Lin Sister Herb Shop

There’s Sandra again! Posing perfectly for the camera! ha ha

A friend of Sandra’s told her that we had to check out the Lin Sister Herb Shop, while we were in New York, and I’m happy we had the chance to visit the store.

Located at 4 Bowery, the Lin Sister Herb Shop is filled from floor to ceiling with Chinese herbs, teas and medicines.

Besides selling Chinese herbs and meds, there are even Chinese Doctors upstairs, who perform consultations for $30, and then write prescriptions for the Chinese herbs/teas to take. Acupuncture sessions are also available as well.

Even though I see an excellent Acupuncturist (the awesome Brian Caswell) in St. Petersburg, at least 2-3 times per month, I took the plunge with Sandra, and we each signed up for consultations with the Chinese Doctors.

I went first and spilled out my frustrations of not being able to get rid of hot flashes. The Doctor started scribbling notes on a pad, and told me I would need to take the Chinese teas/herbs he was prescribing, every day for 14 days. I asked if they tasted bad and he said I could add honey to the mixture.

Sandra went next and was prescribed herbs/teas to take for 20 days. I guess I lucked out with the shorter term for my remedy!

We went back downstairs and then the staff started putting our remedies together.

I think this photo was taken when they were putting Sandra’s remedy together and as you can see there are a bunch of different packages being put into different cups, for different days.

We were pretty excited to get our remedies and couldn’t wait to try them out.

After we got back to the hotel though, we decided to wait until we got back home, to start the process, just in case there were side effects.

I didn’t get my packets until a week after I got home, because I ended up shipping them back with the rest of my purchases.

I knew that these herbs/teas wouldn’t taste good, but I had no idea how bad they actually tasted. I made Kevin take a taste and we agreed that it basically tastes like dog poop, grass and dirt.

The first day I made my concoction I made a huge cup of tea and I almost floated away, trying to drink it all.

Kevin then said I should mix less water in it and just “throw it back” like a shot. Well, you have to put enough hot water in it, to actually melt the herbs/tea, and you can add a pound of honey, but that doesn’t help the taste at all! It is just nasty tasting sludge.

Sandra and I were conferring by phone a lot, and I told her that I wished I could mix all the herbs into some sort of capsule. She then told me about a capsule machine she had bought, that does the exact thing I wanted. I ordered the machine and paid for 2-day shipping, to shorten my time span of having to ingest any more of the liquid.

It isn’t hard to fill the capsules but it takes a lot of time and effort. I think I have 11 packets that I have to take, per day, and that fills up 48 pills! So…what is worse? Shooting sludge or swallowing 48 pills?

I am such a baby that I ended up drinking the herbs for only five days. The rest have gone into pill form. It takes me a day to get all those pills down, but they don’t taste like anything and that is more easily digestible for me.

I wish I could report that my hot flashes are gone. After taking the Chinese remedy for a week, it really seemed like they were going away…but…they came back full force over the weekend.

As I told Kelly, I am not a “quitter” so I will finish this grueling two week herbal therapy but I don’t think I will be trying anything like this again, anytime soon (Even though my acupuncturist thinks he has “the tea” for me!)

Here is a little gallery of my Chinese herbal remedy, and what it looks like in powdered and liquid form.

Even though this remedy was nasty, I would still recommend checking out the Lin Sister Herb Shop if you are ever in New York and looking for a unique store and experience. I will definitely go back the next time I am in New York City.

I truly believe in the benefits of Chinese medicine, even though I can’t stomach the natural remedies! I would rather have acupuncture needles stuck in my eye, any day of the week (been there, done that, don’t mind it at all!)