From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2001-07-10 18:06:00 UTC
Subject: some new herbal info
Just hear a bit of a report on ATC and hope to see the full ones later:
Comfrey has apparently been indicated as a contributor to the
development of some malignancies and to liver damage (type
unspecified in the report I heard).
Anesthesiologists have now linked several herbs to complications not
only of surgery but of using anesthesia. I did not manage to write
down the entire list but hose which I did were: garlic, ginko,
echinacea (messes with the heart rate when in conjunction with some
anesthesias), valerian (sounded like it can cause an individual to
have trouble coming out from anesthesia), and kava. It is advised
that the herbs they listed not be given or taken a week before or
after surgery.
Of course, any medicine strong enough to help is also strong enough
to harm, so DO read warning labels and DO use resources such as _PDR
for Herbal Medicines_, _Tyler's Honest Herbal_, and _Tyler's Herbs of
Choice_ which give the good, and the bad: uses, possible uses,
counter-indications, medication interferences, etc. Use the same
level of caution for ANY medications!
Steve and I are fortunate to have never lost a ferret during surgery
or post-surgical times (during 19 years with ferrets), plus we almost
always have had ferrets which attained fine life spans and survived
illness for long periods, and part of that is having fine vets, part
is careful care, part is luck, but another part is using caution and
respecting any form of medication used, whether standard or
alternative.