i’ve been thinking about how people approach health when they’re feeling unwell. some folks prefer to go to a doctor or use pharmaceutical medicine from the pharmacy, while others choose herbal remedies or alternative treatments. personally, i prefer using herbal remedies because i believe that all the ingredients in pharmaceutical medicines ultimately come from nature, and we can find those remedies ourselves in plants. what about you?
edit: cmon guys it’s not about the traditional vs modern treatment. just wanna know other’s opinion about this…
Prefer nothing but if I do need something I always go for conventional. If it’s bad enough that I need medicine I want something that actually works.
For minor conditions like headaches, light fever, sore throat, cough, etc. most of the time herbal medicine and some rest will work fine. I tend not to use artificially produced medicine too quickly, it just feels better to not rely on them too much. For example ginger and aloe vera are plants where it cant be exaggerated how awesome they are. Real allrounders with so many medical uses, I love them.
That said, when theres a more serious medical condition, self-medication with herbs will reach its limits, at least on the level you and I are capable of. Maybe some experts will be able to mix a cocktail of herbs that helps but those are usually not common knowledge and I personally wouldnt risk not getting better just to avoid industrial medicine. Like you said, its all made from natural resources, but in the proportions that are scientifically proven to work.
agreed.
Meanwhile, do people believe in empirical evidence or superstition?
Herbal stuff for simple things and symptoms, like a sore throat. Modern medicine for anything I can’t treat on my own.
I probably lean more towards herbal if you consider cannabis. I’m starting ADHD meds in a couple of days, though. Can’t remember the last time I felt sick, but I never take anything for that anyway.
I think I was talked out of the herbal route at one point. I remember being very anti-pharmaceutical. I’d try herbal first for all non life threatening things if I knew what to look for.
You know what they call alternative medicine that works? Medicine.
Conventional medicine, because it actually works and has a basis in reality.
Herbal medicine works and has a basis in reality as well, its not witchcraft, it has been around for thousands of years. There is stuff you cant cure with simple herbs though and modern medicine is more convenient. No need to be so condescending.
Ironically, that is witchcraft, in the traditional meaning of the word
some herbal medicine works - it’s the stuff we made into modern medicine after decades of research. There is a distinct difference between “chew on this bark, it contains aspirin” and “don’t vax your kids, just rub these leaves on them”, and nobody’s really condescending to the first type.
The comment I replied to literally said herbal medicine has no base in reality, how is that not condescending?
Also, what does antivaxing have to do with herbal medicine? Theres a lot of unbased prejudice in this thread for people claiming to be on the scientific side…
It is extremely common, if one distrusts “modern medicine”, to use that same logic to distrust vaccines, ya know, a subset of modern medicine. Plenty of anti vax parents out there trying to treat braighleigh’s measles with pine nettles and “essential oils” - y’all are using the same lapse of logic, you’re gonna get lumped together.
Herbal medicine is not modern medicine’s “equal”, it is not condescending to refer to it as inferior. It is unbelievably frustrating to see individuals act as though their limited knowledge of plants and complete lack of knowledge of pharmaceuticals gives them any leg to stand on compared to a qualified medical professional.
But who said anything at all about distrusting modern medicine? The point was that herbal medicine works to a certain degree and that it is not baseless.
I feel like Im being strawmanned really hard and I dont think Ill continue this discussion if the replies refer to things no one ever said or implied.
The stuff that works in herbal medicine have been studied and improved in modern medicine. The two can’t and shouldn’t be equated. Anyone claiming herbal medicine should be respected and not condemned is a crook and/or idiot. Most proponents are crooks, trying to sell things they know or don’t care if they work.
Things like paracetamol and lithium have a basis in herbal medicine. Paracetamol was improved to stop the horrendous damage the herbal medicine did to your kidneys. Lithium was quantified and controlled to minimise the impact of taking a toxic mental (Lithium was sold as natural healing waters found in springs, it was scientist investigating these waters that identified lithium as an element), newer less toxic medicines are now available for these conditions.
Medicine displaced herbal remedies. The regulation of medicine means the only practionationers of herbal medicines are unregulated crooks.
I dont know what youre thinking of when you are saying ‘herbal medicine’ but it is clearly not the same as me. When I drink camomile tea for an upset stomach, which 100% works, how is that me being an unregulated crook?
The way you phrased your comment made it appear like you’re saying they’re the just as effective in all regards as each other. A medication will provably make a difference via more mechanical biology, whereas a herbal tea will make a difference with the mind. The main difference is the way people feel better. Using a painkiller for a chronic pain is better than drinking a herbal tea, but if you stub your toe both will work. Needing to say herbal tea isn’t witchcraft, has a basis in reality and has been around for thousands of years comes across as defensive. (In this case a more broad defense of alternative medicine.) Putting your comment in a more down to earth way would’ve avoided the, less than favourible, interpretation by commenters. (Mentioning that the plecibo effect is real or actual active ingredients in some herbal teas would also have helped.)
I never said they were equally effective, I simply stated that it is not baseless, replying to an incredibly rude commenter who was extremely confident in their scoentifically wrong statement, thats why I mocked the commenter with the witchcraft part. Also I literally said ‘there is stuff you cant simply cure with herbs’. If anyone thinks I valued the two equally they didnt read past the first 3 words of my comment.
People are so quick to start a witchhunt based on absolutely nothing. This is pretty sad…
just wondering why they’re here, gave my post a reply if doctors in black death plague don’t use herbals
Oh actually those herbals didn’t help! That was during the prime era of the miasma theory of disease and the thought was that the plague spread through bad air (actually spread through bacteria infesting fleas which infested rats and humans, or through direct contact without proper santitzation). So they used strong smelling herbs to attempt to ensure all the air they breathed was good air. It also helped them focus because the buboes stink when they rupture or necrotize. Also fun fact, the plague still exists, it’s just not present in significant amounts in the industrialized world because of antibiotics. This does however mean that we may eventually see the rise of antibiotic resistant plague.
it’s just an example, also i’m not talking about the strong smelling herbals as the treatment (although it’s the most popular one that being told in the history books and/or internet). there was lavender being used for antibacterial treatments though they’re less effective (since the pandemic happened on the medieval age) so no modern meds invented. it’s less effective for us but effective enough for them (the people back then).
It was an apocalyptic pandemic. It was very much not good enough for them back then.
so you are likely want a simpler solution, aren’t ya
People at work do, people traveling do, people with a busy home life do.
Is there value in needlessly complicating things? Not that what you’re doing is only adding complexity, it’s also just worse than real medicine, but even if that’s all it achieved - why?
If I have a cold I opt for chicken soup and orange juice. Not because I think it will make me healthy, but because it will make me feel good.
I don’t get regular medicine, not because I’m averse to taking it, but because I don’t have insurance and can’t afford regular medicine.
Lots of things from nature are not going to be good for you simply by being natural. And most medications come from studying the effects of things found in nature on biology.
I’ll use treatments and medications that have studies backing their health impact. Occasionally those may be herbal supplements for better nutrition, but most herbal remedies that we know actually work are just a less effective form of the refined medications and treatments that have been developed. If the medication or conventional treatment is readily available, I would pick that first
And “alternative treatments” are nearly always complete bunk.
even if it’s just a little headache?
Well I just suffer through it if it’s just a little headache. I’d rather not use any medication unless it’s actually hindering my ability to be productive.
The majority of the time, a headache like that is caused by not drinking enough water in the first place, and that’s always a better place to start
Whats the downside of drinking some ginger tea instead of ‘suffering through it’ though? I think what OP was asking is if you would always prefer Paracetamol or similar readily available medicine.
lol that’s okay, all opinions are welcome, life is not binary. but honestly, i’d also questioning this
A mild headache is not even an inconvenience in my experience, so “suffer through it” is hyperbolic. As I said, they are most often caused by not drinking enough water, and drinking more water will usually resolve it anyway. If you want to drink tea instead of water, it’s basically the same results, but it’s the hydration that makes the difference.
If it is more than a mild headache and actually bothering me, then I’ll go for a proper pain relief medication. I keep that on hand for that reason.
Not all headaches are caused by dehydration, not even close.
What do you call alternative medicine that works? Medicine.
That’s tautological thinking and similar to a no true scotsman, language doesn’t contain facts like that.
You’re misunderstanding the statement. It’s not a statement about language exactly, it’s a statement about what medicine is
Medicine is, among other things, traditional medicine that has been studied and proven to work
It’s a reference to a bit from a comedy show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIWj3tI-DXg
The tautology is part of the bit.
Not “herbal” in the purest sense, but I will order the strongest, hottest curry I can find and cook it from the inside out.
Works wonders for me during allergy season.
If it’s mild than I use nothing at all, if its like covid (fever, bedridden, pain) (pre inoculation) than medication and herbal tea, the medication will deal with my biology and the tea will make it easier to breath and deal with my mind during illness.
I only use herbal medicine if I know that what I have is not serious, it’s something that would go away on itself, and I just want to relieve the symptoms.
examples
Symptom Herb Why I probably got this way Upset stomach peppermint greasy food Intestinal cramps star anise, turmeric either beans or peanuts Migraine ginger biological clock went nuts again Hangover yerba mate see that half-empty bottle of vodka? Common cold ginger, lemon leaves, honey Every single spring I get a cold. I do it because I prefer milder approaches for mild issues, but the efficacy of this sort of herbal med is fairly limited.
Isn’t that just basic knowledge of your own body? Like if I eat beans I’ll have a gaseous stool etc.
I mean don’t we all drink some tea when the throat is sore? Avoid coffee if we have stomach problems and so on?
I sure do take medication when I’m sick, but I also try to alleviate the suffering with ordinary things (“natural” if you want), like chocolate when I have the flu because it’s depressing or rice when I have a diarrhea.
I feel OP are fishing for something else though like “modern medicine bad/big pharma bad” or am I wrong here?
I feel OP are fishing for something else though like “modern medicine bad/big pharma bad”
no, not really tbh. i also take their meds when it gets to serious issues.
Isn’t that just basic knowledge of your own body? Like if I eat beans I’ll have a gaseous stool etc.
It is. And even chimps do it to a certain degree.
i also got a list like this in my notebook!
The only “herbal” medicine that I know that works is 凉茶 (liang cha) that’s for 热气 (inflamation is the best english word to describe it, like you know how you feel weird when you eat a lot of fried stuff?) and I suspect it might be placebo.
Herbal medicines are fine for minor things, but I wouldn’t use that for serious issues. Dosage is a big part of a medicine’s effectiveness, and a lot of the time, natural products have compounds that are too low in concentration to be reasonably effective. You’d need to extract and purify the compound, and at that point you’re right back to conventional medicine.
And that’s assuming that the herbs do contain the compound that you’re looking for, because unfortunately, people lie on the internet and I generally would not trust what random internet people say about what’s in herbal medicines
yes, i think my question should be more specific. i’m agreeing on this. i do my own research about switching to alternative from conventional medicine. mostly, i’d go to a doctor if i’m not feeling well (it’s free in my country if we just wanna check up) and i will ask about my diagnosis, if it’s not a serious issue then i’d look for the alternative remedies.
Your not doing your own research. Your likley not capable of doing such research. Your doctor also isn’t doing their own research. Your doctor does take the knowledge and guidance from those that do research after they’ve done it and it’s be reviewed and validated by national healthcare standards agency.
Much like documentaries much of the available information online that’s accessible and engaging is just entertainment wrapped packaged like your learning something. Especially when your sources lead you to think herbal medicine is a better alternative.
yes pardon my english, those words are likely close to what i would say in my mother language.
Your words were fine for most situations. Research to a layperson generally means you go and read up on a thing from authoritative sources. Research to a pharmaceutical scientist means you convince/pay a bunch of people to take pills that you or your colleagues have made, note how those people are affected, and possibly adjust your recipe.
Similar to the word “theory”. To a layperson, it generally means an educated guess at why a thing is the way it is, but untested. To a scientist, an educated guess doesnt become a theory until it’s been tested over and over and over, making sure the results did not deviate from what was expected to happen.
I’ve definitely taken to using one “herbal” alternative. Seriously though, I use cannabis as an otc analgesic and anti nausea medication, because nothing else over the counter works as well for me. But I’m not afraid of pharmaceuticals, and I generally lean away from herbal remedies because of inconsistent dosages and unwanted effective compounds. Medicinal herbs didn’t develop those compounds intending for you to benefit, so it’s foolish to assume all of them will be beneficial when you need one of them.
