I have taught hundreds of people about herbalism. In my Master Herbalist courses, I found some very talented healers along the way. What always surprised me is how quickly many of them reverted back to modern medical and big pharma.

That’s not to say that there is no place for modern medical institutions. I, myself, cannot afford a CT scan machine or run blood panels, nor am I in any way qualified to do so. I like to utilize their equipment and their personal experience and then institute my own healing modalities. It’s a great combination.

All of us have been brainwashed over our lifespans in the name of big business. Pharmaceutical companies have a stake in everything from universities to google and they will do anything to avoid profit loss. Even experienced herbalists and folks that see the amazing healing abilities of plant medicines revert back to pharmaceuticals out of fear. We have been taught to fear herbs and plants. We have been told that they are useless, at best. In any magazine, you will see that there are no “accurate studies.” Risk of liver failure is a common one that big pharma likes to put out there for herbs. These things add up in our minds, and very good holistic practitioners end up fearful and right back at the doorstep of large medical businesses.

I will be the first to admit that I was ridiculously cocky when it came to my herbal remedies. Until I wasn’t. I have been a practicing herbalist nearly a third of my life. I’ve been called an expert in my field. I have seen broken bones mend perfectly in two weeks time, dozens and dozens of times. I have seen cancer disappear. I have seen the pandemic virus disappear in twenty-four hours in folks. I have seen it all, I swear. Not that I was healing them, the plants were healing them! It was the original medicine after all.

When someone close to you is sick, you start to get desperate and forget yourself. We haven’t talked about it to many people, but my husband has been getting more and more ill over the years. He’s gained a lot of weight. He has had two surgeries, both of which fixed the problem (hernia and benign tumor, respectively), but then made his body go into a toxic state. Add to that some pretty horrific viruses and living in a dusty, high wind area. Oh yea, and working from home (sedentary), so this has been a long time coming. We won’t discuss his preferred diet, but y’all know what country boys like to eat. (If you don’t, it’s meat and potatoes.)

The past month came with a crescendo of ailments as they came rushing forward. His psoriasis has been bad, his cough became nearly constant and violent, his skin changed to an off-grey, and his energy was gone. This is scary for a wife. I give us daily remedies, but I began to doubt them as I saw him getting desperately ill. We went to the doctor.

The list of ailments was shocking and concerning and we still haven’t gotten through all of them. He sees a pulmonologist Thursday. He has several lymph nodes swollen throughout his lungs and trachea. His kidneys are working at 57%. His cholesterol is seven times the normal. I’m not sure if my dear hubby was more scared of the diagnoses, or what his wife was about to do.

I spent a day depressed, thinking I was going to lose my husband. And then I remembered my training. My work. My purpose. My plants!

Once we had a diagnoses, I was able to better fit the remedies to what the issues were. My intuition (I am a medical intuitive, but it can be clouded with people near and dear to me) told me this was not cancer (his white blood cells were not elevated) but rather old infection in his lungs. I switched the herbal medicine I was doing to my Super Immunity/AntiCancer. It is a blend of chaga mushrooms, nettles, dandelion, mistletoe, red clover, and cat’s claw. Instead of the small daily doses, I upped it to 2 teaspoons 4x a day. In ONE week, he has coughed up old infection and his cough is 90% less than it was. His psoriasis is going away and his energy is coming back.

He will still go see the pulmonologist this week and the nephrologist in June so that I can accurately follow along. Instead of pharmaceuticals, we will use the plant medicines (with no side effects). He is now on my kidney blend (cranberry, oregon grape root, marshmallow root, nettles, goldenrod), along with a whole slew of other remedies I am giving him. I have complete faith that his kidney numbers will return to normal. In fact, I know they will.

Now, plants don’t just heal as herbal remedies, they heal as food too. It was extremely important that he adopt a plant based diet. High protein is terrible for kidneys. The only cause of bad cholesterol is in animal products. Period. Uric acid is only in animal products. It is well known that animal products cause disease. So, we needed to make some serious changes to the kitchen. Now, I tend towards plant based eating anyway, so I have been cooking up a storm for this man. (In the end, all these things will benefit my health too.)

I don’t have to tell you that exercise is really important. My hubby (bless his heart) is not really a get up and run around kind of sort. So, we will continue to try and find activities that are fun and don’t feel like exercise, but for now, walking the dog and hiking will do just fine.

We moved to a state with much less wind and dust and where we can have year round activity. Even though I miss my kids so much I might die, we are somewhere where we can effectively improve our health and live a full life.

This message is really geared towards other herbalists who may be doubting their plants in any way. Also to folks trying to heal their loved ones. You got this! We can be smart and utilize what nature has given us. Nature was here long before the advent of big pharma and mega hospitals. We can take our health into our own hands! We can sensibly use what methods for diagnoses we have available to us and then tailor a plan. We aren’t out of the woods yet but we have to move forward in faith.

I love my husband and he loves me enough to let me help him help himself. I will keep y’all posted, but in the meantime, take your herbal remedies!

Love, Katie