Substances found in the environment have been used medicinally ever since we learned that what we ate, drank or applied to our skin affected our bodies. The majority of these have been derived from plants.
In today's largely unregulated market, it is important that the herbalist you consult is competent to prescribe herbal medicines, having the relevant education, professional membership, insurance and other standards of professional practice necessary. The Herbmark is a kite mark of quality that enables members of the public to choose a herbalist who meets the strict criteria of the European Herbal and Traditional Medicine Practitioners Association.
The process for receiving herbal medicine from a professional herbalist goes as follows:
We do an initial consultation which takes a detailed look at your overall health. This:
• Spots any connections between other systems and your main symptoms
• Ensures that the herbs are best suited for your particular constitution.
The practitioner constructs a formula which you take for 1-2 weeks.
We meet again, to evaluate the initial formula and adjust it, or repeat.
Once we are happy we have the optimal formula to suit your needs, we can order a larger batch.
We decide how to progress. This may mean:
• Stopping once you have reached a point that you are good with
• Finding a cheaper, more convenient solution for maintenance
Bags of raw dried herbs are given to the patient to prepare at home. They need to be boiled in water like a soup and drunk on a daily basis, or occasionally used as a wash, soak or steam bath. A modern alternative to cooking them at home is to place the herbs in an insulated flask, filling it with boiling water and leaving the herbs to steep overnight. A few companies can offer to cook them in pressure cookers and reduce them into bags of concentrated fluid.
Pros: Widely believed to give the best result as the herbs cook together.
Cons: The most expensive and usually requires the patient's time and effort to prepare at home. Special extraction methods increase complexity or may not be possible.
A popular, convenient way to take herbs in a busy modern world: the herbs decocted individually or in small formulas and dehydrated to form granules similar to instant coffee in a factory. These can then be mixed and either measured out in spoonfuls or divided into sachets to mix with water and taken daily. They can also be pressed into capsules or pills.
Pros: Convenient. Special preparation can be done during the manufacturing to ensure the presence of all necessary constituents which can be standardised and controlled at industry level.
Cons: Not all the herbs can be cooked together when making custom formulas, so some reactions between them may not happen. Excipients are required to prevent clumping and retain stability, which vary between companies.
Herb extracts can be pressed into pill form, and many herb suppliers now offer standard lines of pills and capsules sold as supplements. These are much cheaper than customised formulas since they can be mass produced, but the combinations are limited to what the company sells.
Pros: Capsules avoid the bitter taste of some herbs. Manufactured lines are usually cheaper than customised herbal formulas.
Cons: To take the equivalent of a herbal decoction, as many as 10-15 pills may need to be consumed in a single dose making them best for low dose, continued treatment of chronic conditions. Manufactured products are limited to the combinations that the companies sell. Only a handful of companies pass the Herbmark standard required for professional herbalists to recommend.
The herbs are placed into strong alcohol. These can be purchased individually and mixed into a blend which is then decanted into a bottle, or made the traditional way: by placing all the herbs into a jar, filling with alcohol and leaving for weeks or even months to extract. A small measure is then taken daily, usually mixed with water.
Pros: Alcohol extracts different components to water and can target specific compounds by adjusting the % of alcohol used.
Cons: Alcohol can extract more toxic components too and may not be suitable for some patients. It may need to be cooked off or substituted with glycerine but this requires additional processing.
Applied to the skin, the most common method is to use extracted powders, tinctures or essential oils and mix them with a base cream. The more traditional method is to soak or gently cook whole raw herbs in oil or water, then filter and use as a wash or oil, or they can be mixed with a hardening agent like beeswax or plant butters to make an ointment, or with an emulsifying agent to make a cream. Other times whole herbs may be crushed, macerated or ground and applied directly to the skin as a poultice, held on with plasters or bandages.
Pros: Useful for superficial issues or symptom management.
Cons: Does not usually treat internal causes. Can be messy and stain.
A mixture of essential oils is combined with a carrier oil which can then be evaporated to produce an aroma or applied to points on the skin. Smell has a strong effect on the mind and mood while some oils stimulate the nerves on the skin to produce hot, cold, tingling or numbing feelings which can be used to alleviate pain and itching. Others have skin soothing compounds that can be used to calm irritation. A customised blend, coordinated with a diagnosis, can even be applied to acupuncture points to provide a means of continuing the treatments between sessions, or for distance treatments when it is not possible to meet face-to-face.
Pros: Enables the patient to treat themselves.
Cons: Good quality essential oils can be expensive. They can cause skin irritation if not diluted sufficiently. They are limited to use as topical and aromatherapy uses.
Herbal formulas have to prepared after an individual consultation which may have to look at the patient in more depth than for other treatment methods. Follow ups are then required to monitor the progress and alter the formula as necessary.
