Irritable when taking new herbs

So, first, in Chinese Medicine the “liver system” is only marginally related to your physical liver. It is so much more than just the organ - for more on that read “My Liver is What?”.

Now when you mention a bit “impatient and irritable”, I would have to guess from the formulas you were prescribed that you already have a range of psychological and/or insomnia issues along with a fair amount of palpitations and/or heat signs? If so, what is different from these symptoms from what you were experiencing before treatment?

In general, Chinese herbs when properly prescribed and used are quite safe but as with anything that alters our physical and emotional being there will be changes. For the most part, certainly compared to western medicines, these changes are slower but more complete if that makes sense - generally with very minimal side effects. Stronger side effects are rare and usually the result of incorrect diagnosis and consequent formula choices.

Because you not providing any real information about why you are on herbs to begin with, I can’t offer much except to say that particular combination of formulas looks a little bit like a kitchen sink approach to me. Certainly xiao yao wan and gui pi wan are often used together and in the right diagnosis adding in liu wei di huang wan wouldn’t be implausible, but in my clinical work I tend to be more simplistic and more direct. Either gui pi wan or liu wei are the likely candidates for removal at least temporarily. But this is really a question to discuss with your practitioner who is more deeply familiar with your history and current symptoms and with their reasoning for choosing those formulas.

Chad is it possible that the Liu Wi Di Huang could be causing impotence issues?

I held off on taking it today, it seems that it has resolved some. I’ll hold off on taking it again tomorrow and see what happens.