Don’t use herbs daily as though they are ‘maintenance meds’
Herbal supplement manufacturers don’t stress this. (A bottom-line issue for them?) Yet it was foundational in the herbal texts and trainings I went through in the ’70s, ’80s and even early ’90s. I don’t hear it any more.
And I wonder why? It didn’t suddenly quit being true.
I was taught by traditional Chinese, English and American herbalists, that you should always take herbal remedies in cycles, or “rounds.” Such as, take the herb (or herbal combination) for two weeks, then abstain for a week, then resume for two weeks, and then abstain for a week. Or, take for two months and then take four months off. (Sort of a wash, rinse, repeat routine.)
This is because the body adjusts to the herbs, adapts to the herbs, and then develops tolerance or resistance, and the herbs lose their beneficial effect. Robert Gray called this “homeostatic resistance.” And he said, “Most herbs lose all effectiveness when taken over a period of eight to nine months.”
Once “homeostatic resistance” sets in, you have to abstain from using the herb for five to seven years before it again will have its full beneficial effect for you, Gray taught.
For this reason, most herbal remedies traditionally were prescribed in rounds — take it for three weeks. Or take it for two months. Then take a certain amount of time off. Then repeat, if needed. And, traditionally, an experienced healer — a naturopath or herbalist or curandero of some sort, would recommend which herbs to take and would monitor your progress and adjust your herbal intake as needed, swapping new herbs in and old herbs out for optimal, continued healing and restoration.
The general purpose of taking the herb was to restore the body to a state of natural balance (or “homeostasis” or “equilibrium” — to use natural healing terminology). And once that balance is restored, the herb is no longer needed. The body is functioning well again on its own — as it was built to do.
That said, during an acute illness or crisis, an experienced herbalist or naturopath is likely to throw some powerful herbal combinations at the condition, just as though they were medicines designed to beat it down. But generally, in natural health theory, herbs are used to gently help the body regain its strength in its weakened areas. And that is done in limited rounds.
Taking herbs for a limited period of time — or in a few carefully monitored cycles is not what you read about in the health-food store magazines (not in the freebies, which are thinly disguised catalogs and sales literature promoting the products of the advertisers; and it’s not what you read in the mainstream natural health magazines). It’s not what you read on the labels on most bottles of herbal capsules and tinctures.
In fact, in health and supermarket checkout magazine articles, herbal remedies often are discussed as though they are medicines you would take daily for life — just like “maintenance drugs” that doctors prescribe.
Now that herbal manufacturers are attempting to identify and extract and boost only the “active” substance in an herb, the products they sell are becoming much more pharmaceutical-medicine-like. Maybe, in that form, they can be taken for longer- term use. (Although I’ve heard the opposite argued by some respected herbalists.) And maybe the effect they deliver is quite different from the effect the raw or traditionally prepared herb delivered due to a synergy of its various natural components.
In my experience, not all herbs, nor all vitamins, nor all drugs for that matter, are subject to the resistance rule. But many certainly are.
And, there are circumstances under which you would want to use an herb daily on an on-going basis. For instance, if you found St. John’s Wort effective in treating life-threatening depression it probably would not be wise to take it one month on, two months off. St. John’s Wort seems to be one of those herbs, incidentally, that the body does not develop resistance to.
However, as an aside, the level of stabilized, standardized-potency St. John’s Wort herb shown to be highly effective in some studies is much higher than what is commonly recommended on bottle labels and in magazine articles. I’ve seen studies where doses in the range of 800 mg of standardized herb, taken three times daily (every eight hours, approximately, for a total of 2.400 mg daily), have delivered an impressive effect — with few of the side effects commonly found with maintstream anti-depressant drugs. Knowing that, I don’t question the sometimes poor outcomes of published studies that have used only 300 mg to 900 mg daily of St. John’s Wort.
My continuing belief? For the most part, herbs and herbal formulas are best used in short-term, carefully monitored sequences; short-term usually meaning periods ranging from three weeks to three months. And, they are best used for the ultimate purpose of helping the body return to a state of natural, healthy flow, or equilibrium, so that “medicines” are not needed. In most cases, they aren’t intended for daily, life-long support. View them as gentle helpers; not as magic bullets.
Robert Gray taught that no herb should be taken more than one-third of the time. I think that’s a good rule of thumb — though believe there are exceptions.
Even as I write this, I realize that ginger, for me, is an exception. I’ve been taking three to nine grams of ginger daily since early on in my initial bout with Reactive Arthritis six-some years ago. And, while I have laid off ginger for a couple months, a couple times, the painful inflammation I experienced after just a couple weeks off encouraged me to return quickly to my therapeutic dose. And it worked as expected when I restarted.
So, in my own experience, with a few of the many herbs I have used, I have not seemed to develop Gray’s “homeostatic resistance.”
I wish I knew a simple rule to share with you for which herbs do lose their effectiveness in long-term use and which do not.
I think I recall being taught that many of the “pepper”-like herbs, to which ginger is closely related, are “synergistic” herbs — meaning they are well-used in combinations with other herbs and assist in enhancing effect, enhancing absorption, enhancing adaptive ability of the herbal combination to help where and how most needed in the body. If that memory is correct, then that partially explains why I haven’t developed resistance to ginger. The body does not develop tolerance nearly so quickly with the synergistic herbs.
I welcome input, additional information and contrary opinions from any herbalist reading this. In fact, would love to hear any reader’s experiences with this. Use the “Comments” box below, please.
– ken winston caine,
the Spirit of Wellness research doc™
and Alchemystic Holistic™
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November 9th, 2007 21:36
Hi Mr. Caine,
I am so glad I found this posting. I would love your analysis of the herbal supplement that I sell on my web site at http://www.slim30.net
If you go to the FAQ page and it will list four herbs that are in the dietary supplement that I have used for a little over 2 years now. This supplement has truly worked like a miracle for me until recently I thought something was wrong, and I have been gaining weight fast. Many of my new customers are having great success, however, many of my long time customers are going thru the same thing that I am… feeling as though the herbs stopped working. I have read in other sites where it is recommended to alternate an herb with echnica (sp?) to help your body not become immune to the herbs you take on a regular basis. I would appreciate any insight that you could give me, as I would like for this herbal supplement to work for me again. Even if I have to alternate several weeks on and several weeks off. I can handle that.
November 12th, 2007 09:55
Kim, I am concerned that one of the four herbs in this formula is a powerful laxative.
(Aocording to the current product label, the Slim 30 ingredients are hawthorn 35mg, senna 30mg, oyster shell (calcium) 50mg, lotus leaf 20mg. An earlier formulation included licorice and tangerine, but those apparently are no longer in the formula.)
The laxative is senna. It’s the primary ingredient in Ex-Lax and Black Draught and many other over-the-counter laxatives.
Another of the herbs, lotus, may be in the formula to help counter some of the unpleasant effects of laxatives, such as diarrhea and abdominal cramping, as it is believed to help with those conditions. (See http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/learn/Lotus_leaf.php)
Lotus also is a diuretic.
My concern is that the second most plentiful ingredient is senna.
While 30mg of senna is a low dose, there are dangers in using laxatives long-term, as for dieting purposes. Overuse can lead to electrolyte imbalance, dehydration, damage to intestinal lining, and even death. Overuse of diureteics also can lead to electrolyte imbalances (which can cause heart failure.) And use of laxatives for more than two weeks can lead to a dependency known as “lazy bowel syndrome.” (See http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g2603/is_0006/ai_2603000652) Laxative labels have warnings about this. Diet products usually do not.
This formula has hawthorn, which is traditionally used to strengthen the heart and possibly is included on the belief that it helps counter the potential effects of electrolyte imbalance on the heart. I don’t whether combining the herbs would actually produce that result.
Warnings aside, you seem to have tolerated this formula well for quite some time — more than two years.
To respond directly to your query: Taking six or more weeks off might allow your body to readjust to normal function. And then the formula might work for you again, at least for a short time. Your body, smarter now, most likely would recognize the formula quickly upon reintroduction and adapt to it quickly. I doubt that you would get anywhere close to two years of apparent benefit again.
During the time you are not taking the formula, at least at first, you probably will experience discomfort: sluggish digestion, constipation, etc. You’ll probably want to eat lots of leafy greens during the transition, to help things along.
That’s because after the first few weeks of steady use, your digestive and excretory systems would have become dependent upon the stimulation of a laxative in order to perform normal functions.
At first, this stimulation sped up the transit time of food and food wastes, which may have caused you to take up fewer nutrients (fats, protiens, carbohydrates, vitamins, etc.) into your bloodstream — and thus you lost weight. (There is disagreement in the medical community about whether laxatives really have any effect on nutrient uptake, since they are known to work on the lower intestine and colon and believed not to work on the small intestine where nutrients are absorbed.)
Later, your body came to expect the laxative’s stimulation and adjusted to it so that you no longer are speeding up transit time nearly so much.
May I recommend that you discuss this with a doctor?
I personally don’t think it’s a safe or wise formula. And at $60 to $70 per month, it seems really overpriced. It contains at most a couple dollars worth of herbs if you were to buy them bulk by the ounce and make your own formula.
Please see this FDA document which explains why in the ’90s the federal agency was considering requiring warning labels on some laxative-based over-the-counter diet products: http://www.fda.gov/FDAC/features/1997/597_tea.html.
Hate to be so discouraging, but I see the potential for serious health complications from using Slim 30 and feel it would be irresponsible for me NOT to caution you.
November 12th, 2007 16:26
Mr. Caine,
Thank you for your quick response to my question. I value your input and will take into consideration all that you have said.
In addition, is there any formula of herbs that you feel are safe to use in aid of weight loss if used in moderation? Particularly ones that help you feel fuller faster?
I would love to know, thanks!
November 14th, 2007 20:03
Kim, You raise a great question.
I bet a lot of other people would like to know what herbs and nutrients and synergistic combinations have been shown to be effective in weight-loss and hunger satiation.
You’ve inspired me to begin preparing a report on that. I’ll let you know as soon as it’s ready.
Let me mention one thing right off: A number of factors are involved in how and why and when our bodies store fat and different bodies have different needs. So really there is no one-size-fits-all magical remedy. It’s wise to analyze and identify why your body is storing more fat than you want it to, and then experiment with approaches that tackle the issue from that specific angle.
I’ll explain all this in the upcoming report, and look at nutrients that have been proven to effectively tackle the three main reasons we put on weight.