« Business Suites | Home | Real Estate Investment »
Botanical Healing
By peace | October 18, 2007
Comfrey is a valued medicinal plant. People, who suffer from rheumatism and swelling of joints and have been treated with other remedies without success, have found relief with Comfrey tincture.
Herbal medicine uses pills, teas or extracts from flowers, leaves or other whole parts of plants such as peppermint, chamomile, garlic or aloe vera to treat a wide range of ailments. In aromatherapy, essential oils from flowers and plants are massaged into the skin or inhaled. Recent evidence that Chinese and Indian herbs contain the same chemicals active in Western pharmaceuticals increases the likelihood that some of these medications actually work beyond their placebo effect.
But buyers should beware: even potentially effective herbs can lose potency if exposed to air, light or moisture — as many of them are when sold in bulk or powdered into capsules. And just because a substance is “natural” does not mean it is safe: arsenic is natural, too, after all. Taken over long periods of time or in large doses, many of the plants used in herbal remedies can cause extensive damage. Comfrey, for example, which is sold as a digestive aid, may seriously damage the liver. Large doses of licorice, used to suppress coughs, can raise blood pressure and alter heartbeat. Furthermore, herbal medicines may carry residues from pesticides or molds. Because they are regarded as “food”, herbal preparations are exempt from the Food and Drug Administration’s stringent regulations requiring all drugs to be proven both safe and effective.
Another botanical alternative is homeopathy, a school of thought that has been around since the late eighteenth century and is based on the premise that disease can be treated with highly diluted doses of the same substances that cause it. Extremely popular in the nineteenth century, homeopathy dwindled almost to extinction until the early 1980s. Now, according to the National Center for Homeopathy, there are over 2500 homeopathic physicians as well as 3000 to 5000 licensed health professionals who practice homeopathy. Prepackaged homeopathic remedies for aches, pains, allergies, and colds are routinely sold over the counter.
Topics: All Posts, Health, Man's health, Woman's Health |
