Ralph Golan, M.D.
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 Naturopathy was originated in the United States by Benedict Lust, who began using the term in 1902 to describe the future of natural medicine, a future which combined the best treatments, including nutritional and exercise therapy, natural diet, herbal medicine, homeopathy, and stress reduction, among others.
As Michael Murray and Joseph Pizzorno explain in The Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine, naturopathic practitioners believe that "there is really but one healing force in existence and that is Nature herself, which means the inherent restorative power of the organism to overcome disease. |
Christopher Hobbs
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 European herbal medicine, especially pungent fruiting bodies, which are thought to be superior to ones that are mild-tasting (Dragendorff, 1898). It is thought to have a sweet taste and cold energy in TCM and is used to relieve inflammation of the upper respiratory tract. It is soothing, demulcent, and slightly expectorant, and it may be taken as tea for colds and flu, asthma, bronchitis, and general debility. To make tea from T. mesenterica, use 3-6 g of the fresh fungus, or soak the dried fungus in water to hydrate it before weighing. |
Lesley Tierra
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 Herbal healing is included in all chapters of the book, yet Part I specifically introduces and teaches the beginning basics of herbal medicine.
The Herbs of Life is organized to encompass the five factors involved in health and healing in the following way:
Part I encompasses the various aspects of herbs and how they are used for healing. This includes their heating or cooling energies, tastes, properties, chemical constituents, families, formulas and individual information on each herb with projects, preparation recommendations, doses and cautions. |
| Box 12602W, Austin, TX 78711
An outstanding newsletter with up-to-date happenings and scientific studies on herbs and herbal medicine.
Herbal Perspectives
Planetary Formulas Quarterly Newsletter P.O. Box 533W, Soquel, CA 95073 A free quarterly newsletter.
Medical Herbalism
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Foster's Botanical and Herb Reviews
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Australian Journal of Medical Herbalism
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| Unless you grow or pick your own herbs it may be a mistake to assume that herbal medicine is "cheap" medicine. To be assured of the desired results, you must have enough of the genuine herb in a high-quality form. I have seen people go into herb shops and buy one ounce of an herb, for instance, to treat some acute ailment, while that one ounce may constitute only a single day's dosage. Even antibiotic treatments with strong drugs are not usually finished in one day. |
| Then the effect the herbal medicine had on the organs, the person and the disease was considered. It was next matched with the cause of the individual's condition.
With the advent of materialistic thinking in the 17th and 18th centuries due largely to Newtonian physics, a mechanistic view of nature has occurred. This proclaims that only what can be substantiated materially is reality. Extending to the human body, this way of thought views the body as a machine governed by mechanical laws and comprised of chemical constituents. |
| Step-by-step instructions on each type of herbal preparation, a guide to shopping for herbs, and herbal medicine kit instructions and contents are provided as well. This book may be used in several ways. You may choose to read it from cover to cover starting at the beginning. You may also start by just exploring the herbs, remedies, therapies and preparations, leaving the energy of herbs for later in-depth study. Or, you may choose to learn first about the energy of healing, including the energy of herbs, illness and foods. |
Mark Bricklin
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 Tretchikoff, who contributed the Russian material and bibliography, this is one of the best books on herbal medicine available, with entires on over 200 herbs. The type is large and easy to read and the illustrations well defined. There are clear instructions on how each herb is used, and even a notation for each herb on its solubility in water, boiling water or alcohol. The information on how herbs that grow in North America are also used in parts of Asia adds color and interest to the book. |
| For more about onions, see our discussion of them in "The Ten Most Practical Medicinal Herbs: How to Grow and Use Them," which is part of the large entry entitled herbal medicine.
Completing our little team of fire-breathing heart helpers is garlic. Here's a guy that doesn't know when to quit. For starters, it stimulates lots of the fibrinolytic activity that dissolves blood clots before they get nasty. Arun Bordia, M.D. |
| Here, I want to present a broader view of herbal medicine, as well as some details that may not appear in other sections.
Included here are:
• Dr. |
Ralph Golan, M.D.
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| Weiss, R. F. herbal medicine. Beaconsfield, England:
Beaconsfield, Ltd., 1988.
MORE NATURAL THERAPEUTICS
BEE VENOM THERAPY*
Used for centuries, bee venom has proven to be an effective and safe treatment for numerous common ailments. |
Andrew L. Stoll
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 John's wort is the long history of use as a traditional herbal medicine. Although this long experience has failed to document any severe toxicity, it would be desirable to have formal toxicity studies, such as the tests the FDA requires for prescription medication. Some people reject the notion of conventional pharmaceutical treatment for many disorders, including major depression. For these individuals, St. John's wort and the other so-called natural mood-elevating agents are a useful option when closely monitored.
Drawbacks. There are several drawbacks to the use of St. |
Mark Bricklin
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| George Zofchak: 55 Years of Healing with Herbs
• A Pharmacist's Experiences with "Yesterday's Miracle Drugs"
• The Ten Most Practical Medicinal Herbs: How to Grow and Use Them
• Dangerous Herbs
• Pharmacognosy: The Scientific Approach to Medicinal Herbs
• An Annotated Bibliography of herbal medicine and Folk Remedy Books
I have attempted to avoid completely all the herbal jargon and technical terminology that makes some herb books difficult to understand. Perhaps the only two terms that need explanation are "infusion" and "decoction."
An infusion is simply a tea made from an herb. |
Henry Pasternak, D.V.M., C.V.A.
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 Milk Thistle (Silybum Marianum)
Milk thistle has been used for centuries as an herbal medicine for the treatment of liver disease. The active constituent in milk thistle is silymarin, a mixture of three flavolignans. Silybin is the most biologically active flavonoid in silymarin.
Therapeutically, milk thistle acts by protecting liver cells from toxic damage,26 boosting glutathione concentrations,27 and regenerating normal liver cells.28 Milk thistle is also a potent free radical scavenger. |
| Ephedra (Ma-huang)
Ephedrine is a chemical compound found in all species of ephedra, of which the Chinese varieties, known as ma-huang, are the most widely used in herbal medicine. Ephedrine's basic pharmacological action is similar to that of epinephrine (adrenaline), although ephedrine is much less active. Ephedrine stimulates both the alpha and beta receptors of the nervous system as well as induces release of norepinephrine, which further stimulates the nervous system. |
Margarita Artschwager Kay
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 Children
Children's conditions, as mentioned earlier, received little attention from observers recording herbal medicine in the American and Mexican West. Nevertheless, at least a few children's conditions have been documented as receiving treatment using medicinal plants. Beyond the childhood diseases chicken pox and measles, children have also suffered from fever, diarrhea, and intestinal worms and have required soothing from the pain of illness or from fright, bad dreams, or emotional illness. Still another concern was delayed walking, which was seen as a physical problem. |
| Norman Farnsworth (i993a:36D) has stated that "no herbal medicine in the genus Aristolochia should ever be used by humans over an extended period of time." Aristolochia serpentaria L. was found to contain gums, resins, aristolochine, an essential oil, and aristolochic acid I among its compounds (Duke 1985:63). Too large a dose of aristolochine is toxic, violently irritating the gastrointestinal tract and kidneys, even causing coma and death from respiratory paralysis.
¦ Arracacia (Apiaceae)
ARRACACHA
Arracacia atropurpurea Benth. |
| In support of this premise, many medicinal plants now used in Alaska are also employed in Russian folk medicine, including plants used everywhere in herbal medicine as well as plants that are endemic to their similar climates. See Kourennoff 1970; Hutchens 1973; Fortuine 1988; Graham 1985; Kari 1991.
4. Pliny 1938, 7:201. |
| In traditional herbal medicine, practitioners and patients may have still other cultural reasons for choosing to treat or be treated using plants.
All over the world, people use plants for medicine. Some have no choice: medicines synthesized with biomedical technology are expensive, completely out of reach for many in Third World countries and people who are poor, even in industrialized nations. In addition, some people prefer natural medicines out of conviction or for cultural or emotional reasons. |
Gale Maleskey
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 A Balm That Calms
A number of scientific studies have shown that valerian has a sedative effect on the brain and also relaxes muscles in the digestive tract that clench under stress. In herbal medicine today, it's primarily used for insomnia, mild anxiety, panic attacks, and tension in the body. The herb hastens sleep, improves sleep quality, and reduces nighttime awakenings. In England, dozens of over-the-counter sleep aids contain valerian. In the United States, you'll have no problem finding it in most drugstores and health food stores.
"It's a mild herbal relaxant. |
Christopher Hobbs
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| Although this formula was traditionally considered a "tonic" in western herbal medicine, it is more of a digestive warming stimulant formula in the view of TCM. As discussed below, western herbalism traditionally considered digestive stimulants strengthening to the entire bodily constitution. |
Donald M. Epstein
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 Natural healers, particularly those involved in herbal medicine and homeopathy, were gradually replaced by allopathic physicians. The practice of medicine was shifting from an art form, involving the application of natural remedies, into a "science." Instead of people being victimized by evil spirits that destroyed their health, bacteria became the villain. By the 1950s, bacterialost its status as the evil offender, and viruses became the primary cause of disease. Viruses then became less popular, and faulty DNA was blamed for victimizing people with poor health and disease. |
Christopher Hobbs
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| Shiitake was included in a work on herbal medicine first in 1309 in the Materia Medica in Daily Use (Wang, 1985).
A number of ancient Taoist works mention "chi" as a plant that brings happiness and immortality. In both the Pen king and the Pie lu the name chi is applied to various mushrooms, six of which are talked about in detail.
ž ts'ing (green) chi, also called lung (dragon) chi is said to be sour and non-poisonous; it brightens the eye, strengthens the liver, quiets the spirits, improves the memory, and prolongs life. |
Kathi Keville
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 Doctors and the public began to regard herbal medicine as old-fashioned.
Back to t, £ the Future
In an ideal medical system, herbalism would be viewed as a legitimate medical therapy, not as an outsider or "alternative" therapy. Recently, instruction in herbal therapy has been integrated into some medical curricula in Germany. So there is hope.
Unfortunately, in North America, medicine is extremely drug-oriented, and the American and Canadian Medical Associations have strong ties to pharmaceutical companies. |
| Environmental and Ethical t g Concerns q&J\
Another plus for herbal medicine is that it is environmentally sound. One person who has considered the relationship between environmental pollution and drugs is English herbalist David Hoffmann. Author of a number of herb books, including The Holistic Herbal and Successful Stress Control, Hoffmann's major issue when he ran for Parliament in England was global ecology. |
| Tinctures, also called herbal extracts, are a concentrated liquid form of herbal medicine. A tincture is easy to carry easily assimilated and needs no refrigeration. It will keep for years, another important consideration for anyone with an on-the-go lifestyle. This concentrated form of herbs makes it easier to down strong-tasting herbs or take large doses. |
| Respiratory problems such as a chest cold, laryngitis or hay fever usually respond quickly to herbal medicine. Just remember that any breathing problem is serious enough to warrant a visit to a health care professional.
The health of your lungs depends on how you breathe. Only about one-fifth of inhaled air is oxygen. Remember to take deep, slow breaths that fill your lungs and to relax while you do so. Also, try to reduce stress whenever you can—stress weakens the immune system, thereby opening you to infection. |
| Matt figured that he could at least use some preventive herbal medicine for his prostate. He started taking ginseng and saw palmetto to help his prostate and also to increase his stamina when he worked out at the gym twice a week.
As Matt had no idea that herbs could increase libido, he was quite surprised when he realized that his herbal treatment was not only helping these two conditions, but also improving his sexual stamina. He asked me if I had ever heard of such a thing. I said that I certainly had, and suggested that he read up on some other herbs, such as yohimbe and damiana. |
| The best kind of herbal medicine (like the best modern medicine) is not treating your child once he falls sick, but preventing him from getting sick in the first place.
When I began writing this chapter, I asked for herbal success stories from parents. Over and over I heard stories similar to the one that Joan told me about her baby Nathaniel: "Except for an earache, which I treated herbally, he hasn't been sick yet. I think this is because of the immune herbs I give him at the first sign of any problem. |
Maesimund B. Panos, M.D. and Jane Heimlich
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 Rue, its common name, "the herb of grace," has been used as an herbal medicine for thousands of years. When the shinbone is bruised, this injures the sensitive bone covering known as the periosteum. Ruta acts specifically on these tissues, as well as on sprained wrists and ankles.
Recently, a patient told of tripping over a puppy's bed placed near the stairs to the basement and pitching headlong down the stairs. Grasping the edge of one step halfway down, she was fortunate to emerge with nothing worse than a badly scraped shin. |
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