As you may have noticed, many over-the-counter
products available for winter colds and ailments have a herbal component. We
have a fantastic store cupboard of Western herbs available to combat many
symptoms and ease your way back to health. The advantage of accessing these
through a herbalist is the unique range of prescriptions that they have access
to. Cough syrups with minimum ingredients and using herbs like Licorice, Thyme,
Elderberry and Wild Cherry, not only taste great but act both as expectorants –
so releasing congestion – and give an anti-bacterial hit. Mouth washes, which
can then be swallowed for extra benefit, are also an excellent tool at our
disposal to soothe and heal mucus membranes. Creams and ointments for dry skin,
and herbal vapour rubs, complete the picture.
But wider than this is the scope of herbal
medicine to address those times when you know your immune system is not up to
scratch; when you get cold after cold for the entire winter. That’s when the
advantages of taking a step back and looking holistically at a person’s health
is invaluable. By looking at all the body systems and thinking about how they
interact, we can work with immune-system-enhancing herbs, called adaptogens,
which help the body step up to the stresses faced. These can be coupled with targeted
symptomatic herbal relief to complete the picture. It’s this type of approach
that focuses on prevention as well as cure that makes such sense, rather than
just fire-fighting symptoms all the time.
Come along to the Linden Herbal Winter Clinic
to find out more and register to have access to high quality, good value herbal
products that can only be obtained via your herbalist.
When? Fridays 9 am – 1 pm
Where? The Therapy Room, Cambridge
How much? The Winter Clinic offers a free 15 minute consultation, where I will advise and screen you for suitability to receive herbal products. Further longer consultations will be advised if necessary, with the first full length appointment discounted.
