What are the opening hours?

Monday 10am - 5pm Tuesday 10am - 5pm Wednesday 10am - 5pm Thursday 10am - 5pm Friday 10am - 5pm

Billericay Herbal Medicine

Home
United Kingdom
Billericay
Billericay Herbal Medicine

Western Herbal Medicine in Billericay, Chelmsford and online from Heidi Nisbett BSc, MNIMH. Specialises in emotional health.

Herbal Medicine in Billericay, Chelmsford, and online (UK only) with Heidi Nisbett, BSc (Hons), MNIMH.

20/11/2025

Yesterday was World COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) day. You may have seen my posts about asthma, hayfever and viral conditions and how herbal medicine can help; but there is also a place for herbs in chronic conditions such as pulmonary fibrosis (including IPF), bronchiectasis and COPD (including chronic bronchitis).

As you’ll know if you’re a long term follower, or one of my patients, my approach to any condition is multi-pronged. So with long term lung conditions, after a consultation to take an in-depth medical history, I prescribe a mixture of herbs according to the patient in front of me – everyone is different. In conditions where there is fibrosis, I use herbs to slow this process down. Where there is catarrh sitting on the chest, I use expectorant and antibacterial herbs to get that catarrh out to lessen the chances of chest infections. There is also immune system support to go alongside this. Where the chest is tight and the patient struggles to take deep breaths, I use herbs that work as bronchodilators – to open up the tubes in the chest and make breathing easier. At the same time I give herbs for cardiovascular support. I also prescribe general supportive herbs to help the body when it’s under strain from long term disease; where appropriate, appetite stimulants; and help with anxiety and mood. Herbal prescriptions evolve as the pattern of a condition changes – a patient will almost certainly have changes in their herbs as time goes on.

The majority of my patients with chronic lung conditions will also be under a hospital consultant for their condition and will almost certainly be taking a number of prescription drugs. My herbal medicine degree included training in orthodox drugs and part of my post-consultation routine is to check all medication against the herbs I will be prescribing to ensure there are no interactions. I am also more than happy to liaise with your doctor.

If you are interested in how herbal medicine might help you breathe a little easier, please get in touch!

19/11/2025

As you may know, today is International Men’s Day so I wanted to post something about men’s health and herbal medicine. A large proportion of my patients are male, from toddlers up to octogenarians!

What sort of conditions do I see in men…well of course the sorts of conditions that are not gender-specific, like digestive issues, anxiety and depression, joint and skin issues and so on. I seem to see more men seeking herbal help for conditions like high blood pressure, piles, low energy levels or recovery from training or sports injuries.
Specific to men: prostate issues and er****on difficulties. I’ve heard it all before and you can speak to me in confidence. Same goes for depression and anxiety – I can help support you through whatever you’re going through. I’m frequently told “I’ve never told anyone this before”.

Men can be notoriously bad at seeking help (I know not all of you!), so if you’re reading this with your partner, son, dad, brother or friend in mind, why not get in touch to see how I can help? Zoom appointments are available as well as face to face.

17/11/2025

This week is self-care week. We all know *why* we should look after ourselves, otherwise how can we enjoy life to the full and look after those who depend upon us? And we all know what we *should* be doing: a combination of eating healthily, taking “me time”, massages, exercise, walks in nature, getting our nails done…everyone has their own routine – or not as the case may be! But have you thought about seeing a medical herbalist as part of your self-care routine?

Think about it: an hour for your first appointment and it’s all about YOU. You can talk at length about what’s bothering you, and you will be listened to, without judgement. You will be prescribed a bespoke mix of herbs, for you and nobody else, that has been carefully considered to help you with whatever is going on in your life at the moment. That mixture can then be tweaked at subsequent appointments to reflect what’s important to you at that time, whether physical or emotional. And don’t forget the power of getting things off your chest! I’m used to hearing the latest about people’s bosses, mothers-in-law, or what happened at the vets this week.

Surely seeing a medical herbalist should be part of everyone’s self-care routine?😉

15/11/2025

🏄🏻‍♀️On our way back now from a great week in Cornwall, our favourite place to be every November. Surfing, bodyboarding, bouldering, walking and eating 🥰
🧺I’ll be back to work on Monday (piles of washing will be hidden by my Zoom background…)

14/11/2025

November 14th is so I thought I'd post about how herbal medicine can help with the various possible complications of diabetes. These can include retinopathy (leading to sight problems, blindness), nephropathy (kidney failure), neuropathy (nervous system damage which can eventually lead to amputations eg of the toes), and general cardiovascular and circulation problems.

How do these complications happen? It’s basically as a result of hyperglycaemia (raised blood sugar levels) over a long period of time. This damages blood vessels and nerves and affects bloodflow throughout the body, also causing high blood pressure which can affect the health of the kidneys (nephropathy).

-In the eyes, the blood vessels swell and leak fluid into the back of the eye, which starves the retina of oxygen, causing extra blood vessels to grow.
- In the kidneys, there is a deterioration of the tiny blood vessels called capillaries that filter waste, stopping the kidneys doing their job properly and causing UTIs.
- In the nervous system, nerve damage (by starvation of oxygen and nutrients from weakened capillaries) stops nerves from sending and receiving signals properly, so there are problems with loss of sensation, ulceration, tingling, er****on difficulties and bladder problems amongst others.
- Infections – these are fed by the excess sugars in the bloodstream, and made worse as poor blood vessel quality means healing is more difficult. If neuropathy (nerve damage) is present then diabetics can be unaware of an infection on, say, the sole of their foot.

In terms of herbs, our main aims as medical herbalists are to support the function of the pancreas (which produces insulin) and liver; support the cardiovascular system to help prevent furring of the arteries, blood vessel damage and retinal changes; modulate blood sugar levels and avoid insulin resistance; support the kidneys and protect the nerves. One of the herbs we use is cinnamon as this has been found to improve fasting blood sugar levels in diabetics. We are trained to work alongside conventional medication and check for any interactions. We can also help in "pre-diabetes".

If you'd like to discuss this further, please get in touch

11/11/2025

This is one of the herbs I mentioned last week where the roots and the leaves have different active constituents and so are used for different conditions - the common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale).

Amongst other things, in herbal medicine we use dandelion leaf as a diuretic so it is good in some case of high blood pressure and other conditions where there is fluid retention. The root (harvested in autumn) is known for its effect on the liver, gallbladder and digestion. Its bitter taste stimulates digestive secretions and helps with constipation, gallstones, dyspepsia (discomfort in the upper digestive tract) and lack of appetite. As it also stimulates the liver to help remove waste products from the body, it is very helpful in skin disorders such as acne and eczema - I use it a lot for these.

Below is a photo of a freshly harvested dandelion root or rhizome. You can see it is a taproot, almost like a carrot. Anyone who has tried to w**d out dandelions will know that the root is almost impossible to remove as a whole, and if you don't manage it, it will just grow back! Once harvested, the roots are washed and cut into pieces and then dried to be made into tincture or left to be drunk as a tea. You may have tried roasted dandelion coffee. A common w**d for most people but a major part of my medicine chest!

09/11/2025

It's been a good few weeks for fungi!

07/11/2025

Sometimes different parts of a herb are used for different conditions, as the phytochemicals or active "ingredients" in, say, the leaf, are different to those in the root. This time of year we harvest the roots of the plant. This is because during the growing season (spring/summer) the energy of the plant goes into growing the leaves, flowers and sometimes berries. In the autumn, once the plant has stopped growing, more energy and active constituents are concentrated in the root, so it's time to harvest. Some herbs are left until the second spring before the sap rises, or the second autumn to harvest the roots. In herbal medicine, we use the roots from plants such as dandelion, nettle, echinacea, marshmallow and valerian, and I'll be talking about a couple of these in the few weeks or so.

05/11/2025

It's the end of International Stress Awareness Week and this is something that needs to be known. Yes, this research is over 20 years old (and this photo probably 10 😂) but I don't care as I feel it is my public duty to pass it on: CAKE HELPS WITH STRESS! 🥳
This study found that carbohydrate-rich, protein-poor foods helped with mood and performance when people were under stress. Thus supporting two of my "broken record" catchphrases: 1) a little of what you fancy does you good and 2) be kind to yourself!
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9716435

04/11/2025

This week as you know, I’ve been talking about stress as part of International Stress Awareness Week. Today I’m going to talk about how herbal medicine comes into all this - as a medical herbalist I specialise in stress, anxiety, insomnia and emotional disorders.

I see so many people suffering from stress, and it's been worse over the last few years. Even if that’s not why they come to see me in the first place, it often underlies the symptoms they describe, or makes them worse. Prolonged periods of stress can have a negative effect on your physical and mental health, causing problems with your digestive system, hormones, cardiovascular system (possibly even leading to high blood pressure, angina, heart attacks) and perhaps contributing to inflammation in the body. Many people with long term conditions such as psoriasis, arthritis, eczema or depression feel that stress makes their symptoms worse.

In order to understand how herbal medicine works on stress, we need to understand what happens during the stress response. Well, it’s an evolutionary reaction, coming from when we used to literally have to run for our lives from Colin the T-Rex here.

It’s called the “fight or flight” (sympathetic nervous system) response – either stay and fight the predator or run. So when faced by the dinosaur, our bodies immediately release chemicals such as adrenaline, which triggers our hearts to beat faster, pumping the blood round our bodies to reach the muscles so we can react faster. This also shuts down our “rest and digest” (parasympathetic nervous system) response – blood is diverted away from our digestive organs (ever had that knot or butterflies in the stomach?) and skin as they are not essential at that moment.

These days, we are lucky enough to live in the UK where we don’t have that daily threat of real danger. So our “fight or flight” systems are triggered by a full inbox or a traffic jam or queuing outside the exam room. If this stress is ongoing, then we don’t “use up” the chemicals that are constantly being produced by actually running from the dinosaur as we would’ve done in our caveman days. This means the body stays in a “switched on” state almost constantly, and you start to experience the symptoms I’ve been mentioning this week. (NB: this is exactly where exercising to beat stress comes in!).

In herbal medicine we have a number of herbs that can help you “rest and digest” by relaxing the heart rate, opening up the tubes in the chest, and slowing adrenalin production. We also use herbs that bind to the same receptors as orthodox drugs like benzodiazepines do, but without the same side effects – the right combination will relax you and help you sleep without giving you that hungover feeling the next day. Hawthorn is one I often use as it helps the heart pump more efficiently and is also calming, so is particularly good for those experiencing palpitations or that tight feeling in the chest that comes with panic (please visit your GP before self medicating if you are experiencing chest pain). And if you’re getting tense muscles in the neck and shoulders, leading to headaches, or stomach cramps, there are anti-spasmodic herbs that will relax the muscles so you don’t have to resort to painkillers. This is just the tip of the iceberg where herbs and stress are concerned!

I sometimes prescribe a daytime and a night time mixture where stress or anxiety is an issue; the daytime mix is calming and the night time mix is a little more sedating to help you get off to sleep, and stay that way. Get in contact for a no-obligation chat!

03/11/2025

Part 2 of solutions for stress for International Stress Awareness Week - yesterday I spoke about practical ways of resolving problems if it's possible to do so. But if you can’t control something that’s causing you stress, you CAN control how you react to it and how you look after yourself:

Eat well and take time to sit and enjoy your meals. Don't beat yourself up if you're only able to eat very basically - if you are very stressed it's difficult to organise cooking. If you're able to, meal planning for the week can take the pressure off, and cooking double the amount to freeze helps me pretty often!

Go outside if you can, even if only for ten minutes.

Magnesium and vitamin B levels are often low in those who have been stressed for a while so you might want to consider a supplement.

Exercise. Even if you don’t feel like it, a walk at lunchtime, or go the long way round to get some milk… And if you exercise regularly anyway, remember how you always feel better afterwards? Use that as your motivation. If you are working from home now, try and go for a walk at the beginning and end of the day as your "commute".

Deep breathing. When things get too much your heart starts beating faster and you breathe more quickly and not as deeply. There are lots of techniques you could try but here's a simple one that works for some people. Try and breathe in from your abdomen for the count of four, then out for the count of four. Repeat five times whenever you need to.

Relax. You are allowed time for you! Schedule it into your diary if you have to. Fifteen minutes reading a book or magazine could take you away from your worries. Don't take work or revision into bed with you at night.

Try meditation, even if you don't think it's for you. There are various apps that guide you through it if you’re new and you can do five minute sessions to calm you if that’s all you have.

Don’t shut yourself off from your friends or family, or any spiritual groups you find helpful. Sometimes a good laugh or a chat can help you put things into perspective.

Avoid the news if you can, and try not to doomscroll too much!

Tomorrow I'm going to talk about the role of herbal medicine in helping stress.

(If you can’t talk to someone close to you, talk to a professional who can offer you advice for your specific situation, or just listen to you talk)
https://www.anxietyuk.org.uk/
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/
https://www.stepchange.org/ for debt worries
https://www.therapyforyou.co.uk/ online and talking therapies (NHS)
http://www.studentminds.org.uk/ See less

02/11/2025

Day 2 of International Stress Awareness Week and today I'm going to talk about practical ways to deal with what's getting on top of you. Have you ever wondered why some people don't seem to be affected by stress, despite having lots going on? Perhaps these people have good coping mechanisms, surely nobody has such a smooth-running life!

The first step is to know that stress is affecting you. Yesterday I gave a list of symptoms that could show that stress is becoming a problem for you.
Secondly, identify WHY you are stressed. What’s bothering you? From the huge things like worries paying the gas and electricity bills down to the smaller things like getting round to mowing the lawn. Can you categorise these stressors? For example:
a) things that might have a practical solution,
b) things that will gradually get better after time,
c) things you can’t do anything about (you can’t control other people, for example).

For those stressors that you *can* do something about – what practical steps can you take? Are you keeping control of tasks that you could give others to do? This goes for both work and home. Give others a chance to show you that they are just as capable as you at getting “your” tasks done – it may take a while to show them what to do but in time will pay off. Remember to keep a good work/life balance - this can be difficult to do if you're working from home! If you're struggling at work, your employer has a legal obligation to help you.

Exam stress? Make a revision plan – talk to your teachers/lecturers. Make sure you build enough breaks into your day and don't work too late into the evening.

Does everything have to be done yesterday? Try and prioritise your tasks. “To do” lists are not just for work – have a weekly calendar on your kitchen worktop and cross items off as you’ve done them. Be kind to yourself if you don't complete everything!

If you know that the situation will be over soon, plan what you will do when it’s done and you have more time to yourself.

Tomorrow I'm going to talk about how to help yourself if your source of stress doesn't have a practical solution.

Address

Nature's Table, 8 The Walk
Billericay
CM129YB

Opening Hours

Monday	10am - 5pm
Tuesday	10am - 5pm
Wednesday	10am - 5pm
Thursday	10am - 5pm
Friday	10am - 5pm

Telephone

+447596842642

Website

http://www.billericayherbal.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Billericay Herbal Medicine posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.