Herbal Alteratives: Removing the Obstacles to Cure
by Shayne Foley

When the time arrives that herbal medicines are widely prescribed by the mainstream biomedical community, the difference between them and us will not necessarily be the herbs that we use, but more the way in which we use them.

There are, of course, many schools of thought on how to apply herbs as medicines. They can be prescribed allopathically, homeopathically, isopathically, and so on. Herbs can also be prescribed naturopathically (i.e., in dynamic harmony with the vis medicatrix naturae, the Healing Power of Nature).

One of the basic premises of this vitalistic approach to healing is that, if you can remove the so-called “obstacles to cure” (i.e., remove the body’s own metabolic encumbrance), then the Healing Power of Nature within the body will affect a cure, provided sufficient vital force or energetic reserve is available to support it. If the vital force is deficient, it will often be necessary to build it with tonics before a cure can be safely affected. This is particularly important with the elderly and those weakened, during convalescence.

The various modalities used by the early Nature Cure practitioners often focused on promoting the removal of metabolic wastes from the tissues and fluids of the body. For this purpose, sun bathing, hydrotherapy, fasting, skin brushing, etc. would often be used. Herbal alteratives or so-called “blood purifiers” have also long been employed for this purpose.

At their most basic level of influence, alteratives correct what the Eclectic physicians frequently referred to as “retrograde metabolism,” often clearly promoting a removal of cellular waste and aiding to correct the processes of assimilation. As such, many of our most favored alteratives are plants which affect the stomach, liver, kidneys, skin, blood, lymph composition, etc.

Signs of mild sepsis or ‘blood poisoning’ are often indicators for the use of alteratives. For instance, Dr. John Milton Scudder wrote that Baptisia (Wild Indigo) is clearly indicated when “deep color, with purplish, brown, or black tinge is prominent” in the mucus membranes of the body. Herb Pharm’s Immune Defense Tonic, which has been formulated specifically for individuals whose immune response is impaired by poor elimination of metabolic wastes, contains Baptisia as a key alterative ingredient. Echinacea is also considered an alterative. In fact, Dr. Finley Ellingwood says Echinacea “is the remedy for blood poisoning, if there is one in the materia medica.” Burdock is indicated where skin disorders and irritable coughs or urinary irritation are present, Comfrey where inflammation of the stomach and the GI tract is present, and so on. A basic table is offered here to highlight some of the specific indications of several well-known herbal alteratives.

The basic practice of removing metabolic wastes and building an individual’s vital force is clearly beyond the working paradigm of today’s dominant medical community. Vitalistic prescribing speaks to the heart of what truly separates them from us; it is acknowledgement of the dynamic healing energy that lies within the body. Alteratives work to enliven this force, removing the obstacles to cure along the path to a more metabolically balanced state of vital health.

For more information on herbal alteratives and their key influence, see the table below.