Herbs For The Nervous System

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Herbs for the Nervous System

Healing with Medicinal Plants

Author : Keith Stelling

 

Herbalism is sometimes maligned as a collection of home-made

remedies to be applied in a placebo fashion to one symptom or

another.. provided the ailment is not too serious and provided there

is a powerful chemical wonder-drug at the ready to suppress

any " real " symptoms.

 

We often forget, however, that botanical medicine provides a

complete system of healing and prevention of disease. It is the

oldest and most natural form of medicine. Its history of efficacy

and safety spans centuries and covers every country on the planet.

 

Because herbal medicine is holistic medicine, it is, in fact, able

to look beyond the symptoms to the underlying systemic imbalance;

when skillfully applied by the trained practitioner, herbal medicine

offers very real and permanent solutions to very real problems, many

of them seemingly intractable to pharmaceutical intervention.

 

Nowhere is the efficacy of herbalism more evident than in problems

related to the nervous system. Stress, anxiety, tension and

depression are intimately connected with most illness.

 

And the herbalist finds his success accelerated by including in his

treatment, medicine to free the body from the vicious cycle of

interference from worry and nervousness that so often takes its toll

on otherwise healthy systems.

 

Few health practitioners would argue with the influence of nervous

anxiety in pathology. We know that the Xth Cranial Nerve, the Vagus,

travels down from the medulla oblongata at the brain stem to

innervate the pharynx, heart, bronchi, lungs and gastro- intestinal

tract, including the small intestine, caecum, appendix and colon,

supplying both motor and sensory fibers.

 

It is not surprising that nervous stress can interfere directly in

digestion. Nervous tension is generally acknowledged by pathologists

to contribute to duodenal and gastric ulceration, ulcerative

colitis, irritable bowel syndrome and many other gut-related

pathologies.

 

We know also from physiology that when a patient is depressed, the

secretion of hydrochloric acid...one of the main digestive juices...

is also reduced so that digestion and absorption are rendered less

efficient.

 

Anxiety, on the other hand, can lead to the release of adrenaline

and stimulate the over-production of HCL and result in a state of

acidity which may exacerbate the pain of an inflamed ulcer.

 

In fact, whenever the voluntary nervous system (our conscious

anxiety) interferes with the autonomic processes, (the automatic

nervous regulation that in health is never made conscious),

pathology is the result.

 

But few other health professionals have access to the scope of

botanical remedies with their fine subtlety in rectifying this type

of human malfunction.

 

The medical herbalist knows, for example, that a stubborn

dermatological problem can best be treated by using alternatives

specific to the skin problem, circulatory stimulants to aid in the

removal of toxins from the area, with re-enforcement of the other

organs of elimination (liver and kidney); but above all he will

achieve the excellent results for which phytotherapy is famous, by

using herbs which obviate nervous interference in the situation and

allow the patient to relax... perhaps for the first time in many

months.

 

Curiously this is an approach which has never been taken up by

orthodox medicine. There, the usual treatment of skin problems

involves suppression of symptoms with steroids. Our subtle, non-

invasive botanical nervines are not available in synthesized form.

 

And the use of anti-histamines or benzodiazepines by the orthodox

profession often achieves less lasting benefit to the patient than

an additional burden of " impairment of intellectual function " ,[1]

drowsiness, further toxicity for an already compromised metabolism,

and often life-long drug dependence.

 

Botanical nervines, on the other hand, are free from toxicity and

habituation. Because they are organic substances and not man-made

synthetic molecules, they possess a natural affinity for the human

organism.

 

They are extremely efficient in balancing the nervous system.

Restoring a sense of well-being and relaxation is necessary for

optimum health and for the process of self-healing.

 

Herbal medicine can justifiably boast of Valeriana officinalis

(Valerian), the ideal " tranquilizer " . The rhizomes of this plant

contain a volatile oil (which includes valerianic acid), volatile

alkaloids (including chatinine), and iridoids (valepotriates) which

have been shown to reduce anxiety and aggression and even to

counteract the effects of ethanol.

 

So effective is Valeriana in cutting out the interference of anxiety

while maintaining normal mental awareness, that it enables the

patient to continue the most complicated mental exercise without

drowsiness, loss of consciousness or depression. Valerian has been

usefully taken even before an examination or a driving test!

 

Verbena officinalis (Vervain) on the other hand, is not only

effective against depression, but also strongly supports the

detoxifying function of the liver. Its French name is still " Herbe

Sacre " ; an old English name is " Holy Wort " ; for Vervain was one of

the seven sacred herbs of the Druids. (Significantly Druidic

medicine worked very much upon the psychological background to the

disease, attempting to revitalize the psyche before healing the

body).

 

To-day we know that the antispasmodic qualities of Verbena are

largely due to the glycoside verbenalin.

 

Recent Chinese research has linked the plant with dilation of

arteries in the brain: a likely explanation of its usefulness in

treating migraine, especially when this problem is accompanied by

liver congestion.

 

It is certainly indicated for hysterical, exhausted, or depressive

states.

 

Hypericum perforatum (St. John's Wort) is an analgesic and anti-

inflammatory with an important local application to neuralgia and

sciatica.

 

Systemically, its sedative properties based on the glycoside

hypericin, (a red pigment), make it applicable to neurosis and

irritability. Many English herbalists use it extensively as a

background remedy.

 

Melissa officinalis (Lemon Balm) being both carminative and

antispasmodic, is active specifically on that part of the vagus

nerve which may interfere with the harmonious functioning of the

heart and the stomach.

 

Recent experiments at the University of Heidelberg have confirmed

that the action of the volatile oil begins within the limbic system

of the brain and subsequently operates directly upon the vagus nerve

and all of the organs that are innervated by it.

 

Accordingly, neurasthenia (complete nervous prostration), migraine,

and nervous gastropathy are amenable to its healing power.

 

The great herbal restoratives of the nervous system are Avena sativa

(Oats), Scutellaria lateriflora (Scullcap) and Turnera diffusa

(Damiana).

 

Oats contains a nervine alkaloid which also helps to restore the

heart... (again the vagus connection).

 

According to Canadian research, Avena is helpful in angina and in

cardiac insufficiency.

 

Moreover in an article in Nature in 1971, Gonon outlined its

usefulness in the treatment of addiction to morphine, narcotics,

tobacco and alcohol... a use which is still current in British

hospitals.

 

But the list does not stop here. Rosmarinus officinalis (Rosemary)

helps the circulation to the brain and is therefore useful in

geriatric senility;

 

Lavandula officinalis (Lavender) exerts a cardio-tonic and

anti-migraine action; Tilia europea (Linden or Lime Flowers) is an

antispasmodic particularly suited to problems of venous congestion

and arteriosclerotic states, but gentle enough for an anxious child.

 

There is great scope for the development of herbal medicine in the

area of nervous diseases and of its application in so-called " mental

illness " where pharmaceuticals seem at best to be applied for their

" management " effect.

 

And this is an area where the benefits of a whole food diet and

holistic life-style are badly neglected.

 

Among the more outstanding serious problems that have been recorded

at the Clinic of Herbal Medicine in Balham, London, England, (the

teaching clinic of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists),

are: the control of Parkinson's disease in a 59-year old man; the

elimination of epileptic seizures in a 14-year old girl; the removal

of clinical depression in a 46-year old woman; the eradication of

frequent migraine attacks in many patients; and the regulation of

the wide mood swings and other distressing symptoms that accompany

both menopause and premenstrual stress in countless women patients.

(These are just cases which I myself have witnessed over a period of

10 months).

 

Understandably, the choice of a nervine most suitable to an

individual patient must be based upon a thorough health assessment

and the experience and training of a qualified herbal practitioner.

 

But even the layman can do much to alleviate stress and sooth frayed

nerves.

 

Drinking Chamomile, Lemon Balm or Linden tea (long the custom in

Europe). is the prudent choice instead of coffee for anyone having

sleeping difficulties or anyone who wishes to achieve a greater

sense of inner calm.

 

Twenty minutes out-of-breath exercise (walking, swimming, or

cycling) will go a long way as a natural antidote to the pent-up

tension that results from a stressful day at the office. And it will

have the unexpected bonus of improving circulation, increasing

metabolic rate and enhancing heart and lung function.

 

The B-vitamins as found in whole-wheat bread, wheat germ, torula or

brewer's yeast and liver (organically produced) provide ideal

nourishment for the nervous system and can be wisely substituted for

the stimulant foods such as white flour, sugar, junk foods and their

myriad harmful chemical additives.

 

Keith Stelling. M.A; Dip Phyt; M.N.I.M.H.

 

This Article is taken from The Herbalist, newsletter of the Botanic

Medicine Society. COPYRIGHT Dec 1988. Membership in the Society is

$25.00 Canadian per year. You receive four copies of the Journal

each year and help to promote herbalism and botanic medicine

throughout Canada.

 

THE SOCIETY HAS NO PAID OFFICIALS and is run entirely by volunteers

from among the membership. If you would like more info please write:

Botanic Medicine Society. * P.O. Box 82. Stn. A. * Willowdale, Ont.

CANADA.

M2N 5S7.

 

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