Taking medications during breastfeeding is common and physicians are usually asked about the safety of prescribed medicines, herbal medications, or tobacco and alcohol consumption during lactation. Safety of medications during breastfeeding is related to maternal factors, neonatal factors and the type of medication, In the case of necessity of taking medication for the mother, there are ways to...

An increasing number of patients are taking herbal medicines such as echinacea, garlic, ginkgo biloba, ginseng, St John's Wort, valerian, ephedra, kava, grapefruit juice and ginger. Although these herbal medications are considered 'natural' products that may have some benefits, adverse effects such as increased bleeding tendencies and drug interactions are associated with their use. Surgeons an...

Psoriasis is a chronic, systemic and difficult to treat condition which negatively affects the patient's quality of life. Frustrated and unsatisfied with the conventional therapies, psoriatic patients start looking for alternative treatment which they believe to be safe and effective. Very common traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) appears to offer various topical and systemic herbal preparation...

Self-medication patterns in adults depend on sex. Self-medication among students is very common, but little is known about the influence of sex. The aim of the study was to determine the incidence of self-medication college students and to determine the effect of sex on self-medication patterns. A web based incidence study conducted on a sample of Slovenian university students. The main outcome...

BACKGROUND Utilization of herbal medicines in the preoperative period by Nigerian patients booked for day case surgery has not been explored. METHODS Cross-sectional survey of 60 patients presenting for day-case surgery at a tertiary healthcare institution over a 3-week period in August 2011 was conducted. Using a structured questionnaire, inquiries were made concerning use of herbal medicine...

Dear Editor, We read with great interest the article by Gardiner et al1 discussing adverse events associated with herbal medicine use in children and wish to congratulate the authors on highlighting potentially harmful effects of herbal medicine use. We also wish to raise awareness of the anti-thrombotic properties of commonly used herbal medications such as ginkgo, omega-3 oils, vitamin E, fev...