way more than we need. So maybe you eat too much sugar. Your blood sugar spikes. And what goes up, must come down. A spike is always followed by a crash. When your blood sugar crashes, guess who comes out to play? Cortisol! (cue airhorn sound) Low blood glucose causes the adrenal glands to release cortisol so it can signal the liver to convert glycogen stores to glucose to raise blood glucose back to normal. This is the same process that happened in your fight or flight stress response…but without the external event. For your body it can feel the same though…stressful, stuck, stagnant. 


Did you notice the word control? The Gan, or Liver organ system, loves control, and when it’s balanced it handles all these tasks and organization with grace and flexibility. When it’s out of balance…it struggles with not having control over all things at all times. This struggle with control is a very common expression of how Liver Qi stagnation will manifest in people’s emotions. Some people are more prone to Liver Qi stagnation on a constitutional level. If you relate to this, don’t worry - it just means you can use some support with herbs and lifestyle to help maintain a balance of flexibility and control. 


So what herbs do we use for PMS & PMDD? 


Since the majority of PMS & PMDD presents with symptoms that are worse the week (or two weeks) before bleeding, these are excess patterns. Since the predominant symptoms are emotional in nature rather than painful in nature, this is a Qi Stagnation pattern rather than a Blood Stagnation pattern like we saw in dysmenorrhea. So we use herbs that move Qi, most notably Liver Qi. You may notice that I haven’t offered any explanation of the term “qi” yet. That’s because it is a whole can of worms. For now, think about it like this. Qi Stagnation is ephemeral, where Blood Stagnation is more substantial. Qi Stagnation can come and go quickly, just like emotional outbursts. It feels better with movement and action, whether that’s going for a run, letting yourself cry, deep breathing or sighing, chopping wood, or screaming into the void (or maybe at your partner). 


There are many herbs and formulas that can be used to address Liver Qi Stagnation, but by far the most famous is Xiao Yao San - the free and easy wanderer. In my clinical practice, I have found that I get much better results with some modern modifications of Xiao Yao San rather than the original Song Dynasty formula. 


For a capsule formula option, I use Ease Pearls from Classical Pearls. This is a wonderful formula that combines Xiao Yao San with Ban Xia Hou Po Tang and Xiao Chai Hu Tang. Ban Xia Hou Po Tang is a very important formula for anxiety and depression. Its historical use is for a term translated as “plum-pit qi” or a feeling like you can’t swallow. This feeling is describing the sensation that many people have experienced when you stop yourself from crying - when instead of speaking your mind or expressing an emotion you “swallow it.” Whether you can relate to that or not, Ban Xia Hou Po Tang just works. Early in my studies I had several teachers emphasize the importance of using this formula in anxiety and depression, and I have found it to be very effective when paired with Xiao Yao San as in Ease Pearls. 


A bottle of Ease Pearls

For an extract powder option, you can use Folkwise Zen. This formula combines Xiao Yao San and Ban Xia Hou Po Tang with Dan Shen (Chinese salvia), He Huan (Silk tree flower and bark), and Bai He (Lily bulb). These are some of my favorite herbs for helping to regulate emotional symptoms that I've relied on in my clinical practice. 




Custom Herbal Formulas with Folkwise Clinic

Then of course you always have the option of custom formulas to pinpoint your pattern and have treatment tailored directly to you. 


In my clinical practice, most of the work I do involves working with clients one-on-one. I start with an in-depth consultation and gather all the information I need to assess your specific pattern. Then I can either recommend standardized formulas, like those listed above, or create a custom formula for you. Custom formulas have been the mainstay of Traditional Chinese Medicine for thousands of years because it allows for a high degree of specificity for each individual. Some conditions can only be treated with custom formulas. When it comes to menstrual health, it is often possible to use standardized formulas because there are many good options - since TCM has been diligently working on women’s health for a long time. 


Uterine Fibroids


Uterine fibroids fall under the category of Blood Stagnation, as they are a fixed mass. There may be additional symptom patterns like Liver Qi Stagnation or Yang deficiency, but the fibroids themselves are Blood Stagnation masses. 


Fibroids generally need one-on-one clinical treatment, unless they are very small. Gui Zhi Fu Ling Wan is a good formula if the fibroids are small and the symptoms are not severe. In my clinic, I generally use more aggressive blood invigorating herbs that are better for breaking down fibrotic tissue and masses. These herbs, like San Leng and E Zhu, are generally not appropriate for unsupervised use - so you won’t find them in high doses in any over-the-counter formulas. If used incorrectly, like in a person who has fibroids but also sufferers from anemia, they can cause worsening of anemia symptoms. 


In most TCM clinics, including mine, uterine fibroids are considered treatable with herbs if they are under 6 cm. This process usually takes 3 months of taking herbs, in some cases 6 months. If the fibroids are larger than 6 cm, they may still be treatable but the duration of herbal treatment is rather long. At this size the fibroids also may start causing symptoms like heavy bleeding which often results in anemia from excessive blood loss. This limits the herbs we can use, and often surgical intervention is recommended at this stage. 


So all that to say, it is best to treat fibroids early when they are small if you want to avoid surgery. 


Heavy Menstrual Bleeding or Menstrual Flooding aka Menorrhagia


Heavy bleeding is a term that’s used frequently, but here we are defining menorrhagia as bleeding that requires changing pads/tampons/etc every hour for a day or more OR consistent bleeding that lasts for 7 days or more. 


In my experience, menorrhagia is significantly more difficult to treat than the conditions described above. In recent years my success rate has improved with taking some different approaches, but it is still overall on the low side. So treating menstrual flooding definitely requires one-on-one clinical treatment, and I would not recommend trying to treat at home with over-the-counter herbs


Part of the reason that it is difficult to treat is because people often come in for treatment very late in the progression of the pattern. It may start with painful periods. At that point it’s a simple Blood Stagnation pattern that is easily resolved. Untreated, the Blood Stagnation pattern may worsen and develop into fibroids. Once the fibroids reach a certain size they may start causing heavy bleeding, which leads to anemia. This means we can no longer use aggressive blood moving herbs to shrink the fibroid. So again, early treatment with fibroids is essential. 


But fibroids are not the only cause of menstrual flooding patterns. Another common pattern is called Yang Deficiency pattern. This pattern will usually be associated with feeling cold, low appetite, and fatigue. Does that symptom pattern sound familiar at all? Those are also the hallmark symptoms of hypothyroidism. Menstrual flooding is a common occurrence in both clinical hypothyroidism and subclinical hypothyroidism. Subclinical hypothyroidism indicates that you have signs of hypothyroidism but your blood tests are in normal range.


I have had moderate success with this pattern of menstrual flooding using Moon Pearls, which is a formula that addresses the complex pattern of Blood Stagnation, Blood Deficiency and Yang Deficiency. This formula contains strong herbs like Fu Zi and should only be used under the care of a licensed practitioner. 


A bottle of Moon Pearls.


How to Get Started with Herbs for Menstrual Health


I hope this article has been informative and not excessively man-splainy. Chinese herbal medicine has amazing tools to support menstrual health and help you get off that roller ride from hell and onto smooth sailing. 


So how to get started? Some formulas, like Easy Cycle Support and Folkwise Zen are available as over-the-counter herbal supplements. 


Custom herbal formulas and Classical Pearls formulas are only available under the care of a licensed TCM practitioner. This may sound annoying, but it comes from a place of wanting you to get the best results. That starts with picking the right herbs for you, and this can be very difficult to do without a lot of education and practice in Chinese Medicine. There are a few ways to satisfy this requirement. 


One, you can schedule an in-depth consultation with me and I can recommend either custom herbal formulas or capsule formulas from Classical Pearls. I can recommend a protocol if that’s appropriate to your situation, or you can engage with ongoing care where I evaluate your progress every 2 to 6 weeks and make adjustments to your herbs as needed. 


Two, for a simpler and less involved approach, you can also fill out the form on my store page for a free recommendation. This provides me with the information to recommend the appropriate herbs, and with a simple recommendation you can get started.


Visit my herbal clinic page to schedule your first consultation, find more information on the treatment process, cost, herb quality, and more. 


Sincerely, Sean Dugan L.Ac.


Sean Dugan L.Ac. is a licensed and board-certified herbalist and acupuncturist. He holds a Master’s degree in Chinese Medicine from the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine as well as a Diplomate in Chinese Medicine from the NCCAOM. He has studied under many Master Herbalists including Dr. Guohui Liu, Dr. Jimmy Wei-Yin Chang, Dr. Fang Zhang, Dr. Greg Livingston, and Dr. Darren Huckle. Sean’s herbal medicine practice draws from both Traditional Chinese Medicine and Classical Chinese Medicine treatment methods, with a focus on clinical efficacy above all. He has been treating patients with Chinese Herbal Medicine since 2013. 


Sean works with clients all over the US through the Folkwise Herbal Clinic. In-person appointments are available at our Boise, Idaho clinic.

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