Some people use these herbal remedies to supplement the medicines that they are currently taking. However, unbeknownst to a lot of people, not all herbal remedies are safe for you. Some can actually cause serious and dangerous side-effects when used with other drugs due to an imbalance in their interaction.
One thing that differentiates our standard pharmaceutical medicines from herbal medicines is that with pharmaceutical medicines, you know the possible dangers that can happen from taking such pharmaceutical drugs since it is spelled out on the package of the drug. With herbal remedies, however, its safety profile is usually not listed, which means that you cannot know the possible dangers that can happen from taking the herbal remedies since you have no way of knowing from buying the medicines.
Although such is the case, reports about the adverse effects of taking certain herbal remedies are beginning to surface, thereby giving its consumers a way of knowing whether the herbal remedies that they are taking are actually safe to use. These adverse effects range from being minor to serious, depending on the type of herbal remedy used, and depending on the consumer using it.
Unfortunately for a lot of people, dietary supplements, which include herbal remedies, are not covered by the scope of the Food and Drug Administration’s responsibility, which is on food safety for most of our foods and drug safety as well. Many of the herbal remedies and dietary supplements marketed to have beneficial effects on people’s health are not regulated by the FDA, which is why there is no clear way of knowing if these herbal remedies and dietary supplements are in fact safe for its consumers to use.
One way of avoiding health risks from taking herbal remedies that can have adverse effects on your health is by checking if the herbal product bears the mark of United States Pharmacopeia (USP) or National Formulary (NF) on the label. This would mean that the herbal product has passed the standards of the test conducted by the organizations, wherein the letters USP indicates it has been approved for use, while NF indicates that the herbal product has the same purity and quality in manufacturing standards as that of USP, but not USP approved.
Also, learn about the drugs that you are taking. There are certain resources that you can make use of to learn about the certain herbals, how they are used, and their adverse reactions and effects to people. You should also learn about the how such herbal remedies interact with the pharmaceutical medicines that you are currently taking. Some will have very dangerous effects on your health if coupled with certain pharmaceutical drugs.
Ultimately, one way of ensuring that you are taking herbal remedies that are helpful to your health, you must consult with your doctors and pharmacists before even considering of taking one.
Vanessa Arellano Doctor http://primeherbal.com
