Post by dove on Oct 17, 2012 1:37:03 GMT -5
I wanted to make this space available for people to report any kind of adverse reaction they might have had when taking herbs or using any kind of natural or alternative medicine. If you've experienced any type of harmful reaction, aside from having a Herxheimer's reaction (which can largely be avoided or lessened), please post your experience to this thread. That way we can have some record of possible side effects so that we all learn more about the natural and alternative medicines that are available to us.
There are some dangerous plants out there, and people have to use caution. "Natural" doesn't always mean safe, though in most cases it does. The best way to stay safe is to arm yourself with knowledge. Learn as much as possible about the herb or treatment you want to use so that you're sure that there aren't any contradictions in your case. Don't use plants that you can't identify. Use caution with known toxic plants (some--like pokeweed--can be used safely as medicine in very small amounts) and only use them under the care of a professional (who will know the correct dosages).
Know any contradictions of the herbs you want to use. F.e., if you're on blood thinners, then know that you shouldn't take something like cayenne unless your medications are being monitored. You may eventually be able to stop the drugs at some time. Most importantly, you don't want to thin your blood too much, so you would start out very slowly with it. Other cautions would include not taking immune-boosting herbs if you have an auto-immune disease and not taking laxative-type herbs when you already have diarrhea.
If you're on any prescription drugs, you should consult with your doctor about changes made to your regimen. Chances are that a normal doctor won't know if an herb will interact with a pharmaceutical, so finding an integrated-medicine or naturopathic doctor would be best, if possible. They will have a better idea if an herb will be appropriate and safe for you.
There are a lot of good books out there about herbal medicine. I encourage people to build up their libraries if they want to seriously educate themselves about natural medicine. There is a lot of good information online, too, and I've included a lot of it here with the goal of having this information in one place for people.
Anyways, I just wanted to carve out this section for people to make reports of anything that seems harmful about any kind of herb or treatment. I don't include Herheimer's reaction in this category since that can be circumvented by starting at a low dosage and working up to a full one over the course of a few weeks or so.
If you have an adverse reaction to something that will kill pathogens (like olive leaf extract or oil of oregano), make sure that your dosage isn't too high in the beginning. Read more about this type of reaction at the link in the first paragraph. L-Ornithine can be used to help clean up some of the ammonia by-product that is being made during the "die-off" period.
Any reaction reported should be accompanied by a brief note about the person's history since allergic reaction can many times account for adverse reactions to an herb. Many people have ragweed allergies and so they wouldn't be able to take a lot of herbs out there (those in the asteraceae family, mainly) if their allergy response won't permit it. Also, any medications being taken should be noted with the herb reaction. Any pertinent information should be included, in other words (age and possibly race, too, if that's not asking too much).
{Guest posting will be enabled once the site is open to the public.}
There are some dangerous plants out there, and people have to use caution. "Natural" doesn't always mean safe, though in most cases it does. The best way to stay safe is to arm yourself with knowledge. Learn as much as possible about the herb or treatment you want to use so that you're sure that there aren't any contradictions in your case. Don't use plants that you can't identify. Use caution with known toxic plants (some--like pokeweed--can be used safely as medicine in very small amounts) and only use them under the care of a professional (who will know the correct dosages).
Know any contradictions of the herbs you want to use. F.e., if you're on blood thinners, then know that you shouldn't take something like cayenne unless your medications are being monitored. You may eventually be able to stop the drugs at some time. Most importantly, you don't want to thin your blood too much, so you would start out very slowly with it. Other cautions would include not taking immune-boosting herbs if you have an auto-immune disease and not taking laxative-type herbs when you already have diarrhea.
If you're on any prescription drugs, you should consult with your doctor about changes made to your regimen. Chances are that a normal doctor won't know if an herb will interact with a pharmaceutical, so finding an integrated-medicine or naturopathic doctor would be best, if possible. They will have a better idea if an herb will be appropriate and safe for you.
There are a lot of good books out there about herbal medicine. I encourage people to build up their libraries if they want to seriously educate themselves about natural medicine. There is a lot of good information online, too, and I've included a lot of it here with the goal of having this information in one place for people.
Anyways, I just wanted to carve out this section for people to make reports of anything that seems harmful about any kind of herb or treatment. I don't include Herheimer's reaction in this category since that can be circumvented by starting at a low dosage and working up to a full one over the course of a few weeks or so.
If you have an adverse reaction to something that will kill pathogens (like olive leaf extract or oil of oregano), make sure that your dosage isn't too high in the beginning. Read more about this type of reaction at the link in the first paragraph. L-Ornithine can be used to help clean up some of the ammonia by-product that is being made during the "die-off" period.
Any reaction reported should be accompanied by a brief note about the person's history since allergic reaction can many times account for adverse reactions to an herb. Many people have ragweed allergies and so they wouldn't be able to take a lot of herbs out there (those in the asteraceae family, mainly) if their allergy response won't permit it. Also, any medications being taken should be noted with the herb reaction. Any pertinent information should be included, in other words (age and possibly race, too, if that's not asking too much).
{Guest posting will be enabled once the site is open to the public.}