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Kamhi has been using these techniques with ADHD children
for 35 years, and she’s seen them have positive
effects every time. Although her statistics are good,
Kamhi and other herbalists warn parents to exercise
patience when it comes to using alternative therapies.
“Don’t expect immediate results,”
Kamhi said. As in the case of the 8-year-old ADHD boy,
it took six months for some of the more significant
changes to become evident. She also encourages patients
to work with a knowledgeable herbal practitioner because
herbs taken incorrectly can cause reactions.
Children may suffer from congestion, diarrhea or skin
rashes if they are having a reaction to an herb. An
experienced herbalist, for example, also would know
that a child who has a ragweed allergy may react to
chamomile because this herb is in the ragweed family.
Mark also encourages patients who want to give herbal
remedies to their children to seek out trusted sources
that can offer commentary on different herbal products.
Some of the sources and organizations he trusts and
uses include the Berkeley Wellness Letter, the American
Botanical Council and the Longwood Herbal Task Force.
(See “Herbal 411” for Web site listings.)
Gentle touch
Even though natural alternatives such as herbs may
not provide instant gratification, Ruth Gingerich, MSN,
PNP, believes the benefits outweigh these minor disadvantages.
Gingerich, a nurse practitioner in Carmel, Calif., said
herbal remedies have fewer side effects than many pharmaceutical
drugs. Benadryl, for example, may stop the symptoms
of a cold, but the drug dries out the mucus membranes,
which can make someone more susceptible to further infection,
she said. Instead, she would encourage a patient who
is just starting to experience cold symptoms to take
echinacea because this can boost the immune system.
Nurse herbalists also point out that herbs can be especially
good for children because they are more gentle on the
system than many pharmaceutical drugs. In addition,
herbs do not foster the growth of resistant strains
of bacteria in the same way antibiotics can.
Rather than prescribing antibiotics for ear infections,
for example, Kamhi tells parents to immediately stop
giving children dairy and wheat products. She suggests
that they give children vitamin C, echinacea, garlic
in the form of tea and soup and then mullein flower
oil in the ear. Parents can use hot compresses over
the ear and massage the ear area.
She also tells parents to buy their own otoscope to
examine the child’s ear daily. This allows parents
to immediately detect signs of infection and start the
treatments. If the child shows signs of throbbing pain,
Kamhi suggests using a form of belladonna or mercurius.
Although natural remedies can be effective, herbalist
Heather Johnstone, Ph.D., APN, CS, RN, a holistic nurse
practitioner in Chicago, recognizes that most Americans
have been trained in the Western tradition of medicine.
As a result, she advises parents to continue communicating
with a child’s doctor about what they are trying.
She tries to make her practice complementary rather
than alternative to other doctors.
She started pursuing holistic medicine because she
witnessed how American Indian medicine men were able
to treat children with seizures in a way that Western
medicine couldn’t seem to help these children.
“I became frustrated by the lack of positive
results [of Western medicine], the side effects and
costs of the medication,” Johnstone said. “The
results were amazing. They were using prayer and spiritual
work, herbs and aromatherapy, and I saw kids stop having
seizures.”
Like most health care providers, Johnstone, Kamhi and
Gingerich are pleased when they see their patients improve.
“What I enjoy is when I hear people say, ‘It
works!’ ” Gingerich said. For these nurses,
this can happen for more serious conditions like ADHD
or nagging, minor problems such as warts.
Gingerich remembers one 12-year-old boy who came to
her with warts around his fingernails. He had been to
dermatologists to have the warts burned off, cut off
and frozen off, but the warts always returned. “They
were unsightly, and the boy was getting teased,”
Gingerich said.
She told him to try applying tea tree oil to the warts
two to three times a day, and also warned the boy that
is might take several weeks to notice any changes.
She saw the boy a year later and heard that the warts
had disappeared—permanently.
“The family was very pleased, and I felt really
good,” Gingerich said. “It’s really
nice to get reinforcement for what you do.”
Contact
Heather Stringer at heather_stringer@sbcglobal.net.
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