Herbal and Alternative Medicine

Many people have started searching for herbal and alternative medicine as a natural option for treating various conditions. This is due largely to the prohibitive cost of many prescription drugs, and the potential for dangerous side effects that are often associated with these medications.

A lot of people also grew up using home remedies. Their Grandmother or Mother would tell them to do seemingly obscure things (like putting tea on a sunburn), to take care of any number of health related problems.

Herbal remedies have been used for centuries. There is evidence of people using herbal remedies and medicines, dating back as far as 25,000 B.C., and most of the synthetic or prescription drugs on the market today are based on some form of natural plant substance.

Modern day science doesn't recognize the validity of most herbal remedies, though, because very few specific studies have been conducted. Because the large pharmaceutical companies make their money on the patented drugs they create, and natural substances cannot be patented, they are unable to corner the market on specific natural medicines, which makes them far less profitable.

The alternative approach is to look at the underlying or root causes of a condition and treat the source with herbal, nutritional and/or other natural therapies.