To herb or not to herb (Tales from the CCU)
added by geena on March 2, 2003 at 10:54 PM
I hear this buzz about "alternative medicine" sometimes. I'm going to admit ignorance here and just blog about what I know. I welcome your comments and education :-)
There are only two cases that I can remember off the top of my head where herbs may not have been the right way to go for my patients. One was a patient with a history of pulmonary fibrosis. He went to a pulmonologist, who suggested whatever treatment they use for that affliction, but the patient decided to go with "Mexican enzymes" instead. He ended up on a ventilator for weeks. Admittedly, in this case, I don't know if he tried Western medical therapies. But I do know that these enzymes definitely didn't help.
The other case is just heartbreaking. It was a young girl of about 17 or so. She noticed a lump in her neck at some point and by the time it was removed, it was the size of a small orange. Her parents met with an oncologist, but instead opted to send their daughter to Mexico for sunshine and herbal remedies. She got worse. Her family finally relented to revisit Western medicine and tried to do a stem cell transplant on her. She died.
Now, I don't know if she would have died anyway, despite Western medical interventions. I'm assuming I don't hear about Herbal Success Stories because those people wouldn't necessarily end up in my unit. But something in the back of my mind nags me that if those 2 patients hadn't "wasted" so much time on ingesting bitter roots, maybe they would have had a better outcome.
I'd be interested to hear from other health care workers about patients who have used alternative medicine and what their outcomes were. I'm definitely keeping an open mind and am seeking real-life accounts here.
Lastly, I do know for a fact that if you as a patient are taking herbs or such for a condition that you have, and you make an appointment to see a Western MD, you definitely have to tell him or her what you're taking. Especially if they prescribe medication for you, which may interact with your current therapy. Not all herbs and medications play nice together.
| Progress Notes (2) |
Progress Notes
I had ovarian cancer long ago they told me I has a 1% chance of survial.I had the hysterectomy and chemo as long as I could take it then went home to the Choctaw reservation half-dead .My paternal grandmother prepared many "herbal" or "alterNATIVE" remedies that have kept me alive for the past fifteen years . To be honest,I love baffling all those rich white doctors,because grandma won't even reveal her silly secrets of "herbal" survival to me.So good luck finding info on any American herbs.I do assure you they do more good than harm if they are in the right hands.Letting an uneducated person handle herbs would be like letting someone off the street do heart surgery if you are able to understand better from my view I would really appreciate it.
added by lisa on August 10, 2003 3:42 PM
what ever you say about the herbs, herbs are the gift of the nature and some time for the disease for which the latest and prescribed medicines are no so effective ,herbal medicine can easily treat such disease. An example of this is the skin condtion vitiligo. As most of the org specialize in the treatment of vitiliog liek vitiligo support, vitiligo clinic and www.antivitiligo.com and many other use the herbal remedy for the cure of vitiligo.
added by Anne on July 31, 2008 3:26 AM
So, what brought you to the hospital today?