Be honest with your doctors about herbals you take

[EasternPriest]

With a growing number of people taking herbal preparations on a regular basis...there have been medication, anesthesia, and surgery related complications and deaths as a result of patients failing to inform their doctors about what they are taking.

Please read the following link as a call to awareness:

http://www.asahq.org/PublicEducation/herbal.html

We all need to be informed and educated to be safe.

Blessings.......

[Yvonne Belisle]

Thank-you for posting that. A lot of people don't think of herbals as medicines because they are "natural", so they tend to forget them when they are talking to a doctor. Being as I'm not from the medical profession I also tend to forget it myself.

[Mairwen]

People also tend to think that because something is natural that they don't have to read the directions/contraindications/etc and so forth ~ and so they tend to underdose or overdose, and most likely overdose. Not telling your physician about herb use could cause dire consequences; herbs interact with synthetic drugs just like anything else would.

I have more to say, but I'm too tired to think. :rolleyes:

[Lucidia]

yes this is very important information. I watched a special on TV (on one of those health channels) and read a few articles in reader's digest about people who mistakenly mixed herbals with their perscriptions, or just took the wrong herbs together, and ended up with life threatening disorders.

It's also important to keep in mind that a lot of companies don't regulate the herbs that they are selling to you, so sometimes things that should have warnings don't. I did a big study on herbal abortifacents (herbs that cause abortion/miscarriage), and found the many herbs (such as Dong Quai/angelica, as well as many other commonly used 'female' herbs) are not only dangerous to use during pregnancy, but are known to cause miscarriage, and even death. Many of these herbs are much more likely to cause abortifacent reactions when used in conjunction with other herbs, or even certain vitamins or medications, and the bottle may not even SAY "do not use if pregnant", and often, the bottles with a warning only have that warning because they caution the consumer on every bottle, not explaining that certain herbs are especially dangerous... okay well.. i think i've gone off on a tangent.... thanks for posting that link!

[EasternPriest]

One of the best herbal "bibles" that I have come across is called "Tyler's Honest Herbal", written by Varo E. Tyler, PhD, ScD.
He is dean emeritus of the Purdue University School of Pharmacy and Pharmacal Sciences. The latest edition has a 1999 date.

What I appreciate about his work, is not only his knowledge, but his honesty. He does not set out to prove or disprove herbal medicines, but merely to inform regarding what does or does not work.


Blessings.......

[EasternPriest]

And people forget that cyanide is "all natural", but not recommended!

[Yvonne Belisle]

Even if we do all know at least one or two people that we would be happy to fantisize about trying it on???:D :D :eek:

[EasternPriest]

Originally posted by Yvonne Thomas
Even if we do all know at least one or two people that we would be happy to fantisize about trying it on???:D :D :eek:


Careful...lol Richard might read that :):):):)

[Yvonne Belisle]

No I love my sweetie but maybe some of the people we left behind. The ones who couldn't wait to tell his parents we were married and I am evil and all sorts of other bs. :D:eek:

[Yvonne Belisle]

I am merging the thread on the herbal resourse to this one. I think they are related and should both be easy to find.

[Draedon]

Organically grown herbs, taken sensibly, shouldn't interact with any medicine any more than a cup of tea would. If there is any reaction, then you can bet that chemicals were added to your herbs. Don't take herbs as pills, either grow them yourself or buy them from someone who does, and make sure pesticides/fertilisers,etc haven't been used. I can't explain what I'm trying to say properly without sounding like a conspiracy theorist. Please read Survivalists' Guide for the New Millennium: Chapter 6 - AS THE WORM TURNS by Matthew Webb and Courtney Schmidt at http://realmagick.com/articles/33/333.html .

[Yvonne Belisle]

Many people rely upon medications available through our doctors. That is a fact of modern life. Yes for many things we can take vitamins and eat herbs but we can't avoid drugs entirely if we live in a city. The reality is many herbals that you eat can and do interact with medicines and unless you know what you are doing you can do more harm than good. If your doctor doesn't know that you are taking an herb and what it does and no not all doctors know what they do you run the risk of death. If you do not care if you live or die I would assume you wouldn't be shelling out the money to see the doctor in the first place. Tell the doctor what you are taking and why have papers on the herbs that you use it may help the doctor in chosing to medicate or not to medicate you. Not every doctor is a pill happy madman. Take time to find a doctor you are comfortable with and get to know them you are trusting your life to them. As to the chemicals we eat when we eat prepackaged foods everyone should be reading lables anyway. If you don't know what something is you are here you have access to a computer do a search then decide if you really want to eat it. At least then you are making an educated choice.

[Mairwen]

Originally posted by Draedon
Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Tell your doctor nothing! He is not your friend!

Well, that could be a life-threatening mistake! :eek:

[Lavender]

Originally posted by Draedon
Organically grown herbs, taken sensibly, shouldn't interact with any medicine any more than a cup of tea would. If there is any reaction, then you can bet that chemicals were added to your herbs.

No, not necessarily true. Please don't be offended but it is irresponible to make such a statement. Perhaps you didn't mean it as such. Some herbs are known to be contraindicitive of certain drugs. You should always keep both your medical doctor AND herbalist informed as to what you're taking. They need to work together as a team. Herbs are drugs...no matter how mild they may be. Especially if you're on any kind of antidepressant or heart medication.

[Draedon]

Originally posted by Wildchild


No, not necessarily true. Please don't be offended but it is irresponible to make such a statement. Perhaps you didn't mean it as such. Some herbs are known to be contraindicitive of certain drugs. You should always keep both your medical doctor AND herbalist informed as to what you're taking. They need to work together as a team. Herbs are drugs...no matter how mild they may be. Especially if you're on any kind of antidepressant or heart medication.

The way I see it, your doctor and your herbalist ought to be the same person. The problem we are discussing is really one of 'too many cooks spoil the broth'. Choose which way to deal with your health, and stick to it, don't try combos that counteract each other.

[Yvonne Belisle]

Since they preform two different jobs there is no reason not to have both working together. No herbalist in the world could have extended my father's life on their own with the cancer he had but an herbalist could have helped in making some of what he went through more comfortable. Everyone should have a doctor that they trust and go to for check ups at least. Herbalists don't sew you back together after an accident they don't take out an apendix or replace a heart. There are some things that a doctor and an herbalist working together can accomplish miricles, but one shouldn't discount the knowledge that a doctor has.

[Xois]

Choose which way to deal with your health, and stick to it, don't try combos that counteract each other

But I thought you said originally that they WOULDN'T interact more than a cup of tea would?

doesnt this statement contridict the first one...?

Cheers
Xois

[Kaylara]

Originally posted by Draedon


The way I see it, your doctor and your herbalist ought to be the same person. The problem we are discussing is really one of 'too many cooks spoil the broth'. Choose which way to deal with your health, and stick to it, don't try combos that counteract each other.

Well, I use an itegrated type of health care. I use herbs myself.. (Then again, I have trained myself to know interactions, toxicities, etc. It helps having family members that work for Pharmeseutical companies!) If I go to a doctor I make sure to tell him any herbs I am presently taking. Herbs can have just as much of an ill effect, and just as many complications as manufactured drugs. I take them because they seem to have a much more integrated way of treating illness. But do not be fooled. Just because they are natural doesn't mean that they won't have complications or interactions with each other or manufactured drugs.

Kaylara

[EasternPriest]

Originally posted by Draedon


The way I see it, your doctor and your herbalist ought to be the same person. The problem we are discussing is really one of 'too many cooks spoil the broth'. Choose which way to deal with your health, and stick to it, don't try combos that counteract each other.

Unless you go to an MD or DO that studied herbology, that won't happen. There is a time and place to go to an alopathic physician, and a time and place for herbs.

[EasternPriest]

And a cup of hemlock tea would be deadly.....

[Kaylara]

Wasn't that Socrates favorite drink? Or was that Homer?

Ahhh... Need more coffee!

Kaylara

[Kaylara]

BTW I WAS ONLY KIDDING!!!! Please do not drink hemlock tea... It will kill you very quickly! (and painfully)

Kaylara

[Yvonne Belisle]

But it's all natural POISON but all natural. lol

[Mairwen]

Originally posted by Kaylara
Wasn't that Socrates favorite drink? Or was that Homer?

Ahhh... Need more coffee!

Kaylara

Socrates, dear. REmember: I drank what?!

[Kaylara]

LMAO! True... My mind was fuzzy due to lack of coffee!

Kaylara

[Draedon]

Originally posted by Kaylara
BTW I WAS ONLY KIDDING!!!! Please do not drink hemlock tea... It will kill you very quickly! (and painfully)

Kaylara

I thought Hemlock killed you slowly, that's why it was used? After all, theres no point executing someone and having it all over without giving them time to suffer. This was long before the days of Amnesty International. ;)

[Kaylara]

It kills you, quick enough, and painfully enough to make it wise to AVOID ingesting this particular plant.

Kaylara

[StarryDancer]

** Nodding with a smile to the quote from "Real Genius".**

And let us remember that some of today's drugs originated as those herbals -- digitalis, for one. (Foxglove = powerful heart medication)

[WandererInGray]

*smiles*

I work for the agriculture department of my state in the noxious weed division...and every summer my boss puts out weeds with a little factoid sheet about them for education purposes.

*laughs* Well last year he put out poisoned hemlock....and I was the lucky one who got to dispose of it later. Talk about being paranoid. *shakes head* And yet oddly fascinating at the same time to have a plant in your (gloved) hand, knowing that if you even just bit off a small chunk of it, that'd be enough to kill you.

*smiles* I had a short discussion with him about bring poisonous plants into the work place. :D Great guy...just a little scattered on the public safety side.