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Valerian (Valeriana officinalis) is a perennial plant native to North America, Europe and Asia.  For hundreds of years it has been used in Europe to relieve insomnia, anxiety, muscle spasms and stress induced palpitations. Source: Valerian products are made from its underground stems, and horizontal stems. Dried roots are...

Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy (BPH) is characterized by too frequent urination, having trouble starting or maintaining urination, and needing to urinate during the night. The urethra, the tube that “drains” urine from the body, runs through the prostate gland in men. When the prostate gland is enlarged, obstruction of the...

Alzheimer’s disease, which is the most common cause of dementia and affects as many as 5.1 million Americans age 65 and older in the U.S., may triple in the next 40 years. Many of our caregivers, sometimes out of desperation will turn to herbals or over the counter supplements...

We treat a lot of depression at Thompson Pharmacy with the help of our local physicians.  Patients may ask if they can treat themselves with over the counter herbal supplements. Common Names:  St. John’s wort, hypericum, Klamath weed, goatweed. Antidepressant activity of SJW is attribute to its hyperforin content, which...

Feverfew—might have some effect in migraines Petasites is a genus of flowering plants in the sunflower family, that are commonly referred to as butterburs and coltsfoots. Feverfew is ranked #19 as the most often used herb in the US. This indicates that it may have anti-inflammatory and anti-allergy properties. EVIDENCE...

Echinacea is one of the top five herbs that our patients have questions about.  Like all products we sell it does come with a few warnings that might not make it appropriate therapy for a select group of patients.  Efficacy seems to be another issue. Ecinacea  is commonly known...

Instead of all those pills, can I take a natural product for my Type-2 diabetes? Cinnamon fits into both the food and medicinal herb categories.  We have our “Cinnamon Toast Crunch” (my kids favorite) cereal for breakfast, and we sell cinnamon in our herbal section to improve glycemic control...

As many of our patients are looking for natural alternatives to the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like Naproxen, Ibuprofen and Celebrex®, we get a lot of questions about turmeric. Common Name: Indian saffron, curcuma which is related to ginger, and grown throughout India, other parts of Asia, and Central America....

Herbal therapy is complicated. So often it is difficult to see any benefit from Herbal therapy, while side effects seem to appear rapidly.  Recommending these products can be particularly challenging, given the fact we seem to have better pharmacotherapeutic choices in the prescription department. Best website I’ve found: National...