Tweet
The honest truth about herbals.
Be sure to tell all of the physicians and health professionals who provide treatment and therapies for you about your use of any herbal therapies and dietary supplements. Use of these products need to be documented in your patient's chart to prevent interactions with medications.
Potentially dangerous drug-herb interactions do occur.
"Natural" is not an assurance of safety or efficacy.
Lack of standardization of botanicals may result in the variability of content and efficacy from batch to batch, from a single manufacturer, or between manufacturers.
Lack of quality control and regulation may result in contamination, adulteration, or potential misidentification of plant products.
Errors in compounding may result in toxic or lethal outcomes in custom-blended herbal preparations.
Botanicals should not be used by women planning to become pregnant in the near future or during pregnancy or lactation without professional advice.
Infants, children, and the elderly should not use botanicals without professional advice.
Botanicals should not be taken in larger than recommended doses or for longer than recommended duration.
Several botanicals have known adverse effects and toxicities. Be sure to be familiar with these. Check out www.quackwatch.com for more information on the safety of various herbs.
Be sure to consider the relative risks and benefits of alternative interventions, just as you would with conventional therapies.
Do not take any pills or liquids of which you are unsure of its contents.
Adverse events and outcomes should be discontinued and reported immediately to your physician as well as the to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (www.fda.gov ).
Because the expected placebo response for various treatments range from 10% to 30%, a small positive response to any treatment, conventional or alternative, may not necessarily represent a pharmacologic effect.
Do not rely on anecdotal experience as this is not a substitute for well-constructed clinical trials
Be sure to tell all of the physicians and health professionals who provide treatment and therapies for you about your use of any herbal therapies and dietary supplements. Use of these products need to be documented in your patient's chart to prevent interactions with medications.
Potentially dangerous drug-herb interactions do occur.
"Natural" is not an assurance of safety or efficacy.
Lack of standardization of botanicals may result in the variability of content and efficacy from batch to batch, from a single manufacturer, or between manufacturers.
Lack of quality control and regulation may result in contamination, adulteration, or potential misidentification of plant products.
Errors in compounding may result in toxic or lethal outcomes in custom-blended herbal preparations.
Botanicals should not be used by women planning to become pregnant in the near future or during pregnancy or lactation without professional advice.
Infants, children, and the elderly should not use botanicals without professional advice.
Botanicals should not be taken in larger than recommended doses or for longer than recommended duration.
Several botanicals have known adverse effects and toxicities. Be sure to be familiar with these. Check out www.quackwatch.com for more information on the safety of various herbs.
Be sure to consider the relative risks and benefits of alternative interventions, just as you would with conventional therapies.
Do not take any pills or liquids of which you are unsure of its contents.
Adverse events and outcomes should be discontinued and reported immediately to your physician as well as the to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (www.fda.gov ).
Because the expected placebo response for various treatments range from 10% to 30%, a small positive response to any treatment, conventional or alternative, may not necessarily represent a pharmacologic effect.
Do not rely on anecdotal experience as this is not a substitute for well-constructed clinical trials
Comment