Archive for August 18th, 2009
Beware of mixing herbs and drugs
We all know that certain herbal remedies can pose a health risk. Some of them (including the most used) are usually contraindicated in children or pregnant women or in people with certain diseases due to side effects that they may have.
But things get more complicated if we interfere with conventional medical treatment introducing herbal medicine to complement without physician endorsement, something that complicates the case of dual treatments for cardiovascular disease because of how delicate they are.
A recent research has shed light on this, and warns against the use of medicinal plants widely used in herbal medicine in the case of treatments for heart disease, because they can interfere negatively with the action of drugs.
Thus, St. John’s wort can increase blood pressure or cholesterol increase in people taking cardiac medications, and ginkgo biloba and garlic may increase the risk of internal bleeding.
It is therefore recommended that patients resort to cardiovascular disease physician before taking herbal extracts, as his health is at serious risk.