How to Increase the Benefits of Your Herbal Remedies

When the right plant or the right combination of plants in the right preparation find you, it can be life changing. We have certainly heard that feedback here at the shop and I have experienced that as well. Sometimes the change is subtle or shows itself in an unexpected, unanticipated place. You may drink a nettle infusion to increase luster and shine in your hair, skin, and nails, but find that you also have more energy and your chronic fatigue diminishes. Perhaps you’ve heard wonderful things about Oregon Grape and eczema but experience little change when taking the tincture. Perhaps you try a wash and most of your skin clears.

Herbalism is simple at its foundation but requires relationship. One will find the most benefits when in relationship with the remedies and their own body, tracking the way herbs impact them and being open to tinkering with their remedies. Below are a few among many considerations to chew on as you relate with your healing process and the plants that you ask to support you.

Madrone preparing a custom tincture formula. Photo by Angel Quinones

P R E P A R A T I O N
When we talk about preparations in herbalism, we are referring to how one prepares the herb to be administered or applied. While some herbs might be directly chewed or eaten, often there is a process of extracting the medicinal compounds from there plant and making its medicine more available for our animal bodies to take in. Some common preparations are:
Internal Preparations
+ Tea (infusion or decoction)
+ Tincture
+ Oxymels
+ Infused honey and electuaries
+ Infused wine
+ Infused milk
+ Powders

External Preparations
+ Compress
+ Poultice
+ Oil/Animal Fat
+ Salve

Some herbs, such as mineral rich herbs like nettle, oat straw, and raspberry leaf, are best prepared in a water based extraction, as they give their minerals over to water more than they do to alcohol. For example, drinking a nettle tea will give you more of the mineral benefits than taking a nettle tincture.

Infused milks and wines are historical remedies that are often indicated with the body is having a hard time taking in nourishment, as in the case of wasting sicknesses.

Alcohol based preparations (tinctures) are often thought to be the most “potent,” as they extract both alcohol soluble compounds and water based compounds. While potency is not always necessary, there are some plant compounds that will not give to water and require alcohol.

Ask yourself - what sort of healing am I looking for? What types of preparations are most accessible to me? Do I have time to make tea every day? Am I avoiding any amount of alcohol? Which systems of the body are at the root of my issue?

These questions can help you and your herbalist find the plant or combination of plants that will work best for your healing goals and lifestyle. It is our job as folk herbalists to support you in your relationship to your healing and to the plants that aid you in this process.

D O S A G E

Tintype made by Noyel Gallimore

When you purchase your goods from any herbal apothecary or read the recommended dosage in an herbal, you will often see a range. “1-3 droppers, 1-3x/day” or “2-4 cups, 1-2x/day.” Taking one dropper (1ml) of a tincture once per day is very different than taking three droppers (3ml) three times per day, so what is the best way to gauge the dosage best suited for you?

Working with a trained herbalist can be helpful when it comes to finding the proper dosage, as they can help you ask the right questions to discern where to being. Of course there are biometrics such as age, height, and weight the take into consideration. Folks with more mass might need a slightly higher dose than than slighter folks. Children and elders may be more sensitive than young and middle aged adults and, thus, require a smaller dose.

In addition to considering the physicality of a person, taking lifestyle and health history into account will also come in handy. For example, one who is recovering from or with a family history of heart issues might take a higher dose of Hawthorn complex than someone without this history who is taking it for general maintenance and preventative measures. Preexisting conditions, family medical history, ones general state of health, and medications can all effect dosage of herbal remedies.

Another consideration to make is if your remedy is slow or fast acting. For example, if you take two droppers of Knock Out to sleep and you see no improvement in your sleep on the first night, take three droppers the next night. However, when working with tonifying herbs such as fresh milky oats, try one dose for two weeks, tracking your symptoms, and alter the dose if needed after a period of time.

Before starting a new herbal remedy, write down the symptoms you are trying to ease in as much detail as you can an how you would like to feel. Whether you are working with an herbalist or on your own, tracking changes in your symptoms will be of great benefit to you as you get to know different herbs, formulas, preparations, and how they interact with your unique body.

Ask yourself - What is my body’s constitution? Am I particularly sensitive to herbs? Do I have a fast or slow metabolism? Do I have any health conditions or am I pre-disposed to any that may affect my body’s systems? How will I sense and track the effects of the dose I start my remedies on? At what point will I know to raise or lower a dose? At what point will I know a dose is right for me?

C O N S I S T A N C Y & TIME
With most herbal remedies, it is important to be both consistent and patient in order to benefit from the many offerings held in the plants’ chemical constituents. Whether a tincture or a poultice, many herbal remedies will work best when taken more than once per day. When deciding on which preparation of an herb to work with, ask yourself how you can set yourself up for a successful treatment by preparing enough of the remedy to stay consistent. For example, if you decide to drink a quart of a strong nettle infusion every day for 2 weeks and you know that preparing your infusion before bed every night to drink the next morning will be too much for you, consider making 3 days worth of infusion every few days so that you are only preparing your herb two times per week instead of every night. Or perhaps you have a severe burn but can only manage one calendula poultice per day because you work outside of the house. You can make a strong calendula tea to bring to work and dip gauze or a clean bandana in the infusion to wrap around your burn on your lunch break. There are many ways to be creative when it comes to creating a consistent plan for your preparations, and a trained herbalist can help you discern what will work best for your life’s rhythm.

Take some time to research your remedies or talk with a trained herbalist to get a sense of the timeline at which the herbs you are working with take effect. Some herbs need weeks to work, especially in the case of chronic conditions, while others can work almost instantly, like in the case of sedatives.

Ask yourself - what is a realistic plan for taking my remedies with a consistent rhythm? What support systems do I need in place to do so? Is there anyone in my household with whom I can share the tasks of preparing our daily remedies? How long do the remedies I am working with generally take to make an impact? Can I commit to remedies for at least that long?

Nettle soup from our Spring Green’s blog post.

L I F E S T Y L E
I am sorry to say, there is no magic cure-all plant or preparation, despite what any supplement or herbal company tires to say when marketing their product to you. Plants are complex beings, compilations of compounds that work in many ways and effect our bodies in unique ways. One that thing is true about the ways they work, however, is that they will only work so well as your body will allow them to. Nettle, while a marvelous source of minerals and a miracle worker in its own way, will have a lot more to do in a body that consumes a lot (or lets face it folks, even a little bit!) of alcohol, sugar, or processed foods then it will in a body that has removed thos obstacles. There is a reason that most herbals will also address diet and lifestyle. Nettle will go to work cleaning out the liver, kidneys, and blood, before any of its mineral magic has staying power. Burdock or cleavers will cleanse your blood only so far as you are getting your blood moving and feeding it with good, clean nutrition. Elder or echinacea will only support your immune system when overcoming a cold as much as your Herbal remedies are not cheap folks - nothing is theses days. Best to set them up for success in whatever ways we can! Start by swiching out processed foods for home cooked whole foods and getting a little bit more movement in your body than you are now - we all need it!

In all honesty, and without judgement, which lifestyle habits might be negatively affecting my healing processes or preventing my herbal remedies from reaching the systems of my body that they could work on? What need to these habits fill? How can I meet those needs in a way that supports my overall body system? Are any of these coping mechanisms? What sort of support would I need to change them? What can I replace some of these habits with?

WORKING WITH AN HERBALIST

It is entirely possible to research your remedies and work with the reflections above to create systems of care for yourself and I encourage you to try this path if you feel the capacity within yourself to do so! It is, however, lovely to receive care and connection through these processes. As stated in the beginning of this piece, relationship is an important pillar when working with herbs - relationship to place, to plant, and also to people. A trained herbalist can help facilitate your relationship to plants, especially if this world is completely new to you. An initial consultation followed by one or two follow up sessions will help you to hone in on the plants and preparations that are a good fit for your wellness goals and lifestyle. Many of our ancestors had unbroken chains of knowledge around plants and preparations for common ailments. Sitting with a trained herbalist for tea and a chat about your health goals is no replacement for unbroken knowings passed from generation to generation, but is a step in the direction of remembering how to connect to body, place, and community, in one act of care.