AN OLD TRADITION IN MODERN TIMES
Up until about the 19th century physicians, lay people, midwives, and other healers used herbs (among other things). Using herbs to improve health wasn’t “Alternative”, not even “Complimentary”… it was normal. It was the “Mainstream” method of aiding healing.
In fact many modern day drugs probably wouldn’t exist today if it weren’t for plants. Drugs like Digitalis from Foxglove, Vincristin from Periwinkle, ASA and Willow, Morphine from the Opium Poppy, quinine from Cinchona bark, Artemisinin from Sweet wormwood, Taxol from Pacific Yew are just a few examples.
Whether you’ve heard the word or not, you’re probably familiar with it’s modern day offspring… the pharmacy.
For many hundreds of years, the was where you would go to get your health care products. They often made body care products, headache powders, syrups, and things like lozenges too. The was where your doctor would send you to get a prescription. In those days they used herbs, and combinations of herbs… as well as many other things (like mercury, but we won’t go there). The was also one of the people that you would go to if you couldn’t afford a doctor.
DO YOU KNOW WHAT Rx MEANS? You know, the little Rx that you see on just about every prescription label you see. The term Rx is an abbreviation for the Latin word “recipere”, meaning “take” or “to take” or “take thus”. Doctors would write out a recipe of ingredients be given to the so that he or she could make the medicine for you. The process of making the recipe is called
compounding.
I love this post !! totally kewl!!! Well done! I’m coming back to this one
I’m having it quite bad at the moemnt. Both my lower wisdom teeth are growing the wrong way and have to be extracted, only I have to wait for the hospital to contact me. In the meantime, I can’t even go to the normal dentist because I’m hypersensitive, so numbing injections don’t work on me (and the pain is 10 times stronger). I’ve just been avoiding foods that are too cold or hot and I’ve also been holding a hot water bottle to my face (because it sometimes seems to ease the pain). =o[
Glad people are enjoying the post.
Mohamed, I’m sorry to hear about the pain you’re experiencing. If you are looking for some help with using herbs for this it would be better to contact me in person rather than on the blog. I don’t feel it’s appropriate for me to discuss my clients health concerns in a blog format. In fact part of the code of ethics, I’m obligated to practice under by the organization that registers me as a herbalist, is to maintain their privacy.