Herbal
Formularies for Health Professionals, Volume 2: Circulation
and Respiration, Including the Cardiovascular, Peripheral Vascular, Pulmonary,
and Respiratory Systems by Jill Stansbury. White Mountain
Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing; 2018. Softcover, 256 pages. ISBN:
9781603587983. $44.95.
 Volume two of Jill Stansbury, ND’s Herbal
Formularies for Health Professionals confirms the place of the planned five-volume
series as a major contribution to the literature on the practice of herbal medicine
in the 21st century. Written by one of North America’s foremost experts in naturopathic
herbal medicine, the books should be essential reading for naturopathic students
and on the shelves of all practitioners who use medicinal plants. This volume covers
treatment of and materia medica related to the cardiovascular, peripheral vascular,
pulmonary, and respiratory systems in a similar way to the impressive coverage
of digestion and elimination in volume one, also published in 2018. Volume three will cover
endocrinology; volume four, neurology, psychiatry, and pain management; and
finally, volume five, immunology, orthopedics, and otolaryngology.
The
author
is an internationally known naturopathic physician with decades of both
clinical experience and experience teaching herbalists and naturopaths. This allows
her to explain potentially obscure knowledge in a very approachable way. She
served as the chair of the Botanical Medicine Department of the National
University of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon, for more than 20 years, and
remains on the faculty, teaching and leading ethnobotanical field courses in the
Amazon.
Continuing
with the format that worked so well in volume one, this book addresses herbal
treatment of pathologies that affect circulation and respiration. The opening is
a cogent exploration of Stansbury’s perspective on health and wholeness, which
leads into a synthesis of three broad approaches to healing. Her approach is a
powerful blend of the Eclectic roots of modern naturopathic medicine, current
phytotherapy, and insights from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). This is
presented in a way that both practitioners and advanced students will find
enlightening. The first chapter, titled “The Art of Herbal Formulation,” is by
itself a reason to get the book, as it explores one of the most abstruse areas
of herbal medicine with clarity and insight that will be especially appreciated
by teachers (and their often-confused students!).
The
breadth of the coverage of cardiovascular and peripheral vascular systems starts
with generalized treatments for support of the systems, followed by protocols
for hyperlipidemia and atherosclerosis, angina and coronary artery disease,
hypertension and hypotension, congestive heart failure, and arrhythmias.
Approaches to vascular insufficiency are particularly well developed with
protocols for peripheral and cerebral problems, as well as capillary fragility
and telangiectasia (spider veins). Specific pathologies discussed include Raynaud’s
syndrome, anemia, hemochromatosis (hereditary excessive iron absorption),
venous congestion, and varicosities. Stansbury’s work experience in the Andes Mountains
informs a section on heart stress at high altitudes.
Throughout
the book, there is a solid foundation of physiological and pharmacological
rationale for the herbs used. The formulas presented are related to
pathophysiology and the healing process. The author’s synthesis of medical
science with insights of naturopathy is truly refreshing and reflects her
recognition that in the face of a patient’s needs, all approaches are
complementary.
There
is a large materia medica suggested for cardiovascular conditions. This might
surprise readers familiar with the “anemic” list proposed by modern
phytotherapy or supported by evidence-driven medicine. It must be remembered
that we only have “evidence” if the science has looked at a specific herb, and
only a handful of the herbal materia medica has been assessed in clinical
trials. The relevance and use of 125 herbs for cardiovascular healthcare are
explored, with a number of important herbal issues discussed in more depth in
call-out sections. These sidebars include “Viscum
album for the Heart” (which addresses the use of European mistletoe), “Centella asiatica against Fibrosis” (which
addresses the use of gotu kola), “Herbal Flavonoids for Protecting the
Vasculature,” “Fibrinolytic Botanicals,” “Solid Extracts for Varicosities,” and
many more.
Chapter
three, “Creating Herbal Formulas for Respiratory Conditions,” is a breath of
fresh air. Treatments for respiratory problems are a strength of herbalism, but
not presented adequately in most current texts. Stansbury has again presented a
successful marriage of well-established traditional protocols with phytotherapy
and TCM.
The
chapter starts with “Creating Topical Applications for Lung Complaints,” which
covers essential material that often is overlooked. The chapter continues with
sections on formulas for coughs and altered breath sounds, dyspnea (difficult
breathing), hemoptysis (coughing of blood or blood-containing mucus), allergic rhinitis,
acute and chronic bronchitis, cystic fibrosis, emphysema, pleurisy, asthma, chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and more.
The
respiratory materia medica discusses an impressive 170 herbs. A unique and
invaluable feature is the discussion that focuses on their relevance to a
particular system. Thus, for example, the subtleties of yarrow’s (Achillea millefolium, Asteraceae) indications for the cardiovascular system
are differentiated from the respiratory indications. This is yet another
example of the insights of clinical practice being applied to the challenges of
education.
This
chapter offers plentiful examples of formulas, how to make them, and, possibly
of more importance, how to use them. The book is not only replete with such
useful, one might say irreplaceable, techniques, but also abounds with formulations
widely used by the Eclectics but that are now almost forgotten. This collective
loss of memory is not because they do not work, but usually they require
medicine-making skills no longer found in pharmacies. Hopefully, the
information in the book will encourage “old-time” practitioner self-sufficiency!
Another
refreshing aspect is the author’s presentation and usage of important herbs
that seem to have gone out of fashion. There are a number of reasons for such
trends, but the overriding issue is therapeutic relevance, not market availability.
Herbal Formularies for Health Professionals is a major work
that those involved in the practice or teaching of herbal medicine should deeply
appreciate. In the hands of clinicians such as Jill Stansbury, herbal medicine
has a bright future in 21st-century healthcare.
—David Hoffmann,
BSc, FNIMH
Principal
Scientist, Traditional Medicinals
Sebastopol,
California
.
|