Using Herbal Medicines

Ultimately, this book is intended to further the cause of herbal medicines. If they are properly researched and the public is properly educated about their effects and uses, herbal medicines will be an asset to us, rather than a liability. 

Because of an incomplete understanding of their modes of action, lack of standardisation in their manufacture and limited awareness of potential adverse effects, great care must be taken in using herbal medicines in patients with liver disease, and often the safest option is simply to avoid them because of the lack of information. This statement can also be applied to recreational drugs. 

Among the Kani tribals interviewed, most knew the therapeutic uses of many plant species, however, there were only four specialised healers who also could cure a variety of ailments. More than 50 different ailments are treated using herbal medicines. Fever (various kinds), skin disease, rheumatism and jaundice were found to be the most prevalent ailments among the local people. Kani tribals used 29 species of wild plants for fever, 28 species for skin diseases, 18 for rheumatism and 7 for jaundice (Table 2). 

Petty, H., Fernando, M., Kindzelskii, A.L., Zarewych, B.N., Ksebati, M.B., Hryhorczuk, L.M., and Mobashery, S. 2001. Identification of colchicine in placental blood from patients using herbal medicines. Chem. Res. Toxicol. 19, 1254-1258. 

Ginseng and Ginsenosides. Ginseng is one of the most widely used herbal medicines in humans [268]. Ginseng, the root of the Panax... 

Ten years ago I worked as a consultant to a dozen medical practitioners. Now, I regularly consult with more than 120 physicians. Why In part, it is because I am better known The more important reason is that most physicians know very little about herbal medicine, and their patients, in large numbers, are now taking herbal products. In fact, a recent consumer research survey released in 1998 reported that 42 percent of the people polled used some form of alternative medicine. The survey also noted that 75 percent of the people said they would be likely to use herbal medicine, and 74 percent of those reporting the use of alternative medical said they used it along with conventional health care. Of those people, 61 percent reported that their physicians were aware of these complementary treatments. 

She has a B.S. in biochemistry and is a naturopathic physician in Torrington, Connecticut, with a busy clinical practice. She uses herbal medicine, homeopathy, nutrition, and physiotherapy. She has used the standardized extract of saw palmetto successfully for the treatment... 

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that four billion people— 80% of the world population—use herbal medicine for some aspect of primary healthcare. Herbal medicine is a major component in all indigenous peoples traditional medicine and is a common element in Ayurvedic, homeopathic, naturopathic, traditional oriental, and Native American Indian medicine. Opinions about the safety, efficacy, and appropriateness of medicinal herbs vary widely among medical and health professionals in countries where herbal remedies are used. Some countries professionals accept historical, empirical evidence as the only necessary criterion for herbal medicine s efficacy. Others would ban all herbal remedies as dangerous or of questionable value. 

For centuries, people have used herbal medicines to help patients with schizophrenia. In India and the East Indies, Rauwolfia serpentina offered some hope, and was used for a long time to treat Chandra, i.e., moon disease or lunacy. The roots of Rauwolfia yielded the drug reserpine, the first major tranquilizer, adopted by Western medicine in 1943 and first used to treat hypertensive patients in the 1950s. Before that, it had been used in India in millions of patients. 

A third reason to use herbal medicine is cost visits to physicians, including tests, possible hospitalization and medication are expensive, whereas self-diagnosis followed by herbal medicine costs almost nothing. Diagnosis and treatment are readily accomplished by purchase of any of a number of books stocked by stores selling herb teas. These range from extensive historical treatments to lists of ailments and the herbs to take for them accompanied by enthusiastic endorsements which often border on fanaticism (117,122,123,131). 

Herbal medicines are any plants or plant extracts used for treating ailments, aches, pain, or discomfort. They can range from culinary remedies (like chicken soup for the common cold), to calming extracts (like mint tea), to eating whole herbs. Every ancient civilization seems to have discovered the use of plants as medicines in one form or another. Even as far back as five thousand years ago, humans were using herbal medicines, as evidenced by herbs being found alongside well-preserved, mummified humans like Otzi the Iceman. 

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