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Herbal Health Information on Menopause

August 17, 2011 by Leave a Comment

What I am about to say about menopause may surprise you:-

It is not an illness!

Rather look on it as a change, just like first starting your periods was a change in the way your body functioned.

I have helped so many women in my clinic get through menopause I feel it is a bit of a specialist area for me.

Having said it is not an illness, I of course know it causes many women serious distress, with many symptoms both physical and emotional.

Most common of the symptoms are hot flushes ranging from a few mild ones a day to 2-3 an hour with face redness and sweating.

Apart from the flushes, symptoms include, poor sleep, digestive problems, weight gain, depression, headaches and more.

My approach is to help people get through the menopause as easily as possible which means getting the body to accept this new way of functioning as normal and to prevent it trying to return to its youthful state which is the major cause of the symptoms.

There is a system in the body called the Endocrine system, consisting of the Thyroid, Adrenal glands and Ovaries or Testes, which are responsible for the production of most of our hormones.

It starts with the Pituitary gland situated just below the brain which controls the secretions from the Thyroid, Adrenal glands and Ovaries/Testes. These organs send messages to the pituitary gland and to each other to give a status update and messages from the pituitary control the output of the hormones produced in these organs.

When the ovaries stop ovulating (producing an egg) each month, the message to the pituitary is one of panic SEND REINFORCEMENTS I can’t manage on my own!

Unfortunately for us the area of the brain which controls the pituitary is right next to the temperature control area and any message which goes up there to stimulate the pituitary into action also stimulates the temperature control area. Hence the hot flushes. Who designed that?

It is completely wrong to try and increase the amount of oestrogen in the body in hopes of stopping the flushes. We need to get the body to accept the new lower hormone levels so that it is not sending panic messages around and about.

There is one herb I have found to help the body adjust to these new levels and that is Dong Quai. Which of course we have not seen on our herb walks as it is a Chinese herb. To help with the flushes I use the traditional herb, Sage, which we have not looked at yet, but we will visit an herb garden and have a look at soon in a video, so keep your eye on the walks section. Sage is not the be all and end all for hot flushes but does help to reduce them. There are other herbs for flushes such as Willow and Zizyphus but these need to be used under the supervision of a practitioner as they are not commonly available over the counter.

I often mix these with a liver herb such as milk thistle, to ensure the liver is metabolising hormones properly and calming herbs such as Passiflora or Motherwort.

St. John’s wort which we looked at in the shingle beach video is also excellent during menopause as a nervous system supporting herb, but remember cannot be taken if you are on any orthodox medicines.

Eat sensibly and cut out Caffeine containing drink and food (sorry, chocolate), drink plenty of water and you are going to hate me for saying this, but many many women report that alcohol sets off flushing horrendously.

Of course if you get stuck qualified Medical Herbalists are around to provide excellent support.

Linda Bostock

Medical  Herbalist

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Herbal Health Information on Stress

August 11, 2011 by Leave a Comment

I could write a book on this and I expect if you suffer from stress you would say so could you.

Anxiety, insomnia, panic attacks, palpitations, tiredness, irritability, lack of confidence, feeling inadequate and I am going to stop there.

The obvious answer is change of lifestyle to remove the source of the stress, but, hey, that is in an ideal world.

The less obvious answer is to look at what you CAN change in your lifestyle even it is something small such as join a Yoga class, take time out for yourself, walk away from a stressful situation and calm down before going back to face it, can you hand a job over to anyone else to do, get a cleaner for the housework, take a holiday. ANYTHING!

Stress is not a problem to the body, providing the body has the ability to cope with it which to be fair, we are set up to do via our Adrenal glands. I am sure you have heard of the ‘fight or flight’ response which either helps you to deal with a stressful situation or get the hell out of there. When the stress is overwhelming the adrenals get exhausted and the body fails to deal with stress well.

First thing to do is look at your diet. A body cannot keep going under any circumstances if it is poorly fed.

Eat three good meals a day:-

Consisting of nutritious foods such as fruit, veg, meat, fish, and a sensible intake of carbohydrates.

NOT CHOCOLATE which gives you a short term sugar boost and contains a feel good factor but does not last and may send you in to an emotional low when the blood sugar levels drop.

Drink WATER. Caffeine in tea and coffee is the very worst thing for stress as it increases heart rate and may cause palpitations and anxiety and will definitely prevent you sleeping well.

However, Caffeine is addictive so if you need to come off it, do it slowly, otherwise you will get headaches and feel pretty rough for a couple of weeks. I recommend reducing one cup a day in three day steps, remembering to substitute with water or non caffeine hot drinks such as Rooibos and Chamomile tea.

Exercise is a wonderful stress buster, so go to the gym or preferably do something in the fresh air.

Herbs will vary on whether it is anxiety or depression or insomnia or tiredness.

The main area which needs supporting is the nervous system.

St. John’s wort, which we saw on the shingle beach video, is a wonderful nervous system supporting and repairing herb as well as having anti depressant properties. Don’t take it if you are on any orthodox medicines.

Valerian is  great for calming both the body and mind and I usually mix that with Skullcap which is excellent at calming the brain down so that it does not go in to those mad thought loops at night when you are trying to get off to sleep.

Don’t forget the humble Chamomile which is very gently calming and helps you get a good night’s sleep and the lime flowers we saw growing in Pevensey church yard in the Pevensey walk video.

The adrenal glands can be supported with Ginseng, but there are lots of cautions with Ginseng

Not with tea or coffee

Not if you have high blood pressure

Never for more than three weeks at a time.

Growing in your garden you may have:-

Borage which also supports and restores the adrenals.

Lavender which is great in an herb pillow to help with insomnia and the oil is wonderfully soothing in a bath.

Lemon balm which makes a very nice anti stress tea.

There are many ways of helping combat stress with herbs so do come and see me in my clinic if you would like help.

Linda Bostock

Medical Herbalist

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St. John’s Wort (Hypericum Perforatum)

August 1, 2011 by Leave a Comment

It is the leaves and flowers of St. John’s wort that are used.

The active ingredients are hypericin, flavonoids and essential oils.

St John's Wort

St. John’s wort has a pretty small yellow flower and if you pick the leaf and hold it up to the light you will be able to see tiny perforations in the leaf, hence its Latin name perforatum.

It has anti viral properties and is an “alterative” which means it has the ability to restore to normal, the way an organ or system in the body works.

It also has a long tradition of being used as a nervous system supporting and repairing herb and has liver tonic properties.

At college we were told and all the literature says that St. John’s wort must not be used where the patient is showing symptoms of clinical depression.

In Germany it has long been used as an antidepressant and a liver cleansing herb.

When we were doing the shingle beach walk, my husband, (and cameraman) Mike said to me jokingly, “is there anything to treat shingles?” well Ha Ha yes there is, one of the things I do with the plant is pick the flowers and put them in a jar with oil (any oil will do) for about six weeks in full sun light.  This will produce the beautiful Hypericum oil which is about the only thing I know to relieve the pain of shingles when rubbed on externally to them, at the same time as working against the herpes zoster virus which causes shingles.

I use the tincture in my clinic to put in to mixes to support the nervous system and the immune system. If I think there is a need for a direct anti viral in a mixture, then St. John’s wort and elderflower tinctures are top of my list.

Word of warning…….St John’s wort has a photosensitising action both if used externally and internally so if you are taking it, cover up in bright sunlight.

Linda Bostock

Medical Herbalist/herbal health information

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Herb Walk Around a Shingle Beach July 2011

July 28, 2011 by Leave a Comment

We live in a newly developed area, called Sovereign Harbour, three miles outside Eastbourne in East Sussex. The area was a shingle beach known as The Crumbles and was one of very few shingle habitats left in the U.K.  I have met many people who remember The Crumbles as they were and describe to me a wild area with different plants and animals inhabiting it.

There are still five sites within the area available for development, which are as yet, un-built on, due to harbour residents campaign to prevent over-development of the land, but which will be built on in the future.

Lucky for us, these areas still have an interesting variety of plants growing on them and also make good dog walking areas. The main species of birds I have seen, apart form the gulls, are linnets, greenfinches, sparrows, blackbirds and starlings. Lots of rabbits and foxes and some hedgehogs which, sadly, I only know about when they get squished on the road

We are also surrounded by marshy areas, Down land and Weald, resulting in several distinct habitats within a few miles from our house.

I was particularly interested to see three plants growing on the shingle which look very similar but which it would be very dangerous to muddle up.

Ragwort grows on most waste ground. It has poisonous properties and will kill a horse if it eats it.

St. John’s Wort is a nervous system supporting and repairing herb with anti depressant and liver stimulating properties. St. John’s Wort can be photosensitising both taken internally and applied externally as an oil, so if you are taking St. John’s wort, care needs to be taken in bright sunlight.

Tansy puts on a fantastic show and is often cultivated in herbaceous borders for its bright yellow flat head flowers. It is used medicinally in very small amounts to tone the female reproductive system and to kill thread worm (don’t self medicate with tansy, you need to know exact doses and it can cause abortion)

Evening primrose:- the oil from the seed is high in Omega 6 and is said to help with PMT. I personally am not an evening primrose oil fan or advocate but the plant is very pretty.

The other plants we saw on this herb walk were

Centaury, astringent and toning for all mucous membranes.

Tormentil , astringent and toning for all mucous membranes

Yellow dock, digestive system and liver stimulant.

Goat’s rue, reduces blood sugar (don’t self medicate)

St. John’s wort, Centaury, Tormentil and Yellow dock will have their own write up in the Herbs and health section

There are many other plants growing on the shingle, not the least of which is a beautiful Bee orchid which grows in the spring and I have to confess I hope that the planning permission battles will continue for some time.

.

Linda Bosotck

Medical Herbalist

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