Wellness

[feline groovy]

When I can afford my extra supplements, standardized astragalus root extract (capsule form) for immune support.

Safe to take daily, even for those of us with chronic high blood pressure.

[CatLoverDogsToo]

I had tried a few of these in the past. I stopped all of it for 2 reasons. They never helped me, but they sure did lighten my wallet. Dr. Oz recommended most of them, and in my opinion, he is no longer reputable. I am glad for people that do see a benefit, but I do wonder how much of that is a "placebo" effect. Just my opinion, I don't mean to offend anyone.

   I did have a terrible reaction to a tryptophan supplement, gave me "brain shocks" that were horrible. I also tried melatonin, then read somewhere that if you have autoimmune conditions, you should not take that. None of those bottles had any kind of warning on them.  I realize neither of the two are herbs, but are marketed as natural solutions for insomnia. I am sure those two things are very helpful for some, but not me. I'd rather just eat some turkey which has tryptophan and doesn't cause a problem.

  Chamomile tea with valerian helps me sleep with no appreciable side effects, although asthmatics are supposed to steer clear of those two, but they don't bother me. People taking Xanax for anxiety should not ingest chamomile or valerian but that isn't listed anywhere either. Different things for different people and we all need to be careful.   

(edited for typos)

[chrystaltree]

No, no way.  I'm not a pharmacist, I'm not a nutritionist, I'm not a chemist.  I wouldn't know what my body needs, what any of that stuff does to the human body, I wouldn't know the dosage, I wouldn't know where are how that stuff is prepared and what other "stuff" is in it.  Supplements and herabal medicines are unregulated and the origin is often unknown.  Most important of all, I take several medications and I have no way of knowing how any of that would interact with the prescription medications I take.  The thing you have to remember about herb is that they ARE drug, natural but still drugs and in unknown dosages they can do more harm than good.

[dooBdoo]

           We live in puzzling times.   Looking at the forums as a microcosm of society, we see so much care and concern about things like the ingredients in our cosmetics, the additives in our foods, aluminum in cooking or in deodorant, etc.    Yet we ingest supplements, herbal concoctions, etc., that are unregulated and introduce a variety of unknowns into our bodies.   I remember reading about samples containing things like finely-ground houseplants, cheap fillers never disclosed on the labels or by the companies, ornamental Christmas plants, and some that didn't even contain any of the herbs or drugs on the labels -- they had none of the supplement claimed to be in that pill, powder, capsule.    There was a recent death, and others who became ill, from an herbal tea.   I agree, some of the benefits of this type of self-medicating are a placebo effect, some might be real...  and as long as it's not harming us, I suppose it could be said that the money spent on them might be understandable.   But some of it is harmful and contraindicated.    The supplement industry an enormous moneymaker.  It can be Russian roulette with our health.   It's the wild, wild west of ingestibles.

[chrystaltree]

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@dooBdoo wrote:

           We live in puzzling times.   Looking at the forums as a microcosm of society, we see so much care and concern about things like the ingredients in our cosmetics, the additives in our foods, aluminum in cooking or in deodorant, etc.    Yet we ingest supplements, herbal concoctions, etc., that are unregulated and introduce a variety of unknowns into our bodies.   I remember reading about samples containing things like finely-ground houseplants, cheap fillers never disclosed on the labels or by the companies, ornamental Christmas plants, and some that didn't even contain any of the herbs or drugs on the labels -- they had none of the supplement claimed to be in that pill, powder, capsule.    There was a recent death, and others who became ill, from an herbal tea.   I agree, some of the benefits of this type of self-medicating are a placebo effect, some might be real...  and as long as it's not harming us, I suppose it could be said that the money spent on them might be understandable.   But some of it is harmful and contraindicated.    The supplement industry an enormous moneymaker.  It can be Russian roulette with our health.   It's the wild, wild west of ingestibles.

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      I've seen numerous studies are articles like that.  The ingredients in one capsule sold in health food store....again totally unregualted.....was pulverized chalk.  I remember reading that one had something like100 times what would be considered safe and the person died.