Gary Chen

1^st visit and staff was very welcoming. Dr. Chens consulting was one of the best that I’ve had about Ulcerative Colitis. He explained everything from how it works, how it happens, what happens next, after and so on. He calmly explains with no rush and with passion for what he does. That’s what made me put all my trust in his work. So, he have me herbal teas for a month & a totally different diet from what my doctors recommended, but I have faith with the Dr Chen, his reviews and stories that I’ve heard of him is what made me go visit him. I’ll come back for an update in a month.

I think a lot of the praise you’re reading here is surprised approval of the benefits of Traditional Chinese Medicine medicine in general, in reviews by people who have never tried it before, with any practitioner. In my experience, Dr. Chen is a competent practitioner of TCM, but he was sold to me as THE guy to see for digestive ailments, and I don’t think he’s that.
I saw Dr. Chen for Crohn’s Disease in 2012 after being diagnosed with a mild case. I traveled to Encinitas from Northern California where I live, on the recommendation of a family friend who had had good results with his herbs and diet plan. The friend said he told her that he had cured every Crohn’s patient he’d seen, although he did not make that claim to me when I saw him. (He did, however, say «Maybe you don’t have Crohn’s» when his herbs and diet didn’t cure me. He met with me for about an hour, then gave me handouts with diet instructions and instructions for preparing the herbs. They were faded photocopies, not anything customized for me. I adhered to his program strictly for several months, at two different times over the last few years.
Dr. Chen’s diet and herb regimen helped my symptoms somewhat, but not dramatically. My chief complaint with his work is that the follow-​up process was not very effective. We talked on the phone periodically. That was more convenient for me, since I live far away, and he said he has lots of non-​local patients, and works with many of them that way.
MY ADVICE: SEE A LOCAL PRACTITIONER OF TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE, NOT ONE WHO WORKS WITH YOU OVER THE PHONE, EVEN IF THE FAR-​AWAY DOCTOR IS SUPPOSED TO BE EXCELLENT.
TCM requires a lot of information that cannot be communicated over the phone. The doctor checks your pulses and your tongue, which are important sources of information about your condition. Acupuncture can also be helpful in conjunction with herbs and diet.
In theory, he was changing my formula based on our conversations, but the formula did not change significantly over time.
The other thing about Dr. Chen that rubbed me the wrong way is his business model, which you should understand going in. He doesn’t charge for office visits, but charges outrageous prices for herbs. (E.g., the monthly batch that he charged $ 250 for would have been about $ 50 from a local herb shop.) He deserves to be compensated for his time, but I don’t think a 10– or 15-​minute conversation justifies the $ 200 mark-​up.
I am lucky to have a brother-​in-​law and friends who are acupunturists/​herbologists, and their overall assessment was that he seemed fine, but they were not overly impressed with his formulas or approach. Besides the cost of the herbs and the long-​distance treatment, there were other practices of his that they also questioned, e.g. very short cooking times for raw herbs.

Dr. Chen as well as his wife run a top notch acupunture practice. Everything is spotless including the appoinment rooms. I’ve always been a skeptic of «alternative medicine» but now I get why acupuncture has been practiced in China for thousands of years. With rhuematoid arthritus i frequently suffer with pain. Dr. Chen has helped me and dramatically improved my condition within 2 – 3 sessions. The teas are very effective but smell horrible! If Dr. Chen cannot help with a condition he’ll be the first to tell you. I’ve always appreciated his frank assesments and healing.

The Chinese doctor you must see for well-​being. Dr. Chen’s tea totally works! And, your body can just feel it even just after two or three days. But, you need some patience and persistence on making the tea at home, haha.

I was referred to Dr. Chen by an acquaintance that found I was desperate for help with my Crohn’s Disease. I was in constant pain and in and out of the hospital. I went in a bit skeptical but dying to get my life back.
Within two weeks I was feeling SO much better. Within a month my life was drastically better. I can’t tell you how much Dr. Chen has changed my life. I’m not on the tea now but I know where to go if my disease take another turn.

I’ve already recommend him to so many people! Hes very intelligent and most likely can help you!!!
I started two weeks ago and have seen improvements! Im excited for the process I’ve already made.
The office is nice, the staff are sweet and helpful and the dr is very thorough and seems trust worthy.
I couldn’t make my appt today due to a migraine and the staff handled it well and offered ways to reschedule.

I went to Dr. Chen for acupuncture for my various conditions (sinus, digestion, etc). While I was planning on getting the needles, I found out that Dr. Chen primarily focuses on medicinal tea.
I was a little skeptical at first, but decided to try him out since he gets such good reviews. As it turned out, the teas are amazing. A stream of people come in and out with their little bags of tea. I have been taking Chinese medicinal tea for many years but I felt this was the most effective tea I have ever taken. He figures out the formula and then the tea is prepared by a trained Chinese specialist, who works in the front office. You can see him at work when you’re standing at the front desk window. He does things the traditional Chinese way, putting the different herbs in large leaves on a counter, and then transferring to the bags.
The tea consists of many different types of dried leaves, twigs, herbs, that you then boil (one bag at a time) in 4 cups of water, down to 2 cups, and take one bag per day. It certainly doesn’t taste great but then the results are what count, and I was very pleased with the results of Dr. Chen’s miracle teas.

My brother used to have celiac disease and after following the tea plan that Dr. Chen assigned him, he is completely cured and has no food restrictions at all.

Dr Chen is AMAZING… I’ve been seeing him for @ 3 years for my Chrons, I feel great, no «episodes» in YEARS and no western meds. The teas aren’t so bad with a little fresh lemon juice and agave and sticking to his food recommendations has gotten easier and easier.

Dr. Chen is amazing. My adventures with Dr. Chen began after years of unresolved stomach pain. I was over the CT scans, and the specialists who really didn’t have a cause or a solution. Within a few weeks of diligently following Dr. chen’s diet and tea regimen I was feeling better than I had in YEARS. I wish I would have found him sooner.

I have been seeing Dr. Chen for over 15 years. I have followed the diet and tea regimen pretty religiously. I used to have consistent sinus infections and asthma. All of that cleared up long ago and I basically feel fantastic. I have avoided taking any prescription drugs (i.e., prescribed by a Western doctor) except for antibiotics after a gum surgery.
Everyone in the office is amazing. They have consistently been extremely knowledgeable, caring and professional.

After a year of trying to get pregnant and told by doctors I had hypothyroidism and hormonal imbalances, I was frustrated with my body. I was told I needed medication to take care of these ailments and would have to wait at least six months to try to get pregnant due to the medications. I knew it didn’t seem healthy, so luckily we moved to Encinitas and had family members who Dr Chen had helped in the past (two were told by western doctors that they could not conceive and after seeing Dr Chen, they both did). So I saw Dr Chen twice and we agreed for me to try to NOT get
Pregnant the first month because he wanted me to get my body healthy first. I told him no problem because I couldn’t get pregnant anyway. Low and behold, within one month we were pregnant! I am seven months and I can’t wait to go back to see Dr Chen for post baby! I cried the last time I was in his office. Happy tears.

This is like one of those reviews I have occasionally read and really found hard to believe. In short, Dr. Chen he has now cured three of my family members of significant digestive ailments. With a custom, for each person, blend of exotic herbs, flowers, etc. Our son had been on the couch for a month with nausea, diarrhea, and no energy. He was 12 when this went on. Previously, we cycled through many doctors and tests. With no progress. A friend told me about Dr. Chen, specifically that he had cured he and others whom he knew. Some pretty affluent and sophisticated people who would not suffer quack. Well, in two days our son sprung back to normal. My wife had similar results. Now, my nephew has as well. I am 48 and this is the only thing I have seen like this/​a real live little known cure for many ailments. Witnessing success like this first hand is powerful. I hope anyone with the need for help goes here. I believe that they will very likely get it.

A friend took me to see Dr. Chen when I was visiting San Diego. He listened carefully to all of my chronic complaints. I could tell by his comments that he understood me in a way that no Western Doctor has. He did not in any way discourage the use of Western medicines, and it was clear that he was an expert on all of the conditions that I have been dealing with for decades.
He was also compassionate, a quality one does not always find with a Doctor as brilliant as Dr.Chen.
His ten day detox diet made me feel so much better that I have been on it for a month and plant to eat this way always. He was very careful in writing down the formula for the herbs which are very tolerable. I woudl have done anything to feel better, but the tea is not hard to drink at all.
Caring, knowledge and his ability to make me feel better make it easy to understand why people come from all over the world to see Dr.Chen.
I will always be grateful to him for his help.

I came to see Dr. Chen once to see if he could help me with my anemia. Iron pills can be toxic, and Henry’s/Sprouts’ Mega Food brand’s «Blood Builder» is excellent, but my red blood cell count was still low. Dr. Chen put me on a pretty strict diet (*NO* chocolates! eek), and gave me some tea that looks like the branches and leaves you find under a tree that had ginseng (I tried to buy some ginseng from them later, but they wouldn’t sell it to me). Everything the doctor told me made complete sense, and after my following blood test I was at normal levels (LONG time since that’s happened!). He doesn’t charge for consultation, but makes up for it on the price of the tea (you get 1 – 2 week’s worth at each visit).But truly good health has no price. If you have a serious ailment (or even not so serious), you should definitely give Dr. Chen a try!

My daughter has been treated by Dr. Chen for periodic fevers for several years. We had seen specialists at Children’s Hospital and several pediatricians. The tea that is made specifically for her is the only thing that has worked. The tea is made up of flowers, twigs, seeds, etc. Everything in it can be seen. I personally know at least 6 people who have seen him for different ailments, e.g., thyroid, allergy, circulation, and fertilitly problems who have all been treated successfully. What is also great is that he doesn’t charge for consultations.