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Goldenseal Herb - Uses And Side Effects

Goldenseal has been part of American folk medicine since Native Americans used the root to treat disease, paint their faces and skin, and dye their garments. The plant was so popular with pioneers and settlers that by the early 1900s, it had been harvested nearly into extinction. To save it, the U.S. Department of Agriculture published flyers promoting its cultivation. However, goldenseal is still scarce enough to bring farmers a high price for their crop.

It is a small perennial herb, with a horizontal, irregularly knotted, bright yellow root-stock, from 1/4 inch to 3/4 inch thick, giving off slender roots below and marked with scars of the flower-stems of previous years. The flowering stem, which is pushed up early in the spring, is from 6 to 12 inches high, erect, cylindrical, hairy, with downward-pointing hairs, especially above, surrounded at the base with a few short, brown scales. It bears two prominently-veined and wrinkled, dark green, hairy leaves, placed high up, the lower one stalked, the upper stalkless, roundish in outline, but palmately cut into 5 to 7 lobes, the margins irregularly and finely toothed. There is one solitary radical leaf on a long foot-stalk, similar in form to the stem leaves, but larger, when full-grown being about 9 inches across.

More recently, the herb has been used-mistakenly-to hide illicit drug use in urine tests of people and racehorses. The bogus drug cover-up idea came from a fictional story of using the plant to conceal opiate ingestion.

The main ingredient in goldenseal products is the root of a bright yellow plant called Hydrastis canadensis. The herb gets its name from the golden-yellow scars, shaped like old-fashioned wax letter seals, that develop when a stem breaks off.

Common doses of goldenseal

Goldenseal comes as:

• capsules (250, 350, 400, 404, 470, 500, 535, and 540 milligrams)
• tablets (250, 350,400,404,470,500, 535, and 540 milligrams)
• ethanol and water extract
• dried ground root powder
• tincture
• tea

Some experts recommend the following doses:

• As ethanol and water extract, 250 milligrams taken orally three times daily.
• As dried root, 0.5 to 1 gram of dried root ingested three times daily.

Uses of goldenseal herb

The medicinal benefits of goldenseal are derived from a compound known as berberine, that exhibits strong anti-bacterial effects and has been shown to kill a variety of germs, such as those that cause yeast infections, as well as various parasites such as tapeworms and giardia. Specifically, goldenseal may help to :-

• Appetite loss
• As an eye wash
• Cancer
• Conjunctivitis (inflammation of the eye's inner lining)
• Constipation
• Digestive disorders
• Ear discharge
• Menstrual pain
• mouth sores
• Peptic ulcer
• Ringing, buzzing, roaring, or clicking in the ear (tinnitus)
• To clean wounds
• To control bleeding after childbirth
• Tuberculosis

Side effects of goldenseal

Call your health care practitioner if you experience any of these possible side effects of goldenseal:

• diarrhea
• mouth sores
• nausea
• numbness, prickling, or tingling in the arms and legs
• paralysis (with high doses)
• seizures
• skin inflammation
• slow pulse
• stomach cramping and pain

Goldenseal also can cause:

• dangerous heart rhythms called asystole and heart block
• decreased white blood cells
• respiratory depression.

Taking large doses can cause death or overdose symptoms such as stomach upset, nervousness, depression, exaggerated reflexes, seizures, respiratory paralysis, and heart and blood vessel collapse.

Interactions

Combining herbs with certain drugs may alter their action or produce unwanted side effects. Don't use goldenseal when taking:

• blood thinners such as Coumadin
• drugs that depress the nervous system, such as alcohol and benzodiazepines
• drugs that lower blood pressure
• heart drugs called beta blockers, such as Inderal
• heart drugs called calcium channel blockers, such as Calan and Procardia
• Lanoxin.

Important paints to remember

• Don't use goldenseal if you have heart or blood vessel disease, especially high blood pressure, heart failure, or irregular heartbeats.
• Don't use this herb if you're pregnant.
• Avoid driving and other hazardous activities until you know how goldenseal affects you.
• Be aware that most medical experts believe this herb could be toxic.

What the research shows

Goldenseal's therapeutic effects haven't been adequately studied. Scientists believe the herb carries a significant toxicity risk, and even some herbalists don't endorse it for any disorder. Nonetheless, goldenseal and its components have promising properties, which need to be put through comprehensive, controlled studies.

Other names for goldenseal : -

Other names for goldenseal include eye balm, eye root, goldsiegel, ground raspberry, Indian dye, Indian turmeric, jaundice root, yellow paint, yellow puccoon, and yellow root.

Products containing goldenseal are sold under such names as Golden Seal Extract, Golden Seal Extract 4:1, Golden Seal Power, Golden Seal Root, Nu Veg Golden Seal Root, and Nu Veg Golden Seal Herb.