Continuing Education

Topical Applications for Pain

Posted on by Caitlin Maher

Hops

March’s Featured Recording:
Topical Applications for Pain with Jillian Stansbury, ND

    Jillian Stansbury, NDWith the opiate epidemic being a glaring example of how NOT to manage chronic and acute pain, this session explores what tools herbalists possess to help comfort and soothe acutely painful conditions. Drawing from both folklore and modern research, Jillian Stansbury, ND offers a variety of liniments, soaks, poultices and pastes for a wide range of conditions.

    She describes compresses for headache, capsaicin cream for arthritic and other pain, fennel oil for smooth muscle spasm, castor oil packs, lobelia vinegar compress for vascular, bronchial and uterine smooth muscle pain, to mention just a few. The PowerPoint accompanying this lecture offers a great resource by giving details for many more preparations than she was able to cover in her live presentation.

    Jillian Stansbury will be presenting the pre-conference intensive in person at Medicines from the Earth in June in Asheville, NC. Registration is still open for that event.

    And if you are interested in more information on botanicals and other natural medicine for pain, take a look at our series on management of pain and inflammation. Continuing education credits available for naturopathic physicians.

    Included:

    1. The featured recording mentioned above.
    2. Complimentary PDF of the speaker’s PowerPoint presentation.
    3. And free CE*: 1.5 general CME hours or 1.5 pain CME hours for naturopathic physicians, approved by OBNM

    Steps to order your free* recording:

    1. Order at least one audio recording or digital book from botanical-medicine.org at the regular price.
    2. Before checking out, add this month’s featured recording to your order.
    3. Proceed to checkout. Enter coupon code FREE and this will discount the audio recording to zero.

    How to earn the free naturopathic CE:

    1. Listen to the recording and keep a record on this certificate of all completed recordings. It’s as easy as that!
    Every month, a new featured recording. To make sure you don’t miss your monthly FREE* recording, please sign up for our e-news and whitelist our sites (or add these domain names to your contacts: botanicalmedicine.org and botanical-medicine.org).

    Questions? Contact us and we’ll be happy to help.

    *The featured recording is free with the purchase of one recording or book. Continuing education (CME) credits are available for naturopathic physicians.

    Laying on Leaves: The Science and Art of Herbal Poulticing

    Posted on by Caitlin Maher
    Comfrey leaves

    November’s Featured Recording:
    Laying on Leaves: The Science and Art of Herbal Poulticing with Richo Cech

    Richo Cech
    Richo Cech

    An original homesteader, herbalist, seed saver and world traveler, Richo draws on his many years of experience to describe the art of the poultice. It’s a form of botanical medicine anyone can use anywhere, utilizing common plants that grow in most places in the world. Includes how to make a poultice, how it works for healing, and recommendations for common ailments that benefit from an external herbal application, all infused with Richo’s special brand of humor and wide experience.

    The last part of the presentation is a demonstration of how to make and apply a comfrey root poultice. Even though this is an audio recording, he gives a lot of detail while preparing and applying the root mixture to a willing volunteer who injured a foot while rock climbing. We thought we’d offer it this month for a little distraction from the world at large! (Catalog Number 17ME22)

    Richo describes the art of the poultice and many other medicine-making techniques in his book Making Plant Medicine.

    Note: If you’d like to see the video of the demonstration part of this lecture, this link takes you to Part 3 on YouTube. The blending and applying of the poultice starts at minute 7:30 and goes through Part 4.  Enjoy!

    The information on this site is provided as a research resource for health professionals and is not intended to replace diagnosis and treatment by a qualified health care practitioner. Consult your medical care provider before using any herbal medicine.

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    Constitutional Herbal Approach to Anxiety

    Posted on by Alexandra Mele, ND

    St. John's Wort

    In an ever-changing world it can become a challenge to find our center. Each of us engages with our innate stress response differently, therefore creating many versions of what we term collectively as ‘anxiety’. Anxiety disorders are classified by DSM-V criteria, and categorized by experiencing excessive worry more days than not, restlessness, easy fatigue, difficulty with concentration, irritability, muscle tension and sleep disturbance all with difficulty in controlling any of these symptoms9. Anxiety disorders are often experienced uniquely by the individual with some symptoms remaining constant, others transient and some not present at all. Collectively containing the experience of anxiety into a single set of symptoms is limiting and does not offer a true reflection of the individual process. Ultimately, this may lead to ineffective treatment or improper use of SSRI’s, benzodiazepines and other conventional medications used to treat anxiety disorders simply from a viewpoint of central nervous system sedation. Continue reading

    Botanical Strategies for Pelvic Pain and Endometriosis

    Posted on by Caitlin Maher

    July’s Featured Recording:
    Botanical Strategies for Pelvic Pain and Endometriosis with Katie Stage, ND, RH (AHG)

    Chronic pelvic pain affects up to 39% of reproductive-aged women. This lecture explores common and less common causes of pelvic pain, including endometriosis. This is an area of great opportunity for practitioners, and of great need for women affected, as conventional treatments are limited and often ineffective. We discuss botanical treatments for pelvic pain and endometriosis, including cramp bark, kava kava root and lousewort, as well as supportive lifestyle approaches. (Catalog Code 20ME01)

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    Medicinal Uses of Salvia Miltiorrhiza (Dan Shen)

    Posted on by Caitlin Maher

    salvia

    October’s Featured Recording: Medicinal Uses of Salvia Miltiorrhiza (Dan Shen)Medicines from the Earth 2017 Panel

    This panel featuring Walter Crinnion, ND, Jillian Stansbury, ND, and Jason Miller, DACM, LAc explores Salvia Miltiorrhiza (Dan Shen or red sage). Dan Shen is considered one of the most important traditional Chinese medicines and has widespread use in Asian countries. Traditionally, it has been used to improve bodily functioning, as well as to treat bleeding, abnormal menstruation, miscarriage, swelling, insomnia, and hepatitis. More recent uses include treatment of blood vessel pathologies in the heart and brain. There was lots to discuss in this closing panel from Medicines from the Earth 2017.

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    Retraining the Mighty Mast Cells: Mast Cell Activation Syndrome and Histamine Intolerance Revisited

    Posted on by Dr. Allison Williams, ND

    rose hips

    This article is a part 2 to expand on additional interventions in mast cell regulation. If you didn’t read the original article, Mast Cell Activation Syndrome & Histamine Intolerance: An Herbal Approach discusses different types of mast cell activation syndromes and histamine-related issues. Furthermore, this discussion relates to Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) and histamine-related symptoms and not mastocytosis. For ease of use, the term “mast cell issues” is used to relate to these conditions throughout the article.

    The Mighty Mast Cell Continue reading

    Types of Pain and Herbal Management Tools

    Posted on by Caitlin Maher

    dried peppers capsaicin

    Jill StansburySeptember’s Featured Recording: Types of Pain and Herbal Management Tools

    This lecture by Jillian Stansbury, ND explores valuable pain management tools to counter the opiate crisis. This lecture discusses some of the most commonly encountered types of pain including musculoskeletal, neuralgic, and nociceptive pain. The mechanisms of action of selected anodyne herbs are explored and sample formulas for specific conditions are presented. Botanicals discussed include Boswelia, Vitex, Glycyrrhiza, Piper methysticum, Aloe vera and more.

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    Environmental Illness Audio Series

    Posted on by Caitlin Maher

    Mediterranean salad

    An audio series for health care providers – with continuing education for naturopathic physicians – bundled together in one discounted package:

    • Six (6) audio recordings (1.5 – 2.0 hours each)
    • Digital book of notes (110-page PDF)
    • Continuing education credits: 10 hours for naturopathic physicians
    • Order with one-click for $55 ($85 value)

    Note: The information in this series is provided as a research resource for health professionals and is not intended to replace diagnosis and treatment by a qualified health care practitioner. Continue reading

    Botanical Approaches to Manage Chronic Stress

    Posted on by Dr. Aisha Nouh, ND, AHG Registered Herbalist

    Lavandula

    Stress can be rewarding and even pleasant in response to positive stimuli, encouraging intellectual and emotional growth and development. Most often, when we discuss being “stressed out” in a modern context, it is in reference to negative physical or psychological stimuli and an unpleasant reaction. Stress is generally defined as a state of disharmony (allostasis) and is counteracted by physiological and behavioral responses which aim to reestablish homeostasis via the adaptive stress response.1

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