Herbs for the Nervous System

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Herbs for the Nervous System

JoAnn Guest

Dec 15, 2004 13:31 PST

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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 " ,

 

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.

 

Reprinted with permission.

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

Nature

 

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

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