I appreciated the recent Recorder article by Domenic Poli highlighting herbalism and local herbalists. Like Poli, I have noticed that so-called “alternative” healing modalities are left out of the prolific public discourse on health care access. As a client of some of the herbalists Poli interviewed, I also noticed that client testimony was left out of his article. I hope my comments will help to rectify both these absences.
I cannot speak about herbalism as treatment for cancer — the health condition selected as a reference for the anti-herbalism opinion represented in the news story — but I can testify that I would not have the vitality I enjoy today had I relied on mainstream medicine. Mainstream practitioners had little to offer me in the way of explanation or treatment for the combination of physical and psychological issues that have caused me to struggle throughout my life. The most they could say is “we don’t know why” and write a prescription for symptom-suppressing pills that might well cause side effects or additional health problems.
By contrast, the herbalists and other “alternative” healers with whom I have worked saw all my symptoms as interrelated. Indeed, my body and mind were presenting patterns of systemic imbalance that have long been known to these healers’ (in some cases ancient) arts.
The result of the treatments some would dismiss as “New Age woo-woo”? Let me offer this comparison as a reference point: whereas last summer I rarely felt up to riding my bicycle, this summer I am regularly biking 20, 30, 40 miles and/or hiking several miles. I still don’t feel quite as good as I hope to feel — but I feel better than ever!
Even the most skeptical of modern doctors cannot scoff at that.
Amanda Smith
South Deerfield