Excellence in Herbal Education

We often hear people say, "Don't sweat it."  Sweating isn't considered a wonderful think in modern society as it is associated with stress and fear.  However, when it comes to our health, and especially in fighting off  colds and flu, sweat is good. In that case, we should "sweat it" if we want to be healthy.

I’m sure that many people have  been to the doctor (or taken a family member to the doctor) for a round of antibiotics this winter.  I’m no stranger to this practice, because for the first twenty years of my life I was constantly taken to the doctor for antibiotics.  

Most of you probably know that antibiotics kill the friendly bacteria in the colon that function as part of the immune system. This contributes to yeast infections, which further weaken the immune system, but I don’t think that that’s the worst problem with antibiotics. The biggest problem is that they inhibit the natural healing process. Here’s why.

When microbes, particularly bacteria, gain a foothold in the body they throw off toxins in the course of their metabolism. It is these toxins that make us feel sick.
The body responds by trying to flush these toxins from the system. This may result in a runny nose, coughing, diarrhea, fever or sweating.  This is the immune system at work, throwing off the disease. 

Many naturopathic healers, and even some allopathic doctors, understand that childhood diseases actually train the immune system. The body “learns” how to generate the symptoms, which throw off the disease.

When I was using antibiotics, I wasn’t getting healthier.  Instead, my immune system got weaker.  I’d feel better on the antibiotic, but after I quit taking the antibiotic I’d get sick again in a few weeks, which suggests that the body never really recovered in the first place. 

One of my friends told me that if he nursed his kids through the first cold or flu of the season with some vitamin C and other natural remedies, they seemed to stay healthy through the rest of the winter.  If he took them to the doctor for an antibiotic they were sick all winter long.  I’ve seen this in other people too.  It’s sort of like the antibiotic “short-circuits” the body’s natural healing process.

The "Antibiotic" Approach to Herbs

When I started using herbs instead of antibiotics I didn’t get very dependable results, but that was because I was still thinking in terms of fighting germs.  So, I tried popular infection fighters like Goldenseal and Echinacea for colds and flu, but was disappointed in the results.  What I latter learned was that this is not a traditional way to approach the herbal treatment of colds and flu.  It is a modern approach, based on the modern “germ” theory.

The traditional approach to these diseases was to use daphoretics (herbs that promote sweat) to help open up the channels of elimination and "sweat out" the disease. I got better results with colds, flu and other acute disease with herbs that don't have a strong antimicrobial action, such as yarrow, capsicum, ginger and elderflowers.  All of these herbs are promote perspiration, especially when taken with warm liquids.

My good friend, Matthew Wood, gave a talk on the use of diaphoretics as an aid to the immune system at the recent AHG convention. He said that this traditional use of diaphoretics for contagious disease was developed by watching the normal process of disease and recovery. He suggested that the thermoregulation of the body through the sweat glands is actually the body's first line of immune defense and that the use of diaphoretics was based on watching fevers and illness "break" after a person started to sweat.

As Matthew stated in his workshop, modern medicine made us abandon traditional approaches to infectious disease when it told us, “The germs are the enemy, kill the germs."  So, people started to look for herbs that would kill germs instead of support the natural process of recovery.  While antimicrobial remedies may be appropriate in some situations, this does not mean that the older methods of supporting the natural process of healing with diaphoretics were invalid.  Science may eventually "catch up" and learn that the body really does "sweat out" colds and other acute disease as traditional practitioners observed. 

Matthew Wood said, “Too often modern herbalists merely copy biomedicine, rather than maintain an effective, holistic and natural practice.  The use of ‘natural antibiotics’ may be a fantasy rather than an effective method of treatment.”

Training the Immune System

Many naturopathic healers understand that childhood diseases actually help train the immune system how to fight off infection.  The symptoms the body generates, fever, coughs, runny noses, etc., are all the immune system at work kicking out what is irritating the tissues.

Diaphoretics support this process. As Matthew points out, “The sweat also unloads the toxins that have been feeding the disease.  Stopped elimination has provided fuel for the fire of the fever to burn and for bacteria to feed off.”

You see, it isn’t just the microbes that are the problem in infection, it’s the microbial endotoxins (the metabolic byproducts produced by the microbes) that make us feel sick. Furthermore, it is the body’s clogged waste that provides the “food” for microbial invasion.  When the body flushes its own waste and the microbial endotoxins, we not only feel better, we have removed the environment that would allow the disease to reassert itself.

For this reason, I reach for remedies like capsicum, ginger, HCP-X and other sweat producing remedies when I start to feel the first signs of a cold or flu.  I drink lots of fluids and take lots of spicy herbs (and perhaps a hot bath) and try to work up a good sweat.  Since I started doing this, my immune system has become stronger and I seldom get sick. 

Using diaphoretics to open up elimination in the skin is also a treatment for skin disorders in TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine).  Unfortunately, it aggravates the skin condition before it clears it up, so it’s not a practice most people in the West will put up with. 

Still, Matthew says that he has found the practice of giving “one remedy after another until a sweat is produced” to be valuable in the treatment of illness.  So have I.  

Antiperspirants are Bad!

If we recognize that sweating is good for our health, we also have to realize that antiperspirants are bad for our health. Years ago, Dr. Jack Richason taught me that antiperspirants contribute to the development of breast cancer because they inhibit detoxification of the lymph in the chest area. 

Whether that's true or not, blocking the natural elimination of toxins through sweat is a bad idea. So, use a natural deodorant that doesn't block sweating.  Many people have found Nature's Fresh (with a few drops of essential oils) makes a good natural deodorant.  Pau d'Arco lotion can also be used as a natural deodorant. 

The bottom line is that sweating is a good therapy.  I've done sweat baths, sweat lodges, cold sheet treatments and have worked up a sweat through exercise and I always feel better when I do. So, when you start to feel sick, try to work up a good sweat!  You'll be healthier if you do.