HOW ABOUT HERBS 



Feverfew 



Tanya ]ackson 



There are nearly 30 million mi- 

 graine sufferers in the United 

 States Drug stores and media ad- 

 vertisements are full of remedies 

 for headaches of all kinds. But per- 

 haps the biggest hope for the future 

 lies in a pretty little plant that's been 

 around for eons and is known in old 

 herbals as "the housewife's herb." 



This is feverfew, known scientifi- 

 cally as Chrysantfiemum parthenium 

 (more recently as Tanacetum parthe- 

 nium) and present in nearly every 

 traditional herb garden. It makes a 

 medical claim with its name, from 

 the Latin febrifugia ('fever reducer"). 

 The early Romans discovered its 

 powers; then it fell out of favor in 

 Elizabethan times. In recent years, 

 it has been rediscovered — not as a 

 fever cure, but as a powerful anti- 

 inflammatory and migraine head- 



The early Romans 



discovered its powers; 



tlien it fell out of favor 



in Elizabethan times. 



In recent years, 



it has been rediscovered . . 



ache remedy. Open any health 

 magazine and you'll find feverfew 

 right there along with St. John's 

 wort and echinacea. 



Historically, use of the plant was 

 almost always connected to women 

 and their health needs. In the 

 1700s, astrological herbalists dedi- 

 cated feverfew to the planet Venus 

 and used wine steeped with fever- 

 few and ground nutmeg to treat 

 women for tension-induced head- 



aches It was considered useful for 

 problems encountered during child- 

 birth, for menstrual discomforts, 

 melancholia, and vertigo, and for a 

 variety of other problems that in- 

 cluded infant colic, constipation, 

 and insect bites. 



The British have long used it for 

 self-medication: the English herbalist 

 )ohn Gerard recommended it as a 

 headache remedy in 1633. Recent sci- 

 entific findings support its claims for 

 effectiveness. In 1978, scientists 

 wrote of feverfew in Lancet, a British 

 medical journal, and later confirmed 

 that a study they'd conducted had 

 found it was similar to aspirin. In 

 1985, the British Medical \ournal re- 

 ported another study which showed 

 feverfew's usefulness in relieving mi- 

 graine. Researchers speculate that 

 substances in the plant make smooth 



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