Watch out for those Experts!!!
____________________
Herbal Remedies: Helpful or Harmful?
Experts Call for Government Regulation of Alternative Medicines
By Liza Jane Maltin
WebMD Medical News
June 12, 2000 -- Americans are turning more and more often to herbal
remedies as a natural alternative to drugs. But before you head off to the
health food store for that bottle of St. John's wort or kava kava, you
should know that natural does not necessarily mean safer. In fact, evidence
is mounting that some of the most popular herbs can have serious side
effects.
Now, a team of researchers has collected all the information available --
from clinical trial results to FDA warnings to individual physician's
reports -- on several of the most widely used herbs, and created a set of
guidelines that doctors and patients can use to protect themselves. Their
complete report appears in the Spring issue of the Journal of
Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience.
"The bottom line is that these herbal medications are purported to be
harmless, but that's an incorrect myth. [Reports about individuals] and
letters to the editors in various medical journals have documented that
these are in fact not harmless," says lead author W. Curt LaFrance Jr., MD,
who is with the departments of neurology and psychiatry at Brown University
School of Medicine in Providence, R.I.
St. John's wort, for example, which can indeed be useful in mild or moderate
depression, has now been implicated in heart transplant rejection.
Apparently, LaFrance explains, the herb can render anti-rejection drugs
ineffective. Kava kava, which has been shown to successfully relieve
insomnia and anxiety, can also cause patients on various psychiatric drugs
like Valium and Librium to become severely disoriented. And the list of side
effects and drug interactions continues to grow.
Unlike prescription drugs, which are closely regulated by the FDA, herbal
products are considered food and are not required to undergo rigorous animal
and human testing before being placed on the market. It is entirely up to
the consumer to seek out information before deciding to take an herbal
product, but most consumers are not doing the research. And they're not
talking to their doctors, either, LaFrance tells WebMD.
Although doctors should be making every effort to learn exactly which drugs
-- chemical or herbal -- their patients are taking, patients must do their
part as well, says LaFrance. People worry that their doctor will scoff at
their use of an alternative medicine, he says, so they put themselves at
unnecessary risk by not mentioning it.
"I think there is potential for these herbal medications, so I wouldn't
throw the baby out with the bath water," says LaFrance. "But it needs to be
cautiously monitored." Herbs may come from a garden rather than a
laboratory, but they "are bioactive substances with the potential to do good
and the potential to harm," he says. "The bottom line is that they should be
regulated."
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Watch out for that bottom line...
From: "d.linen" <[email protected]>
Reply-To: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: CS>NY Board of Health checked my CS!!!!/Diane
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 00:39:55 -0500
[email protected] wrote:
>
> I agree - and I don't foresee mainstream medical people getting on
board
> anytime soon - mostly because it seems difficult for them to believe
that
> something inexpensive and wonderfully useful could have been supressed
all
> these years. I think they really believe their "science" and the
industries
> borne from it have a higher moral fiber than that. Maybe I'm
overreacting
> but I'm just glad Dotsie isn't in deep trouble over this. :(
For sure, Samantha. I can't quite imagine how awful it must have been
for Dotsie to think her CS caused a problem and having it checked out by
the BOH.
Diane
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