Relora and birth control pill

Technically there is nothing in either Hou Po or Huang Bai (the two main ingredients of Relora - a patented combination of these) that should intefere with birth control pills. You should of course ask a pharmacist or your doctor directly however.

That said, while relora has shown some positive effects on people with stress related illness, in Chinese Medicine, properly practiced, you would be taking some combination of formulas to deal with everything at once (not that it’s not possible that a combination of western and eastern is a good idea in your case).

I would strongly suggest that you consult directly with an acupuncturist who also practices Chinese herbal medicine and receive treatment for 2-5 months and you should be in very good shape within that general time frame and somewhere around then or near after there is a good chance you wouldn’t need to take anything.

The technique with the herb is moxibustion - you can read “what is moxibustion” to find our more about that.

As for the rest of your questions, just give your practitioner a little bit of time - I completely understand your concerns, but keep in mind that acupuncture is doing nothing other than engaging your body to choose a different set of operating procedures. It is very unlikely that you will get worse, it does take some time however to remedy hormonal issues so so long as you are comfortable with your practitioner then just stay the course - these types of issues are treated very often by most acupuncturists and in the overall scheme of things are pretty straightforward.

Also acupuncture tends to treat the entire system, so all of your issues regardless of what caused what will generally come into line during the course of treatment. Acupuncture is well known to deal with inflammation, hormonal issues and all of your other associated issues. Just try to relax and trust your own body to do the right thing - that’s all acupuncture is guiding it towards.