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Specific Vitamins, Herbs, Medications
QUESTION: Can you please tell me what the adverse effects are of long term Echinacea use are?? I have heard that
you should not take it for extended periods.. is
this true?? What happens if you take it daily to prevent colds, etc. Thanks,
ANSWER: Echinacea, Purple Cone Flower, Latin Named Echinacea purpurea, E. pallida, E. angustifolia, is
appropriately used for acute colds and flus, most people know when they are getting sick, this is when to take
Echinacea and take a lot. I recommend a teaspoon of the fresh herb tincture every 1 - 2 hours for the next 3 days.
Some people successfully use Echinacea prophylacticly,
trying to up their immune response before they are attacked by a opportunistic bacteria or virus during the cold and flu
season.
I recommend its use prophylacticly, when traveling by air, meeting new people, attending smokey events, or if you
have been in the presence of a sick individual.
As to length of use I know of known problems, there was a study done in Germany that was mistranslated into English
and was used as a warning by the Popular Media that Echinacea stopped being effective after so many days. Again I
will repeat it was mistranslated.
Echinacea has been studied fairly well and it helps to stave off colds or lessen severity helping to potentiate your
immune system.
The Germany's Commission E warns against using Echinacea in cases of autoimmune disorders such as multiple
sclerosis, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis, as well as tuberculosis or leukocytosis. There are also rumors that
Echinacea should not be used by people with AIDS. These warnings have no substance and are theoretical, based on
the fear that Echinacea might activate immunity in the wrong way. But there is no evidence that Echinacea use has
actually harmed anyone with these conditioins or diiseases.
Additionally the Commission E monograph also recommends against using Echinacea for more than 8 weeks, but the
problems with this document is it's statements and information is not cited or explained in anyway.
This is my feeling on this warning: It is probably not a warning for prophylactic use, but for the person trying to treat a
condition or disease. Why would you only give the herb 8 weeks, because if the condition has not corrected in 8
weeks on Echinacea you should be
reevaluated as to what is wrong or try another approach.
And finally the 8 weeks is just a number pulled out of the air, it was not based on anything but a common sense
approach to medical treatment in general. If the treatment prescribed is not working after using it for so long try
something else 8 weeks, 9 weeks whatever the case might be.
The other possibility is the Commission E does not want to endorse potentiating or tweaking the immune system for
any extended period of time and has set a limit by saying do not use Echinacea for over 8 weeks.
ESSIAC
QUESTION: Side effects from daily use of 2 oz of Essiac formula?
ANSWER: This is a download from the WWW.Remedies.net website on Essiac formula.
There are 2 herbal formulas for Essiac teas:
An Explanation of the Differences
The original Essiac formula which Canadian nurse Rene Caisse got from the Ojibway tribe in 1922 consisted of 4
herbs. This is the same formula which she successfully used in Canada for some 40 years. It is also the formula which
she submitted to the Canadian medical authorities in 1937 for their evaluation. The herbs of this 4 herb formula are
listed below with their percentages by weight:
Burdock Root: 67.7%
Sheep Sorrel: 21.6%
Rhubard Root: 5.0%
Slippery Elm Bark: 5.0%
Later in her life, Rene Caisse went to Cambridge, Massachussetts where she worked with Dr. Charles C. Brusch in his
medical clinic. Dr. Brusch was a distinguished physican of great renown, and was John F. Kennedy's personal
physican . While Rene Caisse worked with Dr. Brusch, she and Dr. Brusch would for certain patients, on occasion, add
small amounts of other potentizing herbs to the Essiac formula. They were added in small amounts only, and the basic
4 herb formula remained the primary formula.
After Rene Caisse's death in the 60's, a Canadian radio announcer and researcher named Elaine Alexander visited
with Dr. Brusch in Massachussets. She obtained from Dr. Brusch a formula for Essiac which contained the basic 4
herbs plus small potentizing amounts of 4 other herbs. She later set up a business to manufacture and distribute a
brand of Essiac which she named Floressence. Some confusion was created when she claimed that her 8 herb
formula was the only "genuine" Essiac product.
We consider both the 4 herb formula and the 8 herb formula to be valid. In each formula the main ingredients are
Burdock Root and Sheep Sorrel, which Rene Caisse valued most. The small amounts of the other herbs function to
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