What it's like to be a herbalist: Herbs can heal – I’m the proof
Hannah Charman was just 15 years old when she had the shock of her life and suddenly found she was struggling to walk.
Her mystery illness drained all her energy, leaving her exhausted all the time and missing months of lessons.
But her family struggled to convince her doctor, who believed her symptoms were down to Hannah just being ‘a malingerer ‘ and disliking school, that something more serious was going on.
It turns out she was suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which commonly causes extreme tiredness and makes it hard for someone to carry out ordinary daily activities.
With no one else to turn to in mainstream medicine, Hannah’s parents took her to see a homeopathic doctor in London and this was a moment which she says she will never forget.
Not only did she get the help she desperately needed to say goodbye to the condition, but the experience also had a major influence on her future career.
Until then she had wanted to be a vet, but suddenly her path changed and she studied for an honours degree in western herbal medicine for four years at Middlesex University.
Now, with her business Physic Health Consulting, she has clinics in Perton and Tettenhall, where she helps patients through a combination of herbal medicine, health coaching and reiki.
Looking back on her illness, Hannah, who is mother to three-year-old Jacob, says: “My dad picked me up from school one day and by the time he had parked up I couldn’t get out of the car.
“It came on in 10 minutes and I was ill for weeks but just thought it was a bad virus. However, it was a year later, when I was 15, and was going to catch a bus that I suddenly found I couldn’t walk properly.
“I somehow managed to get back home and then I was off school for months. My doctor told me I was a malingerer and that I had a problem with school.
“None of that was true – my dad was having to hold me up just to get me into the doctors surgery. It was awful that I was just seen as being lazy.”
Hannah said it was a combination of homeopathy, hypnotherapy and reiki which cured her condition.
“After not having any luck with the doctor my parents took me to Harley Street in London to see a homeopathic doctor and he was the first person to take me seriously.
“Homeopathy drastically improved my condition in just a few weeks, and hypnotherapy and reiki saw off the last of it.
“I was keen to learn more about Herbal Medicine and so did a four year degree in it at Middlesex University. It was a pioneering course and heavily science based, similar to the training a doctor receives, studying physiology and receiving clinical training.
“I was looking at herbs as well as the drugs a doctor prescribes,” explains Hannah who lives in Perton.
Her business Physic Health is based at Lakeside Medical Centre in Perton and now in her new clinic at Geoff Hale’s Wolverhampton Osteopathic Practice on Tettenhall Road.
During her work she sees a lot of patients that struggle with a range of problems from stress, anxiety and fatigue to depression, high blood pressure and eczema.
Treatments are personalised according to each patient, often combining health coaching with herbal medicine to overhaul their diet and lifestyle, so that within six to eight weeks they see a big difference.
“Patients come to me with a range of illnesses, similar to those they would go to their doctor for. I see cancer patients who are having chemotherapy as well but want something to cope with the side effects.
“They also want the extra support and we can give them tips on how to improve the results of chemotherapy.
“These are things we can help people put into practice straight away, and people don’t have to deal with waiting times – it also helps keep them away from hospital which helps to ease their stress as well as the burden on the NHS. Recently I’ve had a patient with anxiety who was calling ambulances on a weekly basis. This stopped as soon as she started her course of herbal treatment.”
Hannah says there are many every day items that you may already have around the house which can bring many benefits. Chamomile tea is wonderful for soothing screaming babies, especially those that won’t go to sleep. If baby is breastfed, mum can drink the tea, otherwise a tablespoonful can be added to a bottle.
“Onion cough syrup is really easy to make by layering slices of onion with brown sugar in a jam jar. Keep it warm for a few hours before straining it and putting it in the fridge,” she explains.
The 41-year-old’s other tips including keeping an aloe vera plant. “They are so useful. You can use the fresh gel to soothe minor sunburn or heat rash,” explains Hannah.
“A couple of bruised cardamom pods in hot water makes a calming tea for tummy bugs and indigestion,” she adds.
“It’s easy to soothe ear ache with an oat compress. Put a couple of handfuls of oats into a sock and tie the end. Wet it so that it’s damp but not soaking, and warm it gently in the microwave or you could just add hot water from the kettle instead.
“Make sure it’s comfortably warm before putting it onto the affected ear.”
l For more information go to www.physichealth.uk
