Yes- patient preference is a priority!

No.  You might be accustomed to taking pharmaceuticals, not botanicals.  Pharmaceuticals are made by taking only the essential chemical compound, and then concentrated heavily (and often from botanical sources).  Herbal medicine is made by taking the botanical source itself.  Nothing is removed or concentrated.  As a consequence, you take them in a higher dose and more frequently.  The trade off is there are slim to no side effects.

Granules, or powder form, is typically the ingredients in dried form and pulverized into a powder.  The granules tend to work faster because they are more easily digested.  The tradeoff is that you actually have to drink the granules as you would a tea, and often people find the flavor too bitter.  However, I often encourage patients to take the granules because the flavor profile is part of the mechanism of how the herbs work.  We have trained ourselves as a culture to enjoy sweet flavors, but there are so many more therapeutics in sour, bitter, pungent, umami, etc.  

100% safe.  You would be correct if you’ve heard some Chinese herbal remedies can contain western pharmaceuticals, or fillers, or other substances meant to cut corners.  However, I’m using herbs from only three trusted companies which I have personally verified and consume on a weekly basis.  These three companies routinely test their own batches and publish that information.  Additionally, you need an acupuncture license to purchase these herbs; you shouldn’t be able to find them on Amazon for very good reason!  Evergreen is owned and operated by John Chen, the man who wrote the textbook on Chinese Herbs.  He’s also a doctor of pharmacology and a licensed acupuncturist.  There is no one in the world better positioned to provide safe botanicals.

Every dose and refill prescription is different.  There is no general rule of thumb because everyone’s condition is unique to their own bio-mechanics, tolerance, personal habits, etc.  I often follow up with a patient after two or three days to see if we need to adjust the dosage.  Most patients are trained for pharmaceuticals; they expect dosage to change.  But in herbal medicine, those changes happen more frequently, and sometimes we switch the entire formula!  Think of this as a dietary supplementation: you change your diet more frequently than other medicines.  

Most importantly, side effects tend to be rare, and very mild.  These are not at all comparable to the side effects you see on pharmaceuticals.  However, anything that has the power to help you has the power to hurt you.  Of course an introduction to a botanical that you’ve never taken before can effect your body in an unforeseen way; but that’s precisely why you don’t take supplements from YouTube, or Twitter, or some guy you know at the office.  Terrence is a board certified herbalist and spent years learning this medicine from industry leading acupuncturists and Chinese Medical doctors.  He’s a trusted health care professional invested in your well being.