1. Herbalism A Tradition of Healing
Linda Diane Feldt
RPP, NCTMB, NC, CPE
Holistic health Practitioner

2. Outline of this presentation
Overview of CAM and alternative healing
The practice of herbalism
Herbal training and education
Concerns and challenges
Herbal companies and certification
Using local herbs
Nourishing and medicinal herbs
A few local herbs and how they are used
Case studies
Next steps

3. Major Categories of Alternative Healing
Integrated healing systems
Hands on techniques
Biological substances
Energy based healing
Mind/body spirit awareness
Adapted from NIH categories

4. My Practice Student of the healing arts since 1973
Full time private practice since 1981 (10-20 per week)
Primarily use Herbs, Cranialsacral therapy, Polarity therapy, and massage.
Sliding scale
Diverse population
Pain, injury, lifestyle, prevention, with or without conventional medicine
Age range prenatal to 104
Also teach, write, volunteer

5. What makes a professional practice
Standards for practice
Scope of practice
Continuing education
Code of ethics
Association membership
Able to refer, available for referrals

6. Herbalism Traditional Healers Traditional Chinese Western Folkloric
Native American, Ayurvedic, Tibb, Unani, Tibetan, etc
Traditional Chinese
Western Folkloric
Western Scientific
Earth-centered
Ethno-botanical
example categories from the American Herbalist Guild

8. Herbalism Training and Education
College and University courses
Electives within schools that teach wellness, holistic health, bodywork or somatic practices
Apprenticeship programs both formal and informal
Correspondence courses

9. Herbalism Training and Education (cont.)
Traditional initiation and training often combined with religious/spiritual practices
Self taught
Promotional material and workshops provided by manufacturers
Multi level marketing materials
Certification provided by herb manufacturers

10. Western Folkloric Tradition
promotes ethical harvesting of plants
uses the whole parts of the plant, in season
encourages consumer involvement
emphasis is on nutritive aspects of herbs
primarily uses plants that grow locally, and encourages direct involvement with the plants by growing and wildcrafting

11. Western Folkloric Tradition (cont.)
uses a holistic approach to support body systems & the individual
encourages sharing of information, stories and experience with others
can work in a supportive role with conventional Western Medicine

12. Concerns and Challenges
Herbalism is a very broad term that describes a profession many thousands of years old.
Herbalists and the scientific community have only recently begun to forge mutual respect, goals, and to determine ways of working together.
Herbalists must proactively respond to unprecedented consumer interest.

13. Concerns and Challenges
Protecting consumers, supporting scientific research, and preserving herbal traditions are intriguing challenges for this profession.
Consumers and health care providers may have difficulty determining who is qualified as an herbalist.
Herbal use is now being driven primarily by advertising and manufacturers, not by health care providers and traditional sources of information.

14. Reputable companies Harvest ethically
Employ herbalists and support professional associations
Access to information on
where plants are harvested - avoid non US unless using TCM
company philosophy - focus on herbs or marketing?
control of product - don’t just repackage or rebottle from suppliers
Multi-level marketing deserves special scrutiny

15. Examples of companies HerbPharm Frontier Pacific Botanicals
Trout Lake Botanicals
Scientific Botanicals
Phytopharmica
Naturopathic Formulary
Thorne Research
Eclectic Institute
MediHerb
Bezweken
Women's Transition
Wise Women Herbals
And ??

16. Herbal certification The bad Prone to consumer confusion
Does not ensure potency
Does not address processing or preparation
Does not address safety of the herb
Expense may prohibit good companies from using certification
The good
Helpful to ensure WYSIWYG
Raising awareness of importance of herbal quality
Important to ensure Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP)are used
Can address the real problem of contaminate

17. Using Herbs From Your Landscape

18. The Foundations of Herbalism
For thousands of years all herbs used were:
Local
Common
Harvested by practitioner or user
Prepared at time of use or preserved for off-season
Special non-local herbs were available by trade

19. This type of use is still relevant today.
Current Practice
This type of use is still relevant today.

20. Advantages Low or no cost No fear of adulteration
Know plant part and if picked at best time
Fresh
Gets you out in nature
Personal/spiritual experience with plant(s)

21. Medicine or Food? In traditional herbalism plants are used for both
Substantial healing can occur by nourishing the body or systems of the body
Many herbs occupy both roles
The nourishing herbs are far less likely to have unwanted side effects
Weeds in Michigan are often higher in available nutrients than conventional foods

23. Nourishing herbs Nutrient rich Bio-available
Generally considered safe, side effects uncommon
Dosage and strength less important
Tend to be local, whole, and common
Large amounts used, in contrast to medicinal plants
Includes tonics
Supportive to body systems
Long term use is usually beneficial

24. Nourishing Herbs cont. Internal use External use Infusions Whole plant
Water based
Vinegar based
Whole plant
Cooked
Raw (salad)
External use
Compress
Poultice
Salve

26. Medicinal Herbs Dosage and strength important or critical
Tend to utilize more toxic parts of plant
Stimulate or sedate
More likely to have side effects
Are often plants that are less common, or rare
Long term use is generally discouraged
More extensive knowledge is needed to use safely and effectively

27. Medicinal Herbs cont. Internal Use External Use Tinctures
Extracts provided in capsules or other
Standardized components of plants
Drug preparations derived from plants
Injections of extracts
Capsules (not necessarily effective)
External Use
Poultice, compress, bolis
Salves

28. Michigan Herbal Allies
In Michigan we are surrounded by herbal helpers. When you begin to learn them, it changes the experience of being outside and your ability to interact with nature.
Help is all around you. It is a very powerful thing to experience regularly. Finding and making you own medicine creates independence, and provides other options to the conventional insurance/medical systems.

29. Just a few of the hundreds In your yard:
plaintain, dandelion, motherwort, lamb’s quarters, echinacea,
Groundsel, shepherd’s purse, chickweed, mallow, self heal
Coming in from the woods:
stinging nettle, cleavers, garlic mustard, poke, red raspberry
From the surrounding countryside:
mullein, yellow dock, burdock, chicory, red clover,
St. John’s wort, yarrow

31. Plantain Plantago
Used in salads, for bites and skin irritations, soothes oral cuts and radiation burns
Leaves chewed, poultice, juiced or salve. Seeds of some species ground and used internally for diarrhea and constipation

32. Plantain (cont.)
Externally speeds healing, stops bleeding, draws out foreign matter, kills bacteria, decreases itching, decreases pain.
Grows in driveways, paths, near sidewalks, lawns.

33. Dandelion Taraxacum officinalis
Famous for liver support and nourishment, rich in vit. A, diuretic
Relieves gas and heartburn (20 drops tincture before meals)
All parts are edible

34. Dandelion (cont.) Grows in lawns, fields, and where it is needed.
Used as tincture (leaves and root), eaten as green, steeped in vinegar, bitter infusion

35. Echinacea
A plains flower perennial, Ech. purpuria grows easily in Michigan gardens
Roots are harvested in fall of third or fourth year and tinctured fresh

36. Echinacea Echinacea angusifolia harder to grow, roots can be dried.
Uses are commonly known, note that Echinacea can be used to stimulate or nourish the immune system. Anti-viral.

37. Echinacea Two Actions stimulate nourish
useful for a limited time
useful when a fast result is required
can have possible side effects
useful for an unlimited time
useful when a long term result is required
especially indicated for recovery from long term or chronic illness
side effects are unlikely

38. Lamb’s Quarter Chenopodium
Eaten for high calcium and carotenes
Available early spring through fall (if picked regularly)
Can be blanched and frozen for winter nourishment

39. Lamb’s Quarter (cont.) Excellent green for making calcium rich vinegar
Grows in disturbed ground
Easy to identify by “chalky” appearance
Use in place of lettuce for salad base

41. Nettle Urtica
Leaves eaten for calcium, iron, protein, micronutrient content. Can also be made into infusion.
Tincture or infusion aids kidneys, adrenals
Salve or tea used for burns

42. Nettle (cont.) May decrease insulin resistance
Infusions, soups, vinegars maximize nettle’s rich nutritional value that nourishes many body systems.
Grows near water and high nitrogen sources

43. Garlic Mustard Allaria petiolata
Seriously invasive plant. You are encouraged to pick it (roots and all) nearly anywhere you find it.
Save the top 1/3 and compost the rest.

44. Garlic Mustard (cont.)
Use fresh in salads, blanch and freeze as pot green, great in sauces and soups, use in place of garlic in many recipes.
Medicinal benefit unknown, but as nutritious as most greens.

45. Mullein Verbasci Traditional use to stop smoking (substitute)
Leaves, infusion, and tincture nourishing for lungs
Oil from flowers used for earaches

46. Mullein (cont.)
Leaves used to help effectiveness of coughs, to reduce asthma, to calm lung inflammation
Found by roadsides, meadows, beginnings of paths and in gardens.
A startling plant in the second year, can grow 6-9 feet.

47. Yellow Dock Rumex crispus
Root used as tincture to promote iron absorption, nourish liver.
Root used as oil as wound healer (bruises, tissue damage, trauma)

48. Yellow Dock (cont.)
Leaves used as food (great as pesto) contain high amounts of easily absorbable iron.
Great plant for treating anemia (tincture of roots)
Will only grow in iron rich soil, fields and open land

49. Burdock Arctium lappa
Tincture of the root is used for skin diseases, anti-tumor, as a deep alterative
The root can be eaten (first year and spring of second year only). Used raw, in stir fries, or pickled
Found in pour quality disturbed ground, open fields

50. Burdock (cont.)
Root contains high levels of inulin, may help blood sugar stabilization
Leaves as poultice or compress used to heal burns (including from hot pepper oil)
Leaves as poultice quickly heal skin abrasions

51. Other ideas Learn 1-2 plants per year
Learn each plant thoroughly - were it grows, why it grows there, what parts are used, when are they harvested, what it tastes like, and how to prepare it for maximum benefit.

52. Highlighting The Different Ways Herbs are Used
Case Studies
Highlighting The Different Ways Herbs are Used

53. Herbs can be used for: Acute conditions Chronic problems Prevention
Nutrition
System strengthening
Easing transitions
Repair
Substitutes for drugs
Psychiatric care
A complement to conventional treatment
… and some examples when using herbs would be detrimental

54. Acute Conditions Sudden menstrual flooding
History includes large fibroids and heavy periods
Used blessed thistle under the tongue to arrest
Flooding stopped within minutes, MD consulted
Similar use by midwives for hemorrhaging after delivery

55. Chronic Problems 53 year old female with congestive heart failure
Heart attack at age 46, ongoing treatment fro complications
Diagnosed with staph infection following heart catheterization
Treated with broad spectrum antibiotics with no effect
Treated with additional antibiotics with no effect
Used 30 drops of echinacea every 3 hours, in water, with improvement of symptoms in two hours
When echinacea was stopped, symptoms returned
When echinacea was continued, symptoms decreased within hours
Echinacea was used at ten drops a day until death 7 years later.
Any time the 10 drops a day was skipped for more than 2 days, symptoms returned

56. Chronic Problems cont. Case Study 21 year old female
Had been diagnosed and treated for mononucleosis
Had been past active phase for more than two months when consultation occurred
Client reported continuous symptoms of fatigue, general depression, and was unable to return to a full time schedule as a UM student
Client used 10 drops of Echinacea tincture a day, in water
Within two weeks, this client reported greater alertness, ability to return to full schedule, no fatigue, and no depression
Client directly attributed recovery to Echinacea
No other therapies or changes were made during the time period in question

57. Preventative 5 year old girl, 38 year old female
Both have daily exposure to kids at day care and are frequently ill with colds, ear infections, and pink eye.
Low dose of Echinacea used long term: 2-3 drops for the 5 year old and 10 drops for adult.
Both experience marked decrease in frequency and severity of illnesses.

58. Preventative cont.
42 Year old male with family history of heart disease
High blood pressure, diabetic
Hawthorne given at 20 drops of tincture twice a day
Overall improvement of blood pressure, other effects unknown and unable to verify

59. Nutritive
Infusions provide readily absorbable nutrients, vary with herb used.
Nettle urtica provides protein, calcium and iron. Esp. helpful for anemia, pregnancy (3rd trimester)
Red Clover mineral rich
Oatstraw appears to provide trace minerals helpful for endocrine system, some evidence affects fertility
Anecdotal information is very positive for using specific infusions to help with allergies, infertility, poor nutrition, blood sugaring balancing, and many other problems.

60. System Strengthening 35 year old female
Sub clinical hypothyroid condition suspected based on symptoms (include. always cold, weight gain, sensation in throat, moody, depressed)
Use 1 tsp bladderwack seaweed daily
All symptoms improve within 3 weeks
Bladderwack is suggested fro both hypo and hyper thyroidism. Contains thyroxin.

61. Transition 42 year old female post surgery complete hysterectomy
Removed from hormone therapy after cancer is found
Trouble sleeping, hot flashes, and mood swings for over 3 months
Uses 10 drops motherwort tincture at night, all symptoms resolved within one week.

62. Repair
42 year old female experiencing significant nerve pain following needle biopsy on lung, lasting more than 4 months
St. John’s Wort oil applied topically
Pain decreased within days, continued to progress with continued use
See related article on nerve regeneration

63. Substitute for Drugs 32 year old female with plantars warts
Had previously tried surgical removal and topical drug therapies with painful results and return of the warts.
Applied a homeopathic preparation of Thuja salve for two weeks and warts were gone, after more than 6 years they have not returned

64. Psychiatric 43 year old male with SAD diagnosed by his psychiatrist
Had difficulty using light box treatment
Wanted to stop prescribed SSRIs, stopped on his own
Symptoms made much worse
Took St. John’s Wort tincture 20 drops 2x day
Positive effect within three days of use

65. Complementary to Conventional Treatment
23 year old female with ALL treated with chemotherapy drugs
Used milk thistle extract during each treatment, as well as 2 x a day 20 drops in water
Liver tests consistently came back normal
Nursing staff questioned her about her high energy levels and unexpectedly good liver profiles
My later conversations with her medical team confirmed their initial surprise, and their belief that the milk thistle was a significant factor.

66. A few examples of times to not use herbs
Over tired pregnant woman with cold - rest and simple instructions
Uterine artery embolization - a procedure in which a part of you is “killed”
Bone marrow transplant - avoid immune stimulant herbs
Self treatment of symptoms without considering cause - estrogen replacement
“Cleansing and purifying” - an illusion and myth
Removal of skin tags - leave the intentionally damaged area alone, heal it after

67. To Learn More Spring and fall weed walks
Peterson’s Guide to Medicinal Plants with Stephen Foster
Purchase remaindered wild flower books ($2-3) and use pictures (ignore text)
Free monthly herb classes sponsored by People’s Food Coo-op (fourth Thurs.)
Free monthly herb classes sponsored by Whole Foods

68. Next week
A lab devoted to the hands-on experience of making herbal preparations including tinctures, salves, poultices, infusions, and more.
Come prepared to be a bit messy and work with materials new to you as well as familiar. It may recall the early practice of pharmacy, and we’ll have fun in the process.
The results will include products you can take home and use.

69. Contact Information
Linda Diane Feldt
P.O. Box 3218
Ann Arbor MI

70. Dogs harvesting herbs