As caregivers for our animals, we can look to them as our guides as we become more and more familiar with using herbal medicine. Even though the past century has muted humans symbiotic relationship with nature, for animals, that relationship remains intact and innate. Animals and plants have coexisted for a millennia and whole plant medicine is the simplest way to achieve effective healing for the many aliments that effect our animals each day with little or no side effects. Plants cleanse, regulate and nourish the body through an unspoken intelligence. All living creatures have a predisposition for whole plant medicine. Think of it as a type of genetic memory. I know for some, especially those practicing allopathic Western medicine, it …show more content…
Milk thistle is an herb that I use consistently in my practice. Not only is it a wonderful liver regenerator, it also protects the liver from toxins during allopathic drug therapy. The “active ingredient” in milk thistle is silymarin. When given as an isolated chemical, silymarin can interfere with the liver’s ability to metabolize prescription drugs. This is the opposite effect that silymarin has when administered as whole plant medicine. When used as either a tincture or powdered supplement, silymarin is accompanied by all of the plant’s constituents. This allows the plant to support the liver by assisting it with detoxification instead of interfering with it. The effectiveness of any plant is not due to the action of any one chemical as modern science would have you believe. When plants are synthesized in a lab, they are analyzed to find their most potent and active components. The rest of the plant is left behind. What science is forgetting is that each leaf, stem, flower and root work in their own unique way to deliver what is need to the body. The synergy of plants is the foundation of herbal medicine because fresh plant material provides living medicine for all of us, including our pets. This synergistic quality has always baffled scientists because some things can not be broken down and understood at a molecular level. It is often the in-between …show more content…
I an not saying that standardized extracts cannot be effectively utilized in self-care but when it comes to using plants for everyday medicine, long-term healing and prolonged health, it is best to use plants in their natural state. The Franciscan friar, William of Ockham who has been attributed to the principle known as Occam’s Razor which basically states that “when you have two competing theories that make exactly the same predictions, the simpler one is the better”. I could not agree more and when it comes to using plants as medicine, the simplicity of whole plant medicine cannot be replicated. In part two of using whole plant medicine, I will discuss the different forms of whole plant medicines, making specific medicines for dogs, how to purchase herbs as well as resources for purchasing pre-made whole plant medicines and working with an herbalist. In the meantime, I highly recommend viewing the documentary Numen. It is a lovely account of the healing power of plants and our relationship to them. Numen can be viewed at
Since the beginning of the human race mankind has depended on the natural resources in their environment for survival. They utilized the available flora to nourish their body, heal their wounds, comfort their ailments and to create products to ease their daily lives. Many of the same plants utilized thousands of years ago by the indigenous people have been integrated into modern day medicines. The scientific interest and knowledge of plants for nourishment, healing, and practical uses is called ethnobotany.
Each year, people spend billions of dollars on pharmaceutical drugs, but what if there was an option that was cheaper and natural? Herbal medicine has been around for thousands of years and shows no sign of stopping. Many are familiar with Aloe Vera, a plant commonly used to treat burns, but it can also be used to speed the healing process of cuts. Herbal remedies have been around for a long time and have saved lives, like little Teddy’s life in No Witchcraft for Sale.
The major use for herbal medicines is for the promotion of health and for therapy for chronic conditions, instead of being used for life-threatening conditions; except in the event of say advanced cancer or new infectious diseases when conventional medicine practices no longer are working an individual may use traditional remedies. While traditional medicines are often mistaken that because they are natural that they are safe, non-toxic, which is not always the case. In cases when an individual is taking herbs with prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications, or other herbs that may cause some adverse side affects. As a flourishing commercial enterprise, it doesn’t matter why an individual uses traditional medicines, it provides important health care services for individuals that have access physically or finantually to allopathic
This process is the same as to how pharmaceuticals work within the body. Because herbs naturally occur, they are thought to have significantly fewer side effects over western medicine.
Herbal Medicine: plant constructed goods that can be included as part of a personalized treatment plan. The majority of these products will be sourced and produced by synergistic-wellness for patients to conveniently fill prescriptions. These products may be prescribed as part of a personalized treatment
One of the major aspects of biodiversity is its assessment, which is nominated by its resources. Much concentration in drug plants was evinced during the early period of civilization. The use of plants for remedial purpose various human ailments and has prominently figured in ancient manuscripts such as ‘The Rigvedas’,‘The Bible’, ‘The Iliad’, ‘The Odyssey’, ‘The Sushrutsamhita’ and ‘The History of Herodotus’. The ancient Chinese were by means of drug plants more than six centuries ago. They were the pioneers in using plants as a valuable source of medicine.
The only part of the plant that is consumed is the flower or bud. The stem and leaves of the plant can be broken down to make other materials. From this plant we could create consumer textiles, industrial textiles, paper, building materials, food, industrial products, and hygiene product... ... middle of paper ... ... just over half of all drug arrested in the States.
Lindberg, D. (n.d.). Herbal Medicine: MedlinePlus. U.S National Library of Medicine. Retrieved May 7, 2014, from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/herbal
Thus, herbal medicine is medicine made from different parts of plants. They have become very popular in modern times. Some of these herbal medicines can be helpful while others can be harmful.
...ave shown the effectiveness as weed, and they are known to lose their efficacy after time.
The minimum level of intake to affect liver toxicity was also verified in animal tests. A chestberry has two positive components; Benzofuran and 4-Vinyl phenol. Benzofuran proved lethality at 250mg of daily dosage and 4-Vinyl phenol proved lethality at 200mg of daily dosage. Protocatechuic acid that is contained in Black cohosh affected liver enzymes at 0.1% intake by drinking water for 60days. Xanthohumol I that is contained in hops proved no effects on liver enzyme levels after 4 weeks in mice. However, 50uM in drinking water predicted positive. Isoflavone in Redclover proved that glycosides coupled with a flavone affect liver toxicity after a long
So from last many thousands years the medicinal plant being used by humans for different therapeutic purpose and are changed to modern medicine like many modern drugs originated from plant source. Many of the life saving drug are isolated/extract from medicinal plant examples include Vincristine (Vinca), digoxin (Digitalis), quinine (cinchona bark), Atropine (Datura), Artimicine (Artimisia annua), morphine (from the opium poppy) (Vickers and Zollman, 1999). As per WHO the uses of herbal drug was increased day by day to two- three time more as compared to conventional drug in different form like nutraceuticals, ayurvedic drugs, traditional chinse medicine, Functional food etc (Evans, 1994).
A herb-drug interaction is defined as any pharmacological modification caused by a herbal substance(s) to another exogenous-chemical (e.g. a prescription medication) in the diagnostic, therapeutic or other action of a drug in or on the body (Brazier and Levine, 2003). This relates to drug-drug interactions, herb-herb interaction or drug-food interaction. A herb can potentially mimic, magnify or reduce the effects of co-administered drugs and the consequences of these interactions can be beneficial, undesirable or harmful effects (Fugh and Ernst, 2001). It should be pointed out that both the putative active ingredient(s) and other constituents present in that herbal mixture have the potential to interact with various classes of drugs (Miller, 1998).
Modern medicine mixes chemicals and does extensive testing, while herbal remedies come from naturally grown herbs. For every argument there is two sides, herbal remedies lack dosage instructions, regulations, and may interact with current medication, as well as modern medicines also have improved treatments. With improvements made on information and studies of herbal remedies, they would prevail over modern
As a summary, sick people should prefer alternative medicine instead of modern medicine. In this way, they all protect themselves from all the side effects of drugs and chemicals and they treat all the systems with most of the organs not only the disease and make their health better with taking advantage of psychological therapies. Traditional medicine applied on the patience centuries ago, so it is easy for people to trust this method. Also, if people do not have any allergies to any plant, it will be the more useful way because there are no side effects and chemicals which are harmful for the human bodies.