A Mother's Guide to Raising Healthy Children--Naturally (49 page)

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Authors: Sue Frederick

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BOOK: A Mother's Guide to Raising Healthy Children--Naturally
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Page 122
Q:
What is your personal favorite herb?
Duke: I take celery seed for gout, and it has saved me a lot of misery.
Q:
Where is herbal medicine going? Will it go mainstream?
Duke: We're on the crest of a wave. I predict it won't be long before most people start taking herbs in preference to many of the synthetics pushed on them. The trouble is, many components from herbs are getting isolated and are being sold pure, and that's a problem. The FDA will cause problems with that. A new law says you can sell any constituent of any plant, like plant estrogen. This will become a problem. It's just like pycnogenol. Our ancestors never took that in purified form without its other components. It may throw something else out of whack.
We don't want the silver bullet approach, whether it comes from plants or synthetics. It will throw off the ratios in our body that we don't even know about yet. But after we get through that problem, herbal medicine is here to stay. It's just going to get more and more popular. A lot of people are being helped by herbs, or they wouldn't be coming back for more.
Which Form do You Take?
You'll find herbs in numerous forms on the shelves of your natural products store. These include dry bulk herbs, herbal tea preparations, crude or pulverized herbs in tablets or capsules (but not extracted), tinctures (herbs steeped in alcohol or another solvent), liquid extracts that are usually alcohol based or glycerine based, and solid extracts in capsule or tablet form (the liquid is completely removed). You'll also find standardized and non-standardized herbs.
Generally, all forms have both benefits and disadvantages. There are several informative books to help you make your decision about which herb form is best for you. Teas are a popular and time-tested way to take medicinal herbs: the herbs are in a solution that helps your body absorb the active ingredient. When you take a capsule or tablet, you don't have to taste the herb (an advantage in some cases), and they're convenient. Liquid extracts and tinctures are the most potent form; thus, small doses are as effective as larger doses of the same herb in another form.
 
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Herbs and Their Uses
Billberry
(Vaccinium myrtillus):
visual and vascular disorders
Celery seed
(Apium graveolens):
arthritis, gout
Chamomile
(Matricaria chamomilla):
insomnia, nervousness
Echinacea
(Echinacea
spp.): colds, depressed immunity, flu
Evening primrose
(Oenothera biennis):
arthritis, benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), eczema, PMS
Feverfew
(Tanacetum parthenium):
headache, migraine
Garlic
(Allium sativum):
high blood pressure, infections
Ginseng
(Panax ginseng):
low energy, low or high blood pressure, poor appetite
Ginkgo
(Ginkgo biloba):
geriatric dementia, impotence
Ginger
(Zingiberis officinalis):
colds, morning sickness, motion sickness, nausea
Kava kava
(Piper methysticum):
insomnia, nervousness
Saw palmetto
(Serenoa repens):
BPH
St. John's wort
(Hypericum perforatum):
arthritis, depression, insomnia
Stinging nettle
(Urtica dioica):
arthritis, BPH, hay fever
Sources:
The Green Pharmacy
by James Duke, Ph.D., and
Natural Healing with Herbs
by Humbart Santillo, N.D., et al.
Standardized herb extracts are popular and still surrounded by controversy. Traditional herbalists believe standardization yields products that are far from the natural whole herbs on which the herbalists' tradition is based. Proponents of standardized extracts point out that herbs, even from the same farm, vary in potency from season to season. Standardization assures that every time you take an herb, its effects will be predictable because it contains an exact, standardized amount of active herb ingredients. This is especially
 
Page 124
beneficial in a research setting, where the amount of active herb component that each subject receives must be carefully controlled.
With some herbs, however, it's impossible to track down the active ingredient. For example, ginger has been tested and evaluated in different forms for its anti-nausea effects. Although several components have been found to be active, none of them compares to the activity found in the ginger root itself, which contains a combination of all compounds.
Endangered Herbs
United Plant Savers (UPS), a nonprofit group dedicated to saving medicinal herbs in danger of being over-harvested, has compiled the UPS At-Risk List. Plants on this list are presently in decline due to expanding popularity and shrinking habitat and range. The herbs listed include American ginseng
(Panax quinquefolius),
black cohosh
(Cimicifuga racemosa),
echinacea
(Echinacea
spp.
),
goldenseal
(Hydrastis canadensis),
kava kava
(Piper methysticum),
and wild yam
(Dioscorea villosa).
UPS is not calling for a moratorium on the use of these herbs; rather, they're initiating programs, both practical and educational, designed to preserve these important wild medicinal plants. For a complete list and more information, call (802) 479-9825.
 
Page 125
Chapter 11
Homeopathy
Safe and Simple Medicine
Homeopathy, a system of medicine and healing developed nearly two centuries ago by a German physician, is based on the principle of ''like cures like." (Everyone who has ever had a tetanus shot or other form of vaccination is familiar with this concept.) To immunize patients against a disease, vaccinations contain small doses of agents that actually cause the disease. Homeopathic remedies, on the other hand, stimulate the body's natural immune and healing responses. The remedies are derived from dilutions of plants, minerals, and animals and taken in minute doses.
The concept of more "like cures like" means that the same substances causing a particular set of symptoms in a healthy person can cure the same or similar symptoms in a person who is ill. This law of similars dates back more than 5,000 years to the ancient medical texts of China and India. Hippocrates, in 400 B.C., also referred to this same idea. Today, modern research is validating the positive effects of homeopathic treatment.
"Homeopathy has been used therapeutically in this country for 150 years. It has an impeccable reputation for safety," explains Dana Ullman, M.P.H., founder of Homeopathic Educational Services and author of
Homeopathic Medicine for Children and Infants
and
Everybody's Guide to Homeopathic Medicines.
Research has proven homeopathy's effectiveness, including a 1994 study published in the British medical journal
The Lancet
that reported 81 percent of asthma patients given homeopathic medicines showed improvement.
 
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Approved by the FDA, many of these natural medicines have been used in the United States since the turn of the century. Today, homeopathy is an accepted form of medicine in many parts of the world, including Great Britain, France, Germany, Greece, India, and South America.
Homeopathic remedies are invaluable to a parent with children vulnerable to illnesses from flu to colds to chickenpox. Though it's best to work with a homeopathic physician who can help you find the right remedy for an illness, when you're on your own, you can do pretty well by referring to the materia medica at the back of this book (see Appendix A).
Because these remedies are side effect-free, they tend to be my first choice when treating my daughter. If she has a burning fever, I'll try
Ferrum phosphorous. Nux vomica
has often settled her upset stomach. Chamomilla helps her go to sleep and is a great remedy for teething. By learning just these few remedies and keeping them in your medicine cabinet, you can avoid some trips to the doctor's office as well as some sleepless nights.
Homeopathy for Hyperactive Children
One of the most impressive uses of homeopathy is with children who have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or attention deficit disorder (ADD). Here is one child's story:
When Sherrie entered kindergarten, the teachers immediately labeled her a "problem child" because of her ceaseless fidgeting and inability to stop talking. By the time she was in sixth grade, Sherrie's bewildered parents put her on Ritalin, a prescription stimulant used to treat ADHD and ADD. The drug gave Sherrie hives and made her feel as though she didn't know herself. But without Ritalin, she was unable to focus on anything from simple conversations to homework.
After five years on Ritalin, Sherrie's family physician referred her to homeopathic physicians Judyth Reichenberg Ullman, N.D., and Robert Ullman, N.D., who run the Northwest Center for Homeopathic Medicine in Edmonds, Washington. The Ullmans met Sherrie, interviewed her, and gave her a single dose of a homeopathic remedy called
Veratrum album.
Five weeks later, Sherrie was showing major improvements in her ability to concentrate. She was able to sit still without fidgeting and to control her impul-

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