Treat Anxiety Disorders: Polyherbal Formulations
2012 | Comments Off
In Ayurveda, compound formulations are generally used in the therapy as the combination of many drugs provides a synergistic therapeutic effect and also includes ingredients which help to minimize the adverse effects of few other major drugs. A recent study demonstrated adaptogenic potential of a compound natural health product which had Withania as the main herb in an open label human trial. An open-label and uncontrolled clinical trial evaluated the impact of OCTA© on known parameters of stress (OCTA©, an aqueous-based liquid herbal preparation consisting of eight herbs as follows: W. somnifera, Lagerstroemia speciosa, Bacopa monniera, Zizyphus jujuba, Morinda citrifolia, Punica granatum, Shisandrae chinensis and Lycium barbarum). Another herbal formulation, Sumind is (Ayurvedic nomenclature and the quantity of each ingredient are given in parentheses), Nardostachys atamans (Jatamansi), Acorus calamus (Vacha), Celastrus paniculata (Jyotishmati), Convolvulus microphyllus (Shankapushpi), Bacopa monnieri {Brahmi), Withania somnifera (Ashwagadha), Valerian wallichii (Tagara), Eclipta alba (Bhringaraja). Sumind showed antidepressant activity as indicated by reduced immobility time in rats subjected to swim stress. It Read more [...]
Treat Anxiety Disorders: Indian Traditional Herbs
2012 | Comments Off
Centella asiatica (Mandookaparni or Gotu Kola)
Centella asiatica is reputed for its beneficial effects in various neurological disorders. Gotu Kola has been used for centuries in Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese medicine to alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety. Recent studies in the rat have shown that long-term pretreatment with Gotu Kola decreases locomotor activity, enhance elevated-plus maze performance and attenuate acoustic startle response. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study, the anxiolytic activity of Centella asiatica in healthy subjects was undertaken and compared to placebo, Gotu Kola significantly reduced peak acoustic startle response amplitude 30 and 60 minutes after treatment. In another clinical study, 70% hydroethanolic extract of Centella asiatica was given to 33 participants for two months and Hamilton's Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) was used to screen the subjects. The results show that, Mandookaparni significantly attenuated anxiety related disorders. These preliminary findings suggest that Centella asiatica has anxiolytic activity in humans and it remains to be seen whether this herb has therapeutic efficacy in the treatment of anxiety syndromes in large population.
Bacopa Read more [...]
Common Herbal Remedies for Anxiety
2012 | Comments Off
Ayurveda, the Indian traditional system of medicine uses herbs and their preparations to treat various neuropsychiatric disorders. Numerous herbs have been used for centuries in folk and other traditional medicine to calm the mind and positively enhance mood. Herbal medicine which plays an important role in developing countries, are once again becoming popular throughout developing and developed countries. Study by Sparreboom et al. () revealed that use of herbal medicine is increasing enormously in the Western world. In spite of the large number of animal studies evaluating the potential anxiolytic effects of plant extracts, very few controlled studies have been conducted in a clinical setup. The efficacy and safety of utilizing these natural drugs to treat anxiety, has only just begun to be exactly tested in clinical trials within the last 10 to 15 years. For instance, both Kava-kava (Piper methysticum) and St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) showed beneficial effectiveness in double blind, randomized placebo controlled trials to treat anxiety and depression. Also, extracts of valerian, hops, lemon balm and passion flower preparations have been employed for the prevention and treatment of psychiatric disorders Read more [...]
Common Anxiety Disorders
2012 | Comments Off
Generalized anxiety disorders (GAD)
Generalized anxiety disorder is a syndrome of ongoing anxiety and worry about many events or feelings that the patient generally recognizes as extreme and inappropriate (DSM-IV-TR). Individuals manifest both physical and psychological symptoms leading to significant distress or impairment.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
People suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder tend to have bothersome and intrusive thoughts that generate anxiety (obsession) and perform repetitive actions (compulsion). Obsessions include unwanted thoughts, impulses, or images that cause great anxiety. Compulsions include repetitive behaviors or mental acts that those affected feel driven to perform.
Panic disorder
People suffering from panic disorders often have panic attacks, defined as discrete periods of sudden symptom onset usually peaking in 10 minutes and can occur with most anxiety disorders.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder avoid stimuli associated with the trauma and feel an extreme amount of fear and anxiety after presenting stimuli. Stress is a condition which affects physiological and psychological homeostasis. Evidence indicates Read more [...]
Rosa Damascena
2011 | Comments Off
Rosa damascena, damask rose
Family: Rosaceae
Part used: flower petals, hips
Forty-seven species within the Rosa genus are found wild in Europe, including Rosa gallica L, with Rosa sempervirens L. in more southern areas and the Rosa canina L. group in more northerly areas. The species have some common characteristics: firm stems, which are usually prickly, and bear pinnate leaves with stipules, which are usually deciduous. Terminal flowers are often white or pink and single or borne in corymbs. The roots are stout and roses are generally very hardy. Innumerable hybrids are cultivated in gardens and their ancestry can be complex mixtures of European and east Asian species. The complex history of the cultivation of roses is discussed by Shepherd (1978). 'Old roses' is the term used for the groups of roses which existed before 1857 when the first hybrid tea rose cv. La France appeared. The following four groups are significant and examples are given of varieties.
Rosa x damascena Mill, is a pink rose that is a cultivated hybrid and is therefore correctly written as Rosa x damascena. It is argued that it developed in Iran as a cross between Rosa moschata Benth., Rosa gallica L. and Rosa feldschenkoana Regel. Rosa Read more [...]
Damask rose: Heritage And Identity
2011 | Comments Off
The rose has an ancient heritage. Fossils have been found across the northern continents of Europe, America and Asia dating back to the Miocene period, 7-26 million years ago. From an easy tendency to hybridization, chance mutation and human inclination to encourage these processes dating back to the earliest civilizations, we have the joyous variety of current blooms. The breeding of roses appears to have originated in three main areas – Iran, Iraq and China. Clements et al (1979) write of rose gardens in China possibly as far back as 2700BC, and certainly in imperial Peking in the 4th and 5th centuries BC. In Persia early references are found, one of the earliest to 2200 BC in Sumeria, and as official symbol of King Kyros II in the 6th century BC. Medicinal rose plants can be found among the predecessors of our cultivated old garden roses, from early western hybrids, developed through a long history of successive civilizations from mainly Persian descent, and carried to the West. The development of our modern tea roses owes its heritage to aspects of Chinese antecedents and these were developed in Europe relatively recently in the 19th century. There is evidence of roses in Egypt and mention in Homer, Herodotus Read more [...]
Parts Of The Rose
2011 | Comments Off
It might be illuminating to follow the example of some of the Renaissance authors and precede any discussion of the virtues of rose with a brief enumeration of the various sections of the plant noted by the Ancients, and later writers, and considered to have different properties, 'worthy to know and useful in medicine' says Mattioli, although he complains 'though there are few apothecaries who place them separately". There are six parts according to Mattioli, eight for Bauhin, since he includes the hips in his counting. Dodoens lists six, including the hips, and Parkinson five, but these latter are just not so detailed. There are two parts to the petals – confusingly written 'folia' in Latin which also translates as 'leaf – the nails or 'ungues', the white inner parts to the petal where it joins the stem, and the rest of the petal. The 'yellow haire' in the centre, Dodoens explains, is called 'anthos' (plural anthera) in Greek, and 'flos' in Latin, and these terms give rise to even more confusion. 'Flos' usually translates as 'flower', while 'anthera' is sometimes applied to the yellow centre, but more often referred to a certain composite medicine, according to Celsus, Galen and Paulus, Mattioli tells us, of frequent Read more [...]
Damask rose: Ancient Use
2011 | Comments Off
Dioscorides (I 99) records modest use. He tells us that roses (rodon, plural roda in Greek) cool and contract, but dried roses contract more strongly. He is precise about the preparations and the parts used. In preparing the juice, the 'nails' of the roses are first removed. The remainder of the petals, and they should be from young roses, are then squeezed and pounded in a mortar, compressed into a ball and stored to make ointment for eyes. Roses have to be dried carefully in the shade and turned frequently to avoid mould. The expressed juice of dried roses boiled in wine is good for headaches, ear aches, sore eyes, painful gums, and for anal and uterine pain – for the latter when 'applied with a feather brush' and 'used as a wash' (Beck), thus presumably massaged onto the abdomen or used as a douche or pessary. Osbaldeston's version records perineum, intestine, rectum and vulva, here. For inflammations of the hypochondrium (Parkinson has 'region of the heart'), for excess fluids in the stomach and for erysipelas roses should be used as a plaster. The preparation here is ambiguous. Beck reads 'The roses themselves, chopped up without being squeezed ...' which could refer either to the previous preparation of dried Read more [...]
Damask rose: Medieval Contraction
2011 | Comments Off
The Old English Herbarium includes only the sweet briar or eglantine Rosa canina or Rosa rubiginosa, the 'plant called cynosbatus'. It is 'harsh on the throat and disagreeable before meals, but nevertheless, it will purge the chest, and anything sour or bitter; although it harms the stomach, it benefits the spleen greatly. If the flowers of this plant are drunk, they affect a person in a way so that the intestines and urine will take out disease. It also purifies bleeding.' The bark can be used as external application for the spleen. Without the richness of cultivated roses, the uses here appear rather restricted and do not attain the breadth of Arabic or Renaissance sophistication, although application to the chest is notable, reflecting somewhat Dioscorides' spitting of blood and reappearing in Culpeper's later use for TB.
Hildegard may have had access to better stock or wider sources, but her applications are still not wide and there is no specific reference to internal use, or wider external use. Rose is cold, she says, and this coldness contains moderation which is useful. Rose petals placed on the eyes in the morning will draw out the humour and clear them. The mucus of small ulcers on the skin can be drawn Read more [...]
Damask rose: Some Expansion
2011 | Comments Off
The Salernitan herbal, as might be expected, echoes earlier texts a little more fully and introduces the less material effects too. The rose is hot in the first degree and dry in the second. The water binds and fortifies. A recommendation of breathing the scent of dried roses to fortify the brain and heart and restore the spirits appears to be translated into more material benefit as those with a weak heart and tendency to faint should take rose water or decoction of the powder and egg white. Use for the stomach and intestines is repeated and further suggestions follow: rose honey with senna and salt for cold humours in the stomach; for diarrhoea and vomiting rose water cooked with mastic and one clove; for diarrhoea when the intestines are scratched (is this Pliny's 'corrosions'?) and vomiting hot humours and strange liquids; rose oil, put on the forehead and temples, heals the liver and headache from heat; rose juice cooked in water is applied for redness and burns; and washing the face in rose water firms, freshens and gives a good color.
The Arabic writers appear to take up the Ancients' recommendations readily and add experience of their own, being clearly familiar with cultivated roses. Ibn Sina says it is Read more [...]