Stop Self-Prescribing Antimicrobial Herbs
Have you been taking your own self-prescribed antimicrobial herbs? I want to share why that is not a good idea.
Rant time! Please don’t self-prescribe these natural medicines.
On the one hand, it’s amazing to see so many people turning to natural medicines.
However, on the other hand, when we look at things like gut health, antimicrobial herbs can sometimes make your situation worse. You could end up with more of an overgrowth of bacteria than when you started, or you may end up with more food intolerances.
The risk is that when we self prescribe and misuse, we may also mess up our microbiome.
Here are a few of the things I am seeing in the marketplace:
Essential oils either in capsule form or drops into water or mouth such as oregano oil, clove oil, and thyme oil. Essential oils are really strong. And they are non-selective antimicrobial, which means they wipe out the good guys!
Goldenseal: This herb is endangered and should be used only if it is highly, highly indicated.
Berberine
Wormwood
To find out what is happening in the gut, I get my clients to do a CDSA (that’s a stool test by the way). This helps me know exactly what to prescribe and which herbs can treat the condition
When you self-prescribe antimicrobial herbs like these without the background to know if they are truly warranted, you are risking causing as much or more harm than good.
Dosages change with antimicrobials herbs
Antimicrobial herbs in any form should only be used for a short amount of time. In clinic, we sometimes pulse dose - 5/7 days, 4/7 days, or 2 weeks on 2 weeks off. Other times we go in hard with antimicrobials.
When I find that antimicrobial herbs are called for, I will often go in with gut healing for a few weeks before. This helps to prevent a die-off reaction which can make you feel sick with detox symptoms. Gut-healing powders and anti-inflammatory herbs can be used to stop this from happening.
There are different strategies for different situations because every case is different.
As you can see, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to this. This is why it is super important to work with a qualified practitioner who knows what they are doing.
If you have any questions about antimicrobial herbs or natural medicines, please book an appointment with me to discuss.