Is It Safe to Take Herbal Medicine?
Learn the pros and cons of herbal medicine in today's Substack.
To write this Substack, I had to go back 40-some years, when I began my journey that led me to become an herbalist. I had worked for doctors for several years and believed in the standard medical system. Among my many jobs at this clinic, which focused on the Indian reservations, was meeting with the drug reps from different companies. I was really entrenched in the system when my daughter got her first set of shots.
That first set of shots broke her immune system. Infection after infection was treated with one antibiotic after another for a year. She lost weight and refused to eat most of the time. She got serious rashes that were painful. She cried all the time and was sickly. The doctors had no clue, and when I challenged them that she seemed resistant to the medicines. They told me that you can’t become resistant to antibiotics.
That was in 1981, before doctors realized the problems with the overuse of antibiotics, the destruction of your gut bacteria using antibiotics, and the side effects that can last for months or years. They had no idea they were creating drug-resistant strains of every kind of bacteria, including strep, by the overuse of antibiotics.
According to her doctors all those years ago, it was good medicine to continually give antibiotics to a baby, a toddler. She took every antibiotic available then, one after another, until none worked. Then they just threw up their hands and said, We don’t know. In a way, it was a blessing: since antibiotics didn't work, I had no choice but to look elsewhere for guidance to help her.
Doctors today insist they are always right until proven wrong years later, after patients have been harmed by their arrogant attitudes that they are the only ones who can save your health and life.
I knew her doctors were wrong, so I began to research a child’s immune system. There was a renowned healer in a town nearby named Keith Smith. He had studied under some of the great holistic doctors at that time. I went against my husband, at that time, the doctors, my family, and friends, knowing that the system was failing her and me.
Keith Smith, now gone, was a remarkable healer and teacher. He helped hundreds over 30 years in his area. He was my mentor and teacher.
With his expertise, advice, herbal medicine, and diet changes, she improved over time.
I became a healer because of my daughter, to save her life. That journey led me to study herbal medicine and take more classes. I have never stopped learning and taking classes. Herbal medicine and learning how to use it never ends.
For my husband and me, taking herbs is part of our way of life.
We don’t take prescription drugs. I have used herbs for serious health problems, but I am a trained herbalist with over 40 years of education and practice. You are probably new to herbal medicine and have limited knowledge of how to use herbs safely.
So herbs are safe when used properly with knowledge, training, and used under the direction of someone who has expertise.
This article is directed to those of you who have very limited knowledge of how to use herbs safely.
Using herbal medicine requires a skilled, knowledgeable guide.
In those days, the early 1980’s there was no internet with Dr. Google. You read books, and you found a healer to guide you. I repeat that in the past for hundreds of years, people consulted the local healer, the medicine man or woman in their community, or a family member whose expertise was herbal medicine. Local doctors in this country and throughout the world knew and used herbal medicine. In most communities, there was someone to give you expert advice on the proper use of the herbs for a certain illness.
Most people have no idea today on how to find a holistic doctor or healer. Their doctors bully them when a patient asks about seeking alternative healing. We were thrown out of two separate doctors offices for that. We even got a letter sent to our home saying we could not come back to their clinic. All we did was tell them we wanted to seek a doctor more experienced with Lyme disease.
Holistic doctors and healers are much harder to find today. In this country, they are threatened by the standard medical system and must be cautious in how they talk to clients.
In other countries, including Mexico, it is much easier to find a doctor well versed in the use of herbs. If we had money, we would be in Asia getting help right now for my husband with his white blood cell system issues.
That is what is missing today: the lack of experienced healers to help you properly use herbal medicine.
It is difficult to find a healer, and when you do, it is not covered by insurance. People have been so brainwashed by standard medicine that they have no idea how to find a holistic doctor and why they should. It is also a problem that most people have been conditioned to want a quick fix. Give me a pill to solve my diabetes, not a diet or lifestyle change. Often patients want to be well yesterday. It is not long-term wellness they want.
Why is Dr. Google a problem?
Dr. Google is a problem because you take the herbs without proper knowledge of how a particular herb or herbs will affect your individual body system.
Knowing about the herb does not tell you how it will affect your body system, especially if you take OTC drugs and or prescription drugs.
The majority of Americans take numerous OTC drugs, such as aspirin, plus at least two prescription drugs, to sleep or because of chronic pain. OTC drugs like aspirin are blood thinners, and so are many of the herbs…natural blood thinners. Combine them, and you are in trouble. Ginkgo has potent blood-thinning properties, and thousands take it for their brain health. Taking herbs is not something to be taken lightly without knowledge.
Herbal medicine is safe when you know how to use it properly, and should not be combined with prescription medicine.
Herbs are potent natural medicines and should not be taken without study and an understanding of how to use them properly.
Most of you reading this need a holistic doctor or experienced herbalist to help you incorporate herbs into your health program.
Herbs and prescription drugs taken together can be a lethal mix.
Each herb contains many properties with many different effects on the body.
Each herb, or combination of herbs, affects your body and its systems in different ways.
Herbs help different body systems work more effectively. They may help detoxify your body or expel mucus. Some herbs are used only for short-term relief, while others can be taken over the long term. The dosage of herbs depends on weight, the severity of the illness, the condition of the patient’s immune system, and other factors.
If you have had chemo or radiation, it is harder to work with a damaged immune system. Often people wait until the doctor says you have two months to live and we can’t help you anymore before they consult alternative therapies.
If you are in the throws of the last days, it is hard to turn that around.
I have listened to Asian doctors who did work on people that doctors had given up on, some of them far outliving their prognosis given to them by standard oncology doctors.
Some herbs help your heart function better, improve digestion, or improve circulation. Using the herbs does take time, weeks or months, to improve your body functions. That is why you need to know what herbs are most effective for your individual health issues.
Herbal medicine has to be uniquely designed to your health situation. There is no cookie-cutter answer.
Many herbs naturally lower blood pressure and blood sugar, and are natural blood thinners.
Herbs can be dangerous to your health if you take them with prescription drugs. It can land you in the hospital to take prescription drugs and herbs together! I can’t emphasize this enough.
Herbs can either potentiate the effects of the drug, can affect how slowly or quickly the drug is absorbed, or can decrease the effectiveness of a drug. Herbs can clash and often do with drugs, causing side effects that cannot be predicted.
If you are taking antidepressants, psychiatric drugs, or drugs that affect the way your brain works, that can have serious consequences.
If you take thyroid medication and herbs that affect the thyroid function, it will cause serious problems.
If you are taking different chemo and radiation treatments, taking herbs can cause problems in how your body reacts to the treatments.
Each herb contains many different properties that affect health and healing.
Those properties may include killing viruses and germs, such as oregano. Oregano is not an herb to take daily; use it when you are coming down with something. You need to start it early in the sickness.
If you do not take the right amount of the herb, you may not get well. You need to understand that there is a point when standard medicine may be needed.
Many herbs cannot be taken when pregnant because they can cause you to abort the baby. Herbs were used through the centuries to do just that: abort an unwanted baby.
If you are foraging for herbs, there are safe herbs and poisonous herbs that look almost alike, just like mushrooms. You have to learn from an experienced herbalist how to tell these look-alike herbs apart. You need to know which part of the herb to use, when to pick it, how to properly dry it, how it is used or made into an extract. Herbalists spend months and years going to school or learning from an expert during their training.
Most herbs should not be given to babies and children, and should not be given without a holistic doctor in charge. Elderberry does come in a children’s cough syrup or gummies. It still should not be taken if a child is on a prescription drug.
In the old days, before 1910, when herbal medicine was forbidden to be taught in U.S. medical schools, doctors did prescribe herbs and knew how to use them. In each town, there was a person who had herbal medicine expertise and could instruct you on how to use them. Herbal usage was carried down through the family. It was the only medicine used. As a child, your grandma or mom would grow herbs in their garden and teach you how to use them as you grew up. It is a shame, we have moved so far away from those times.