Herbal Medicines, Remedies and Treatments

1
Herbal Medicines, Remedies and Treatments

• How effective are they?
• A Presentation By Kara S.

2
Herbal Medicines Do They Work?

• This presentation will explain
• What herbal medicine is
• What its origins are
• How it works
• And give some information on basic herbal
  treatments and whether or not scientific research
  can prove that they work.

3
What are Herbal Medicines?

• Herbal medicines are treatments made out of
  organic, non-chemical materials, such as plant
  or plant extracts used for treating disease,
  injury or improving/maintaining health.
• A good example of how non-herbal vs. herbal
  treatments is with aloe vera gel vs. vasoline
  gauze on minor burns.

4
Origins of Herbal Medicine

• No one really knows when people first started
  using plants to treat ailments.
• 3,500 years ago the Egyptians used herbal
  remedies
• Western Herbalism dates back to ancient Rome.
• In the 15th herbal recipes could be mass produced
  and shared
• In the 17th century, Nicholaus Culpeper made a
  popular book of herbal remedies.
• The World Health Organization agreed that herbal
  remedies were an important part of healthcare in
  1985.

Herbs and spices were the main type of medicine
in ancient India, China and Egypt
5
How Does Herbal Medicine Work?

• Herbalists try to find herbs that will help heal
  the cause of an illness or ailment, rather than
  treat the individual symptoms.
• Herbal remedies have been found to counteract
  negative side effects of herb based drugs that
  are prescribed by doctors to treat only symptoms.
• They believe that the plants and herbs they
  prescribe can help restore balance in the body
  and actually help the body heal itself.

Herbalists are doctors that specialize and can
recommend herbal treatments based on their
patients needs.
6
What Kinds of Plants are Used for Herbal
Treatments?

• All different kinds of plants are used for herbal
  treatments.
• Some of the more common ones are
• Lavender
• Sage
• Aloe Vera
• Echinacea
• Witch Hazel
• St. Johns Wort
• Chamomile
• Many herbs used for cooking and many fruits and
  vegetables are also used for herbal treatments.

7
What kinds of things can they treat?

• Herbal remedies can treat all kinds of sicknesses
  and dysfunctions.
• One of the things I found out while doing this
  project was that herbs treat so many different
  illnesses because they treat the root of the
  problem rather then the symptoms.
• Because they treat the root of the problem,
  research shows that herbal medicines can help
  treat anything from AIDs to the common cold.

8
Common Herbal Treatments

• Herbal medicine has been proven to help with
• Arthritis
• Asthma
• Certain forms of depression
• Cold sores
• Digestive problems
• Eczema
• Hayfever and allergies
• Menstrual and menopause problems.

9
What do Herbalists do?

• When you go to see and herbalist, they will spend
  a long time discussing diet, lifestyle, and
  exercise, they will try and look at the whole
  person, instead of just the problems.
• They will give you a mixture of plant extracts
  from different plants that they think will help
  you.
• They also can recommend vitamins, and a diet that
  will encourage the herbal medicine.

10
Herbal Medicines

• Herbal remedies are usually taken orally, in pill
  form, or mixed with tea or juice because of the
  bitter taste they have.
• Theyre also not taken in large amounts, because
  the extract is so powerful.
• Unlike with conventional treatments, you cannot
  feel the effects immediately, sometimes it may
  take overnight, or longer.
• It takes so long because the herbs are treating
  the problem as a whole, not just symptoms.

11
Conclusion

• Herbal medicine is a topic I find interesting
  because I think that herbs can help to better
  cure problems than a lot of over the counter
  medication can. Ive been to a herbalist and it
  was a really different experience and I felt a
  lot different using the herbs instead of regular
  meds. I think that herbal medications are
  effective at treating the problem as a whole, but
  not at treating individual symptoms of a problem.
  They are best used as a Complementary treatment,
  (combining conventional medicine with alternative
  medicine) than alone.

12
Bibliography

• Scientific Journal
• http//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov80/entrez/query.fcgi?C
  MDDisplayDBPubMed clinical study on aloe
  vera/burn treatments
• Books
• Natural Prescriptions by Robert M. Giller and
  Kathy Matthews
• Websites
• http//www.staffordpharmacy.com/herbals.htm -
  Herbal Introduction
• http//www.herbmed.org - Database of herbs and
  uses
• http//www.surgerydoor.co.uk/level2/complementarym
  edicine_herbalmedicine.shtmlTop
• Pictures
• http//news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/143690.stm
  Slide 4 herbs and spices
• http//www.agilent.com/Feature/English/archive/L01
  2.html Slide 5 Chinese Herbalist
• http//www.wegeinstitute.org/images/herbal.jpg
  Slide 3 herbs