In recent years, interest in herbal medicine has skyrocketed, leading to a greater scientific interest in plant. Plants are capable of treating diseases and improving health, often without any significant side effects.
ACTIVE INGREDIENTS AND HERBAL MEDICINES
A pharmaceutical drug typically uses a synthesised version of a plant’s active ingredient. We maintain that an active ingredient can lose its impact or become less safe, if used in isolation from the rest of the plant. For instance, salicylic acid is found in the plant meadow sweet and is used to make aspirin. Aspirin can cause the lining of the stomach to bleed, but meadow sweet naturally contains other compounds that counteract the irritant qualities of salicylic acid. The effect of the whole plant is greater than its parts. Herbs and herbal formulas/products are used widely for different conditions since ancient time across Africa, India, Europe and China. When considering the appropriate herbal remedy/product for a patient, our practitioners will prescribe base on individual conditions. Our Herbal formulas comes in Liquid, Capsules, Powder herbs, Raw herbs (tincture) and cream.
What is Herbal Medicine ?
Herbal medicine, in the hands of a skilled and properly qualified practitioner, offers a way in which to regain that wonderful state of well-being. Unlike modern pharmaceuticals, which use synthetic chemicals to alter directly the delicate structure of the body, herbal medicine extracts the whole plant without interfering or changing its constituents; thus retaining the natural balance and maximising healing potential.
What does a Herbalist do?
A Medical Herbalist takes down a full case history, listening to all the physical, mental and emotional symptoms the patient relates in order to evaluate the overall picture and understand the root cause of the patient’s disease.
Practitioners of Herbal Medicine are not only trained in the same non-invasive diagnostic skills as ordinary doctors; but also use the benefits of a holistic viewpoint, traditional knowledge and additional forms of diagnosis such as Tongue, Pulse or Iris diagnosis to elicit the root of the health problem.
Treatment is aimed at restoring true health; not at suppressing the symptoms.
For Whom is Herbal Medicine Suitable?
Because Herbal medicine is concerned with restoring health rather than focusing on symptoms, it can be used for any kind of health problems.
Professional Medical Herbalists are trained to deal with any disease condition for which a person would normally visit his/her GP; from simple coughs, colds, or stomach upsets, to long-term problems such as rheumatism, arthritis, skin disorders, insomnia, asthma, hay fever, menstrual difficulties including conditions diagnosed as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and so forth.
There is no limit to the ways in which a Herbal practitioner can help a patient back to health.
All it takes is a serious commitment to getting well. Uine Health Centre doctors will guide the patient to that effect.
Allergies
Many people today are complaining of different ‘allergies’ which are restricting their lives. We believe that these ‘allergies of modern life’ are the result of mal-absorption and that by addressing the cause and restoring the digestive functions, the patient is able to lead a normal life again.
A Brief History of Herbal Medicine
Herbal Medicine, sometimes referred to as Phototherapy, Botanotherapy or Botanical Medicine is the use of plants for their medicinal value and has a long and respected history, it is the oldest form of health care known to mankind.
A herb is a plant valued for it medicinal, aromatic or savoury qualities. Herbalists use the leaves, stems, flowers, roots, bark and berries of a vast variety of plants to prevent and treat illness.
Herbalism dates back to the dawn of time when man evolved due to the existence of plants, relying on plant material for food, clothing and shelter as well as medicine. It is impossible to know exactly when we first started using herbs for medicinal purposes but archaeological remains from early civilisations show that plants were used in burials and other rituals. Much of the use of plants appears to have been developed through observing animals and trial and error.
Marshmallow root and yarrow have been found carefully placed around the bones of a Stone Age man in Iraq – these herbs continue to be used widely today. The entire Middle East has a rich history of herbal healing. Texts survive from ancient cultures in Egypt and Mesopotamia. Egyptian hieroglyphs show physicians in the first and second centuries AD treating constipation with senna pods and using caraway and peppermint to relieve digestive problems.
Herbal lore was passed down from generation to generation and gradually information was methodically collected from native peoples and compiled in herbal pharmacopoeias. One of the first written records of herbal medicines was Chinese, in around 2800BC in the ‘Pen Ts’ao’ by Shen Nung. Later, around 1800BC the records of King Hammurabi of Babylon include instructions for the use of medicinal plants.
Throughout the Middle Ages botanicals were the only medicines available and households would have small herb gardens; also the village herbalist would train an apprentice.
During Tudor times Henry VIII appears to have been touched by the plight of the poor and their inability to afford doctors. He produced his now famous ‘Charter of King Henry VIII’, which enabled many poor people of the time to obtain treatment from a herbalist. The Charter also protected the rights of the Herbalists themselves and provides a safeguard for the continuation of herbal healing today.
By the 17th century knowledge of herbal medicine was widely spread throughout Europe and in 1649 Nicholas Culpeper wrote his famous pharmacopoeia which was one of the first medical manuals intended for the use of the lay person, and is still widely quoted from today. Culpeper studied at Cambridge University to become a doctor; instead he chose to apprentice to an apothecary and eventually set up his own shop, serving the poor of London.
Until the 18th century there was a certain amount of confusion as a plant could be given many names and similarly the same name could be give to many plants. Early in the century a Swedish botanist name Carl von Linné (better known as Linnaeus) developed a naming system giving a unique Latin name to every known species. This classification became very useful to botanists and herbalists alike.
During the 19th century pharmaceuticals started to appear but during the First World War the lack of availability of drugs increased the use of herbal medicines. After the war pharmaceutical production increased and penicillin was discovered. Herbal practitioners had their rights to dispense their medications taken away and then reinstated. By the 1950s people began to express the concern over the large number of side effects and the environmental impact of drugs.
Rather than using a whole plant, pharmacologists identify, isolate, extract and synthesise individual components, thus capturing the active properties. However, this can create problems. In addition to active constituents, plants contain many other substances – minerals, vitamins, volatile oils, glycosides, alkaloids etc, which are important in supporting a particular herb’s medicinal properties. These elements also provide an important natural safeguard as isolated active compounds can become toxic in relatively small doses; it usually takes a much greater amount of a whole herb, with all of its components to reach a toxic level. Thus herbalists consider that the power of a plant lies in the interaction of all its ingredients.
“If only I had known about herbal medicine sooner!” People first discovering herbal medicine often express this feeling. They are amazed at the results they get, the lack of side effects, the no-dependence approach, and the number of health conditions they can heal with a given custom herbal formula. Many are also happy to find that they no longer need the pharmaceutical medications they have been taking for years. We offer herbal medicine consultations as a stand-alone service, with our 23 years research and studies we are proud to carry over 15 approved herbal formula products for wide variety of diseases.
Pharmaceuticals
Scientists worldwide are looking for “new cures” in collaboration with traditional healers. The reality is that these so called “new cures” have existed for generations and may be a new discovery to western scientists but they have always been a part of traditional culture, knowledge and are therefore our national right and asset.
Taking an active out of a plant is like listening to a lone cord from an instrument within an orchestra; more often than not, it makes no sense and is totally misleading with regard to the whole symphony.
Against popular will, pharmaceuticals have in the past tried to ban herbal and traditional medicine. Any data other than clinical trials is considered as unreliable claims, so-called ethno-botanical and anecdotal data. What is omitted is the fact that it is often through anecdotal and ethno-botanical data that pharmaceuticals research and formulate their products. Furthermore, the truth about these clinical trials and the side effect that drugs cause is often hidden from the public and professionals alike. Legal actions against pharmaceuticals come about because of lies, not their openness or care for the public at large.