tangent
05-14-06, 22:47
> Treat herbs as if they are a medication you're about to mix with your regular meds because, in essence, they are.
That should be emphasized. Frm: Principles of Pharmacology; A Tropical Approach, by D.T. Okpako, p.15-6: "Up to 25% of all prescriptions in Europe and America, it is said, contain plant products or were originally derived from them. Referencing: Jeroszewski, J.W. (1984). Natural products and drug development. Pharmacy International, 5. 27-8
There was another cite, but I'm not finding it right now that basically said that of the 100 most prescribed drugs, 75-90+% are plant extracts or the synthetic mimicking of them.
The study of pharmacology originated as materia medica, which is a branch of botany. A good text to study is Medical Botany by Lewis and Lewis.
Still, it is dangerous to rely on herbals/botanicals as a replacement for pharmaceuticals without some additional caviots(sp?):
1) As noted above, some may conflict in unexpected ways with other drugs or botanicals. Knowing the underlying actions in the body will help prevent this - but it's a lot to learn.
2) Our government (USA) in it's typical "nanny state" mentality has taken actions to limit what vitamins and supplements will be available to us. This means you may not be able to purchase common medicinal herbals in the future.
3) Herbals degrade over time and will become less effective. You might have stockpiling problems here.
4) With the gvmt intruding on what you are "allowed" to purchase, this leads to growing them yourself or foraging for them. On the foraging end, there is a learning curve to plant identification and sometimes 2 different plants with vastly different effects can look alike. In either case, the active ingredient will never be alone. In some cases the drug effect you are looking for will be the dominant one, other times it won't be. This will often vary by what part of the plant is harvested. Sometimes it's the roots - particularly the tips, other times it leaves or the bark, etc. The soil conditions it's grown in can have a dramatic effect as will when it's harvested as to it's potency. That's a lot to learn. To make matters worse, depending on your location, you will have to use the variant of the plant that is compatible to your locality. There is great variation. Also, some plants you might like to use or take for granted as being available from a health food store, just won't grow in your climate or at your elevation.
5) Most herbal medications are taken in a diluted form, but if concentrated could have adverse effects. Sometimes you want to concentrate them. This is usually done with a solvent. Water and alcohol being the most common, but more specialized and harder to get ones will be needed if you want to separate the active ingredient from it's neighbors.
In short, you will do best to rely on the most local information as you can get and need to learn about what's available in your area. Botanical Gardens often host classes or at least know locals with this knowledge and they would be good to get in contact with. They will also know about and probably have good texts with local information. You will do best by starting small, a few plants at a time, and really learning all you can about them.
-t
Another good text is: Understanding Pharmacology; a physiological approach, by Leilani Grajeda-Higley, as it breaks the subject down to nervous system, endocrine system and immune system, as opposed to the traditional approach that uses over 25 categories that include anatomic, disease, therapeutic, drug action, and hormonal headings and sub-headings... the latter approach gives students in medical fields headaches, while this approach makes it pretty simple and deals with how drugs effect the body.
Lastly, go here:
http://medtech.syrene.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=14
and look at all the posts in that sub-form. There is a ton of useful info in there. The chapter on this in Survival and Austere Medicine that Goat Lady wrote is also excellent! This is a free download:
http://www.aussurvivalist.com/downlo...0Final%202.pdf
That should be emphasized. Frm: Principles of Pharmacology; A Tropical Approach, by D.T. Okpako, p.15-6: "Up to 25% of all prescriptions in Europe and America, it is said, contain plant products or were originally derived from them. Referencing: Jeroszewski, J.W. (1984). Natural products and drug development. Pharmacy International, 5. 27-8
There was another cite, but I'm not finding it right now that basically said that of the 100 most prescribed drugs, 75-90+% are plant extracts or the synthetic mimicking of them.
The study of pharmacology originated as materia medica, which is a branch of botany. A good text to study is Medical Botany by Lewis and Lewis.
Still, it is dangerous to rely on herbals/botanicals as a replacement for pharmaceuticals without some additional caviots(sp?):
1) As noted above, some may conflict in unexpected ways with other drugs or botanicals. Knowing the underlying actions in the body will help prevent this - but it's a lot to learn.
2) Our government (USA) in it's typical "nanny state" mentality has taken actions to limit what vitamins and supplements will be available to us. This means you may not be able to purchase common medicinal herbals in the future.
3) Herbals degrade over time and will become less effective. You might have stockpiling problems here.
4) With the gvmt intruding on what you are "allowed" to purchase, this leads to growing them yourself or foraging for them. On the foraging end, there is a learning curve to plant identification and sometimes 2 different plants with vastly different effects can look alike. In either case, the active ingredient will never be alone. In some cases the drug effect you are looking for will be the dominant one, other times it won't be. This will often vary by what part of the plant is harvested. Sometimes it's the roots - particularly the tips, other times it leaves or the bark, etc. The soil conditions it's grown in can have a dramatic effect as will when it's harvested as to it's potency. That's a lot to learn. To make matters worse, depending on your location, you will have to use the variant of the plant that is compatible to your locality. There is great variation. Also, some plants you might like to use or take for granted as being available from a health food store, just won't grow in your climate or at your elevation.
5) Most herbal medications are taken in a diluted form, but if concentrated could have adverse effects. Sometimes you want to concentrate them. This is usually done with a solvent. Water and alcohol being the most common, but more specialized and harder to get ones will be needed if you want to separate the active ingredient from it's neighbors.
In short, you will do best to rely on the most local information as you can get and need to learn about what's available in your area. Botanical Gardens often host classes or at least know locals with this knowledge and they would be good to get in contact with. They will also know about and probably have good texts with local information. You will do best by starting small, a few plants at a time, and really learning all you can about them.
-t
Another good text is: Understanding Pharmacology; a physiological approach, by Leilani Grajeda-Higley, as it breaks the subject down to nervous system, endocrine system and immune system, as opposed to the traditional approach that uses over 25 categories that include anatomic, disease, therapeutic, drug action, and hormonal headings and sub-headings... the latter approach gives students in medical fields headaches, while this approach makes it pretty simple and deals with how drugs effect the body.
Lastly, go here:
http://medtech.syrene.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=14
and look at all the posts in that sub-form. There is a ton of useful info in there. The chapter on this in Survival and Austere Medicine that Goat Lady wrote is also excellent! This is a free download:
http://www.aussurvivalist.com/downlo...0Final%202.pdf