How Do You Take Herbal Medicines?
Herbal medicine includes many different preparations and forms of herbs, ranging from a simple water infusion (tea) to herbal capsules and tablets to liquid herbal medicines.
What your herbalist or naturopath prescribes may vary in forms depending on the intention behind using that remedy.
1. Herbal Liquid Extracts
Herbal liquid extracts can also be referred to as herbal tinctures or fluid extracts.
First I will address how to take a therapeutic dose.
This dose is what you’ll typically be prescribed by a naturopath or herbalist and can range anywhere from 5-10mls at 2-3 times a day, although it can vary even outside of that range.
To take this dose, you will usually be provided with a measuring cup and you’ll pour your herbal liquid into the measuring cup to the amount that you’ve been prescribed.
Depending on your pracitioners instruction, you may then fill up the rest of the cup with water (to about 30mls) and then drink the whole thing at once.
You can also follow with a chaser of water.
If you have been prescribed drop dosing, which is where you have a set number of drops in a dose you have some different options.
You can either take the herbal extract straight into the mouth or add your recommended drop into 20-30mls of water, such as your measuring cup and drink.
2. Herbal Teas
Any herbal medicine that uses water to extract its medicinal properties is called a herbal infusion.
Therefore a herbal tea is also an infusion!
A herbal tea is usually brewed with hot or boiling water poured over the dried herbal plant matter.
The length of time and the strength of the herbal tea will vary greatly depending on what your practitioner has set as a therapeutic dosing for your condition.
In general, a herbal infusion is about 1 tsp of herbal tea to 250mls of boiling water, letting steep anywhere from 2-20 minutes.
How long we steep a herbal tea for will also depend on what kind of herbs are in the blend or tea.
Some herbs, such as chamomile, can start to extract bitter compounds into the water after 10 minutes of brewing. if you are after the bitter taste to help digestion that’s great, but if you want to use chamomile for a soothing digestive tea or to calm down the nervous system then it does really need to be steeped for too long.
Some herbal infusions can be with cold water, such as a marshmallow root infusion, as the cold water actually helps to extract the beneficial mucilage compounds into the water which is great for soothing the mucosal membranes.
Some herbal infusions actually involve simmering the plant matter for a period of time, this is called a decoction.
Usually, this preparation is used on tough parts of plant material such as roots, bark, seed pods and fruits.
To make a decoction, add cold water to your plant matter, then bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes.
Conclusion
If you have been curious about incorporating herbal medicines into your life to better your well-being or help to improve your health with natural medicines, then understanding what form herbal medicines are in can help you to expect what’s to come.
If you are self-prescribing herbal medicines, such as tinctures or teas, then I hope this helps also to make sure that you are getting the most out of your herbal medicines and seeing results.
If you are curious about starting your holistic health journey, please get in touch via my contact page.
The information provided on this website is for general informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult with a qualified healthcare provider regarding any medical concerns or conditions you may have. Please see my full disclaimer here.
