The history of herbal use
The benefits if utilizing modern herbal medicine
What diseases or conditions is herbal medicine good for?
How does the herbalist choose the right medicine for their clients?
How long does herbal medicine take to work?
What if I have tried herbal medicine in the past and it has not worked for me?
How are herbalists trained? How can I find a herbalist?

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The history of herbal use

Using herbs as both medicine and food has probably been around as long as humankind. Even today scientists are discovering that many animals choose to incorporate different plant life into their diets when they are feeling ill. The more that we observe the more that we find that most animal life understands the inherent worth of plants not only as food sources but also to cure ailments. Some philosophers, interestingly, have even postulated that our ability to become conscious as humans had to do with our relationship to plants and that ingesting certain plants helped to change the inherent structures of our brain and our neuronal pathways in order to achieve this.

The earliest written history served to preserve the culture’s most important knowledge. Plants that were used medicinally were carefully described and drawn in order to pass the information down to new generations. We find in books that are over 3,000 years old descriptions and explanations of the use of plant medicines. This is an ancient tradition found in every culture’s written history that we have found and preserved to date. And in those cultures who did not have a written history but a strong oral history, we have also found that, similarly, they used plants as medicine and passed down the knowledge and information of their uses through stories and other oral teachings.

History shows a passage from reliance on our intuitive nature to a western scientific disbelief of all that is invisible to our five senses. Our modern scientific thought chose to disbelieve those more gentle allies in the plant world and instead chose to adopt more poisonous substances in medicine such as mercury and more drastic measures such as surgery pre-anesthesia. It is unfortunate that these therapies became politically so fractionated because there is obviously room for and a need for both western scientific pharmaceuticals and surgery as well as traditional medical therapies. But as in all early societies, especially tribal societies, the shamans, or healers were also often the leaders of those societies. So the fight for which healing modality will be utilized is typically not just the fight for health and healing, but also one for power.

And so we find ourselves today in a society where we are told that we have only one choice. This choice is using western allopathic medicine (M.D.s). That is the only choice our insurance, that we pay so dearly for, will recognize as legitimate medicine. This is the only choice that we can afford to raise our children with and that we can lay our parents to rest under. But sometimes, if we are able to look beyond western scientific medicine we conclude that this modality is best at preventing loss of life but not necessarily at prolonging a life that is robust and vital and worth really living. Upon this realization, we can refocus our gaze and understand the inherent worth in utilizing more then one form of medicine. Botanical medicine, nutritional medicine, energetic medicine, emotional and spiritual medicine are all traditional forms of medicine that our ancestors utilized from thousands of years until our most recent past. Many of us can trace our family line back to grandmothers and grandfathers who were midwives, herbalists and healers.

The benefits of utilizing modern herbal medicine

Modern herbalists have a huge advantage over their predacessors. Modern herbalists live in a global society where they are able to utilize and understand not just the plants that grow around them but also plants from India, China, Africa and other areas. Today’s herbalists are able to draw on scientific information as well as an energetic understanding from many different herbal traditions in order to blend and balance an herbal formula that is specific for each individual patient. Modern herbalists are often sought out by those patients who have not been helped by modern western medicine. Similarly, those patients who have been given up on by this same system of medicine will often seek herbal help and advice. Often times our medical complaints do not fit easily into a category which will lead to a diagnosis. Even once a diagnosis is given, often the prescription drugs will treat only the symptoms of a disease. The benefit of herbal medicine is that it not only addresses the symptoms but it actually works on addressing the causes of diseases. Dr. Andrew Taylor Still, MD, the founder of osteopathic medicine said it quite simply: "To find health should be the object of the doctor. Anyone can find disease."

Botanical medicine has an advantage over pharmaceutical medicine in that herbal medicines are a literal symphony of components that work together on many different biochemical and bioenergetic pathways in order to heal the body and to create balance within the organism. (Duke 1999) Most pharmaceutical medicine that is in use today was at one time derived from a plant. Many pharmeceutical companies have ethnobotonists on staff to continue the search, into the rainforests and the deserts to discover new plants with new constituents that might fight disease. What western science has done is study a plant’s constituents, determine which one is the most pharmacologically active (useful as a medicine) and extracted and concentrated it, determined a medicinal dose through animal and then human experimentation and then marketed it.

Western pharmaceutical medicine has a large dispensary of useful medicines as a result of their search into the plant kingdom, but often harsh and uncomfortable side effects occur when only one of the constituents of the plants is utilized. The plant constituents are no longer working as a team to help balance each other and the living organism. One example of this is the plant Rauwolfia serpentaria. This is a plant used traditionally for thousands of years in Eastern Indian medicine. When trials in the 1940s and 1950s were done in India on humans who had high blood pressure, the results were conclusive that across the board Rauwolfia was enormously successful in decreasing blood pressure (Kreig, 1964). When these studies were published, pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. picked up the herb, extracted one constituent, reserpine, concentrated it and began marketing it for high blood pressure. Soon it became apparent that severe suicidal depression was occurring in some of the people who were taking the pharmeceutical drug (Goodman, 1970). Doctors became wary of using it and today it is not often prescribed. The herb, however, in its whole form does not create negative side effect in the people who take it, even for extended periods of time (Kreig, 1964). There are other many other unstudied constituents in Rauwolfia that may somehow help counteract the negative side effects of the constituent reserpine.

Herbal medicine not only counteracts the negative effects of disease, it more importantly promotes and supports the healthy function of the body. A good example of this is with the herb Allium sativum or garlic. Garlic has been used traditionally in many cultures for sickness and infections. Modern studies done on garlic show that it is has anti-bacterial properties effective against the bacterium Streptococcus, Proteus and E. coli (Protocol Journal 1995). Garlic also has the property of stimulating leukocytes or white blood cells, which are our body’s immune defense system (Lamm, 2001). Garlic also helps support the environment in which our gastrointestinal flora survive which is a vital for proper immune function (Fleishauer, 2000) So there is a significant difference between taking an anti-biotic which indescriminantly attacks foreign bacteria as well our own immune defense system (our gastro-intestinal flora) and taking a whole plant medicine. A huge advantage of plant medicine is that it tends to serve as a support system for our body’s own natural functions. When prescribed correctly there are limited to no side effects or sequele from herbal treatments.

The use of herbal medicines also may take some of the strain off of the current overuse of antibiotics. (Duke 1999)There are many studies which support newly revised medical guidelines to decrease the number of antibiotics that are given, particularly in pathologies that are not often helped by them. An example of this is middle ear infections in children. The evidence that supports the use of antibiotics is sorely lacking and physicians are being urged to decrease antibiotic use in these cases. This is important as antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria are on the increase (please visit the APUA website for more information on this topic, link below). Herbal medicines may be more difficult for bacteria to find a mechanism of resistance for since they have a multitude of constituents that work on several different pathways to fight off infection. (Duke 1999)

What diseases or conditions is herbal medicine good for?

Because herbal medicine is both medicinal as well as supportive to the body it is actually useful for all disease states and pathological conditions. Using herbal medicine for acute disorders such as colds, flus, allergies, fevers, inflammation and infections is always beneficial and not necessarily contraindicated if you are also taking pharmaceutical drugs. Some botanical therapies have been shown in studies to help pharmacological therapies to be more effective. (please check with Dr. Hill or your local herbalist or naturopathic physician to know what therapies might be contraindicated or mutually supportive of one another). Herbal medicines are also extremely beneficial for all chronic, long-term illnesses such as genetic disorders, chronic inflammation such as in arthritis, cancer, auto-immune disorders, hormonal and emotional imbalances.

How does an herbalist choose the right medicine for their clients?

Herbalists choose which plants to prescribe to their clients based on an understanding of the range of uses of each plant. The skill of the practitioner comes in matching the appropriate plants to each person. I have often said that being an herbalist is like being a good matchmaker. It requires a deep understanding of the study of plants as medicine and the study of human physiology, pathology and personality. An herbalist also has an understanding of the plant medicine forms and how these might best suit the needs of each patient. Plants can be medicine in many forms, from utilizing them as a food in the diet, to a tincture, a tea, a powder, a pill or as for external use as an essential or an infused oil.

How long does herbal medicine take to work?

An herbalist typically takes a full case history of the person they are working with and is then able to prescribe an herbal formula. Because herbal medicines work in several different ways it can take anywhere from a few minutes to several weeks to begin seeing effects. This will depend on how the herb is working in the system. For example, an herbal flu formula will typically act very quickly on the system to relieve symptoms because the herbs that an herbalist might choose will have an immediate bioactive response in the system to the virus or bacteria or they might aid immediately to increase circulation in order to create sweating in order to break a fever. Other formulas, however, need to be taken longer term because they are working to rebalance a body function or restimulate a depressed or suppressed function. An example of this might be working to rebalance a woman’s hormonal cycle after discontinuing oral birth control pills or working to increase a slow immune response after being sick for a long period of time. Because herbal medicines work on rebalancing a vital system rather then pushing it to suppress its symptoms it may take some time to work but in the long term the effects are lasting and should not create other side effects as typical pharmaceutical medications often do.

If you have tried herbal medicine in the past and it has not worked for you

I have heard this often in my practice and I have always been able to trace it to one of three reasons. The first reason is that the herbs my patients took were not the right herbs for their condition. When looking at supplement bottles in a health food store they often times have claims on them such as “good for cardiovascular health”. Supplement companies are legally not allowed to go into great detail about how the herb can aid in cardiovascular health. There are many different types of cardiovascular disease and just as many different types of people with cardiovascular disease. An herb that might be useful for a 65 year old woman with congestive heart failure might not work at all for a 30 year old male with hypertension.

The second reason is that the proper dosage was not taken. Again, supplement companies have varied dosage ranges that they typically put on their herbal products that cater to the general public. Yet people react differently to botanical medicines and many actually need a higher or lower dosage then the bottle states. The proper dosage will be very different for every herb and each person. A good example of this is the herb Echinacea. Echinacea is an herb that during the beginning stages of a cold should be taken in fairly high doses. Whenever people have believed that Echinacea has not worked for them I have often found that they were taking an inadequate dose for it to have been an effective treatment.

The last reason, sadly, is that they were taking inferior herbal products. Often times these were products that were bought in a pill form and sold extremely cheaply at a discount retail store or pharmacy. Unfortunately, there are some companies that sell herbal products that either do not have a high quality of herbal medicine in them or they use a lot of fillers in their product. This is easier to do with pills than with a tincture. In the case of a tincture you can taste if it is strong or weak or if it is not the right flavor for the herb you are supposed to be taking. It is best to consult with someone who knows the products well about which companies are reputable. An herbalist, a Naturopathic Physician or someone who works in a local co-op or specialty natural foods market are all good people to recommend reputable herbal company brands.

How are herbalists trained? How can I find a herbalist?

Modern herbalists are trained by attending schools that are taught by professional herbalists. The training for those herbalists who are serious about becoming practitioners themselves can typically last anywhere from two to four years or more. Many of the programs offered in the U.S. also include clinical training where the student herbalist is allowed to observe the professional herbalist treating clients and they can be allowed to begin treating clients and prescribing herbal medicines themselves. There are many schools in the U.S., Britian and Australia which currently train herbalists and have many well known and respected herbalists teaching for them. Two well know schools in the U.S. west are The Rocky Mountain School of Botanical Studies with the herbalist Paul Bergner and The Southwest School of Botanical Medicine with herbalist Michael Moore. There are also some programs currently that either have or are seeking to obtain state accreditation for their herbal programs. Bastyr University in Seattle, Washington has a degree program which specializes in herbal medicine and the Tai Sophia Institute in Laurel, Maryland is currently graduating students with a degree in Herbal Medicine. Being an herbalist is an age-old profession, which is quickly moving into the modern times.

There is currently no state licensure for herbalists. However, there is a national body of herbalists called The American Herbalists Guild. The Guild is a peer-reviewed organization. There are several types of membership, including professional and student membership. Those who seek professional membership have to go through a lengthy process of questions and reviewing by other members before they are allowed professional membership status. Those who have obtained professional membership status typically will use the letters AHG (American Herbalist Guild) or RH (Registered Herbalist) after their name. Currently, this is one of the only nationally recognized groups for finding a professional herbalist. Please visit www.americanherbalistsguild.com for more information.

In the near future there will be a voluntary national exam that will be administered for all practitioners of herbal medicine with clinical experience. Those eligible to sit for the exam will include graduates of medical herbal programs as well as Naturopathic Medical doctors, Medical doctors, Nurse practitioners and Chiropractors who have taken extra studies in clinical herbal medicine. The exam will be offered jointly by the Botanical Medicine Academy and the American Herbalists Guild.

Alliance for the Prudent use of Antibiotics website www.tufts.edu/med/apua/Practitioners/ABRcontrol.html

Duke, J. A., and Bogenschutz-Godwin, M. J. (1999). The Synergy Principle at Work in Plants, Pathogens, Insects, Herbivores, and Humans. In "Natural products from plants" (P. B. Kaufman, ed.), pp. 183-206. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Fla.

Botanicals Containing Phytochemical Antagonists of Specific Microorganisms Protocol Journal of Botanical Medicine Vol.1, No.1, Summer 1995, pg 144

Fleishauer AT, Poole C, Arab L. Garlic consumption and cancer prevention: meta-analyses of colorectal and stomach cancers. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2000;72:1047-52.

Goodman M.A., M.D.,D.Sc., Louis S. and Alfred Gilman Ph.D. editors The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics New York: The Macmillan Company, 1970

Kreig, Margaret B. Green Medicine: The Search for Plants that Heal New York: RandMcNally and Company, 1964

Lamm, Donald L. and Dale R. Riggs Enhanced Immunocompetence by Garlic: Role in Bladder Cancer and Other Malignancies Journal of Nutrition Supplement: Recent Advances on the Nutritional Effects Associated with the Use of Garlic as a Supplement 2001;131:1067S-1070S

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