Yes, and many clients do. Bring the details of anything you're taking to your assessment so treatment and any herbal prescription can be planned around it. Chinese medicine is used alongside your medical care rather than in place of it — decisions about hormone therapy stay between you and your doctor.

That's not something anyone can promise, and response varies considerably. What we can say is that flushes and night sweats are among the specific symptoms tracked at each visit, and treatment is directed at them rather than at menopause in general. If nothing is shifting after a fair trial, that's information, and the approach is changed or reconsidered.

Diagnosing where you are in the transition is a conversation for your GP, and blood tests may or may not be useful depending on your stage. This treatment works from what you're experiencing rather than from a label — if your sleep, temperature, mood or energy have changed, there's something to assess and work with.

Usually more frequently at first, then spacing out as things settle. The pattern depends on how disruptive your symptoms are and how you respond. It's discussed at your first appointment and revisited as you go, rather than sold as a package upfront.

It works between appointments, where acupuncture alone can't. The initial herbal consultation is $50 and covers a detailed assessment, an individualised formula, and the prescribing work done outside your appointment. Formulas are dispensed in two-week quantities so they can be reviewed and adjusted as symptoms change, and routine adjustments are included in your ongoing treatment.

Sixty minutes, beginning with a full Chinese medicine consultation and pattern diagnosis — your symptoms, your cycle if you still have one, your sleep, energy and stress tolerance. Treatment is then individualised to that assessment. Where Chinese herbs are appropriate, they're prescribed to your pattern, following traditional use.