Herbal Remedies?

I have been trying to reduce the amount of medications I take. Since I have mild crohn's, I figured I could use herbs. So far, I have been drinking peppermint tea in the morning and ginger tea at night. I also take Valerian root in the morning and fish oil pills 2x a day.

Does anyone know if these herbs will work? Any other herb suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks, Nate

Since I mentioned I'd reply, I can say the things I know. I have taken a number of herbs, if they help is hard to say, anyhow.

So, you already mentioned ginger, some others commonly used for crohn's disease are Boswellia, Turmeric, Bromelain, Wormwood.

(I do think wormwood is an exception in this list, wormwood is imo not as safe as the others, it is safe in recommended doses but you need to be slightly more careful with wormwood)

They all lower inflammation and they all have the potential to help, if they actually work and what dose would be required I don't know.

About the tea, I have linked a study about teas, the effect of tea isn't as good as you might think, in fact they have seen that some teas increase intestinal inflammation in rodents, the fact some teas decreased inflammation was not down to the tea but the extract they used in the tea.

Not sure this helps you but there you go.

here is the thread about tea I made if it interests you: http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=40815

Reading that study it seems its talking about green tea only (?)

I drink peppermint and ginger tea to help with inflammation and I cant drink black tea or coffee due to the caffine

Apart from that I have liquorice tea, and take peppermint oil + curcumin tablets

Yes fair point. Ginger tea sounds interesting, I never heard of it, I simply use extracts.

Peppermint tea helps with inflammation? Any kind or would it be a specific kind?

As long as it has peppermint as I dont think any other mint helps as much. Ive started taking peppermint oil capsules (200mg / 0.2ml twice a day). Only been on them a week so too early to notice any difference as of yet

I have had crohns for a long time. I have a taken about every thing out there and still have had to have a bunch of small intestines cut out, but what is really helping is slipery elm and cats claw mixed with liquorice root it has really helped but watch the comfery leaf it could cause liver failure.

My Gi suggested these herbs for me: http://www.myjourneywithcrohns.com/2012/11/my-herbal-medications.html

On top of that i drink Anise tea to help with gas, and Pepppermint to help with gas in the stomach (burping kind). I also use a heat pad to relax my belly.

I also take these vitamins every day and i explain why: http://www.myjourneywithcrohns.com/2012/11/the-vitamins-i-take-everyday.html

try this, i havent tried this yet but two bags of green tea and two bags of black tea all at once. do that for a few days and see if inflammation tones down a bit.

just giving you some ideas.

i tried peppermint tea and after a few weeks it starting making me feel a bit ill, but in the beggining i felt good, but no dramatic effects on specific disease state.

a few months ago i recall a reduction in disease activity and it was correlated with my use of two green tea bags per day for a week or so, i plan on setting up an experiment to further verify that was the helpful variable but its actually on the bottom of my list of prioritys, im currently all backed up with a prioritized list of experiments! but i will soon get to that one.

i have tried ginger tea and have to say it helps, i preferred fresh ginger over dry ginger, there is melatonin in ginger which can also aid in intestinal healing according to studies, but other chemicals aid as well. i had some issues with it being related to intense nightmares, tho i eventually had to stop, the nightmares seemed to stop with its use. i had my mom try some too she also had nightmares. very strange. i used it for about 3 weeks, makes you feel good mucus seesm to go down but something about the nightmares, i had to stop.

i have been using turmeric 1/4 teaspoon dry and pepper tea everyday for months, it makes me feel god, not sure it does too much for the disease, i havent tried taking it out long enough to see if disease gets worse, it may only make minor contributions. my diarhea has always been under control with my regimin, but the inflammation has been a challenge, still trying to find something for that.