Are herbal remedies as effective as synthetic drugs?

Question

My wife is into medicinal herbs and I was just wondering if those are as effective at treating problems as synthetic drugs. She keeps insisting that the herbs won't cause massive side effects like the synthetics but they take longer to work. Anybody here have experience dealing with this enough to answer?

Answer 1

Your asking for a universal answer to such a profound question. Generally speaking, herbs are safer, and easier on your body. I use them on my patients with great success. There are situations that require prescription drugs and I feel only after exhaustive search for homeopathic solutions are fruitless then go for the drugs. They should not be mixed. In some cases the herbs are more powerfull than the scripts. When the active ingrediant is isolated from the herb then there are side affects. This is because the herb has buffers when you take them to prevent this. For instance Valerian Root is what they make Valum from. Much more dangerous in the drug form and very mild in the natural form.

Answer 2

"Are herbal remedies as effective as synthetic drugs?"  NO.

"She keeps insisting that the herbs won't cause massive side effects like the synthetics but they take longer to work."

IF the herbs are effective, they have side effects just like regular drugs.  Yes, they often take much longer to work, because they are weaker.  (The weaker action is also the reason people believe they have less side effects.  You cannot separate the two.)

Answer 3

ow yes she is wright.  They have to be administerd carefully  for the best results  like man made c**p.  but they are more safe and dependable than the man made junk  God's medicine is always better.

Answer 4

It depends on which herbs you are comparing to which synthetic drugs. Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

Answer 5

Yes, I use it on myself and my children (for children only)

Also, a proper healthy diet, exercises is important.

Answer 6

if you havent noticed already you will get very mixed and polarized answers.

IMO, ususally not. most of them dont work at all. that's also the reason they have a lot less side effects though, so if shes just using them for minor ailments that she probably doesnt need anything for i would just let her be because the majority of them are less likely to cause harmful adverse effects than real drugs (though some of the ones that actually work most definetly can), and theyre a lot cheaper for you and she feels better thinking that she is doing something. if shes trying to treat more serious or potentially life threatening conditions exclusively with herbs, then you might want to have a talk

Answer 7

Yes, in the long run. And without the side effects.

Answer 8

The synthetic drugs are basically a "copy" of the medicinal herbs your wife is probably using. What happens is that scientists identify the specific components in the herbs which are responsible for the actual healing and they then work out the elemental molecular structure of those components and merely manufacture them in the lab and sell them in a more concentrated form (a pill). It's a lot cheaper and easier than growing and extracting those compounds from the actual plants (or animals/minerals) they are meant to come from.

The natural therapies are most often centuries (or even thousands of years) old and as such their effectiveness and any side effects they might have are very well known whereas the side effects of synthetic drugs are sometimes not even all realised until years after they've been put on the market.

Of course there's synthetic drugs that do exactly what their manufacturers say with no side effects but at the end of the day the choice is whether you want to put something natural or synthetic into your body. At least your wife knows what she is dealing with.