Herbal Medicine: What herbal medicine can treat and how safe and effective is it?

In part I of this article we looked at what herbal medicine is and what it uses as its philosophical basis. Part II looks at what herbal medicine can be used for and its safety and effectiveness.What can herbal medicine be used for?Herbal medicine can be used in one of three ways:

Up until about 200 years ago, herbal extracts, teas, baths, etc., were the primary forms of treatment available to doctors. In fact Pedanius Dioscorides an ancient Greek physician, pharmacologist and botanist from Anazarbus, Cilicia, Asia Minor, wrote ‘the bible’ on herbs and early medicinal substances extracted from plants in the first century AD.To this day, pharmaceutical companies still use herbal medicines in their drugs (they just don’t advertise that fact). He described over 600 medicinal plants, their use and actions with respect to treating diseases.In the early 19th century, when methods of chemical analysis first became available, scientists began extracting and modifying the active ingredients from plants. Later, chemists began making their own version of plant compounds, beginning the transition from raw herbs to synthetic pharmaceuticals. Over time, the use of herbal medicines declined in favor of pharmaceuticals.ýA skilled herbalist is able to use medicinal plants to treat any disease known to man. Granted, some diseases such as cancer for example, are not treated easily, but are treatable with herbs. The limit is not the limitations of herbs, but the skill of the physician. And, let’s face it – that’s the same for any system of medicine.