In the search for new types of drugs, one of the main sources of obtaining them is folk medicine. Genuine folk medicine (which should not be compared with witchcraft) was, is and will be an inexhaustible source of replenishment of the arsenal of therapeutic remedies. As pointed out by Prof. S. А. Tomilin, we should be immensely grateful to our people for preserving for us the experience of distant generations. We will always need the rich practical experience of folk healers, we should adopt it before it is too late, before it is preserved in living memory, realize it today and pass it on to our descendants.
In Dnepropetrovsk Research Institute of Gastroenterology with the help of herbalist D. Н. Zubitskiy introduces remedies from the richest treasury of folk phytotherapy. Thus, the cooperation of modern and folk medicine constitutes a new stage in the development of medical science and practice.
Н. И. Solomchenko since 1942. is engaged in the study of medicinal plants and folk medicine. This is reflected in his 55 scientific papers.
In recent decades, phytotherapy - the science of treatment and prevention of diseases with the help of medicinal plants, which is increasingly asserting itself. At the 1st Therapy Department of the Leningrad Institute for Advanced Medical Education since 1984.and at the Kiev Institute for Advanced Medical Education since 1989. doctors are trained in phytotherapy. A phytotherapy center was established in Irkutsk, and a research institute of pharmacology with a clinic was established in Tomsk.
Recently, the board of the Ministry of Health considered the use of traditional medicine methods, including phytotherapy, in treatment and rehabilitation. Traditional medicine will be introduced into the training program for students and doctors. Rooms for traditional methods of treatment (phytotherapy, reflexology and manual therapy) are created at republican, regional, krai centers or large multidisciplinary hospitals.
There are many reasons for the increasing popularity of phytotherapy. Phytotherapeutic drugs are usually weaker and slower acting than synthetic drugs, and they have fewer side effects and allergic reactions. They have a wide range of therapeutic properties (they have analgesic, sedative, tonic and other effects). The versatility of use depends on the content of a complex of several differently acting medicinal substances in the plants. Medicinal plants, if necessary, can be used for a long time (years) without fear of harming the patient, changing the prescriptions or making every 1-2 months breaks for 2-3 weeks.
It should be noted that some patients have overdose phenomena that occur with unnecessarily prolonged use of the same herbal remedy. Manifestations can vary from allergic to so-called paradoxical, when the remedy causes an effect opposite to the expected one. This is noted even with the most popular and considered completely harmless remedies, such as rosehip, chamomile, valerian.
The literature also indicates the appearance of exacerbation reactions 3-5-7 days after treatment with phytotherapeutic agents (K. Kant, S. В. Linkova). Н. Г. Kovaleva also considers it acceptable to exacerbate the disease in peptic ulcer disease in the first 2 weeks of phytotherapy. Many people believe that healing is always an art. In order to treat with herbal medicine, one must have a great deal of knowledge, experience and intuition, and be able to accurately diagnose the disease. You have to believe in the healing power of herbs, trust the doctor. A person should not lose hope for a cure, because hope activates all the forces of the body to fight the disease, and without this activation, any miracle remedies are powerless. Treatment without danger can only be achieved by a beneficial alliance: drug - patient - physician.
For rational use of phytotherapy doctor needs to know the elements of botany, methods of cultivation and preparation of plants, preparation of drugs, pharmacological properties of plants, the rules of compilation of therapeutic collections, the duration of the course of treatment, take into account the indications and contraindications in the use of a particular plant. Treatment with herbs can not be effective enough without following the rules of labor, diet, refusal of tobacco smoking, alcoholic beverages, strong coffee, tea, as well as regular walks in the fresh air and exercise.
Phytotherapy is not omnipotent and not a panacea, it is not always effective, especially in acute infectious diseases, pulmonary tuberculosis, malignant tumors, diseases of the blood system, collagenosis, and so on.
Phytotherapy should be professionally justified, individual, complex, directed at the whole body with the inclusion of various drugs and methods of treatment (psychotherapy, acupuncture, physiotherapy, nutritional therapy, exercise therapy, massage, homeopathy, etc.).). There is no sharp line between food and medicine. Of course, a single plant or natural food product is not a panacea, only the simultaneous action of several natural products can have a healing effect. The same medicinal substances can be used both for the treatment of disease and for prevention by healthy people.
Prof. E. И. Brechman introduced the concept of pharmacosanitation - that is, treating a healthy person - into science more than 10 years ago. Under pharmacosanation he understands the section of pharmacology on the action of biologically active substances entering the body with food or in the form of drugs, intended to increase resistance to adverse effects, to prevent, for example, diseases of atherosclerosis, influenza, to preserve healthy old age and prolong life. The most important factors of pharmacosanation are tea, sugar with its impurities and substitutes, soft drinks, juices, fruits, vegetables, salad plants, spices, seasonings, vitamins, phytoncides, adaptogens (eleutrococcus, etc.).). Phytotherapy is more rationally used in various chronic diseases with functional disorders, risk factors, in the period of rehabilitation, when a person is not sick, but not yet healthy, as well as in the conduct of countercurrent treatment.
Phytotherapy should certainly be done under the supervision of a physician. It should be more widely used, but for this to happen, doctors need to be trained and the range of phytotherapeutic products in pharmacies needs to be increased. This effective treatment should not be given to people who are far from medicine..
