Conference Proceedings

University of Michigan Medical School Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice: An Evidence Based Approach

Linda Diane Feldt RPP, NCTMB, Holistic Health Practitioner

 

Nourishing The Immune System:
Do Herbs Really Work?

Two Case Studies

                    

Case Study: Prophylactic Use of Echinacea angustifolia and purpurea Tincture for
Management of a Recurrent Staphylococcus Infection

(Revised and expanded October 2003)

This case concerns a woman with congestive heart failure as a result of a heart attack at age 46. At age 53 she developed a severe staph infection following a heart catheterization. The staph infection began in her left arm, at the elbow, and was diagnosed by her family physician. She was immediately placed on a program of broad spectrum antibiotics. The inflammation and symptoms continued to worsen.

The next morning, with the symptoms worsening, additional antibiotics were used. There was no effect by afternoon.

Threatened with an in-hospital stay on IV antibiotics, she decided to use Echinacea angustifolia in tincture form in addition to the prescribed antibiotics. 30-40 drops were taken, in water, every three hours. Her symptoms began to decrease within two hours after taking the first dose. She continued both the antibiotics and the Echinacea for two days, with continuing improvement. She then stopped the Echinacea. The symptoms returned within half a day.

She resumed taking the Echinacea with the antibiotics for the next two days and the staph infection cleared up completely. She again stopped taking the Echinacea, and at that time her MD discontinued the use of the antibiotics. The symptoms began to come back, although more slowly, after a day without either Echinacea or antibiotics.

She resumed the use of Echinacea every few hours, without antibiotics, and the symptoms again receded. The frequent dose was continued for a day or two, and then she changed to a prophylactic dose of ten drops a day of Echinacea. The infection symptoms did not return.

Thereafter, until her death 7 years later from heart attack, she took ten drops of either Echinacea angustifolia or Echinacea purpurea on a daily basis. If more than two days passed without taking that small amount, the original symptoms from the staph infection would return. Resumption of the small dose of Echinacea would cause the symptoms to abate. This was proven in at least five instances over the seven years she took the herb.

                       The second case study is of a 21 year old UM student. She had mononucleosis. Two months later, she remained fatigued, depressed, and unable to resume her work as a student. She reported that she felt as bad as she did when she had mono, but that the doctors and everyone else said she was over it and should be feeling better.

                       She took ten drops of Echinacea Angustifolia in water every day for the next two weeks. After just two weeks of using the herb, she reported that she felt better than she had in months: her fatigue was completely gone, she no longer felt that she was still ill, she was back to school, and she was no longer depressed.

                       She attributed her improvement completely to the herb, as nothing else had changed during the time she used it, and she had seen no improvement until she started taking Echinacea. She continued to take Echinacea for two more months, with the positive effect leveling off after about a month.

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                       A student of the healing arts since 1973, Linda Diane Feldt is a Registered Polarity Practitioner, Nationally Certified in Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork, a Certified Nutritional Consultant, has completed an apprenticeship with Susun Weed in Herbology and has achieved an eclectic training in Craniosacral Therapy from John Upledger and others beginning in 1981, as well as other extensive training and experience. She has had a full time private practice in Ann Arbor since 1981.

                       Nationally recognized in the field of Bodywork, Linda Diane served as President and a long time board member of  The American Polarity Therapy Association, and as a Board Member of The National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork.

                       Linda Diane Feldt is the Author of "Spinach and Beyond: Loving Life and Dark Green Leafy Vegetables", "Dying Again: thirteen years of writing and waiting", the book and video "Massage: Learning to Give and to Receive" and a forthcoming book on ethics and the bodywork profession.

Full Bio