Simon says: passing on advice remotely is very different from treating my patients in person, when I can take all their medical and personal details into account. So I have chosen remedies most suitable to self-medication, and that have excellent safety records. My tips are designed to help you make responsible decisions about your health, for you to take back some more ownership of it. They should complement conventional medical treatment, even make it less necessary, and are certainly not intended to get in the way. The following are important cautions to heed.

Do not follow through on any of the herb options below without further professional advice, if

• you are on powerful prescriptions whose safe dosage levels or effects are critical (including  anticoagulants or blood thinners, antiepileptics, antipsychotics etc with special note of uncertain interactins with new generation medicines such as immune suppressants, antivirals and latest anticancer technologies) or anything that are being used to tackle a serious health condition;
• your condition is potentially dangerous and unstable or you are about to start a new treatment or go into hospital;
• you have had diseases or damage of the kidney or liver (these organs are critical for metabolising and excreting any remedies including those from plants);
• you have a history of adverse or allergic reactions to medicines and plants.

If you do try any of the herbs below, and are new to them, do ‘titrate’ your dosing: start with a very low dose (with added water to start) and build up only if you feel comfortable.  Check how they feel each day and review within a week. If they are helpful you should feel so within a week. If they disagree with you in any way or you feel a new symptom or an old one gets worse in that time then stop. No harm will be done long-term from short-term exposure to these remedies.