To think perhaps herbal remedies do work?

[Hullabalooza]

I’ve always been quite herbal remedy sceptic. However since covid I’ve picked up every cold and chest infection going, often being ill to the point of needing to be in bed 3-4 times a winter.

In desperation, I started taking daily echinacea in November, and didn’t get ill for four months whilst taking them. I’m a teacher, and I’m not exaggerating when I say that children were coughing and spluttering all around me for weeks on end, colleagues going off sick and even in my own household whilst I (feeling slightly superhuman) got nothing.

I ran out of tablets in March and have now gone down with the early stages of a cold and nasty cough. Found a few echinacea in a drawer and literally feel like my body is battling between being ill and fighting it off depending on when I take them. I’m not fully ill like I’d normally expect after a few days.

Appreciate for the herbal sceptics this sounds like a load of crap but AIBU to wonder if there is really something in this stuff? My own anecdotal experience makes me wonder.

what are your thoughts and experiences with herbal remedies?

No reason why herbal remedies wouldn't work. They generally contain active ingredients. Are you confusing them with homeopathic remedies, which are a load of old nonsense?

YANBU! Modern medicine has its roots in herbal usage after all!

I'm a massive fan of elderberry syrup, and plan to make my own this year.

No, I think there's something in them.
(Not drugs, obviously).

Eh? Of course many herbal medicines works. Many medicines from big pharma are made from herbs.

Yes, I do think some work - I am very sure that mint calms stomachs, and ginger helps coughs, for example.

Herbal - yes.
Homeopathic - no.

This is a very confused statement.

@Hullabalooza

It's quite easy to see if your anecdotal experience is supported by actual data. Just look for scientific studies, not vague claims in health shops. Here's one for starters, unsurprisingly, it shows no evidence of effectiveness beyond placebo.

www.vaia.com/en-us/textbooks/math/the-practice-of-statistics-for-ap-examination-6th/testing-a-claim/q-96-preventing-colds-a-medical-experiment-investigated-whet/#:~:text=Calculation,variables%20are%20almost%20certainly%20coincidental.

Have you seriously never heard of aspirin, for example?

I use some for eczema. It doesn't make it go away, but it definitely soothes it. And avoids having to use the steroids.

Isn't this where modern medicine has its roots?
Obviously some works better than others but many old wives tales and remedies have evidence supporting their efficacy.
The active ingredient of aspirin comes from a plant. Antibiotics came from mould.
Not all alternative medicine is nonsense.
Homeopathy is however, a pile of utter shite.

Yep, Digoxin for example is derived from Foxgloves.

YABVU

the difference between conventional medicine and herbal medicine is the former has had to prove how safe and effective it is, and the latter has not.

if any herbal medicine could be proven to be as safe and effective as is needed to be classed as conventional medicine, then it would BE conventional medicine.

The fact that it is herbal medicine proves that it is NOT as safe and effective.

But what people don't take into consideration, when talking about how effective they find some herbal medicine or other is this. It might well be. But that is only half the story. The other half is SAFE.

If a herbal remedy is very effective, but is not conventional medicine, then the reason will be that it has failed the SAFETY checks.

hence so many deaths from herbal medicine in this country every year. And you can't complain, because if you have taken a herbal remedy, then you have knowingly taken something that cannot be proved safe and effective.

Herbal remedies also kill children, who did not have the understanding to choose to take something not proven safe and effective - it should be against the law to give herbal remedies and herbal teas to children.

Of course they do in certain situations- the forerunner of dogoxin is foxglove as it slows down the heart. Herbal medicine has lots of uses and advantages but should be used as an adjunct to more modern medicine and needs discussed as there can be interactions.

Sometimes drugs.

Aspirin is found in willow bark.

Digoxin in foxgloves.

Atripin from belladonna.

Quinine from Cinchona bushes.

Opium from poppies.

And cannabis of course.

If I have a headache I'd rather take an aspirin than boil up some willow bark.

Most don't work. Of those that do, there's no control over quality and dosage. Some plants produce a lot of the active chemical at certain times of day, or different concentrations at different times of year. What helped you in August might kill you in April.

There's no good evidence for echinacea's protective effects. But placebos are effective 50% of the time ... and they still work if you know you're taking a placebo! So, OP, if you're getting the result you want from your placebo, keep taking the tablets!

I am the world's biggest skeptic. I'm a science graduate and have been cynical all my adult life. I have taken particular piss out of homeopathy which of course is absolute nonsense. Until...

One summer day out in the countryside I was suddenly engulfed in some sort of allergic reaction to some pollen or whatever coming off the fields.

My throat closed up I was coughing and spluttering, my nose was suddenly filled with water, my eyes were itchy and running ... it all happened in a few seconds and totally overwhelmed me.

The man I was walking with immediately pulled out from his pocket a very small plastic canister and said quick put some of these under your tongue I just did as I was told because I was absolutely desperate didn't even ask him what it was it was that bad.

Once my body regained some normality of course I begged him to tell me what this magic potion was. It turned out to be something called Combination H and is a homeopathic remedy that you can buy in any chemist for a couple of pounds. The relief it gave me was very fast, like five minutes, whereas if I'd had an antihistamine with me that probably would have taken something like 30 to 40 minutes to take effect.

I now buy my own supply.

Unfortunately this experience has meant that I have had to revise my long held poor opinion of homeopathy.

Most certainly.
My aches and pains let me know if I've got out of the routine of taking my turmeric!

Some of them work, though it's an issue knowing if the supplement has the right amount (or any at all) of the active ingredient.

Just because they haven't been approved as a drug doesn't mean they don't work. Clinical trials cost millions of pounds to run, and pharma companies need to make money. If it's not something they can patent (which wouldn't be possible on many natural remedies), they are not going to spend the money.

Cannabis works. So does morphine.
Plants are very potent.

it should be against the law to give herbal remedies and herbal teas to children.

That seems like it'd be a minefield to write...where would you even draw the line? What about things like "sleepy baby lavender pillow spray" or supermarket camomile tea

My chemotherapy was derived from a tree bark found in the Amazon. I think there is a place for homeopathy. I certainly wouldn't use it for a serious illness (or maybe as a complement to) but have found things like echinacea really helpful and also a mild diuretic tablet that I can't recall the name of. GP was happy for me to take that rather than a prescription med.

I think there is a place for homeopathy.

Homeopathy is bullshit and a completely different kettle of fish from herbal medicine though. It's basically sugar pills that have had some kind of herb/ingredient waved at them.