Barrie R Cassileth, Ph.D.
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 Often herbal medicines are combined in sophisticated ways not only to cure patients' particular ailments, but also to restore the overall balance of their systems. Herbs usually are administered in combinations, prepared typically by boiling to create an herbal tea. As a patient's condition changes, the mix of herbs prescribed is altered accordingly.
Beliefs on Which It Is Based
In addition to balance and energy, the concept of yin-yang and the idea of five elements are central to traditional Chinese medical understanding. |
| As the demand for ginseng and other Chinese herbs has soared, the Chinese government recently issued curbs on the production of traditional herbal medicines, citing the ready availability of adulterated, fake, and illegal remedies. The Chinese Ministry of Health indicated that adulterated medicines, available without a doctor's prescription, are causing disabilities and deaths. China plans to close all substandard factories and markets, as well as those trading in medicines banned by the state. |
| In Asia and some other parts of the world, herbal medicines frequently are prescribed by doctors. In either event, according to standard definitions of the term, herbal remedies are drugs, that is, substances used to treat an ailment or an illness. Herbs are much more dilute than the concentrated products we purchase in the local pharmacy, and they contain many more ingredients than do pharmaceuticals.
The best use for each medicinal herb was determined on a trial-and-error basis over time. |
| Throughout the Middle Ages in Europe, it was used along with herbal medicines to treat patients. In more modern times, osteopathic medicine began to grow in popularity at about the same time Palmer was developing his concepts of chiropractic. Osteopathy initially relied on spinal manipulation in a manner similar to chiropractic.
What Practitioners Say It Does
Back pain is one of the most frequently reported health problems. It is said that, sooner or later, back pain will affect three out of four Americans. It ranks second only to the common cold as a reason for doctor's office visits. |
Dr. Gary Null
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 Findings of researchers working with autoimmune-prone mice support traditional Chinese herbal medicines, specifically sairei-to, as a promising systemic lupus erythematosus treatment.
H. Kanauchi et al., "Evaluation of the Japanese-Chinese Herbal Medicine, Kampo, for the Treatment of Lupus Dermatoses in Autoimmune Prone MRL/Mp-lpr/lpr Mice," Journal of Dermatology 21, no. 12 (December 1994): 935-39. |
Gale Maleskey
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 Unfortunately, it's impossible to say which practitioners are fully qualified to prescribe herbal medicines. Just as there are no set standards for botanicals, we have no government or professional organizations that oversee the standards of practitioners.
Word-of-mouth recommendations and professional reputation are important. In gathering the information on herbal supplements that you find in this book, we turned to herbalists and practitioners who are recommended by their peers or who have made significant contributions to the research on the subject. |
Bradley J. Willcox, D. Craig Willcox, and Makoto Suzuki
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 It was from her hands-on healing experience with these
146 amazing plants that Otasan developed a new respect for herbal medicines and fully realized the value—the necessity—of passing them on to future generations. This continues to be her lifelong work.
As evidence-based scientists, we don't have all the answers concerning how the Okinawans' natural herbs and medicines have contributed to their outstanding health, youthfulness, and longevity. But we feel certain that there's a beneficial effect. |
James Green
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 Keep in mind that herbs, the principal ingredients in homemade herbal medicines, are basically free once you learn how to correctly harvest them for yourself (which we will cover in Chapter Three). Therefore, I can assure you that herbal medicine-making performed in the home-kitchen is not only simple and fun, it is universally affordable. This makes perfect sense, for the art and empirical science of Herbalism were engendered eons ago by the wit and enduring ingenuity of some remarkably intelligent, resourceful, and visionary people—our ancestors. This is our cultural heritage. |
| If you have never worked with medicinal plants or made herbal medicines for yourself, you will have to take my word for this. However, as you experiment with the procedures suggested in this manual, I promise that during some private moment, maybe when "shaking your tinctures" or while "garbling" some dreamy Mugwort, you will find yourself thinking, "Hey, that Green guy was right. This is more damn fun! I think I might even go dancing tonight!" And hke dancing, once you find the rhythm of the music and begin moving your body with it, you'll never want to stop. |
Ben Davis
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| Lindlahr wrote: "Many of our more common foods were once highly prized herbal medicines. Through hundreds of years they demonstrated their curative potencies which have never been lost except in the minds of men."
Cleansing diets were frequently used in the treatment of gall and kidney stone attacks, and to lower the blood pressure rapidly or to free a diabetic patient from excessive sugar. Said Dr. |
Mark Bricklin
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 Tyler has studied the use of herbal medicines throughout the world for some 30 years, has a Ph.D. in pharmacognosy (the science of medicines from natural sources) and is presently Dean of the Schools of Pharmacy, Nursing and Health Sciences at Purdue University.
Dr. Tyler walks a narrow line between a very sharp-edged skepticism and a willingness to recognize the therapeutic potency of herbs when such acceptance seems reasonable. |
| We often ask grandmothers who come in to share their knowledge of traditional herbal medicines with us. We do this not only because the herbs help, but because we feel it is bad for people to become addicted to things like sleeping pills because of relatively minor problems."
Besides treating patients who come to stay for several weeks, Wild-wood conducts a number of unusual community education programs. |
| Ferni, in Herbal Simples (1897), declared that "no simple in the whole catalog of herbal medicines is possessed of a quality more friendly and beneficial to the intestines than Camomile Flowers."
Maude Grieve says that camomile tea is especially good for women during menstruation. "It has a wonderfully soothing, sedative and absolutely harmless effect. It is considered a preventive and the sole certain remedy for nightmare."
Camomile may even be good for the other plants in your garden. Grieve relates that "... |
Lesley Tierra
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 Therefore, I have written this book to focus on these five categories, with an emphasis on the fifth, using herbal medicines.
Breathing exercises may at first seem strange to many of us in the West. Yet, when we look deeper at the role of oxygen in our health, we recognize breathing exercise as essential. Oxygen is carried by the blood to every cell of our bodies. With a lack of oxygen, a myriad of problems results—tiredness, poor memory, impaired mental function, heart and lung problems, blood-related conditions and the growth of cancer, viruses and bacteria. |
Bradley J. Willcox, D. Craig Willcox, and Makoto Suzuki
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| Store-bought medicine was starting to replace home remedies in the early part of the twentieth century, and traditional herbal medicines seemed a bit old-fashioned and impractical to her. Then World War II came along and gave her a very different perspective. During the war and its aftermath, modern medicines were scarce, almost impossible to come by. The only remedies available to treat the ravages of wartime injuries and the inevitable diseases were medicinal plants and herbs from the Okinawa rain forest. |
Lesley Tierra
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| From garden to kitchen, he covers folkore, growing and gathering herbs and simple herbal medicines and home remedies which can be easily made and used. Herbal rituals, dances and songs are also included.
A wealth of information, this 60-minute video celebrates herbal home medicine. The background music is Michael's own classical piano rendering of the American composer, Edward MacDowell's Woodland Sketches. The still photographs, cover photograph and narration are by Lesley Tierra. It is available in VHS and Beta. |
Bradley J. Willcox, D. Craig Willcox, and Makoto Suzuki
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| Many of our current drugs are purified and concentrated forms of former herbal medicines (e.g., aspirin from willow bark), which attests to the fact that plants can be powerful medicines.
With this caveat in mind, we present some of the potential neutraceuti-cal foods and healing herbs that Okinawans have been using and that may be playing significant roles in their lifelong health. |
| Both claims need to be scientifically tested, but in Okinawa mugwort is becoming more and more popular as people are rediscovering traditional herbal medicines.
Folkloric claims. Mugwort's medicinal actions go well beyond stomach ailments. Folkloric claims include efficacy in treating asthma, bronchitis, the common cold, fever, headache, dysmenorrhea (painful menstruation), gout, epilepsy, gallstones, kidney stones, gastritis, tuberculosis, skin cancer, and wounds. |
Lesley Tierra
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| This provides the purest and best source for making herbal medicines while giving the wddcrafter an enriching experience with nature. The essence of wildcrafting is harvesting plants in a manner that increases their number and health.
When wildcrafting herbs, it is important to follow certain procedures to ensure that the plant populations are not destroyed in the process. Because of indiscriminate harvesting practices in the past, several native herbs in America are already endangered, such as goldenseal, wdd American ginseng and lady's slipper. |
| It has directions for creating herbal medicines and gives information on how to harvest, prepare and store your herbs. 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. |
| They impart the medicinal properties of the herbs used, making your herbal medicines an enjoyable experience.
Because sun teas are a type of infusion, they are usually made from the leaves, seeds and flowers of plants. Roots and barks are generally not used this way as they need cooking to extract most of their properties. Lemon balm, chamomile, mint, licorice, fennel, comfrey, plantain and calendula all make nice sun teas.
Sun Tea
1. Wash leaves or flowers well and place in clear glass jar.
2. Fill jar to top with water, then screw on lid tighdy.
3. |
James A. Duke, Ph.D.
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 It was a fascinating two years, and I returned to the United States more convinced than ever that I would focus my career on herbal medicines.
Some experiences remain vivid in my memory, even after 30 years. On one trip into the bush, our group decided to climb Cerro Pirre, an enchanting 5,000-foot peak near the Colombian border. It was a slow, two-day, hand-overhand climb through thick vegetation. Our Choco Indian porters handled the rigors much better than we gringos did. |
Bradley J. Willcox, D. Craig Willcox, and Makoto Suzuki
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| Although the Japanese don't call it evidence-based medicine, a similar open-minded philosophy has existed for many years in Japan, the country with the largest number of patents in herbal medicines. It has also existed for over two decades in Germany, where there is a special government agency called Commission E to evaluate alternative therapies, such as herbs, for their healing efficacy. |
Kenny Ausubel
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 Mounting scientific data on herbal medicines show documented efficacy confirming ancient folk traditions. Perhaps insights into the nature of quantum physics and complexity theory may one day provide a matrix for explaining the potency of the infinitesimal doses of homeopathic remedies. Research is proving placebos to be an unimaginably powerful healing force, dissolving distinctions between mind and body. Biological revelations about the natural world illustrate that health is more akin to an intricate ecology of interdependent relationships than to the rigid mechanics of a machine. |
Nicola Reavley
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 Herbal medicine and acne
There are several herbal medicines which can be used to alleviate the infectious and inflammatory processes which occur in acne. These include pot marigold (Calendula officinalis) which can be used as facial wash, echinacea (Echinacea angustifolia or E. purpurea), tea tree oil (Melaleuca spp) and goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis).
An important part of a herbal treatment program would also involve blood cleansing and improving elimination of toxins. |
| Herbal medicine and HIV/AIDS
There are many herbal medicines which have demonstrated antiviral effects and/or stimulatory effects on the immune system. Some of these and compounds extracted from them have been used to treat those with HIV/AIDS. These include cat's claw (Uncaria tomentosa), echinacea (Echinacea purpurea), ginseng (Panaxginseng), St John's wort (Hypericumperforatum), reishi and shiitake mushrooms, licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra), turmeric (Curcuma longa), astragalus (Astragalus membranaceus), aloe vera (Aloe vera) and mistletoe (Viscum album). |
| Many people prefer to use herbal medicines because in many cases, they exert beneficial effects without the side effects caused by many pharmaceutical drugs.
In the western world, in the last 10 to 20 years, there has been a tremendous growth in interest in herbal medicine and more natural and less toxic therapies have become increasingly popular. Scientific researchers have also produced a large amount of information on the use of plants and plant substances as medicinal agents. |
Richard Gerber, M.D.
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 The prototype example of today's drugs borrowing from yesterday's herbal medicines is the foxglove leaf and its primary active agent, digitalis. Herbalists in the late 1700s knew that the foxglove plant was efficacious in the treatment of fluid retention due to heart disease. Later, twentieth-century scientists discovered that digitalis was the active ingredient in foxglove which endowed the plant with beneficial cardiac effects. By utilizing modern research techniques, doctors have come to understand the cellular and molecular effects that enable digitalis to assist the failing heart. |
Kenny Ausubel
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| Pollen from eight flowers and branches spread at their graves in a cave in Iraq was identified as originating from eight different species, seven of which are still used as traditional herbal medicines by the local residents.15 The thrilling 1991 discovery of the "Iceman," a traveler whose 5,300-year-old mummified body was found frozen in the ice in the Alps of northern Italy, revealed that he carried two walnut-sized lumps tied to a leather thong probably attached to his clothing. |
James A. Duke, Ph.D.
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| If we all give herbal medicines the chance they deserve, botanical medicine will spread like kudzu, and the world will be the better for it.
—James A. Duke, Ph.D. |
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