Herbs don’t work for me
Sometimes, it just doesn’t work. A bit like if you attempted to fix your car when it breaks down. If you aren’t a mechanic, you may or may not get it right.
Also, mechanics don’t always get it right first time as cars (and bodies) are complex. I don’t always get it right first time, either but we work together to find the ones which will work for you.
However, if you tried an over-the-counter (OTC) herbal preparation there may be many reasons why it didn’t work.
It wasn’t prescribed for you
When you visit me, you are being assessed using the same approach to understanding your body that nurses and GPs do.
I look at everything about your health before prescribing for you. What does that even mean? Well, you may have migraines but I will want to know all about your digestion, resproductive, respiratory etc health as well, whether you are taking any rescribed medications, OTC preparations AND what you are eating. Sounds a lot, doesn’t it? It is but it is how I can build my picture of you, the complex human being that you are. I can begin to understand where your migraines stem from and why I think they happen so that we can aim to prevent them occurring rather than addresisng them once they arise.
In a whole food shop, the staff are unlikely have had a medical training.
You chose it from a list of herbal options in a book
Whilst there is nothing wrong with this per se, because it is a symptomatic approach, it may also simply not work for you even though it works for 65% of the rest of the population with the same symptom.
Herbs are complex and so are we. To get it right requires understanding of the herb’s full capabilities before being used. Every herb has multiple actions which address many aspects of health at once. Getting the right one from a list of herbs ‘for migraines’ requires a broader knowledge of all the herb’s actions.
You chose it for symptomatic relief
Symptomatic relief if wonderful. We all need that from time to time. Those congested sinuses are crying out for relief. Hoever, this fails to address the cause. If you have congested sinuses due to seasonal allergies, removing the allergen (where possible), the body’s over-reaction to the allergen will be more effective than just decongesting the sinuses.
Symptom relief is often very effective with herbal treatment but is not going to stop the problem. It also doesn’t take into account how a few apparently unrelated symptoms may all contribute to the same condition. And, a herb chosen for one action only won’t treat all of those other things as well.
It wasn’t good quality
Some of the herbal supplements available in shops use different plant parts than those which are used by herbalists. For example, Echinacea is a brilliant herb. Herbalists use the root. Some capsules contain leaf and root. Now, the leaf also contains some of the good stuff but nothing like as much as the root.