Common Ailments and Herbal Remedies
The use of medicinal herbs to treat common ailments is certainly nothing new. Beginning as far back as the first century CE, Chinese herbalists collected texts detailing more than 100,000 recipes using 517 different drugs.
By far, the most common drugs were created from various plant sources, with only 45 using animal parts and 30 using minerals. The cultural aspects of a society further expand herbal medicinal treatments and practices. For example, many Chinese herbal medicines make use of the penis of animals as a therapeutic treatment.
But many of these cultural herbal treatments are not backed by extensive medical research, sometimes to ridicule. In the 1800s and early 1900s in the United States, snake oil was heavily marketed as a remedy for joint pain even though there was no scientific evidence to support such a use.
This led to widespread ridicule of the substance, and association of a "snake oil salesman" as a businessperson with little ethics or care for the well-being of their customers.
As such, it's important to treat herbal medicine as a medical alternative which has little support from the modern medical community, despite numerous individual claims of effectiveness. These remedies represent only a small subset of the herbal medicines available, and can never replace the advice of a qualified medical professional, especially when treating a chronic condition.
Acne is caused by an overproduction of sebum (an oily agent that is meant to keep skin moist and healthy). The actual pimples are caused when pores are blocked by this overproduction and they begin to swell.
This common ailment is normally caused by exposure to an element that irritates various processes of the human body. Symptoms are various but may include runny nose, sneezing, itchy or watery eyes, hives, rash or headaches.
Anxiety comes in a couple of different forms. In one form, anxiety is a consistently occurring feeling that something bad is about to happen. A more serious form comes in what are referred to as panic attacks. These can be very serious and are often mistaken for heart attacks.
Herbal remedies are sometimes effective in treating 1st degree and isolated sections of 2nd degree burns. If you have suffered a 3rd degree burn, do not try an herbal remedy as nerve damage is present and requires immediate medical attention.
These shallow, ulcer like areas present in afflicted mouths are often quick to show up and slow to leave. Their size can vary but the discomfort that they cause can be just as strong with sores large and small. Luckily, their pain can be diminished using some simple herbal remedies.
A cold is really an infection. The cold virus attacks your upper respiratory tract and can result in sore throat, cough, sneezing, itchy or watery eyes and congestion. While the typical cold last from 1 week to 10 days, the symptoms can be readily treated by some helpful herbs.
Diarrhea is not a condition in and of itself but it is usually an indicator of a disease or illness that should be addressed if it occurs often. Some conditions that may cause diarrhea are stress, changes in diet, irritable bowel syndrome, colitis and Crohn's disease.
Often occurring in young children, ear infections are the usual result of colds or other infections of the upper respiratory tract. Other complications that tend to accompany ear infections are fevers, runny noses, coughs and skin irritation.
These types of ailments are typically not of a serious nature but can still be uncomfortable and itchy. Always monitor bites from spiders and mosquitoes in case the spider is poisonous or becomes infected. There are no herbal remedies for poisonous spider fights and infections can become serious quite rapidly.
Migraines are very severe headaches that are usually debilitating to the person experiencing them. This pain is thought to be caused by spasms of arteries that are the main suppliers of blood to the brain. They typically are passed down through families and are 3 times more common in females.
Despite the presence of herbal medicine as an ancient form of treatment, there remains a great deal of confusion and doubt as to its effectiveness. Still more confusing to new herbalists are the herbs used in multiple practices. Cannabis, for example, is regularly used for culinary, medical, and psychoactive (spiritual and recreational) purposes.
Just like other modern medicines, there are also herbs that have a toxicity threshold in humans. St. Johns-wort, for example, is toxic in high doses, although no cases of fatal overdose have ever been reported. But exceeding the recommended 300mg to 1,800mg daily dose has been shown to cause harmful side effects, such as dizziness, confusion, and photosensitivity.
As such, it is important to always check for the correct dose of every herbal remedy before use and see a medical professional if the condition persists for more than a week or grows worse.