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sigynsdottir:

lokaliska:

alphacanismaj0ris:

valkyraven:

A note.

I see a lot of people posting herbal remedies.

Please, please include the cautions and contradictions with an herb when you recommend it.

Herbs are drugs. Some of them should not be used by pregnant or nursing women (kava kava comes to mind).

Valerian is not a substitute for narcotic sleep aids. Valerian is a narcotic sleep aid.

St. John’s wort messes up the action of oral contraceptives.

Marshmallow root should not be mixed with other medicines or taken at the same time as it can interfere with their action.

Catnip (used for sleep problems) can make already heavy menstrual periods worse.

Etc, etc, etc. Please remember you are recommending medicines and medicines can have effects other than the ones you want.

!!!!!!!THIS IS SO IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!!!

ALSO! And this one doesn’t get mentioned (that I’ve seen): passionflower is a mild MAOI. If you take it with SSRIs, SNRIs, etc you can induce Serotonin Syndrome. That can be lethal.

A vast number of drugs are ideas people got from plants and herbal remedies.

They’re not different, they’re just, in many cases, more refined (like aspirin being “how can we make white willow bark do less damage to stomach and liver” refined, or “how do we make opium more potent and less addictive” - obviously this did not always WORK, but they TRIED.)

Scratches face.....omg people....

Narcolepsy cannot be cured. Valerian is a sleep aid period. It is helpful to people with narcolepsy because it makes you feel refreshed even when you have only had a short amount of sleep. I am not seeing any actual sources of it being a real sleep aid for narcolepsy, just a suggested herbal aid. In a tincture it can also be used to help with migraines. 

St Johns wort ALSO messes up any other antidepressant medications so you absolutely CANNOT take it with another anti depressant or it is canceled out. A lot of medications and herbs mess with contraceptives. 

Arnica is used in homeopathy and can help with healing bruises but we were taught if you make anything with it and are using it on skin, and accidentally get it on a cut or in the bloodstream, call poison control immediately or go to the ER. 

I don’t have time to look up the other things, but do serious research from actual websites. Not just some ‘I say so, it must be true.’ Find sources! Be careful.