The Woman's Book of Healing Herbs: Healing Teas, Tonics, Supplements, and Formulas

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but missing important information
Review: I really like this book. It's organized nicely, and is helpful in pairing diseases/problems with herbal therapies. It's interesting, and I like the illustrations, as well as many of the beauty products. I do have a couple problems with it though. The book contains a list of the 50 most common herbs, and while it does list some safety precautions, a lot of drug-herb interactions are missing. For instance Coumadin (Warfarin) is listed as interacting with willow bark in this book. But Warfarin also has interactions with ginseng, dang shen, devil's claw, garlic (in large amounts) and ginkgo biloba. A few of these drugs are even in the top 50 in this book, with no mention of the problems they can cause with Warfarin. I think this is a really negative aspect of this book, because people without a pharmacy or medical background might not know about such problems, and as some don't even consider herbals to be drugs (which they are!) they don't know to check for interactions, or even where to check if they wanted to. Another point the book fails to mention is that the FDA doesn't have guidelines for purity of herbal products the way it does for prescription and over-the-counter medication. So you might not be getting exactly what you think you are when you buy an herbal product. If you use this book, I would recommend asking your pharmacist what brand of herbs they suggest, because most pharmacists know which brands are more reliable than others. And also, you should always ask your doctor about taking herbals if you are on ANY medications, and when your pharmacist takes your medication history, tell them what you are on, too. Just because herbals are natural doesn't mean they are safe!

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but missing important information
Review: I really like this book. It's organized nicely, and is helpful in pairing diseases/problems with herbal therapies. It's interesting, and I like the illustrations, as well as many of the beauty products. I do have a couple problems with it though. The book contains a list of the 50 most common herbs, and while it does list some safety precautions, a lot of drug-herb interactions are missing. For instance Coumadin (Warfarin) is listed as interacting with willow bark in this book. But Warfarin also has interactions with ginseng, dang shen, devil's claw, garlic (in large amounts) and ginkgo biloba. A few of these drugs are even in the top 50 in this book, with no mention of the problems they can cause with Warfarin. I think this is a really negative aspect of this book, because people without a pharmacy or medical background might not know about such problems, and as some don't even consider herbals to be drugs (which they are!) they don't know to check for interactions, or even where to check if they wanted to. Another point the book fails to mention is that the FDA doesn't have guidelines for purity of herbal products the way it does for prescription and over-the-counter medication. So you might not be getting exactly what you think you are when you buy an herbal product. If you use this book, I would recommend asking your pharmacist what brand of herbs they suggest, because most pharmacists know which brands are more reliable than others. And also, you should always ask your doctor about taking herbals if you are on ANY medications, and when your pharmacist takes your medication history, tell them what you are on, too. Just because herbals are natural doesn't mean they are safe!

Rating:
Summary: Every woman should get this!
Review: I refer to this book almost every day! Everything you ever wanted to know about the benefits of herbs for women, in an easy-to-use format. If you can only buy one book about herbs, this is the one!

Rating:
Summary: Great book, easy to use, especially for herbal beginners.
Review: This book is very informative and has a lot of great remedies that are easy to make. The list of where to buy herbs is extremely helpful, plus it gives ideas about where else to look. It is a good book for newcomers to herbal remedies in that it gives an overview of what types of herbs are helpful in preventative and curative measures. Overall, a great resource to have at home.