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 Whichever herb you are taking, it is advisable to know as much as possible about its potential effects. If something unexpected happens, you should stop treatment and seek the advice of a reputable specialist. We offer some additional recommendations for anyone who has decided to take herbal medicine.
Specify the diagnosis... Herbalists often consider themselves to be born diagnosticians, but one must remember that the ability to treat a known disease and determine what a person is sick with is not the same thing.
It is highly recommended that you visit a therapist first. Of course, diagnostics is a complicated procedure, and even professors are mistaken, however, of course, a certified doctor understands more here than a person without medical education. When there is no doubt about the diagnosis, you can discuss with your doctor a treatment strategy: pills, herbs, their combination or any of these remedies plus diet, exercise, lifestyle changes. It happens that doctors adhere to holistic views and, for some ailments, prefer to prescribe not chemistry, but more vegetables and jogging.
Watch out for side effects... Any medicine, natural or synthetic, has side effects. It is difficult to imagine a biologically active substance (even pure, not to mention the herb, in which there are thousands of all kinds of compounds), acting only on one chemical process in the body. Of course, side reactions, pleasant or unpleasant, will definitely be, therefore, when starting to take some herb for the first time, it is important to monitor your general condition.
If you experience discomfort, say, dizziness, nausea, headache, you need to reduce the dose or stop taking it altogether. Listen to your own body: if it does not tolerate something, you do not need to torment it.
Don't forget about allergies... Anything can cause allergies. Even if you've never had it, it can spring up on new grass. So be careful. Listen to yourself: if unusual symptoms occur, stop treatment and contact a therapist or allergist. If, within about half an hour after the intake of a new medicine or food product, you start to catch your breath, immediately call an ambulance. Perhaps the most dangerous of allergic reactions develops - anaphylactic shock, which, without urgent medical attention, is fraught with death. However, in the case of herbal medicine, it is extremely rare. Just be careful, watch your condition.
Compatibility... Pharmaceuticals are poorly compatible with each other and some food products. The same is true for medicinal herbs, although phytotherapeutic guides rarely mention this. Always be extremely vigilant when accepting several useful things at once.
Here's an example of unwanted interactions that every adult should be aware of. Antidepressants from the group of so-called monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors are incompatible with wine, cheese and many other foods. If you are prescribed these substances, you need to urgently change your diet. However, St. John's wort also belongs to antidepressants and MAO inhibitors, therefore, the same dietary restrictions are necessary. If you regularly use this herb, check with your physician, pharmacist, or read your own medical guide to know exactly what delicacies you should avoid.
Share information... Too many listen to both allopathic doctors and herbalists at the same time, following all the advice they receive.As a rule, there is nothing to worry about: the doctor prescribes pills for insomnia, and the herbalist - a warm bath with a mixture of aromatic oils at night. However, as they say, seven nannies have a child without an eye. There are too many good tips.
For example, a doctor prescribes MAO inhibitors in tablets, and a herbalist prescribes an infusion of St. John's wort, which also inhibits MAO. It's no wonder if you nod off all day. Or, for example, for the prevention of thrombosis and heart attack, the doctor recommends half a tablet of aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) per day, and the herbalist recommends a cup of infusion from willow bark or recumbent haulteria. However, these herbs also contain salicylates, and their total dose can disrupt blood clotting so much that, say, a stomach ulcer opens. To avoid the problem of "seven nannies", inform both the physician and the herbalist about all the medications you are taking, as well as about your gastronomic experiments with unusual products.
V.V. Kotovsky
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