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 [2]. 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.

 

Reprinted with permission.

Copyright 1996, 1998 by The Herbalist, Lori Herron and Alternative Nature

http://altnature.com/library/nervous.htm

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