Article by Exclusive Magazine

Sarah Robinson a journalist from Exclusive magazine visited medical herbalist Katie Dobiesz. This is her account of her visit: Using herbs to treat our ills is one of the oldest forms of medicine known to man, and in an age when we are all searching for the healthiest lifestyle, more people are learning its benefits.

Katie Dobiesz is a Medical Herbalist at Living Health in Grantham and treats all kinds of complaints with herbal remedies.

Her treatment room looks a bit like a laboratory with rows bottles on shelves up to the ceiling, bearing Latin names, which you can vaguely recognise – Berberis Vulgaris, Lavandula, Clove etc, which Katie uses to make up wonderful mixtures to fight a whole host of conditions.

A consultation couch is centrepiece and her friendly welcome sets you at ease immediately.
As with other medical herbalists, Katie has a very scientific approach to diagnosing your complaints – but with a consultation that can last an hour or so, you are getting much more detailed consideration than you would if you visited your GP.

That said, Katie has the greatest of respect for doctors and would never advise anyone to stop taking orthodox medicine. If she suspects any of her patients need something beyond her remit, including help such as counselling or even surgery, she instantly refers them to other professionals.

Herbalism has been practised for millennia with our ancestors identifying effective plants by trial and error. More recently science has helped to identify the active ingredients in the plants, and so we can better understand how they work.

Katie explained that many of our modern drugs are based on plants – salicylic acid is the active ingredient in Aspirin, and was first isolated from the bark of the white willow tree. This also highlights one of the great benefits of herbal medicine. A reported side effect of Aspirin has been that it affects the stomach lining, however, the herbal extract from the bark of the tree has naturally occurring ingredients which protect the stomach.

“There are things in plants which help to counter side effects,” she explains. “There is a synergy when you use the whole plant so it has a more gentle healing effect.”

Other commonly seen plants can also offer cures for various ailments, says Katie. For example the dandelion leaf is very cleansing and effective as a diuretic. Nettles are also cleansing and are very good for skin conditions.

Katie’s consultation goes much deeper than simply identifying symptoms – it is an holistic treatment, so she spends an hour or so talking to you about your problem, your lifestyle and your diet, which could all be affecting your health.

I found this extremely helpful when Katie carried out a consultation on me – she helps you to identify where your life may be out of balance and having a detrimental effect on your well-being.

She takes your blood pressure, listens to your chest if you have cardio or respiratory problems, lists your medical history and if necessary will give you a physical examination.

“The whole idea of herbal medicine is to restore the body back to balance,” said Katie.

Medical herbalists take a three-year degree course, which includes 500 clinical hours, and at the end they are examined by a medical professional as well as a herbalist. Katie went on to study the effects of environmental stress on health afterwards and now lectures at universities and hosts workshops. “We need to be able to recognise serious conditions,” she said. “We need to know when to refer, just as a GP would refer you on if you needed to see a consultant.

“We are trained to diagnose and learn a lot about anatomy, physiology and pharmacology – we need to know what will react with drugs the patient may be taking.”

Katie is concerned that as there is more of a move towards using herbs to treat medical complaints, people are treating themselves, but she stresses it is much safer to take herbal medicine after seeing a professional. She said: “For example, St John’s wort should not be taken if you are on certain drugs, but you might not know that. Other herbs also might not be suitable, so for your own safety it is better to come to see a herbalist first.”

As her consultation includes advice on nutrition, she will be able to identify changes you can make to your diet or supplements which might be useful.

The list of conditions and ailments she can treat covers most of those you would visit a GP for and a few more ‑ low energy and depression, chronic fatigue, menopause, pre-menstrual tension and painful periods, sleeping problems, skin problems such as eczema, psoriasis, acne, stress and emotional problems, musculoskeletal and arthritic conditions, digestive and bowel conditions, allergies and infections, high blood pressure, angina and even varicose veins.

She makes up creams and medicines using tinctures and also prescribes teas to help with various conditions. With her training in environmental stress Katie can also recognise complaints which may be caused by pollution or electro-magnetic fields from electrical equipment such as computers or microwaves.

“Chronic stress, fatigue or ME could be linked to a patient’s environment,” she said.
“Working in stressful environment can have a negative impact on the body – it can upset the balance.”

She would recommend that people who spend a lot of time in front of computers should take time to go outside to ‘ground themselves’ every now and then.

Katie treats both adults and children and offers Echinacea drops to fight off winter coughs and colds – a boon for children who tend to go down with every virus that circulates nurseries and schools at this time of year. And acute colds which can last a week or more can be shortened with a mixture Katie can make up for you there and then.

There is definitely a place in our medicine cabinet for herbal remedies, prepared by medical herbalist Katie.