In recent years the topic of nutritional healing has jumped to the center of the medical industry.  A study done by the government in 2004 came to the conclusion that over one third of adults are switching to some form of   alternative medicine and natural healing herbs.

One of the main facet of  interest is using Herbal Medicine.  You may at first think that this is just a trend, the fact is Herbal Medicine has been with us for over a thousand  years.  Many of the familiar medications you take everyday had there beginning from natural ingredients.  Aspirin comes from willow bark, digitalis is from foxglove and quinine is created from the cinchona tree to name just a few.

You might also find this of interest, the man made version of aspirin has been credited with the start of the billion dollar pharmaceutical industry. It all was started by a chemist employed at the Friedrich Bayer Company prior to world war I in Germany who was credited with creating the synthetic version. 

The Bayer Company then registered the term aspirin as there trademark but after World War I the Allies had seized many German companies assets and resold them to recover the cost of the war and Bayer lost the patent rights.

In 1918 a company named Sterling Drug purchased the rights to use the term aspirin in the United States. Bayer’s attempt to protect their patent even before it was due to expired in 1917, failed, and the term aspirin became a generic term in the U.S.

 Natural healing herbs is using botanical (plants) alone or in some combination to help treat or prevent  ailments and illnesses. Natives of different countries have been using different types of plants and their extracts to cure their maladies for centuries. You may have also heard it called folk medicine.

Today medicine is  based on one of these teachings  Greek, Roman or Medieval which is mainly used by the western schools of thought, while Ayurvedic which has its origin in India and the Chinese Herbal Medicine which are used in eastern traditions. The reason for the different teachings existing is that the origin of the native plants that were available to them to use was based on their location.

Another thing that you may find of interest is that in ancient times the healers believed that they needed to treated both the body and mine, in the same government study in 2004 it also revealed that the people using  natural healing herbs who included some form of meditation or prayer increased their healing results by more than 60%.

A very loose translation of Ayurvedic means knowledge of life. Ayurvedic Medicine can be traced back over 6,000 years, it has been discovered that Ayurvedic Medicine not only practice natural healing herbs, but used inoculation and even had surgical procedures.

Its sad but over time Ayurvedic Medicine as all of them have done, moved from treating the disease root cause and instead focus on treating the symptoms, what ever happen to “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”  when will our doctors wake up and stop treating the effect instead of the cause. In ancient times  strengthening your immune system would of been the first goal and is for many doctors who use alternative medicine.

Natural Healing

With over a half million herbs known to us that can be put to use as possible remedies, there is really no way for us to know by the makeup of a plant that will give us the information we need on how to best use it.  

 In China, Herbalist practitioners have over 2,000 remedies that they have at their disposal. Herbal remedies can very widely in strength from different parts of the world and they can be very mild, gentle type remedies that are use as food to potential toxic  poisons if not taken in the correct dose.

Home use of these herbal remedies is know to all most all of us in one form or another, because this is how they have survived all these years being passed from one generation to the next. This is also why the scientific community disapproves of them so much.

It really is to bad, because they are ignoring over a thousand years of experience and knowledge, and as a fact, many of our so called modern pharmacological concoctions are based on these herbal remedies.

I think most everyone has a remedy or recipe for some type of herbal tea that was handed down from mother to mother for generations and are still being used to this very day. There is hope, there are current changes going on in the world today from many doctors toward the old traditional remedies and the change seems to be for the better. 

Herbs can and do make for good cures to many ailments, but you must keep in mind with over 300,000 plant species, and the use of a very good herbalist who may know a couple thousand of them mistakes can still happen. Let’s look at some of the more common problems to watch for.

 If you are pregnant avoid the following they can increased your risk of miscarriage:

1. barberry root bark
2. cascara sagrada
3. feverfew
4. juniper berries
5. mugwort
6. pennyroyal
7. pokeroot
8. rue
9. senna
10. southernwood
11. tansy
12. thuja
13. wormwood 

Safe herbs during pregnancy:

1. Manna
2. Butternut Bark or Root
3. Flax Seed
4. Slippery Elm
5. Lemon Verbena.

It doesn’t matter what herb(s) or medication you are on, always be aware of anything that is not normal for you and stop taking it until you have consult with an expert you trust. You should verify the diagnosis as many different symptoms can be the same for different ailments. You should always discuss any planned herbal treatments your thinking about trying with your doctor.

Always keep a watchful eye out for an allergic reactions. Just because you have never been allergic to anything in the past is no guarantee that it won’t happen, if you are going to embark on a new herbal program, keep on the lookout for any adverse reactions.

 Any time you experience any difficulty in your breathing after 30 minutes of taking a new drug, food or herb, you need to call 911 immediately!  You could very well be having an anaphylactic reaction which is a very severe form of an allergic reaction.  This is not something to disregard it can very quickly become fatal without prompt treatment. This is a very rare reaction.

Keep a close watch for any type interactions. Herbs just like other medicines can negatively interact with each other. Remember to be careful when ever you take more than one drug or herb at the same time. If you think there has been an interaction you should consult your doctor or pharmacist.

Anti depressants called monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors which includes St. John’s Wort, tend to interact very badly with wine, cheese and many other foods. If your thinking about taking St. John’s Wort, be sure you discuss it with your doctor first.

Always remember that it’s your responsibility to keep both your doctor and herbalist  fully aware of any herbs or medications you are taking.