A Clue about Healing

This may offer a clue as to how placebos (and even regular meds) work:

Fake Pills Can Work Even if Patients Know It.

Personally I can see that the ritual is part of the cure. If a person spends time doing something that is intended to heal, it can be helpful. They are sending a positive message to the mind: "I am working on getting better. I want this illness to leave me."

Herbs and Pregnancy

Herbal medicine is an ancient tradition. Some herbs are pretty strong and we should be cautious with them. Pregnant women should be especially careful.

• Toxic doses of nutmeg are known to induce abortion in pregnant women (note the word toxic... do not try this at home).
• Saffron promotes production of gastric juices. Large doses cause contractions in the smooth muscle of the uterus and may induce abortion. Poisoning is a significant danger when this herb is used to induce abortion.
• Many herbs including parsley are used to cause abortion and have been for centuries. Some are dangerous. See Herbal Contraception and Implantation Inhibitors
• From Medline: Extracts of rosemary, Rosmarinus officinalis L., have been used in folk medicine as a diuretic, an emenagogue, an antispasmodic and its aqueous extract does not present toxicity to man, presenting, however, abortive effects. In order to evaluate if this plant induces abortion and/or interferes with the normal development of the concepts, doses of 26 mg were administered to pregnant rats... This result suggests that rosemary extract may present an anti-implantation effect without interfering with the normal development of the concept after implantation.

Women who fear an unintended pregnancy should not take a herbal concoction to avoid implantation without expert advice. Some of the traditional herbs for this purpose are very dangerous. Also, some non-herb supplements are also suspected of having this effect, especially vitamin C in large doses. Read Sister Zeus on this - even this everyday vitamin can have side effects.