Getting Pregnant Naturally_ Healthy Choi - Winifred Conkling [22]
PRECAUTIONS: Do not use when taking amphetamines, narcotics, diet pills, asthma inhalants, nasal decongestants, or cold or hay fever remedies. Also avoid beer, wine, coffee, salami, yogurt, chocolate, and smoked or pickled foods. Avoid sun to prevent sunburn.
Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora)
The Chinese have used this herb as a tranquilizer for centuries. Modern herbalists use it for insomnia, nervous tension, and premenstrual syndrome. It is used in many commercial sleep preparations in Europe.
PRECAUTIONS: Skullcap can cause confusion, muscle twitching, nausea, or diarrhea.
Valerian (Valeriana officinalis)
This herb is the active ingredient in more than one hundred over-the-counter tranquilizers and insomnia remedies in Europe. It has been used for centuries both as a “nervine tonic” and anticonvulsant.
PRECAUTIONS: Valerian can cause headaches, giddiness, blurred vision, nausea, or restlessness.
Vervain (Perbena officinalis)
This herb is used as a tranquilizer, pain reliever, fever reducer, and expectorant. It acts like a mild aspirin, relieving stress and pain and reducing inflammation.
PRECAUTIONS: This herb can lower heart rate; it should be avoided by anyone with congestive heart failure or a history of heart disease. It also should be avoided by asthmatics and people with respiratory problems.
FERTILITY CHECKLIST
HERS
Black cohosh
Chaste tree
Chi shao yao
Dong quai
Gotu kola
Nettle
Red clover
Red raspberry
Skullcap
HIS
Ashwagandha
Burdock root
Damiana
Garlic
Ginkgo
Ginseng
Hawthorn
Licorice
Pygeum
Saw palmetto
Yohimbe
COUPLES
False unicorn root
Sarsaparilla
Wild yam
Herbs for stress:
Kava Kava
St. John’s wort
Skullcap
Valerian
Vervain
5
Homeopathy: Baby Doses
for Big Results
Homeopathy, like conception itself, remains something of a mystery. Researchers have documented and even witnessed the process of egg fertilization and human conception, but the essence of the creation of life remains incomprehensible. In much the same way, homeopaths have learned how to use homeopathy in the treatment of medical problems and seen evidence of its healing potential, but the essence of its medical power remains unknown.
The practice of homeopathy was developed in the late eighteenth century by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann (1755–1843), a German physician who had been trained in the practice of conventional medicine. At the time, mainstream medicine included a number of crude and sometimes harmful medical practices, such as bloodletting, induced vomiting, and the use of massive doses of poorly understood drugs. Hahnemann, on the other hand, believed in the healing powers of nutrition and exercise (this was a radical idea at the time). He experimented with other methods of treatment, often testing potential remedies on himself. In one experiment, Hahnemann tested cinchona (also known as Peruvian bark), which is the natural source of quinine. When he took small doses of cinchona, Hahnemann developed the symptoms of malaria: fever, chills, thirst, and a throbbing headache. He hypothesized that cinchona would be effective in treating malaria because of its ability to produce similar symptoms to those of the disease.
The results of this experiment led to Hahnemann’s first theory, the Law of Similars, or “like cures like.” According to the theory, certain illnesses can be cured by giving the sick person minuscule doses of natural substances—plants, minerals, chemicals, and animal substances—that would produce the symptoms of the disease in a healthy person.
As one might expect, Hahnemann found that higher concentrations of substances caused more side effects. However, in further experiments he found that he could dilute a medication and still preserve its healing powers through a pharmacological process he called “potentization.” Hahnemann determined that by repeatedly diluting a substance with distilled water or alcohol and shaking it vigorously between