Herbal medicines - good stuff! Do you know who is it for?
Someone recently asked me what kinds of medicines do I have in my arsenal.
Peeking into my dispensary, you could recognize dried herbs for infusions and herbal extracts for internal or external application. As an example, think smooth plantain tea for coughs, fruity hawthorn tincture for challenged heart or st.john's wort blood-red oil for pain.
I combine these and many others according to my patient's needs, creating bespoke medication formula.
Curious if I throw in some spider eggs?
Joking aside, as a practitioner of Western Herbal Medicine, my prescriptions focus on organic plants naturally grown in the UK.
Although I do purchase herbal extracts, dried herbs, creams, aromatic waters or essential oils from sustainable sources, I also very much enjoy growing, gathering and producing my own medicine and thus enriching my supplies for the forthcoming year.
Something to contemplate on: the word "herb" may refer to any plant part - flower, petal, seed, root, rhizome, stem, husk, leaf, fruit or fruit peel. Even a mushroom.
I love to use them all although some are easier to handle than others - imagine taking seeds out of this guy =>>>
Herbal medicines are incredibly wide in their healing potential which they owe to their chemical make-up, also known as phytoconstituents. A common "weed" like plantain can contain hundreds of non-nutrient active plant chemical compounds working in complete synergy, STILL encrypted for modern science. However present day herbalists and past medical doctors have witnessed the power and safety of our natural allies.
Qualified medical herbalist will make sure that prescribed herbs are safe for babies, children, pregnant women, ill people, the elderly, people recovering from illness, as well as for those on medication. I use herbal medicine all the time, for all kinds of complaints. Think about your herbalist like a GP but with plants instead of pills.
Modern medicine is fascinating in its diagnostics, surgery and ERs but so is herbal medicine in its individual patient approach, safe medicines, rare side effects and targeting root causes.
By now, my relatives started making their own tinctures and taking herbs that I taught them about.
Curiosity is what makes us human.