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68 lines
3.5 KiB
Plaintext
68 lines
3.5 KiB
Plaintext
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FEVERFEW: A HERBAL REMEDY FOR MIGRAINE?
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"Some of the world's most effective medicines began their
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careers as herbal remedies: digitalis came from foxglove, aspirin
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from willow bark, and morphine from poppy blossoms. Potentially
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the newest plant to cross over from folklore to mainstream
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treatment is a member of the chyrsanthemum family known as common
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feverfew or, botanically, Tanacetum parthenium.
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"The name 'feverfew' indicates the belief, dating from the
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middle ages, that the herb was a good treatment for fever and
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certain other ailments, including arthritis, psoriasis, and
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headaches. In modern England, eating feverfew leaves has become
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a familiar method for prevention migraine attacks, and there is
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now some reason to think that the folklore about feverfew has a
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grain or two of truth to it. Some people for whom the usual
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migraine treatments have not been very effective have turned to
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feverfew. The typical users eats 1-4 fresh leaves a day. Food
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is usually taken at the same time to mask the leaves' bitter
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taste. Tablets and capsules containing dried feverfew have also
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begun to appear in...health food store shelves.
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"To evaluate the remedy, a group of British researchers
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designed a controlled study. However, they did not feel free to
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give feverfew to people who had never taken it, because the agent
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has not gone through animal studies, as is appropriate before a
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drug is tested in people. But they hit on a human test of
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feverfew that was both rigorous and ethical. Many of the
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patients seen in the City of London Migraine Clinic had already
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been dosing themselves with feverfew for long periods of time as
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a way to reduce migraine attacks. So, instead of setting up a
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test in which the drug was GIVEN to subjects, investigators from
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the clinic set up a test in which feverfew was TAKEN AWAY.
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"The doctors identified patients who were dosing themselves
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with feverfew and asked them to participate in a study. During
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the research period, the subjects would take their medication
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either as freeze-dried herb or as a placebo (presented in
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identical-looking capsules). After a period on one preparation,
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they would switch to the other, and then repeat the two stages
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again. In this type of "double-blind crossover" test, neither
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researcher nor subject is told which treatment is being given.
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However, patients easily guessed when they were receiving placebo
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because the frequency of headache and nausea virtually tripled,
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and severity also increased markedly. These results support the
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claim that a daily dose of something contained in feverfew may be
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effective in preventing migraine attacks.
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"The people studied had no serious ill effects while taking
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feverfew, but that was to be expected, as they had been taking
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the herb for some time. People who had tried the plaint and then
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quit because they couldn't tolerate would have been excluded from
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this study. Feverfew is capable of producing rather marked
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allergic reactions; some people who try it develop sores in the
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mouth or, less commonly, a generalized inflammation of the mouth
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and tongue.
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This first test of the effectiveness of feverfew must be
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regarded as preliminary. It will no doubt lead to more thorough
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testing, as it should. Even if feverfew pans out as preventive
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medicine for migraine, it probably will not prove to be the
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'answer.' But it may join the growing list of effective
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treatments for a very unpleasant disorder."
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Quoted from the April 1986 edition of the Harvard Medical
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School Health Letter, reporting on research appearing in the
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British Medical Journal, August 31, 1985.
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