Open Source Apothecary At Home / Safety
Safety
Interactions, toxicity, and who must not use what
The pages most often missing from herbal books. Essential oils that are toxic by mouth rather than therapeutic; the plant constituents that genuinely injure the liver; how St John's wort interacts with a long list of prescription drugs; who must not take a given remedy at all. Nothing here is a reason to avoid herbs wholesale — it is a reason to know which ones carry a real risk and to treat a concentrated plant product with the same care as a drug, because that is what it is.
7 entries
Alcohol and the liver
There is no liver herb that substitutes for stopping. And alcohol interacts with the herbs people take for it.
safetyChildren: smaller, and different
The dose that is safe in an adult can be the dose that stops a child breathing.
safetyEssential oils: concentration, sensitisation and the things you must not do
An essential oil is a concentrated solvent. Most oil injuries are dilution errors, not allergies.
safetyHerb-drug interactions: the ones with numbers behind them
St John's wort changes how fast your body clears other drugs. This is measured, not theoretical.
safetyHerbal liver injury, and the plant that ends the matter
Some plant toxicity is dose-dependent, some is idiosyncratic, and one group is unacceptable at any dose.
safetyLiquorice, glycyrrhizin, and the potassium it costs you
A sweet root that acts on the same receptor as aldosterone, and lowers potassium while it raises blood pressure.
safetyPregnancy and breastfeeding: the honest position
Almost no plant has safety data in pregnancy. That is the finding, not a gap in the search.
safety