Herbals Plus Conventional Medication Can Be Dangerous Mix

A recent report in the journal "Geriatric nursing" has drawn attention to the often ignored danger of prescription drugs interacting with herbal remidies. As noted by the lead researcher, people forget that herbs are drugs themselves and fail to mention them to thier doctor.

The study albiet small noted that the most common potiental dangerous interaction was with anti-inflamitory drugs (NSAIDS) and the herb Ginkgo.

In my gig when assesing a patient we do a history and physical that mirrors what a doctor will do (albiet smaller in scope and related to whats going with the child at the time) about a year ago at the suggeestion of one of the the other transport specialists we added a question about herbal medications (many of our transports are Asian / Hispanic and use a variety of home treatments like coining etc) and I wa shocked at how much they were used but many would never have made mention unless asked point blank.

The article in its entirety can be found Here

No doubt about that. Herbals are very powerfull medications. Some herbals will react with other herbals to create problems for a patient as well.

I take herbal medications over the little white pill everytime but taking plants requires one to excercise caution. An example is roasted dandelion root taken as a tea or tincture for more then 2 weeks can really mess you up on a neurological level even though its purpose is to increase bile production.