Four questions for adding a herb to a treatment

What to remember

• Herbs can often support both the patient and the treatment.
• The order: the need, the treatment, the herb, the follow-up.
• The prescribed treatment continues unchanged.
• The specific combination gets checked, especially with St John's wort.

At your next counselling session

With the next patient on treatment who asks for a herb, ask:

• “What would you like to change?”
• “What medicines are you taking now?”

Then choose the herb and agree when to review the result.

Sources

• EMA/HMPC — Valerianae radix, European Union herbal monograph
• EMA/HMPC — Melissae folium, European Union herbal monograph
• Stockley's Herbal Medicines Interactions (Williamson, Driver, Baxter)