'There is No Help Available...'

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A patient contacted her GP twice for advice and help while suffering from various symptoms of long COVID, principally chronic fatigue. The comment she received at the end of the second interview sounded final. It was this;

‘There is no help available for you in this area.’

Apart from finding this quite upsetting, the woman wondered how she was supposed to cope with no advice, let alone any medication. It may indicate certain areas where modern medicine has no answers but where herbal medicine could step in.

I am not against orthodox medicine; the NHS saved my life and the lives of two of my children so I have no axe to grind with them [except when they asked to take a small skin sample from our son who had died a cot death for research purposes, only to find out they removed his tongue, his brain, his stomach, his lungs etc. etc., so we buried the shell of his body]. Generally speaking, they are brilliant with trauma care and emergency medicine. They are brilliant at stopping people from dying, but not so good at making people well.

These gaps in their care I think can be filled by herbal medicine, and therapies such as massage and chiropractic, and more. If a woman is haemorrhaging after childbirth, I would want her in a hospital theatre with a general anaesthetic and a surgeon - not lying at home drinking yarrow tea. But in the recovery phase, I think she would do well being prescribed plants that have medicinal actions such as vulnerary, uterine tonic, nervine, adaptogen, and trophorestoratives.

In the case of long COVID there may be some symptoms that plant medicine could aid. For post-viral fatigue we often prescribe adaptogens and nervous system tonics… If I had a patient with chronic fatigue I would possibly suggest some dietary change, some lifestyle change and prescribe from Ashwagandha, Siberian Ginseng, Astragalus, Rhodiola, Schisandra, St John’s Wort, Melissa, Avena after having checked if she is on any orthodox medication that is contraindicated. Sipping lavender tea before bed might aid natural and restful sleep, though there are many herbs I could try. And I would encourage a term of convalescence – an outdated concept that has definite therapeutic value but may prove difficult in today’s world where rent and mortgages have to be paid, food has to be bought and life moves on so fast.

There would be something I could do to improve her health post-infection. Herbs are nutritive at the very least and contribute to the pool of constituents necessary for metabolic processes to proceed in an efficient way. Where money and time are limited even nettle tea can be used to provide many vitamins and minerals in a form that is easily absorbed by the body.

Our society doesn’t need an ‘either/or’ healthcare system where modern medicine scorns the use of herbs or any other modalities, or where herbalists reject orthodox medicine completely. As the London Underground puts it so repetitively, ‘Mind the gap’. Where there are gaps in what modern medicine can do, let's not dismiss the role of alternatives but rather be brave enough to investigate what could have real therapeutic value, be safe, and not deliver a myriad of negative side effects.

Siobhan Pestano

Zoopharmacognosy Consultant - Natural Animals

3 年

Bravo Maggie, so well written and so very true. I still don’t understand why the two approaches largely continue to be viewed as mutually exclusive. Both approaches have huge value, it’s all about context. One day - hopefully not too far from now – things will be different. I am very sorry - and frankly appalled - about what was done to your son (and to you).

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