The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Herbal Medicine

Now the United States has a shorter history of medical herbal use. Native American’s, and early European’s used herbs as medicines.

An increasing number of medical schools are now offering courses in alternative medicine for their students, and some hospitals already have alternative medicine departments. The availability of healers and doctors practicing holistic medicine has also increased in recent years, and more and more people are educating themselves in these new fields. In fact, the World Health Organization estimates that between 65 and 80 percent of the world’s population (about 3 billion people) rely on traditional medicine as their primary form of health care.

Humanity’s approach to medicine, illness, and disease have been changing over time. Early use of medicine was discovered in Ancient Egypt, Babylonia, India, China, Greece, and Rome. Prehistoric medicine incorporated plants, animal parts, and minerals as a source of medicine. In most cases, these materials were used as magical substances by priests and shamans. Some spiritual systems include animism, spiritualism, shamanism, and divination.

Alas, everything good is accompanied by something bad. In this context, medicine comes along with poisons. When physicians experimented with plants, they discovered some had healing properties while others had dangerous toxins. Therefore, plants and herbs were used in medicines and poisons frequently during the Elizabethan era for things such as war and pain relievers.

Today, there are numerous integrative medicine programs in which individuals can choose to enroll. Botanical medicine, (also known as herbal medicine) is a great option to those medical professionals desiring to extend additional, non-invasive, and holistic healthcare treatments. Nurse practitioners, physicians and other healthcare providers who enroll in herbal integrative medicine programs gain education and training in the history of botanical medicine and pharmacy; herbal nutritional counseling, dosing and formulating; pathology in relation to botanical medicine, herbal safety and toxicity, and other related studies.

Medical herbs included: leaves, wood, roots, bark or other parts of the plant. Herbalism is one of the oldest traditions. The book Herbal was written in the 11th century in Canterbury. "The book describes drugs which can be made from animals. The liver and lungs of a fox, finely chopped and taken in wine, were said to be good for asthma." (Mantin & Pulley, 1989,pg.24). Consumers in the Middle Ages were interested in herbalism because of the herbs, spices and 'natural' perfumes. However, these remedies did not work as well as doctors' treatments. Herbalism was not complicated and was known to work well

Medicinal herbs were used to cure an array of illnesses such as wounds and helped in relieving pain. However, the effectiveness of such herbs were limited because they could not help in curing infections. Infections were a main reason behind the deaths of people in the past because once a person was infected, there was no way to deal with that infection and cure it. That is how thousands of

It is interesting fact that medicine consisted largely on the use of herbs and roots. In many cases, shamans, priests and medicine men used these plants ritually as magical substances. In the prehistoric societies in Africa they believed in both natural as well as supernatural means of variable causing as well as treating diseases. The plant materials such as herbs and substances that were derived from the natural sources acted as the treatment for diseases in these prehistoric cultures.

The use of natural products as medicine has initiated the isolation of active compounds. The first commercial pure natural product introduced for therapeutic use is generally considered to be

“Traditional pharmacologic therapies although widely used must be assessed for a favorable risk-benefit ratio. One such plant that has

herbal.While the popularity of the English Physician was notable,other herbal also found a place in

During a person’s older years, there are different offsprings of multiple health problems that need to be treated with multiple medications. With aging, risks of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, and hypertension, can increase with the body. These disease may require multiple medication use and drug therapies. If someone cannot afford these treatments, they turn to affordable and over the counter medicine for help. The elderly may also use multi-vitamins and supplements. Dramatic increases in the use of herbals/supplements has prompted similar concerns about those products, both alone and in combination with FDA-regulated pharmaceuticals (Kaufman, Kelly, Rosenberg,Anderson, & Mitchell, 2002). Herbal remedies and natural

Herbal medicine has been used for many, many years and is a great natural alternative to modern medicine.

Herbalism or phytotherapy has many definitions but in essence is the interaction between humans and the plant kingdom (Hoffmann, 2003). Herbalism is based on three principles: 1. The correlation of the herb to the disease or disease picture, 2. The harmony the herb has to an organ system, and 3. The ability of the herb to assist healing in the body (Wood, 2018). Herbalism contains many different branches of which there is Chinese, Japanese, Tibetan and Ayurvedic branches, and is used to treat a wide variety of symptoms. Herbalists make their medication from plants and are dispensed in many

Modern medicine and healthcare system have categorized herbal medicine as a natural remedy used when people can’t afford to purchase conventional drugs. They are perceived inferior because they cost less but the health benefits are endless. However, there have been various situations and instances that prove that herbal medicine is good for health.