[./pcis.html]
[./nutritional_supplements.html]
[./creams_26_herbal_ointments.html]
[./xylitol.html]
[./salt_soap.html]
[./epsom_salts.html]
[./herbal_extracts_26_tinctures.html]
[./chinese_granulated_herbs.html]
[./water_filtration.html]
[./reflexology.html]
[./acupuncture.html]
[./bach_flower_remedies.html]
[./chinese_herbal_medicine.html]
[./cranial_osteopathy_for_children.html]
[./massage_therapy.html]
[./naturopathy.html]
[./nutrition.html]
[./osteopathy.html]
[./western_herbal_medicine.html]
[./osteopaths.html]
[./herbalists_26_naturopaths.html]
[./massage_therapists.html]
[./organic_produce.html]
[./how_to_join.html]
[mailto:info@site.com]
[./about.html]
[./contact.html]
[./access.html]
[./links.html]
[Web Creator] [LMSOFT]
Western Herbal Medicine
Herbal medicine is the first medicine. From the time man walked on earth he used herbs to help heal his wounds, to add to his food, to heal his sickness. A lot of what we call herbs is also foods and we can see this especially in our past traditions. Like hawthorn berries, rich red and used for the blood and heart, bilberries, purple like the purple pigment in our eyes used to improve night vision, garlic, basil, onions, tomatoes, spices, and so forth are in the form of food and medicine. “Let your food be your medicine”.

The use of Herbal medicine was based on instinct and empirical knowledge and passed down through the ages from mother to daughter and from medicine man to the right disciple. In the Middle Ages when medicine started to become more scientific it was still mainly based on herbal knowledge and on proven formulas that got passed down from one generation to the next.

Today herbal medicine has become a healthy medley of tradition and science. With the science available today, the herbs can be analysed for their active constituents and be better understood as to why they work. However, modern herbalists still believe that it is safer and more effective in the long run to give medicines in their natural form instead of in their isolated and artificial form like drugs. Herbal medicine also looks at the patient as a whole and prescribes herbs in combinations or alone related to the patient’s needs not just for the patient’s ailment. They treat people not the names of disease. Herbalists use herbs with the aim of helping their patient’s physiology return to normal by supporting the healing process. Herbalists’ intentions are to help their patients come to a point in their health where they do not need to rely on herbal preparations or to use only maintenance programs where necessary, as in degenerative diseases.

Today many people have been frightened by the media and by some drug companies to believe that herbs are unsafe and that they can react with medications and put the patient in danger. Some of these claims are untrue and not based on science. An isolated incidence does not make things fact.