Plant-based prescriptions, chosen with care and reviewed over time.

Chinese medicine has used plant-based formulas for thousands of years, guided by the idea of restoring the body's own balance rather than acting on a single symptom in isolation.

Treatment is built around the concept of harmony between Yin and Yang, maintained by Qi — the vital activity flowing through the body's channels. Stress, environment, diet and illness can disturb this balance; a formula is chosen to help restore it, tailored to your individual constitution rather than a fixed prescription for a named condition.

Phoebus's own herbal practice descends from the Yin-nourishing (Ziyin) school — passed to him through five years of apprenticeship with Professor Liu Qin of Heilongjiang, a master of the school and an heir to the lineage of Pu Fuzhou (蒲辅周), one of twentieth-century China's most celebrated physicians. Its emphasis on nourishment and replenishment suits the patterns he most often treats in London: depletion, overwork, fertility and long-term recovery. Read about the lineages behind the practice.

Herbs are prescribed by pattern rather than by diagnosis, so this is not a list of conditions treated. It is an honest account of what people most often bring through the door.

Digestive complaints

Digestion is the single most common reason people are prescribed Chinese herbs, and often the reason they come after everything else has been tried. Persistent bloating, constipation, loose or urgent stools, reflux, and abdominal pain that has been labelled IBS after investigations came back clear — these are the presentations herbal medicine has historically been used for, and where a formula can be adjusted week by week as the picture changes. Gut symptoms that flare with stress are especially common in London, and are considered alongside sleep, workload and appetite rather than in isolation.

Skin

Eczema, psoriasis, adult acne and rosacea are frequently seen. Skin conditions usually need patience — internal formulas are often combined with external washes or poultices, and progress is judged over months rather than weeks.

Allergy and recurrent infection

Hay fever and allergic rhinitis, and the pattern of catching every cold that goes round and taking too long to shake it off, are both long-standing uses of herbal medicine. Seasonal work is usually started well before the season, not during it.

Women's health

Painful, irregular or heavy periods, premenstrual symptoms, perimenopausal changes, and fertility support alongside medical treatment. Where you are under a fertility clinic, herbs are only introduced after reviewing your medication and treatment stage.

Safety is the priority. Formulas use premium concentrated granules from reputable UK dispensaries to avoid adulteration or contamination, and every prescription is monitored over time.

Regular review. Patients are reviewed every two to four weeks to assess how well the prescription is working; as symptoms improve, herbal therapy is gradually tapered so the body can maintain balance independently, rather than continuing indefinitely.

What the science says. Individual herbs have been validated by modern research — the best-known example is artemisinin, derived from Artemisia annua, a Nobel Prize–winning antimalarial. Because each formula is tailored to the individual, whole prescriptions are harder to test in standardised trials, but the tradition rests on centuries of refined clinical use. It is offered as a considered complementary therapy that works alongside your medical care.