Making sure I do what the patient wants I have a new patient with a gastric ulcer. Although this patient has a genetic condition which shapes her life quite dramatically and several other pathologies which impact somewhat, the main presentation in this patient is her painful stomach ulcer. This is what she ultimately wanted addressed. […]
How to assess what herbs are doing. I may get a patient saying they ‘feel better’ on herbs, that’s nice to hear but not very objective. Cynics may well say it is just the placebo affect of being listened to and taken seriously. And of course that might be true in part. But I want […]
When treatment doesn’t go to plan… This should have been easy. A middle-aged woman, not really ill, but more wanting better health after a long run of minor infections. Mrs W was an articulate, intelligent woman who knew that three months of antibiotic treatment would compromise her gut health. She was asking for herbs and dietary advice […]
Teaching a skill, or giving a hand-out? Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime I have had an experience of this proverb recently. It’s not directly linked to what I do, but sometimes I get a chance […]
Three reasons why herbal medicine is abandoned… Herbal medicine is different from orthodox medicine, and not just because of what it is made from. There are some very big differences that may put people off, even if they would really like to try it… 1. Taste and Smell I once had a middle-aged man as […]
Keep it simple… When one talks about ‘fighting a battle’ one thinks about a tangible enemy. And if one was to imagine the biggest enemy of herbal medicine one might decide it was the NHS, or modern medicine, or GPs, or Big Pharma. This might be true, and goodness knows we hear it enough; that […]
How do I get rid of caterpillars that are eating through my Valerian, Viburnum, and Nasturtiums? I was overwhelmed with a caterpillar invasion that swept through my medicinal herbs like a dose of castor oil in a constipated patient. These horrible little grey things were chomping through specific green leaves which showed they had good […]
Does emotional stress cause ill health? I mentioned Mrs M’s long list of diagnoses in my last post; and today we went through her timeline together. Up until the age of 45 Mrs M was physically ‘fine’, she had a healthy childhood and was a healthy and happy teenager. When I looked at her timeline […]
Trying to see the wood for the trees… My phone conversation with Mrs M went like this: ‘Can you help me with my rheumatoid arthritis?’ ‘Yes,’ I said, ‘herbs and a change of diet can nearly always improve the situation.’ ‘Good!’ she said. Oh. I also have osteoarthritis.’ ‘That’s fine.’ I wrote that down. ‘The […]
I have been in practice for nearly 15 years as a medical herbalist, and I have been teaching herbal therapeutics for seven years. In that time I found that I got into a rut, both of thinking and of teaching. I have developed my go-to-favourites for different conditions, and I forgot some straightforward, easy solutions […]