Traditional Chinese medicines promise to cure all manner of ills by "reharmonising imbalances" in the body but their supply and use remain unregulated in Britain.

A recent Brighton court case has awakened fears about their safety.

Bubbly divorcee Sandi Stay was looking forward to a new life of independence as the last of her six children finally flew the nest.

She had a new boyfriend, a job she loved and a new family in Canada, where she had recently met the father she never knew she had.

The only fly in the ointment was the skin condition which had plagued her for almost 40 years.

She had been using hydrocortisones since developing psoriasis at the age of 16 but continued to suffer dry scaly patches of skin. Her work in the catering trade meant she was often horrified to find flaky white skin from her scalp visible on her smart black jacket.

The 59-year-old hated taking chemicals and tried all sorts of alternative treatments, from coal tar baths to sun lamps. Then she decided to try Chinese herbal medicine.

Little more than two years later her kidneys failed, condemning her to a life on dialysis.

Earlier this month the Chinese herbalist accused of having supplied Sandi with herbal pills containing a banned substance was cleared of any wrongdoing.

In court, it was not disputed that Sandi's kidney failure was most likely caused by the herbal pills she had taken, which tests showed to contain traces of the banned substance aristolochia. A medical expert said her organ damage could only have been caused by aristolochic acid, a plant extract which even in small amounts can cause renal failure. What was disputed was who had supplied them.

A Hove Crown Court jury unanimously cleared the owner of the Guo Yao Centre in St James's Street, Brighton, of supplying the pills.

Jurors accepted herbalist Jie Zheng had taken steps to ensure the substance was not in her medicines after it was banned in 1999.

Sandi says her experience should be a warning to others planning to use traditional Chinese medicines and they should proceed with caution until the regulation surrounding them is tightened up.

Her life has changed beyond recognition since one night in December 2000 when she began feeling unwell. She woke up with a violent headache and sickness.

She started feeling cold and tired all the time and her daughter insisted on taking her to the doctor. She was initially given migraine tablets but blood tests revealed the problem lay with her kidneys.

Toxin levels in her body were building up fast and by June 2001 she was told she was in acute kidney failure.

She said: "I'd never even heard of kidney failure. I was feeling worse and worse and I was very frightened. I'd thought it was something that was going to get better."

By August she was going to hospital every other day to have three then four hours of kidney dialysis. Soon she was told she would have to have her kidneys removed because the aristolochia damage meant she was at risk of developing cancer. Her kidneys and urethra were removed in July 2002.

Sandi, of Amberleigh Drive, Hove, said: "I was always healthy, always busy. I have worked at Lingfield Racecourse for years as a catering supervisor and have done many other jobs. I never planned on retiring. I wasn't a typical 59-year-old.

"When I became ill I had just started a relationship but with kidney failure you lose your libido. Instead of having a romantic relationship, Peter is now my carer. He has moved in with me and given up his full-time job. We had to train at the hospital for six months before we could have a dialysis machine at home.

"It takes an hour to prepare the machine, four hours to sit on it and another hour and a half to clean it afterwards. After dialysis I feel tired and washed out."

Just before becoming ill, Sandi had visited Canada to meet the father, brother and sisters she had only just learnt she had. Her condition means she is unlikely to see her father again as dialysis in Canada is too expensive.

She has had to give up her job and is no longer sure what the future holds. A kidney transplant is a possibility, albeit a slim one as Sandi's blood group means she is among the least likely to find a matching donor.

She said: "I went into shock for a long time. The diet I now have to follow is horrific. I used to eat healthily but now I am not allowed good foods. I'm only allowed half a litre of fluid a day."

The only way she can get rid of the liquid she takes in is through dialysis every other day. She takes tablets every time she eats, seven more in the morning and five in the evening. She injects herself in the stomach once a week to build her blood cells up and takes vitamins.

Sometimes she gets depressed yet still considers herself lucky. In other countries dialysis is not available to everyone and, unlike Brighton and Hove, not everywhere in Britain offers patients the option of doing it in their own homes.

She said: "I miss my work, my friends and my independence. I have to rely on people now to the point where I get irritated about it.

"People die of kidney failure. I worry about my future but I think I'm lucky, I'm still able to walk about, I'm not blind, not diabetic.

"But I still get very angry when I think I needn't be like this."

She believes there are not enough guidelines in place surrounding Chinese herbal medicine.

"There is still no quality control process in place governing the supply and use of traditional Chinese medicines, even though these have been promised for years and it doesn't appear essential for practising herbalists to have any sort of public liability insurance.

"This kind of complementary medicine is very popular in Brighton and Hove and often works but I don't want anyone else to go through what I've gone through. It is too late to help me now but more Government regulation is needed urgently to ensure it doesn't happen to anyone else."