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Monday 9:15am - 5pm Tuesday 9:15am - 5pm Wednesday 9:15am - 5pm Thursday 9:15am - 5pm Friday 9:15am - 5pm Saturday 9:15am - 1pm

http://www.botanicahealth.co.uk/

Botanica Health, 26 High Street, Rusthall, Tunbridge Wells (2025)

24/10/2025

Andrographis paniculata has been well-researched for its immunomodulatory effects. Known as the “King of Bitters” for its intensely bitter taste, it has proven to be a potent immune booster, liver protector, and anti-inflammatory powerhouse.
Immune enhancement is frontline therapy.
One of the best proven winter remedies.
Very useful at higher doses in acute respiratory conditions.
Can be taken longer term as shown in this study which demonstrates it improves immune function. PMID: 34376353

20/10/2025

You know, we often discount the seemingly common remedies thinking that perhaps they aren’t strong enough to do the job. That is a mistake.
Let’s take peppermint for instance -
🍃 Several studies have demonstrated a substantial anti-spasmodic effect of peppermint oil on smooth muscles of the gastrointestinal tract.
🍃 Peppermint oil must be administered via enteric coated or delayed release capsules to deliver the active oil to the small intestine where it extends release over 10-12 hours, thus delivering peppermint oil to the colon.
🍃In a 4-week supplementation study with enteric coated peppermint oil given to patients with IBS, 75% reported 50% improvement in symptoms.
🍃 In another study people took peppermint oil or placebo 15-30 mins before food for one month. The ones taking peppermint experienced 79% alleviation of the severity of abdominal pain, many were pain free; 83% had less abdominal distension, 83% had improved stool frequency, 73% had fewer bowel sounds and 79% had less flatulence.
🍃Take peppermint capsule 30-60 minutes before meals, 2-3 times daily, with breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
🍃Good results have also been documented in children with IBS. After 2 weeks of taking peppermint capsules, 75% had reduced severity or pain associated with IBS.
🍃 Do not use if you have gallbladder stones or biliary duct occlusion. And be careful if you have severe reflux.
🌱
IBS is also triggered by stress, irritating foods or foods that are hard to digest, poor breathing, bacterial overgrowth, antibiotic use and low stomach acid.
In Stories I will add a really good peppermint capsule with the addition of 2 beneficial remedies in the complex - Caraway and Ginger. A happy tummy is possible.

17/10/2025

“A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees.”Amelia Earhart
I was outside a shop just waiting, when a lady walking incredibly tenderly, her head down, was slowly making her way somewhere. I watched her for a few minutes as she just kept going.
And then a man walks towards her, takes her arm and says “Come on Peggy.” She apologises for being slow.
Together at the same slow place they walk together for another few minutes. He leads her on to the bus.
And he drives away.
I have a feeling the bus driver often collects Peggy as she slowly walks to get the bus.
It remained with me and it made me think about patience, kindness, love and seemingly small acts of kindness that are really so special. 🩵🩷

15/10/2025

I remember a few years ago now, meeting a lady with a recurrent cough, chest infections, colds and general low immunity.
I prescribed the usual herbs and vitamins and asked her had any stressful event happened that may have made her susceptible. At the time she said no. Perhaps resistance to acknowledging what she had been through kept her unwell.
Some time later, perhaps 6 months we met again. And I asked her had she got to the root of her immunity issues and persistent cough.
She had.
What she hadn’t said at the time is that in a few short months she had lost three people she loved.
In Chinese medicine the lungs are known as the
“delicate organ” and are associated with grief.
The lungs receive and let go, keeping the movement in and out in a healthy exchange with the outer world. If blocked by grief and sadness the smooth action of the lungs is affected. When we are sad, we hold our breath and oxygen is decreased.
If we are unable to express our emotions or become overwhelmed then the lungs can become weak.
But we don’t just grieve over death, of losing someone we love.
It can be any perceived loss - a friendship, home, job, freedom, choice.
We grieve on so many levels.
So what do we do -
• We verbalise unashamedly how we feel
• We lovingly care for ourselves through the heartache
• We share how we feel with people we trust
Consider herbs for resilience and to soften the sadness.
Particularly Brahmi and Holy Basil (interestingly this herb not only works on an emotional level but on the lungs too) and my father’s Ginseng Plus. He has made this formula for years and it is just so supportive and healing for stress, shock, depression, exhaustion and when your nerves feel like they are hanging by a thread.
I will add all to stories.
A rose tea would also be lovely.
“When our grief cannot be spoken, it falls into the shadow and re-arises in us as symptoms. So many of us are depressed, anxious, and lonely. We struggle with addictions and find ourselves moving at a breathless pace, trying to keep up with the machinery of culture!
Francis Weller, The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief

07/10/2025

We are meant to express. Say how we feel, cry when our eyes fill with tears, express our feelings. Speak up, say no, say yes. Don’t keep things in, because where does it all go?

We have been crying since we came in to this world and will continue to do so until the day we leave. And they have a purpose....

Releasing toxins - Tears brought on by emotional upset help the body get rid of chemicals that raise cortisol, the stress hormone.
Several of the chemicals present in emotional crying are the protein prolactin, adrenocorticotropic hormones, and the endorphin leucine-enkephalin, which reduces pain.

Killing bacteria - Tears contain the fluid lysozyme and it can kill 90 to 95 percent of all bacteria in just five to 10 minutes.

Lifting your mood - a 2008 study found that crying can improve your mood better than any anti-depressant.

Relieving stress - a good cry release stress hormones or toxins from the body, and as a result, reduces tension. There is a relief from letting tears roll.

Dried tears look different according to the release.
1 - Onion tears, photo © Rose-Lynn Fisher, courtesy of the artist and Craig Krull Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2 - Tears of grief, photo © Rose-Lynn Fisher, courtesy of the artist and Craig Krull Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
3 - Laughing tears, photo © Rose-Lynn Fisher, courtesy of the artist and Craig Krull Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

06/10/2025

❤️Mammograms - half of all women will experience at least one false positive over a decade of annual breast cancer screening
❤️Breasts carry deep emotional significance. It is common that breast cancer patient’s have experienced intense emotional stress. Often over a loved one.
❤️Balanced hormones and keeping thyroid health optimal is vital.
❤️Keeping lymph flowing freely is important - massage, movement, reducing bra wearing time.
❤️Aspirin - studies demonstrate that aspirin can block breast cancer growth, prevent spread and reprogrammed breast cancer cells back to normal healthy cells.
❤️Niacinamide (B3) may protect against breast cancer and recurrence and metastasis.
❤️Bio-identical progesterone is protective against breast cancer
❤️Dopamine has a therapeutic effect against cancer. Get outside at UVA rise.
❤️Certain repurposed drugs that act on dopamine pathways may have inherent anti-cancer properties.
❤️Naturally dopamine can be increased by exercise, sleep, sunlight, meditation, music and foods rich in tyrosine, a precursor to dopamine - bananas, beef, eggs and green tea.
❤️Cancerous tumours need a blood supply to grow and keep growing.
Angiogenesis - blood vessel formation. Tumour angiogenesis is the growth of new blood vessels that supply the tumour to help it grow.
Angiogenesis is the tipping point between a harmless tumour and a harmful one.
The following are anti-angiogenic herbs and foods with cancer-preventative properties -
Green tea
Strawberries
Cooked tomatoes
Raspberries
Oranges
Red grapes
Ginseng
Chamomile
Olive oil
Maitake mushroom
Liquorice
Parsley

01/10/2025

I was thinking yesterday of the sheer joy you can experience when immersing yourself in nature. Looking skyward, seaward, toes in the cold water, listening to the birds and the ocean flood over the pebbles, soaking up the heat of the late September sun, inhaling the air and seeing the shift of summer to autumn in the plants. Looking at everything through the eyes of a child. There is so much to take in. And the companionship and conversations we have as a family, spending time with my sister over from Dubai. The generations in a beautiful space. And I thought of and his incredible wild cure in the river and the forest. And when you spend time with the earth in awe, you sense the curative nature of it. ❤️

25/09/2025

Both placebo and nocebo effects can be potent.
Your thoughts can create your reality.
Nocebo - Consider the near fatal case of “Mr A”, reported by doctor Roy Reeves in 2007. Mr A was suffering from depression when he consumed a whole bottle of pills. Regretting his decision, Mr A rushed to ER, and promptly collapsed at reception. It looked serious; his blood pressure had plummeted, and he was hyperventilating; he was immediately given intravenous fluids. Yet blood tests could find no trace of the drug in his system. Four hours later, another doctor arrived to inform Reeves that the man had been in the placebo arm of a drugs trial; he had “overdosed” on sugar tablets. Upon hearing the news, the relieved Mr A soon recovered. - The contagious thought that could kill you - BBC Future
Placebo - A fascinating landmark study of placebo surgery for knee osteoarthritis
From the abstract: “In this controlled trial involving patients with osteoarthritis of the knee, the outcomes after arthroscopic lavage or arthroscopic debridement were no better than those after a placebo procedure..
Patients in the placebo group received skin incisions and underwent a simulated debridement without insertion of the arthroscope.”
RESULTS: At no point did either of the intervention groups report less pain or better function than the placebo group.
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa013259

18/09/2025

Anxiety isn’t just “in the mind,” it brings about very real biochemical changes throughout the body, triggering inflammation, spiking blood sugar, shifting the balance in the gut microbiome and increasing oxidative stress.
It’s not just in the head, it’s in the body.
And we compound how we feel, with how we feel about how we feel as
explains in his book How the Feeling Overrides Nutrition, adding layers.
Rumination is incredibly draining and the only answer is to walk, put pen to paper, dwell on something practical, doing something, helping someone, eating to support energy. Anxiety is the biggest drain on your body. Considering l-theanine & lemon balm, magnesium, B vitamins, Hawthorn to get to the heart of the matter, passionflower, chamomile tea and honey, milk and honey, uplifting company, walking in nature and embodying your surroundings, praying, meditating.
The great romantic poet John Keat’s suffered periodic savage bouts of depression which incapacitated him. His hands would become like lead, unable to lift his pen to write. Such is the physical impact of depression.
He said that one thing brought him relief.
“There is a comfort in throwing oneself on the charity of ones friends — ’t is like the albatross sleeping on its wings — ”

15/09/2025

You know when someone says “it’s a waste of time” without having a clue what they are talking about?
Hannah lives in Texas. I advised her to purchase a good quality milk thistle. She did and she got better.
Milk thistle has been grown as a medicinal plant in monastery gardens since ancient times.
Milk thistle seeds contains powerful phytonutrients specific for dyspeptic complaints (digestive disorders) and in particular they act on the liver to protect it against liver damage.
Until a few years ago there were annual fatalities in France due to harvesting the Death Cap fungi by mistake for the Field mushroom. After eating a Death Cap, the victim is terribly ill and vomits all night and then makes a remarkable recovery thinking all is well, however it is not as the toxins slowly destroy the liver and in about a month death ensues from liver failure.
Now, most victims survive due to Milk Thistle. A concentrated extract of Milk Thistle is administered and the patient, though ill overnight, survives but probably never eats mushrooms again!
Milk Thistle indications for use:
* Liver damage - fatty liver, Hepatitis, Cirrhosis
* Gall stones, digestive liver insufficiency, indigestion
* Nausea, constipation, abdominal bloating
* Reduction of heavy metal burden
You can purchase my father’s Milk Thistle liquid extract in Stories. 5ml in a little water at bedtime is commonly recommended.

10/09/2025

🌺 There are over 200 strains of HPV
and many do not cause problems. The Gardasil vaccine is reported to protect against 9 strains.
🌺 Most HPV infections clear up on their own without any intervention in a few months and 90% clear within 2 years.
🌺 Up to 99.8% of cervical cancer cases in the UK are preventable.
🌺A small percentage of people HPV can persist for years, and may cause symptoms to appear, especially if immunity is weakened.
🌺 Nearly every sexually active person will get HPV at some point. In most cases the immune system will deal with it.
🌺 High risk HPV strains may cause lesions that can lead to cervical cancer if left untreated.
🌺 Early sexual in*******se and multiple sexual partners increases your risk of cervical cancer.
🌺 The birth control pill can deplete your body of several B vitamins, magnesium, vitamin C and Zinc and over time even subtle effects can add up. According to the National Cancer Institute taking the pill for more than 5 years increases risk by 60%.
Is there anything you can do to support cervical health? Absolutely.
💕Folate (the natural form of folic acid) - many studies have linked lower levels of folic acid to a higher incidence of cervical dysplasia. Folate combined with vitamin B12 can increase protection against cell changes.
💕Sun exposure and Vitamin D - Several studies show a connection between lack of sunlight exposure and cervical cancer risk.
💕Antiviral’s like Echinacea, Astragalus (has been shown to slow cervical cancer cell growth), Cat’s claw, Elderberry and Goldenseal all support the immune system and inhibit viruses.
💕Ginger can help prevent cancer cell growth by blocking the production of prostaglandins involved in cervical cancer development.
💕Shiitake mushroom - an American study published in the Cancer Prevention Research journal has found that a compound present in Shiitake mushrooms can suppress the rate of cervical cancer growth.
💕Scientific studies show curcumin has anti-cancer effects in gynaecological cancers including cervical and endometrial.
💕Condoms reduce the incidence of HPV by 70 percent, offering far better protection than the HPV vaccine and avoiding HPV vaccine side effects.

Botanica Health

24/10/2025

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Monday	9:15am - 5pm
Tuesday	9:15am - 5pm
Wednesday	9:15am - 5pm
Thursday	9:15am - 5pm
Friday	9:15am - 5pm
Saturday	9:15am - 1pm