Herbal Medicine Essay -- essays research papers fc

Alternative medicine has been around for centuries, although it has just started to become very popular in countries such as The United States. Many people now are following the trend without knowing anything about alternative medicine. People should be aware of the benefits as well as the precautions involved in taking these natural remedies. The most common form of alternative medicine nowadays is herbal medicines. These natural remedies can be found in millions of American homes today. Herbal medicine is probably the most widely used of the alternative medicines. Herbal medicine is a part of homeopathy, which is an alternative system of healing that uses very small doses of substances to relieve specific symptoms (2). Traditional herbalists tend to use combinations of small amounts of herbs to meet the needs of the patient. Natural medicines are a part of our world. There are natural remedies to many everyday illnesses. Natural medicines have been used through out the history of the world. There are records of the Egyptians using them in 1,600 BC. There are scriptures that date back to the Yin dynasty in 1,500 BC. The Old Testament also has many references to herbal medicines. The ancient Chinese were experts at natural medicine. They were experts on using plants, animals and minerals to heal themselves(7). The Chinese’s natural medication didn’t start diffusing over to Europe until the 2nd century, but there were many similarities in the Chinese’s and the Egyptian’s natural medicines (7). There are several benefits to in using alternative medicines. First, alternative medicine does not separate symptoms of a physical nature from those of a mental-emotional nature (6). This theory from ancient China expects specific mental/emotional conditions to go along with certain disease patterns, and expects these emotional symptoms to respond to treatment as well as any physical symptoms(6). Also, in alternative medicine each and every sign and symptom is understood and interpreted in relationship to all the others. While a medical doctor might choose to send a patient with a variety of symptoms to two or three specialists, a good practitioner of traditional alternative medicine sees and understands all the symptoms together as a single pattern. Any treatment prescribed is designed to work effectively with the entire pattern and all its symptoms. Done skillfull... ...c Newt. http://www.botanical.com 10. â€Å"Henriette’s Herbal Homepage.† 1996 The National Library of Medicines. http://ibiblio.org/herbmed 11. â€Å"Herbal and Alternative Remedies.† 2000 Micromedex Thompson Healthcare. http://www.family doctor.org 12. â€Å"The Herbal Encyclopedia.† 1996 Pro Health International. http://www.wic.net/waltzark/herben 13. â€Å"Herbal Remedies-Ginseng: The Inscrutable Root.† http://www.women.com 14. â€Å"Herb Research Foundation.† 2000 Herb Research Foundation. http://www.herbs.org 15. Hoffmann, David L. â€Å"Ginkgo Biloba.† http://www.healthy.net 16. Karp, Peter D. â€Å"E. Coli Information Page.† 1999 Pangea Systems, Inc. http://ecocyc.pangeasystems.com/ecocyc/ecoli.html 17. â€Å"MacConkey Agar.† 1995 University of Texas 18. â€Å"Preparing Herbal Remedies.† 2000 Garden Guides. 19. â€Å"Tryptic Soy/Broth Agar.† 1995 University of Texas 20. Yang, Tiende.â€Å"The Nature of Ginseng.† 2000. 21. â€Å"Tryptic Soy/Broth Agar.† 1995 University of Texas