Experiencing Chinese Medicine in Taiwan

One of the many reasons we feel that traveling outside of the US is amazing is not only because we get to explore but also because healthcare is really affordable and allows us to see professionals without concerns of breaking the bank.

After sharing why long-term travel is the best health insurance plan you can get and the true cost of healthcare as nomads, in today’s post we would like to talk about Chinese Medicine as this is something we recently got exposed to being in Taiwan. We will give a brief introduction to what we know about it, how we are getting treated, what we have found available in Taiwan and how much does it cost.

What is Chinese Medicine?

Here is a perfect definition that I’m borrowing from the John Hopkins website:

“Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is thousands of years old and has changed little over the centuries. Its basic concept is that a vital force of life, called Qi, surges through the body.  Any imbalance to Qi can cause disease and illness. This imbalance is most commonly thought to be caused by an alteration in the opposite and complementary forces that make up the Qi. These are called yin and yang.”

Source: John Hopkins website

In order to regain balance, a few treatments are available including acupuncture, mobicustion (the burning of herbal leaves near the body), cupping, massage, herbal remedies as well as movement and concentration exercise (such as tai chi).

Well it turns out that we are going to cover most of them as this is basically the treatment we have been getting since being introduced to a chinese medicine clinic in Taipei through a friend.

Why Chinese Medicine?

While we are pretty healthy individuals, I’ve been personally always interested in Chinese Medicine. Maybe because it has been around for centuries, or maybe because I feel that people in Taiwan seem to be pretty healthy and are full of energy while still in their 80s and even 90s. (As an example, it is pretty common to spot individuals in their 80s hiking on the steep trails around Taipei. It’s also common to see the same individuals practicing various kinds of exercises outdoors. Can this be part of their secret to being healthy and in great shape at such an old age?

One of our friends in Taipei mentioned that she was having great results getting acupuncture and offered to take us to a Chinese Medicine clinic. Since we deeply care about our health and are very open to alternative forms of medicine, we were easily convinced to give it a try.

What was the experience like?

Let’s go over what the experience has been for a full session end to end.

We met our friend in front of the Chinese Medicine clinic in Taipei (exact location). It is a three story building that is open 3 times per day for about 3 hours each time. The clinic does not take reservations so we had to show up about an hour ahead of opening to make sure we could be in front of the line and not have to wait too long. While waiting one hour can sound like a lot of time, this is actually good social time to hangout with our friends and catch up with them.

Once the clinic opens, the first person to enter is the first person to be scheduled. There are staff in the lobby that are in charge of the logistics and that are quite efficient at it. 

Registration and consultation 

Like with every appointment at a new clinic in Taipei, it always starts by filling some paperwork to get you into their system. This time the questionnaire was a bit longer as it had a few specific questions related to my health, then they took my blood pressure and heart beat. Once this was done I paid for my consultation. This does require a decent level of Chinese which we are grateful to our friend for. 

Once this was done, I got to meet with the doctor. She reviewed my file and started asking me a bunch of questions about my health and any discomfort I might have. Some of these questions were quite personal and it was a bit awkward to answer them, especially as my friend was next to me to help with the translation. I will spare you the specific questions but I can say it was quite personal.

From there, she took my pulse with her finger on my arm and asked me further questions about my sleep, my diet, any pain I might have and if there was anything that was bothering me that she should be aware of. Some of the things I wanted to improve were tension in both my neck/shoulders and lower back and she took note of that. 

At the end of the 5 minute interview, she prescribed me some Chinese herbs that I have to consume three times a day for the next 7 days. 

Herbal steam

After the consultation with the doctor was done, I was directed to a very tiny room where a hot steam of mixed herbs was coming out of a device that was applied on my back. This lasted for about 5-10 minutes. You could definitely smell the herbs. As for the effect of this treatment, I’m not sure what it does. Maybe it is to open your pores before the acupuncture treatment?

Acupuncture

After the herbal steam, I was directed to a massage table where I was waiting for the doctor to come back. She places about a dozen needles on me. These are quite long and the insertion procedure was done two times. First she locates the accupoint she wants to hit, then disinfects the area and inserts the needle about 15% the way. After that, she pressed it all the way down. 9/10 it is not painful as she seems to know what to do. But if you haven’t done acupuncture, this can definitely be odd at first, especially since these needles are quite long!

She introduced about 8-12 needles that way. Once this was done. one of her assistants would place electrodes on each of them and then send some gentle current through them in a specific sequence. You need to tell them how much current you want (basically once it starts twitching your muscle you are probably good). Electro acupuncture isn’t required but happens to help with the efficacy of the method as this stimulation helps circulate the bloodstream for longer and provide a longer period of time to relieve pain compared to traditional acupuncture.

I also got to experience moxibustion where moxa sticks were added on top of the acupoints (see picture below). My friend did not like it. I didn’t find it uncomfortable though and definitely did not feel any burning sensation as all the combustion was far away from my skin. 

From there, the acupuncture treatment starts and lasts for about 15 minutes. A clock is set to track progress. Since there are multiple beds, the doctor will go from one patient to the next back to back and her assistant will follow her.

Herbal supplements

Once that acupuncture session was done, I got back to the lobby to pay for my herbal supplements. These were tea bag sized and I got 21 of them for a total of 7 days. The prescription is created on site by mixing various herbs which are grinded and then placed in pouches that are sealed by a machine.

Tuina Massage

The last part of this consultation was to get a tuina massage. I went to the 3rd floor of the building for the massage part. My friends warned me that this was some really deep tissue massage technique and that I should expect to be sore the next day. There are a couple of masseuses and they will see you as soon as they are available.

“Tuina or tui-na (pronounced twee-nah) massage originated in ancient China and is believed to be the oldest system of bodywork. It’s one of the four main branches of traditional Chinese medicine, along with acupuncture, qi gong, and Chinese herbal medicine.”

Source: https://www.healthline.com/health/tuina

At the time of writing, I’ve been through 4 sessions in total and while each masseuse has a slightly different technique, this has been the most relaxing experience. The massage lasts for about 15-20 minutes. Once the massage is over, I got handed an herb patch that I can use to help the pain relief process. I did try a few and they provide a nice cooling sensation. They can be cut in smaller pieces and applied pretty much anywhere for 3 hours. You have to not mind smelling not a Chinese herb shop!

Cost

In total we spent between 250 NTD and 340 NTD per session with insurance coverage, an amazing deal. The difference is in the prescription for the herbs that we only need to pick once a week.

Keep in mind that we are covered by the national healthcare system here in Taiwan so that is largely why it is inexpensive. That being said, the price without coverage is not going to be that much more. I would guess it to be around 1000 NTD (or 30 USD).

Here is the breakdown of what we’ve been spending for one consultation: 

Treatment	Cost in NTD	Equivalent in USD
Registration (1 time) Consultation with the doctor (1 time)	0 USD	0 USD
Herbal spray + Acupuncture	150	~5 USD
Weekly herbs prescription	90 NTD	~3 USD
Massage	100 NTD	~3.5 USD
Total	340 NTD	~11.5 USD

Overall impression

I loved it and Mrs. NN also enjoys it. I only went through 4 sessions so it is hard to have enough information to come to a conclusion but I can definitely say that my lower back slight pain is gone and that I definitely feel very relaxed at the end of each session.

We are very thankful for our friends for introducing us to this clinic and for taking the time to help us navigate through the entire experience. It is a bummer that we don’t speak good Chinese as this practice is definitely a bit intimidating and hard to figure out without speaking Chinese. Nevertheless, the experience has been amazing and we plan on going back for the next few weeks before leaving the country.

What about you? Have you had any experience with Chinese Medicine? Is it as affordable as it has been for us in Taiwan? What do you think the most about? Please share your experience with us by leaving a comment in the comments section below.