Herbal medicine is a complementary therapy that uses plants or plant extracts to treat illness. There are numerous herbal products available that claim to treat a wide range of problems, from depression to colds and flu.
What Is Herbal Alternative Medicine?
Many well-established medicines come from plants. For example morphine comes from poppies, aspirin from willow bark, and digoxin (a treatment for an irregular heart beat) from foxgloves.
Traditional herbal medicine is just one of the many different approaches to using plants as remedies. Chinese herbal medicine is another type of herbal alternative medicine.
Like many complementary therapies, herbal medicine aims to be holistic. It aims to treat the whole person, not just the symptoms, and to encourage the body to heal itself. Herbal practitioners believe that the delicate chemical balance of the whole herb is needed for greatest effect and to reduce potential side effects of herbs. Different parts of the same plant, such as the flowers or seeds, can have very different actions. Herbal medicine is not about isolating the active ingredients from a plant, which is the way that conventional medicines are often derived.
Are they safe?
Although some herbs for alternative medicines may be helpful for certain problems, this does not necessarily mean they are safe in all situations. They should not be used during pregnancy, as an example.
Like any medicine, herbal remedies can have side effects and may interact with other drugs. If you have heart disease such as angina, high blood pressure or glaucoma, herbal treatments should not be taken without supervision from a trained herbalist or a doctor. There are also conditions that are not suitable for treatment by an herbalist, such as life-threatening illnesses, epilepsy or type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes. However, natural does not mean harmless and care should be taken not to exceed the doses that are traditionally recommended.
Herbal alternative medicine remedies for self-treatment are available as tablets, capsules, ointments and creams, and are on sale in health food shops, pharmacies and even supermarkets. For more serious health complaints, you may want to see a trained herbalist or your physician. It is particularly important to be cautious about taking herbs if you are pregnant or breast-feeding. Consult a doctor and/or herbal practitioner, before making any changes in prescribed medications. Some herbal medicine practitioner’s work alongside doctors, and some GPs are willing to refer their patients for an herbal medicine consultation.
Consultation with a herbalist
The first consultation, using herbs as an alternative medicine, with a herbal therapist will probably last at least an hour, during which time he or she will ask detailed questions about general health, medical and family history, lifestyle and emotional state.
Treatment may include advice about diet and lifestyle as well as herbal medicine. The medicines prescribed may well be made up of several different herbs, and will be tailored to individual needs, as the herbalist sees them. They can come in a wide range of formulations that include syrups, tinctures, lotions, inhalations, gargles and washes.
The herbalist may make a follow-up appointment after two weeks, and then monthly, but this depends on the condition being treated and the general state of health.

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