Feverfew Essay

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Headaches are one of the most common disorders in our days. As being caused by many different reasons headaches are various and with different strength. Headache not only gives you traumatizing and agonizing experience but it also makes you less productive and less effective in every aspect of life. Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) – a small daisy-like flowers plant that grows freely in green fields and may appear uninvited in gardens is used as a headache relief for thousands of years and it is considered to be one of the super seven prescriptions for headache treatment (Balch et al.2008, p.303). The common name - feverfew comes from Latin word febrifugia which means “driver out of fevers”(Abourjaily, 1999, p.87) because it was firstly used as a fever remedy and consequently appears to be used for different types of headaches and migraine. It is known that it derives from the Balkan mountains in Eastern Europe (Sun-Edelstein, Christina et al. 2011, p.472) and it is widespread in the whole world today, which gives one of the best advantages of feverfew – low cost. Although is it a good idea to use feverfew right from our back yard without having any knowledge about it? The taste of feverfew is very bitter and this is the reason why people are taking it with food. The traditional approach say that person should eat two or three fresh leaves per day (Heptinstall, S. 1988, p.374) but taking more than that might be even better. It is believed that the reason the plant have such a good effect in reducing the severity of migraines is because it controls the inflammation of blood vessels in the head by its components but it is unclear which component is responsible for that effect, so it is suggested that this is parthenolide- a compound found in feverfew (Ackerson, Amber 2006, p.12). Feverfew can be taken in many different forms like fresh herb leaves, tea, extracts,

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