I am often asked what may be the best herb to aid in a particular
condition. Many herb books out there will list a condition, say
arthritis, and list twenty different herbs for that "disease." It is
difficult to approach herbs in this way, as each is a unique life force
with many potential benefits for the body. In a more holistic approach
to health, each person is unique as well, and naming a "disease" does
not take into account each individual manifestation of a condition. The
"disease" is just the general term for the general outward manifestation
of various imbalances that may have different origins and different symptoms in each individual.
When I run across one of these very general herb guides, and put
myself in the place of someone who is just beginning to learn about
herbs, I am often left with more questions than I started with. Taking
the afore-mentioned arthritis for example: when being hit with a list of
twenty different herbs, I wish to know what the herb does, which are
the most effective in which case. Indeed, there are herbs that may aid
in arthritis by aiding the kidneys or the liver in removing various
toxins that may aggravate the condition. Some are anti-inflammatories;
some increase circulation to the affected joints (internally or
externally); another herb may address immune system imbalances if there
is an auto-immune component. According to the case, an individual may
find great relief with one or more of these approaches.
Even without knowing the exact scientific rationale for how an herb
works, or the supposed active ingredient (usually an interplay of many
plant constituents that have never been studied, especially in the whole
herb); there has been much knowledge handed down through many cultures
that can provide us with a good "picture" of the herb and what it can
do in the body. A study of the Chinese energetic approach helps in
providing a basis for diagnosis based on a train of symptoms that point
to an imbalance in one or more body systems. This does not mean we would
be prescribing for a symptom, although symptom relief is usually found,
but are attempting to identify the basic imbalances that may lead
towards a cure. A study of the Chinese approach is very valuable, yet
can sometimes be too systematized; not allowing us to look or think
beyond "the box," which we must often do, as modern conditions are often
bewilderingly more complex than anything the Chinese had to deal with
in ancient times.
There are both Oriental and Western approaches as well that attempt
to look at the unique energy of each herb. Herbs have long been
classified according to their heating and cooling, moistening and
drying, relaxing and stimulating properties. The taste of an herb can be
an indication of some of these properties. With such a basis one can
soon learn that giving a hot stimulant in an acute inflammatory
condition may aggravate symptoms. Giving a cooling, moistening herb when
there is an abundance of mucus and much congestion may not help much.
In the Western tradition herbs are also classified according to a number
of other properties according to their action in the body:
anti-spasmodic, diuretic, nervine, expectorant, etc.
The Eclectics were a group of American physicians whose heyday was in
the last century. They, along with groups like the Homeopaths and
Physio-medicalists, did much clinical research into the use of whole
plant extracts. Their textbooks, a number of which have been reprinted,
are a treasure-trove of clinical and theoretical herb knowledge. The
Eclectics, through their empirical clinical studies of many cases,
attempted to come up with a "symptom picture" which each herb might
address.
A good example of using different approaches to gain insight into the
"healing signature" of one herb can be gained by looking at the herb
Pleurisy Root (Asclepias tuberosa).
This from an Eclectic M.D.: "...Expels wind, relieves pain, relaxes
spasm, equalizes the circulation, calms the nervous system...It is of
special service in the treatment of affections involving the serous
membranes, as in pleuritis, peritonitis, etc."
John Scudder was an Eclectic who made it his goal to develop a series
of "Specific Medicines" based on the actions of a single herb extract.
His summary of cases indicating Pleurisy Root: "Pulse strong,
vibratile, skin hot; pain acute and seemingly dependent on motion;
vascular excitement marked in the area supplied by the bronchial
arteries; inflammation of the serous tissues."
In Chinese terms, one of Pleurisy Root's main indications would be
called "Lung Wind Heat: Feverishness, aches and pains, hot skin, dry
cough, irritability."
Much more can be gained from these sources that paint an even clearer
picture of its specific uses. The average herb book may go so far as to
state it is good for cough; yet how much more versatile and direct can
be our use of such an herb with a little more knowledge and a clearer
picture of its unique "gestalt." With this knowledge we can see that
Pleurisy Root is a remedy for fever; yet it is not so much due to being a
cooling herb so much as due to its relaxing properties - "equalizing
the circulation" while having a special affinity for the sweat glands,
promoting mild perspiration. We can see that it should be brought to
mind when there is pain from inflammation of the serous membranes, as in
acute pleurisy. Here we see its specialty being in acute, hot and
painful conditions.
In more chronic, relaxed conditions it is less called for, but can
still have its place. Sticking, sharp pains in the chest in any
condition may call for its use. Dry cough and some forms of asthma
benefit. It does have tonic and expectorant actions on the lungs, but
may have to combined with more stimulating lung and circulatory herbs in
chronic congestion. Heart and lung fluid congestion in chronic heart
conditions may find a use for this herb. To more or less complete our
picture of Pleurisy Root we find that its relaxing effects have been
used in intestinal spasm. Its effects on serous membranes can extend to
the bursa of shoulder and knee (combined with herbs for tissue repair
and circulation).
In their herb use, many people tend to look for the herb or herbs
that they can take continuously that will aid all their problems; yet
the body is not a static system, and as it goes through changes, herbs
may have to be changed as well. For instance, after an acute bout with
pleurisy, a person may need to switch to more tonic herbs to build their
system back. An herb like Pleurisy Root may be used when there is a hot
fever with aterial excitement, and another herb used if it turned into a
chronic, low-grade fever.
Another example of the way many approach herbs in this country can be
seen in the use of an herb like Echinacea continuously or in any type
of problem that may come up. Its use can be overdone, in the sense that I
believe it is often used instead of making the life-style changes or
the preventative use of herbs and foods that will promote long-term
health. It also doesn't do justice to the many herbs that can work in so
many different directions. If a person used only an anti-infective herb
like Echinacea every time a urinary tract infection cropped up, they
would be missing out on a good number of herbs that can be used
preventatively, or along with the Echinacea that are a tonic to the
tissues of the urinary tract, and create a healthy enough environment
that bacteria won't take hold in the first place. Such herbs could
include a tonic like Gravel Root or a soothing, coating herb like
Marshmallow Root. I have found that in our modern culture, adding an
herb for the nerves and stress can make a big difference in many cases.
There is, of course, also the knowledge of many other cultures that
can add to our picture. Many tribal cultures, for instance, place more
emphasis on the unique spiritual properties of a plant, and how they can
be used in healing at the spiritual level (where they maintain that all
illness begins). Some herbs have been seen to be suited to certain
constitutional types; or certain emotional types. Chamomile, for
instance, for children or adults that are acutely or chronically
over-sensitive, irritable, self-absorbed.
Modern research can certainly add to our fund of knowledge, and a few
new uses of herbs have come to light (notably Ginkgo); though reading
and discussing and observing first hand clinical cases is where most
herbalists gain their most useful knowledge. Many have a jaundiced eye
for much modern research, based as it is on finding so-called active
ingredients and magic bullets, as well as funding issues (often funded
to show that herbs are ineffective or dangerous). In its attempt to
equate herbs with drugs, the pharmaceutical and medical community has
much of the public in the "herb-as-drug" mode; prescribing herbs for a
"name" like arthritis, rather than for the individual case. This has
turned St. John's Wort into the Depression Herb, and Valerian into the
Insomnia Herb, though they both have a much wider range of uses and
abilities.
There are times as well, when we'll want to throw out all our
theories and indications and energetics and syndromes. Sometimes an herb
that the herbalist would never have thought to be useful or appropriate
is the one that a person will have an immediate affinity to and will
aid them more than anything you had come up with. It is my belief also,
that so many people are so out of touch with nature and with consuming
anything natural, that just imbibing the life-force and nutrition of a
wild plant can make a good impression.
An herb like Hawthorn, with limited uses in traditional Chinese
medicine, has become very widely applicable and useful in the modern
West where heart disease has become a #1 killer. And sometimes it does
just get down to Hawthorn is good for the heart.
It is obvious that a run-down on the special properties of all the
herbs is beyond the scope of this article, but I have attempted to show
some directions to go in learning the versatility of each herb. With
such knowledge a person can be more successful in aiding at least a
major aspect of a condition with the use of a single herb than with a
whole slew of less-indicated herbs. Another common usage of herbs in
this country is to take so many different formulas of herbs for every
condition, that one is taking a hundred herbs, some of which may be
working at cross-purposes. Again, a few well-chosen herbs may do more to
correct the imbalances that may be the basis for all of the person's
problems, than in using such a shot-gun approach.
In summary, I believe the aspiring herbalist would do well to study
the knowledge pertaining to an herb from many sources, ages and
cultures, while at the same time being aware that plants, like people,
are living beings and cannot always be made to fit exclusively into one
system or theory.
Yours in healing,
Bob Liebert