Yunnan Paiyao does NOT taste good

I just got home from my accupuncturist. He told me to dissolve this foul smelling powder in warm water and drink it 8 times in the next 48 hours. And guess what? It tastes just as foul as it smells. I wonder if there are people out there who like the taste? Chinese medicine has some pretty strange remedies. Part of my treatment this evening was burning mugwort which I just learned, from that link is also called moxibustion. The doctor put little rolls of mugwort on my toes and set in on fire. I was told to tell him when it started to become painful so he could knock it off. That was after he stuck needles in me. What fun!
Seriously, it wasn't so bad. Do I believe in it? Well, it's worked before so I hope it works now. We will see. I just hope we see soon, because this kind of treatment is pretty dang expensive especially when contrasted with almost free kupat cholim treatment.