I admit I have always been skeptical about natural herbs such as saw palmetto (for prostate), Valerian Root for anxiety and pain, St. John's Wort for depression, Green Tea Extract for weight loss and it goes on and on.  I'm still somewhat skeptical despite having a positive experience with them this year.  Now, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not verified the claims of any of the herbs I have researched.  I couldn't find any that the FDA had verified as being factually accurate.  This information is featured in small print on every herbal supplement I have seen thus far.  For example, I have always believed fish oil capsules were great for cholesterol.  Sometime this year, researchers reported that fish oil supplements had no effect on a person's cholesterol.   I asked my family physician about that.  He said to keep taking them regardless of what some researchers had stated.  So, I am continuing to take fish oil.  I found that surprising since my experience is that medical professionals look upon natural herbal supplements with disdain.  That seems to be changing.

As I stated in a post earlier this year, I had a terrible experience with Prostatitis.   It is an infection of the Prostate that causes you to urinate frequently, with great urgency and with a burning sensation that drives you crazy.  This lasted from April to the middle of September which is unusual.   I took an assortment of antibiotics to no avail.  At my wit's end, I turned to a friend who I knew had this problem.  He told me to stop taking the antibiotics since I probably had non-infectious Prostatitis.  He recommended I take something called Quercetin as a natural anti-inflammatory drug.  He also suggested I take something called "cranberry and buchu."  Now, I remembered cranberry juice is good for the urinary system.  But, I didn't know what buchu was and what it could do for me.  As it turns out it is for the urinary tract as well.  It has a soothing effect on the prostate.  Five days after taking these natural herbs, I was completely over the Prostatitis issue that had plagued me for over five months.  

Now, will all natural herbs have this kind of positive effect on you for whatever ailment you have?  No, of course not.  In fact, I had basically ignored natural herbs (except for saw palmetto) for most of my life.  The only point I want to make in this post is that natural herbal supplements helped me when nothing else did.  I know that for a fact.  No antibiotics, no avoidance of acidic fluids (coffee, tea, orange juice, etc.) no nothing my urologist suggested helped me.  I'm saying don't ignore natural herbs when all else fails.  It worked for me.  It might work for you.