For Shawn Schultz, herbs are home. She grew up helping her herbalist mother
with her work. Schultz now runs her own herbal practice in Pattersonville,
New York. She grows and mixes the remedies she's used all her life.
"Herbal medicine has always been a part of my life," says Schultz. "I've
always had an affinity with it. I love plants, I love growing things and I
love working outside.
"A big part of my practice is growing my own herbs and gathering them from
the wild. That's something I learned from my grandfather. He taught me all
about plant identification and how to grow and harvest plants. I still use
the herbs that I've grown up with and I'm familiar with because I know exactly
how they work. I've been taught to use the things around me."
Schultz says people are interested in herbal medicine because it has fewer
side effects than drugs.
"Some people have reactions to various medications, so they find they have
to use herbs instead of medication. Some people have had bad experiences with
physicians or they've decided they want to use something more natural. They
want to have more control over their health. This way, they feel they have
more choice."
Schultz says another difference between doctors and herbalists is the time
herbalists can afford to spend on their patients.
"When I see clients, I go over their medical history, review their referrals
from physicians and work with them to come up with a list of recommendations
and decide if certain herbs work with the current medications that they're
on. We also talk about their diet and lifestyle. So it's not just about people
coming to me and I just give them herbs. There's a holistic approach to it."
Aviva Romm is a herbalist, midwife, author of several books and executive
director of the American Herbalists Guild in Canton, Georgia. She agrees that
herbalists spend a lot of time with their clients.
"On average, most herbalists spend a minimum of 30 minutes with their clients.
Most spend an hour to an hour and a half, especially with the initial appointment.
"We do a lot more individual care and preventative work with respect to
patients' lifestyles. We pay attention to nutrition, exercise and emotional
aspects of their lives and psychosocial issues. So there's a huge personal
component to our work."
Romm says herbalists customize treatments according to the specific needs
of the patient. "With herbal medicine, you're coming up with an individual
treatment plan for each client. For instance, people come in with a headache.
You don't necessarily give them all the same protocol of treatment. But if
somebody went into a family practice office with a headache, chances are you'd
have fewer choices of medication."
But Romm adds there are cases where treatment is needed beyond what herbal
medicine can offer, especially in terms of diagnosis. "If it's a serious problem
that they haven't had a diagnosis for, it's then beyond my scope of practice.
If they come in complaining of symptoms of a brain tumor, then of course I'm
going to send them off to get a clinical medical evaluation.
"I always do a full medical history assessment to try and get a sense of
what the symptoms are and make sure there's nothing outstanding that really
does require medical attention. Then, after diagnosis, we come up with a dietary
plan and a herbal plan. It often involves a lot of lifestyle education regarding
smoking and sleep habits, nutrition and exercise."
Andrew Bentley is a herbalist and writer in Lexington, Kentucky. He says
he's always been familiar with the healing properties of plants.
"I grew up around it," says Bentley. "I came from a rural area in Appalachia
where there were no hospitals within a few hours' drive, and herbal medicine
was just sort of the way people took care of themselves."
Bentley says herbalists help people get in touch with their own health.
"Herbal medicines empower people. It gives them the opportunity to feel like
they have a part in their own health care, rather than having it in the hands
of a doctor."
Although it was common practice in his childhood community, Bentley says
herbal medicine isn't as widely accepted in today's Western society.
"I see a lot of skepticism in general practice doctors," she says. "But
it's been my experience if I approach them with scientific evidence about
the way herbal medicine works, they're much more comfortable with it and become
more open-minded."
Kevin Porowski is a herbalist. He agrees that it's difficult to convince
traditional doctors of the merits of nontraditional medicine.
"It's not like we pretend to be able to treat acute injuries," says Porowski.
"You break an arm? Go see a doctor. But if you have a long-term disease, that's
where we specialize....But there are many doctors out there who just pooh-pooh
us.
"Herbalism gets more respect from the public than it does
[from] the other medical professions. But in the future, I think they will
start working with us instead of against us, simply because the public is
going to demand it."
Porowski loves his work so much that he's willing to put up with professional
criticism for it. "I've even got really bad hay fever, but that doesn't stop
me. This is a labor of love."