There are many herbal treatments available to patients, but few have been used longer than sambucas nigra, otherwise known as elder berry. Well known for its analgesic, antipyretic, anti-inflammatory, diuretic, laxative immune boosting qualities, elder berry has been used for multiple health alterations (Ulbricht, Basch, Cheung, Goldberg, Hammerness, Isaac, &...Wortley, 2014). In this paper the background, pharmacology, contraindications, current research and recommendations for use regarding elder berries will be discussed. Elder berries are a versatile fruit that has multiple applications in the healthcare field, warranting an increased role in patient care.
Background
The sambucas genus contains many different plants, with the sambucas nigra shrub occurring in Europe and North America. Both the European variety (nigra) and the North American variety (canadensis) are often examined concurrently due to their similarities in use and pharmacology . Ulbricht et al. (2014) explain that the European variety grows up to 30 feet with the flowers and leaves used as flavouring, an analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic and diuretic and the bark is used as a laxative and emetic. They also state that traditionally, elder berries were used in England and Russia to ward off evil influences, witches, spirits and death. Fernandes, Marques, de Freitas, Mateus (2013) describe that dating as far back as ancient Egypt and the time of Hippocrates recipes for elder-berry based medications were found and extensively used to treat a multitude of ailments such as influenza, colds and sinusitis. Since it's early beginnings, elderberry has continued to be of use for the treatment of colds, flu, and fever in addition to burns, cuts and many other ailm...
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My grandmother grew up in Americus, GA, a rural town over 100 miles south of Atlanta. Her parents were of Cherokee descent, so I asked her about any herbal remedies passed down to her. She told me of several, but the one that she remembered with the most clarity was rabbit tobacco.
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The major use for herbal medicines is for the promotion of health and for therapy for chronic conditions, instead of being used for life-threatening conditions; except in the event of say advanced cancer or new infectious diseases when conventional medicine practices no longer are working an individual may use traditional remedies. While traditional medicines are often mistaken that because they are natural that they are safe, non-toxic, which is not always the case. In cases when an individual is taking herbs with prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications, or other herbs that may cause some adverse side affects. As a flourishing commercial enterprise, it doesn’t matter why an individual uses traditional medicines, it provides important health care services for individuals that have access physically or finantually to allopathic
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Herbal remedies’ qualities are widespread availability, lower cost, effective for chronic conditions. Herbal remedies are the use of plants or plant extract to treat a person’ overall health. Herbal treatments are prominent for developing countries for instance, “in Africa up to 90% and in India 70% of the population depend on traditional medicine to help meet their health care needs” (Wachtel-Galor & Benzie, 2011), due to their low cost and availability. Herbal remedies have gained attention in the past decades, and expanding their uses due to the increased interest of natural therapies (Wachtel-Galor & Benzie, 2011). Herbs used on the remedies grow in the wild throughout the world, therefore making it easy to
Frequently a person believes that herbal medicine is more naturally safe and soothing than drugs. Nevertheless, there’s no reasonable defense about this. Though many consumers trusted herbal medicine much more than the synthetic medicine because it’s safe and effective, but like anything else, it has its own limitations too. There are several hostile issues related to herbal medicine that has been quite alarming. Notwithstanding, majority of the most popular herbs are at least nearly safe.