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Combining herbs, other supplements, and prescription drugs can have unpleasant and even hazardous consequences. A physician who doesn’t know what patients are taking can’t warn them about a possible clash of chemicals.
For instance, the herbs feverfew, taken for migraines, and ginkgo, for declining memory, are harmless on their own. But because they thin the blood, either can increase the risk of uncontrolled bleeding in patients who are taking the heart drug Coumadin. Even garlic and ginger can inhibit clotting. Ginseng and gotu kola may lower blood sugar excessively in people taking conventional diabetic drugs to control sugar levels. Echinacea may aggravate rheumatoid arthritis or other disorders caused by misdirected immune activity. Eleuthero may send blood pressure soaring in people with hypertension and devil’s claw root may make gastric or duodenal ulcers worse. Licorice root is a popular remedy for ulcers, but if combined with a diuretic like Lasix, it can deplete the body’s supply of potassium, leading to extreme fatigue and even muscle damage.
Of course, herbs taken in enthusiastic doses, often in response to a good reaction where a patient wants a better reaction, can lead to toxic reactions. A practitioner’s diagnosis of detoxification can be misleading when a patient is exhausted and suffers from diarrhea after starting an herb-supported fast. A good physician would see this as unhealthy due to anything from a bad reaction to the herbs or something as serious as the parasite giardia.
Preparation of herbs are also very important to obtain the desired effect. Tea made from saw palmetto probably has no health benefits since the active compounds don’t dissolve in water. And while the active chemical in ginkgo, white willow bark, or milk thistle does dissolve, even the strongest tea is probably too weak to do any good. And finally, the potency and purity of individual plants can differ appreciably, depending on how and where they’re grown and how they’re stored and handled. Even with standards increasing among competitors, manufacturers often disagree on which ingredients to include and what dose to use. Analyses of ginseng and St. John’s wort products have found radically different amounts of the active ingredients in different brands. There is no government agency that regulates this in contrast to the defined FDA standards for homeopathic preparations.
