Modern medicine is expensive! Visits to the doctor cost alot of money and the prices of medication are through the roof. Not everyone has health insurance and can afford such, so they have to look for other methods of caring for their health. Herbs are much cheaper and can even be harvested by anyone who knows enough about herbs to properly identify and harvest them and so can be gotten for free. Admittedly, some of the rarer herbs are expensive, but it is possible to buy some of them as living plants and with careful care, grow more and harvest them for your own use. I do this with Comfrey and Echinacea, as well as Rosehips, Lavender, Peppermint, Spearmint, St. John'swort, Ground Ivy, Plantain, Dandelion, Catnip, Lemon Balm and Violets, to name a few.

A visit to an herbalist can cost about $60 dollars or so, however the herbalist CANNOT diagnose (due to federal law) what is wrong with anyone, nor can they prescribe medication. What's the point then? Well, by interviewing someone about their lifestyle and eating habits, an herbalist may be able to see bad eating habits or certain situations that are adversely affecting someone's health and then can recommend that that person change his/her eating habits, or do relxation techniques to reduce stress, or try certain herbs to supplement his/her diet. The herbalist's goal is to help a person become and stay healthy, body, mind and soul.

Doctors, for many years now, have, for the most part, treated only the symptoms of most illnesses thus requiring a person to return again and again because the root cause has never been identified and eliminated. Also, at one point around the 1950's and 1960's, doctors tried to separate the mind and the body believing that the health of the mind had nothing to do with the health of the body and vice-versa! Well, all this is now changing and doctors are starting once again to perform preventive medicine and try to deal with both body and mind, knowing the two are connected, however they still have quite a way to go.

Modern medications are still too strong for many people and the side effects are driving them nuts. In many cases, medications have to be taken to relieve the side effects from the first medication! While herbs aren't side-effect free, their side-effects tend to be, for the most part, milder as herbs are gentler on the body. Herbs also take longer to work, but the results can be amazing and just as good as, or even better than modern medicines.

The goal of many healers, whether they be of the modern school of thought and doctors, or they be old-fashioned herbalists, acpupuncturists, massage therapists, chiropractors and others, is to give people the best health care possible and they realize that the best is actually a combination of both new and old medicine. So called "alternative" medicine is now being called "complementary" medicine as it's now starting to get re-accepted and it's found to complement the Western health care. Hopefully someday soon, the "kooks" and the "quacks" ^_~ working together will be much more common and accepted.