Frustrated when you don’t get results from using natural remedies? Overwhelmed by all the information out there? How do you know what actually works when treating disease naturally? There is a lot more than you realize to treating disease with natural substances, and what you read below could be the reason for your frustrations.

One in every three Americans are now choosing natural healthcare over Western medicine as a primary form of treatment. Natural medicine is a billion dollar industry promising you everything from curing migraines to putting diseases like fibromyalgia and arthritis into remission. While indeed natural medicine can do just that-halt the disease process, many companies, store owners, and related business men/women are aware of how desperate people are to "get well". Eager to capitalize on this growing interest, they will sell you anything claiming it is the next "miracle pill" for your ailments. However, the actual practice of natural medicine is very complicated and there is more to treating illness effectively, than just grabbing a product off the shelf.

The main reason people often fail at trying to treat themselves naturally is that the advice they often get is too "general". Human illness and the human body are complicated. There are many variables involved including different variations and types of the illness they may have. For example, there are many different manifestations of the common cold/cough and not all people truly exhibit the exact same cold symptoms. Some people develop dry hacking coughs, coughs with heavy thick mucus, coughs with inflammatory conditions present, such as sore throats or sinus infections, or a mixture of a variety of symptoms.

To get effective results when treating illness naturally, you must first be very selective in treating the specific variation of the illness. If you have the dry cough, then using herbal formulas that eliminate dryness and moisten nasal passages help. In this particular case, even dairy products such as milk and icecream along with fruit juices aren’t bad as medicinal foods because they moisten and lubricate respiratory passages, including mucus membranes, making breathing more comfortable. Herbs such as licorice or Solomen’s seal can also help restore moisture to dry nasal passages. If you have lots of heavy mucus, then herbal formulas that clear out and break up mucus will be better options (you should temporarily eliminate the dairy products). Herbs such as mullein leaf, elecampagne, red raspberry leaf, bayberry bark, fenugreek, sage, eucalyptus, black pepper, cloves, and cinnamon do just that. Echinacea, one of the most popular and commonly used herbs, is best for treating infections such as sinus infections.

Even other disorders such as insomnia, allergies, and even fatigue, have several different variations and causes. There are dry types of asthma as well as the familiar damp congested type. Knowing how to distinguish the subtle variation of your illness is very important including being able to describe the specific type of pain you have: stabbing, burning, throbbing, dull aching, and so on. Of course in any case involving severe or persistent pain, you still want to see your Western physician to rule out any medical emergencies.

The second reason people fail to get good results from holistic medicine is that they often choose the wrong herbal or natural supplements because they are misled by what the label on the product says. The problem with the advice found here, is that it does not tell you the whole story, especially "your" story. For example, many people take digestive enzyme tablets, hydrochloride acid tablets and acidophilus hoping to improve digestive function, without knowing that there are many different causes for digestion problems, and different types too. For example, do you have chronic heartburn or just bloating and gas, or maybe nausea? Substances such as betaine hydrochloride acid and digestive enzyme tablets increase acidity in the gut; great if you lack it, but bad news for a case of heartburn, acid reflux, or an ulcer. Despite that the label says they treat digestive problems, they only treat specific types. Peppermint tea can calm heartburn, but will do nothing for bloating and gas unless the gas was a result from eating too much spicy food.

Self-medicating with natural remedies can also spell out trouble especially when people stay on the formulas for too long. Besides picking the wrong herbal formulas, if you take the formulas beyond their "beneficial" period, that could spell out trouble. Herbs are not like vitamins- substances you can take when well, for extended periods of time, for general insurance to protect your health. While they do indeed help prevent and treat illnesses from becoming more serious, they also have cumulative effects on the body the longer you take them. For example, women who treat hot flashes by taking soy products and stronger cooling herbs/substances, long term, risk cooling the body down too much, once the hot flashes are alleviated. The net long term result can be what the Chinese refer to as a "cold body condition" . One of the symptoms of this condition is frequent daytime and night time clear colored urination, as the body expels urine as a way of trying to warm up. Other "cold" type symptoms are a pale complexion, pale tongue, lack of hunger or thirst, cold extremities and intolerance for cold weather. As an herb is taken over an extended period of time, the tissues of the body become saturated with it. This is the reason why women undergoing surgery with anesthesia should stop taking any herbs at least several weeks in advance. Some herbs can lessen the effects of anethesia, or slow blood clotting time. Just because herbs are natural doesn’t mean they are always safe. Herbs are drugs, and should be respected and treated with care. The American concept: "more is better" does not hold true in this field.

Another misconception people have about natural medicine is that what’s good for one person is good for everyone. Illness is complicated, as you learned above, and to recommend the same foods, herbal medicines, and natural supplements such as vitamins, to everyone is ludicrist. People are also biologically/genetically different, as strongly believed by Ayurvedic medicine. These personal differences account for why some people don’t experience the same benefits or side effects when using the same herbs or natural supplements as their friends. This holds true for diets as well. People get different results because they are physiologically "different". The person who naturally has a physical tendency to get heartburn/acid indigestion from eating spicy foods, is not going to benefit much from taking ginger or cayenne pepper capsules as a natural remedy for nausea. These herbs will be too strong. Similarly, that same individual with a tendency to have frequent acid indigestion should not go on a grapefruit type diet- as grapefruit is very acidic, nor should they heed the advice of taking 1000 or more mg of vitamin C a day for so called "good health". Taking personal physical differences into account is extremely important, and could be the reason a person is not getting well.

While seeing a natural healthcare practitioner is often the best route to go when confused about what to take, selecting a good quality natural healthcare provider can sometimes be as difficult as finding a good medical doctor. There are just as many mediocre or bad holistic healthcare providers as there are physicians. However, finding a good holistic practitioner can sometimes be even more difficult as this field is not as regulated. Anyone can claim to be skilled to practice natural medicine by taking a few seminars, but to legally practice they really should be certified in their particular branch of medicine. For example, whether the practitioner is practicing Ayurveda (Indian medicine), Chinese herbology, acupuncture, general holistic medicine, using the title "herbalist", or practicing a combination of several different fields, they should have certifications totaling 3 to 5 years of study. One red flag that you want to be wary of, when seeing a natural healthcare provider, is a practitioner who is not able to answer your questions or one who simply refuses to answer your questions by putting you off. Other things you want to be cautious of: no diplomas or certificates on the office walls. Be sure to inquire where your healthcare provider went to school, how long it took them to complete the program they studied, and ask to see actual certification by that school. Since more Western medical doctors are realizing that natural medicine is the wave of the future, not to mention extremely popular among the general public, they often give holistic medicine advice, out of fear of losing out to their competitors who are professionally schooled in it. This means putting your healthcare at risk, as many of them are poorly trained in the field, take only weekend seminars, home school themselves, and are not certified in these fields. Their attempt to "keep up" or appear "savy" may mean incorrect advice for you as the patient.

All in all, the benefits of natural medicine are enormous and it can be one of the missing links in the treatment of your medical problem. It can save you huge medical costs as herbs are much cheaper than conventional prescription drugs. Natural medicine, when practiced properly, has an excellent record for treating chronic illnesses, and for preventing serious illness further down the road. Natural medicine can often treat and put into remission: migraines, pms, irregular menstrual cycles, allergies, sinusitis, arthritis, back pain, irritable bowel syndrome, ulcers, chronic yeast infections, and immune disorders such as Epstein Barr, just to name a few. What is required, though, to get optimal results, is some good extensive research and/or advice backed by a very qualified holistic practitioner. Always research any of the herbs or natural supplements you decide to take thoroughly before taking them, and listen to your body. Know when to stop a substance and how much to use. If you are on any prescription drugs, be sure to check with your qualified natural healthcare provider to make sure there will not be any dangerous interactions. And by all means, if you start experiencing negative effects from taking the herbs, stop taking them. In this field "no pain, no gain" is not a motto in which to live by.