Old Time Remedy question?

You might be interested to know that many of the modern
day drugs were originally derived from herbs.

Snugglebunny, I agree with most of what you say. I guess I'm just trying to stress the point that medical doctors ALSO claim something, and it becomes the next miracle drug -- often to the detriment of the patient years later. Thalomide comes to mind. And more recently, Vioxx. And what was that diet drug that caused heart problems?

Anyway -- I tend to believe that the possible mis-use of herbs will not cause as much damage as mis-use of chemical compounds. You are right about tobacco, etc. What about marijuana? I believe small quantities of those are beneficial to people sometimes. (Never tried either! Honest!) Misuse of them is the problem.

Anyway.... I think we are beating the same dead horse.

Kenneth, HOW MUCH catnip? HOW MUCH yellow root? Just curious....

You're probably right... I basically just take it for granted that just about everything will cause cancer. So, my newest motto is "Everything in Moderation" - and I try not to have an excess of anything, including pill-vitamins, drugs, herbs, salty food, over-processed junk, sweets, meat, carbs, protiens....

But i find it the most interesting that when I was reading the old 1944 cookbook of my grandmother's, it basically said the same things the doctors are claiming as "new information" - eating a wide variety of foods, primarily fruits and veggies - in fact, the menu planning section for planning dinner will often have 4 or 5 different veggies in one meal (covered with cream, sugar and butter of course...haha)

[QUOTE=Kenneth in NC]I was reading through a ancient text on herbal remedies and came across what is touted as a cure for....

Hi, would love to know the name of the tome, and could anybody refer me to a good guide for foraging?
Thanks, Sylvia

"I know what you mean, in theory, but I prefer to trust my own research rather than an organization that ok'd thalidomide."

FYI the FDA never approved the use of thalidomide in the USA. There were concerns about safety that were never cleared up by the drug company manufacturing thalidomide. There were many outcries by "health freedom" advocates trying to force the FDA to approve it for use. The only instances of birth defects in the USA from this drug came from people who went out of the country to obtain the drug...Canada and Germany were two countries that had approval for the drug.

A piece of history not many realize/understand.

Doesn't change the fact that the FDA has allowed many dangerous drugs (and other things too!) to be sold..........their failures are showing up constantly now!

Everyone - in the business - says they know what they are doing, herbalist and scientist alike. But the fact is, no one is really clear about the physical functions of life....a lot of theories though.
As long as anyone else is doing it for you, you'll have no idea what is really in your product. Commercial pharmacutical and herbal remedies are plagued by industrial, political and economic intrests.
Heal thyself.........do it yourself with the herbal sources you can trust (plants) and methods you understand, getting a medicinal product that you will know the history of (shelf life) and an education in the healing properties of our world.

For me, I'll take the tried and tested home remedies before trying the newfangled pills. And this is from someone raised with handfulls of vitamins (pills) which I refuse now that I'm old enough to do so.

The only time I've been truely thankful of modern drugs is when my foot was dangling from my leg with only the tendon to indicate that it really belonged on me.