Has anyone tried Traditional Chinese Medicine?

[EvangelicalAboutButteredToast]

I’ve just made an appointment for this afternoon to try and help my skin condition. I did try it many moons ago when I was in my twenties and I remember having to drink a vile potion three times a day which my body would t keep down. I’m desperate today though so if someone suggested rat poison might help, I’d chug it down.

A good friend of mine took Chinese potions for a skin condition years ago and was thrilled with the results. She goes back from time to time for other complaints.

It's quite popular where I live. I find that the medicine against heartburn works really well (better than typical medicine - for me anyway) but the taste is disgusting.
There's also cold medicine that I developed allergy to after 2nd or 3rd try, would throw up non-stop after drinking it.
Generally I'm trying to avoid Chinese medicine although many doctors tend to prescribe it here, the only one I use is the heartburn one because nothing beats it

No way. You have no idea what they put in these medicines or in what quantities. As far as I'm aware the "medicine" and the "doctors" are wholly unregulated and I would thus treat it with massive caution.

My MIL died an early death because of TC"M" so, naturally, that colours my view of it. If you are drinking something that repeatedly makes you vomit how can that in any way be good for you?

No, and I wouldn't. A lot of it is produced in a horrifically cruel way.

There was research a while back for skin conditions and most (8 out of 11)chinese preperations contained dangerously high amounts of steroids

I'm not in the least surprised by this. I have no doubt that when these medicines "work" it is not because they are some miracle herb undiscovered by western medicine but because they contain western drugs of unknown quantities and qualities. My DH said he felt like he'd taken speed when he took a general "cure all" that his mum gave him.