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Herbal remedies are increasingly common as some people try to limit their consumption of prescription medications and turn to more natural options. The problem is, natural doesn’t necessarily mean safe or safe for you, particularly if you have other issues, such as heart disease.
Statistics show that more than 15 million Americans reportedly use herbal remedies or high-dose vitamins. Of course, the number could be higher because not everyone reports what they take. Researchers from the Mayo Clinic decided to review the use of natural supplements and their interaction with heart disease medications to see what types of concerns, if any, doctors and patients should have. In the case of people with heart disease, natural supplements can affect the efficacy of the medications and cause heart irregularities, called arrhythmias.
Examples include:
- St. John’s wort, which is typically used to treat depression, anxiety and sleep disorders among other problems, reduces the effectiveness of medications contributing to recurrences of arrhythmia, high blood pressure or increase in blood cholesterol levels and risk for future heart problems.
- Ginkgo biloba, which is supposedly used to improve circulation or sharpen the mind, increases bleeding risk in those taking warfarin or aspirin.
- Garlic, which supposedly helps boost the immune system and is commonly used for its cholesterol and blood pressure lowering properties, can also increase the risk of bleeding among those taking warfarin.
Two nationwide surveys conducted in 1990 and 1997 found that the number of visits to complementary and alternative providers increased from 427 million to 629 million, whereas the number of visits to primary care physicians remained basically unchanged.
This reinforces the knowledge that people are taking these products but not necessarily with their doctors’ knowledge.
The researchers and doctors don’t say that patients shouldn’t take natural or herbal supplements, but what is important is sharing the information that patients are taking them. Doctors who know which patients are taking which supplements could tailor their prescriptions. At the same time, the natural health practitioners should know what medications their patients are taking because they can then better advise them about the supplements.
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Image: MorgueFile.com
Hi Alan,
First of all, I take accusations of plagiarism very seriously. Any time I take anything verbatim, I highlight or put it in quotes. Please tell me from where I lifted the first paragraph.
Second, some of the information in some blog posts come from press releases, so information in posts may be very similar in style to the press releases when it comes to presenting certain type of data.
If you can show me exactly where I supposedly copied the first paragraph, I will post an apology for doing that, but I know that I never knowingly lifted anything.
Herbal remedies are increasingly common as some people try to limit their consumption of prescription medications and turn to more natural options.The problem is natural does not necessarily mean safe or safe for you particularly if have other issues such as heart disease.Statistics show that more than 15 million indian reportedly use herbal remedies or high dose vitamins of course the number could be higher because not everyone reports what they take.
I think people are now looking at natural ways to prevent and fight diseases without having the side effects of synthetic drugs. Herbal medicine and herbal supplements don’t present the same danger as in the case of synthetic drugs, steroids and chemotherapy which have life-threatening adverse reactions.