Herbal Medicine question.

[MrsC]

Hi all

Very interested in the medicinal side of plants and read a lot about it, anyone else?

[stella]

I have a very good herbal/medicine book that I refer to, but only used the basic stuff so far

[lainey lou]

Am very interested, have only read the Grow your own drugs book, would be interested in any reccomendations.

[Flummery]

I have a book on herbal medicine but I have to say, I feel we need to be aware of how much the concentration of the active ingredient is dependent on the weather, amount of watering, time of day of harvest and many other variables. I use thinsg that might ease breathing or a cough when I have a cold but I wouldn't dream of self medicating with the stronger stuff, foxglove for example.

[northepaul]

Common sense is maybe the answer: foxgloves are poisonous, along with deadly nightshade etc, so it makes sense not to medicate with them.
I think its kind of like mushroom foraging, you really need to know what you're doing.

[Capsid]

Sorry, but I prefer to use medications that have been properly tested in clinical trials and have a licence.

[Glutton4...]

Sorry, but I prefer to use medications that have been properly tested in clinical trials and have a licence.

You mean the ones that have been injected into animals....

[Capsid]

You mean the ones that have been injected into animals....

and humans.

[Jax]

I only use home remedies and most of the time its fruit stuffs and the like. I am a million times healthier than when I was on chemical drugs from the docs. They are given out like sweeties from the doctors and in my opinion its uneccasary.

[Rabidbun]

I swear by honey, lemon and ginger/garlic tea for coughs and colds, eat bananas and broccoli for my Crohn's but wouldn't swap my paracetamol for the world!

I find the whole thing very interesting though (the latest research into the home remedy for warts was a good read), but I wouldn't feel comfortable dabbling given that I've already got medical conditions that could potentially be badly affected by various things.

I do think though that as a society we rely too much on pharmaceutical companies , with all the new drugs and all their associated side effects being given out far too easily instead of alternative (and cheaper) remedies being used.

[Patchninja]

It depends what's wrong with you. If you've got a cold, you don't need the doc and can sort yourself out. I'm not enjoying my chemo at the moment, but I wouldn't be without it and thank the Lord that some chemical company has made it!

[northepaul]

I use and make a lot of herbal teas, & grow herbs for this purpose, I also use honey everyday and eat a lot of garlic.

However, for pain killers, I take aspirin (usually) paracetamol or ibuprofin (NB not all at once ) for headaches/severe pains I cant get rid of anyother way.

[Hilary B]

Sorry, but I prefer to use medications that have been properly tested in clinical trials and have a licence.

Until recently (in historic terms) nearly all medicines, including the 'licenced' ones, were derived from herbal sources. Without the herbal origins, we wouldn't HAVE a commercial medicine industry!
There are conditions that don't respond to herbal remedies, and there are a few herbal remedies that should not be used without advice from a trained herbalist, but outside of that, I'd rather go for the more natural version.
I have a theory that quite a lot of the 'side effects' of commercial preparations can be counterted by the 'impurities' in the herbal equivalent, eg the herbal version of aspirin may well contain some unrecognised substance that protects from stomach ulcers etc..

[Florence Fennel]

I've just discovered I like herbal tea and as I had gone off coffee, it has made a healthy replacement.