That's really interesting that your acupuncturist said that because my acupuncturist has always said that it can take at least a few weeks to notice a change because it can take time to re-balance your energy, as in 6-8 weeks, not just a few sessions. This sounded fair to me, but I suppose there can be different approaches.

My doctor shared with me studies that have captured clinically significant improvement in response to acupuncture. There seems to be less research on the herbs the original poster was referencing. It's notoriously difficult to capture "high quality" clinical trials for integrative treatments since it's hard to to do "sham acupuncture," so I'm comfortable with the risk, because even if it might not work, it's unlikely to harm me. I'm more comfortable with the risk that something might not work as long as it's unlikely to harm me (like acupuncture), as opposed to trying a medication or other intervention that might be more likely to make me feel worse. But that's a "me" thing. I have functional dyspepsia and a condition called abdomino-phrenic dyssynergia. Both can occur with constipation. There aren't many great options for treatment and the non-prescription treatments that are out there are difficult to access =/.

I'm sorry it didn't work out for you, but it's good that you tried.