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Feverfew for migraine, ginger for morning sickness, black cohosh to relieve menopausal symptoms. Are such natural remedies effective or just “New Age” hype? Herbal medicines are as old as mankind. Long before 20th century pharmaceuticals were being dispensed in tiny sterile capsules, cures for stomachaches, sleeplessness and anxiety came from the garden – in teas and in tinctures, the formulas of which were handed down from mother to daughter, father to son.

Then in the 19th century, salicin, an active ingredient in willow bark, was artificially synthesized for the first time. Penelope Ody notes in “The Complete Medicinal Herbal” that this discovery launched the production of aspirin by Bayer in 1899. The age of modern pharmaceuticals would soon follow.

But with all of modern medicine’s advances, more and more consumers today are seeking simpler herbal alternatives to costly conventional medicine to treat minor ailments and to help increase resistance to disease.

Alternative practices such as herbalism, acupuncture, homeopathy and therapeutic massage are combining with traditional Western allopathic techniques in what is known as the integrative or complementary medicine movement.

While there is still much controversy on alternative methods – considered unscientific at best by the traditional medical community – there is no doubt that they are catching on. One sure sign is that insurance companies are beginning to cover some alternative therapies. This year Washington State became the first to require reimbursement for treatment performed by any licensed or certified health-care practitioner – including those performing massage, acupuncture and some 30 other techniques.

Time magazine reports that Americans spend $13.7 billion yearly on alternative healing methods. A growing number of doctors like Andrew Weil, noted author and Harvard-trained physician, featured in the recent issue of Life, believe that the combined philosophies will revolutionize and transform health care as we know it.

Herbal remedies are a logical starting point for people wanting to be proactive in their own health care. In October 1994, a Gallup survey estimated some 17 percent of Americans use herb supplements. In that same year, herb sales rose 35 percent in pharmacies and supermarkets.

Maureen Rogers, who teaches a two-part course on herbs at the Lancaster campus of Harrisburg Area Community College, is a former accountant who has thrown her energies into running the largest trade association in the country for herb businesses, teaching people to grow and market herbs.

The study of herbs, which began as a hobby for Rogers, has become a vocation and a way of life. “The more you get into it, the more you realize how fascinating the whole subject is,” she says. One need only surf the Internet to see the wealth of information about herbs from all parts of the world.

Rogers says studies have shown benefits from the use of saw palmetto in cases of enlarged prostate. She believes that fresh garlic every day adds natural cleansing and infection-fighting chemicals to the daily diet. Green tea, she says, is a strong antioxidant.

“A lot of people are taking the herb feverfew for migraines,” Rogers says. “You can grow your own and eat just two leaves a day.”

Crystallized ginger can help ease car sickness in children or morning nausea in pregnancy, according to Rogers.

She also recommends two droppers-full of a tincture of echinachea every few hours at the first signs of a cold or the flu. She says the symptoms will disappear and the full-blown illness will never materialize. She does warn that echinachea builds up in the system, so it should be used for no more than two weeks at a time.

But Rogers cautions that people shouldn’t think of herbs as magical or a quick fix. “Herbs are not immediate,” she says. “Most are tonics and they build up in the body. Westerners are used to pharmaceuticals and they work overnight.”

Rogers says that compared to other countries, like Germany and Japan, the United States has been slow to jump on the alternative medicine bandwagon. But that is changing. According to the Life article, 34 of the country’s 125 medical schools – including Harvard, Yale and Johns Hopkins – now offer courses in alternative medicine. Many doctors who haven’t been trained in herbal medicine are still receptive to its possibilities and network to learn more on their own. Dr. Colleen Smith, a Millersville family practitioner, is a strong advocate of the holistic medicine philosophy. But in matters of herbal remedies, she defers to a former medical school colleague, Dr. Karen Mutter, an internist in St. Petersburg, Fla. Mutter, who shares her views in a telephone interview, says she is on a personal odyssey to add practical knowledge to her holistic philosophy. No longer in private practice, she has spent the past three years working in area hospital emergency rooms, giving her more free time to attend conferences and embark on a course of self study about alternative medicine.

“Allopathic traditional medicine is wonderful for saving lives in the emergency rooms and patching up problems that have arisen from years of abuse to our bodies,” Mutter says. But for many chronic conditions and the concept of overall wellness, she prefers a more natural approach.

“Herbs were the remedies long before we figured out how to make pharmaceuticals,” Mutter says, adding that pharmaceuticals can have a lot of very toxic side effects.

Which is not to say that herbal remedies are totally free of side effects, Mutter warns. “But clearly from what I have learned, the way that we use herbal medicine is much freer of the side effects than the high-tech super drugs produce,” she says.

Mutter finds that many people today are open to the idea of trying something more natural because they have had bad experiences with prescription drugs.

“There is always a time and place for our prescription drugs – and thank God, they can save our lives,” she says. “They are just so overly used.”

Herbal medicine has deep roots in Lancaster County, although it takes a little digging to find professionals who are willing to talk on the subject.

Luelle Dorsey Hamilton’s father and grandfather were homeopathic physicians, so her penchant for alternative medicine may well be inherited. When she became a cranial osteopath in 1953, she says there was little respect for osteopathic physicians. “Nowadays you find M.D.s and D.O.s on the same hospital staff.” She says that alternative therapies are also gaining acceptance with time.

Although she has been ostensibly retired since 1989, Hamilton still gives what she refers to as “consultations” from her Lancaster home. Her patients, she says with a smile, won’t let her retire.

Her garden brimming with herbs, Hamilton is a strong proponent of using herbal medicines – everything from aloe vera to comfrey and papaya mint tea.

But Hamilton doesn’t overlook the benefits of modern pharmaceuticals. “Once in a great while you have to use antibiotics,” she says. But she recommends a cleansing process using things like acidophilus and certain herbal teas afterward.

Hamilton may appear frail, but there is remarkable strength in the grip of her handshake or the slow, steady manipulation as she performs a craniosacral treatment – a technique of applying light pressure meant to improve the flow of cerebrospinal fluid. She also has some strong opinions about the current state of health in our country.

“The U.S. is No. 1 in degenerative diseases,” Hamilton says firmly. “Why? Because we eat wrong.” This is why she believes herbs and healthful and well-calculated combinations of foods can make a difference. “Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food,” she says.

Hamilton and Mutter both say the concepts of alternative medicine, much more than Western techniques, require a partnership between practitioner and patient.

“Holistic medicine very much empowers the patient,” Mutter says. “Have an open-minded physician and then work together,” she advises. “It should be a team effort.”

But Mutter is quick to add the caveat that there is no miracle cure-all in herbal medicines. Laymen should not exclude sound medical advice. “Traditional medicine is really excellent for diagnostics. Don’t let a problem go and go and keep self-treating,” she warns.

Still, she encourages people to take a proactive stance in their own wellness. “Each of us must take a good, long look at our eating patterns, our social lives. Are we doing things that really bring us joy? Are we creating healthy relationships, healthy families, healthy work spaces for ourselves? When we all start to wake up and pay attention to our lives, that is when we will really start to create health,” Mutter predicts.