November 15, 2022 • 18 mins
Herbal medicine is the study of pharmacognosy and the use of medicinal plants, which are a basis of traditional medicine. There's quite a long history regarding herbal medicine with written records dating back more than 5,000 years!
Today I am joined by Dr. Janet Maendel, a functional medicine practitioner, manual osteopathic therapist and an internationally registered herbalist. Dr. Janet covers a lot of herbal medicine territory in this episode including:
- how herbs aid in healing the body
- how medicinal herbs are created
- the difference between western herbal medicine and traditional Chinese herbal medicine
- her favorite herbal remedies to use
Learn a little more about the healing power of herbs!
Connect with Dr. Janet Maendel:
The Herbal Method
Suggested Resource Links:
- LINK: FullScript Supplements (Believe Big affiliate)
- The Herbal Method Blog (articles of interest)
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ivelisse Page (00:35):
Welcome to today's episode on the Believe
Big podcast.
My name is Ivelisse Page andit's an honor to spend this time
with you.
Today we are going to bespeaking to Dr.
Janet Maendel on the benefits ofherbal medicine.
Janet is a certified functionalmedicine practitioner.
A manual osteopathic therapistand is a board certified
(00:59):
internationally registeredherbalist.
She lives and works in southernManitoba Canada.
Janet applies the principles offunctional root cause medicine
for conditions such as hormonalimbalance, infertility, and P C
O S, intestinal health,autoimmunity and cancer
(01:19):
prevention and support.
Janet believes cancer is not aprocess to be taken lightly and
to be treated with a one sizefits all approach, but a
collection of disease processesthat encompasses everything the
person has lived through.
Welcome, Janet, to the show.
Janet Maendel (01:38):
Thank you so much.
I'm very happy to be here.
Ivelisse Page (01:40):
So Janet, our listeners are always interested
in discovering what our guest'sfavorite health tip is.
What would you say is yours?
Janet Maendel (01:49):
My favorite health tip is to do something
every morning when you wake upto promote wellness and health
over illness and disease.
And so that can be somethinglike meditation and prayer, a
calming of the mind and, it canbe something like exercise,
walking, running or justmovement.
And for me, those practices helpme manage my day, take on my
(02:14):
day, and hopefully lower mystress and help me adapt to
what's coming at me for thatday.
Ivelisse Page (02:19):
I would say that is my favorite one as well.
I start each morning withmeditating and prayer, and when
I don't do that, my day does notgo as well.
So it really adds a sense ofpeace to your day.
And so I agree that would bemine as well.
So Dr.
Janet, what is herbal medicine?
Janet Maendel (02:37):
Herbal medicine is a pretty broad term, but
essentially it's using plants.
And everything that we can dowith them and all the
formulations we can make withthem and blend.
And we use them in a medicinalway.
And that can be anything from adaily support to something
therapeutic where we're actuallyworking on something and working
(02:58):
on somebody's disease process.
Ivelisse Page (03:00):
Okay.
I know that a lot of people havequestions about their safety.
Are herbs safe to use?
Janet Maendel (03:06):
Yes, herbal medicines have a very, very good
safety profile.
It always seems to me that muchof what we see and much of what
we read that scares us aboutherbal medicine is because it's
misunderstood.
And when something ismisunderstood, it brings fear.
And so they're very safe,especially when taken as
(03:26):
recommended by your herbalist.
Ivelisse Page (03:28):
Yeah, I completely agree.
I use them through my cancerjourney and even still today.
And like you said, when it's notindividuals just randomly going
and getting an herbal remedy,it's really working with an
integrative practitioner likeyourself that is knowledgeable,
that knows your family history,that has done that proper intake
to really see what is your bodymissing or needing to help
(03:49):
support it best.
And so I love that you saidthat.
I was told that there is nolicensure or regulations of who
can call themselves herbalist orwho can practice in the United
States.
So it's important to do yourresearch.
What would you say to someonelooking to someone who knows
herbal medicine and who's welleducated?
Janet Maendel (04:10):
Usually you can just ask the person, really.
You can ask the herbalist ofwhere their training is, where
their training is from?
There are plenty of goodaccredited schools that you can
phone and that you can talk to.
Here in Canada, Herbalist don'thave to be registered to
practice.
But when you can find somebodywho's registered in your country
or internationally, there justis that extra layer that shows
(04:33):
you that there was a board thatlooked at the training and that
in some cases gave another testor another evaluation of some
sort that can tell you where sheis or where he is.
Ivelisse Page (04:45):
Yes.
Great advice.
So how can herbs aid in healing?
Janet Maendel (04:50):
They have many properties that, depending on
what you're looking at anddepending what the person is
going through, and dependingwhat what puzzle I have in front
of me.
So I always do a verycomprehensive intake for every
person I see.
Functional medicine is just mygo-to for basically everybody.
And then once I have that, onceI have the intake, and I have
(05:11):
the labs and I have everythingthat I need, then I decide after
lifestyle factors, aftereverything else that we can
change and modulate in ourlives, then I will reach to
herbs.
Because herb is a medicine andsometimes we don't need it.
Sometimes we just need to modifywhat we're doing in our daily
practices to promote ourwellness and our wellbeing.
Ivelisse Page (05:34):
Yeah.
And how are they created?
Janet Maendel (05:36):
Oh wow.
So that depends on who you areand where you're getting them
from.
So many herbalists will do theirown formulations and they'll do
their own tinctures.
And so we'll either grow or buyherbs from a reputable source,
and tinture them and blend themourselves.
And then other people will sortof make blends of their own and
then give them to their patientsas a tea.
(05:57):
I have done a number offormulations myself.
They're almost all tinctures cuzI like tinctures, I like how
they work.
I like how quickly they work.
I've become busier as the yearshave gone by, so I am buying
more than I used to.
But tinctures is my go-to,liquid capsulations and then
also dried herbs capsulationscan be found.
(06:18):
And so it depends on what youwant, what the method is also
what the patient can take Iguess.
They're not all the same.
Ivelisse Page (06:23):
Yeah, we have an herbalist here in town.
There's two different ones andone makes their tincture and
some of them don't taste thatgreat And then there are others
that is more of the tea formthat you were talking about,
which I love the one for immunesupport and I drink that in the
wintertime and it's justfabulous, all the different
herbs inside.
So you use the tincture versionmore so than the teas?
Janet Maendel (06:45):
Yes.
And they rarely taste good.
I should tell you that.
Ivelisse Page (06:50):
I know.
That was a surprise to me.
I was like, oh my goodness.
Sometimes just a teaspoon ofsugar makes the medicine go
down.
unfortunately we can't add sugarto it for sure, especially in a
cancering process.
I always say I can do anythingif I know that it's gonna help
me.
If it's gonna help me, it'sgonna make me feel better and
it's good for my body.
Then I can pretty much handleanything.
(07:12):
And so I think if we go into itwith an attitude of I am going
to see how this works, and mostpeople would be surprised how
wonderfully they do work.
And your body just reallyaccepts and really heals so
nicely, when you're giving itwhat it needs.
So what is the differencebetween Western herbal medicine
and Chinese herbal medicine?
(07:33):
I heard those two differentterms.
Janet Maendel (07:35):
So my training is in Western herbalism and we tend
to be a little bit more.
I like to say less traditional,but I'm going to have to explain
that though.
So we tend to be a little bitmore scientific based, which
isn't necessarily a good thingin herbalism.
So we do look at a pathology,and we do look at the disease
process, and we do look at labsand things, and then we try and
(08:00):
find the herbs or the blends, orother nutraceuticals according
to what we see there.
Chinese medicine is more of theperson that they see.
How they are presenting.
They will need to know more thanjust the diagnosis.
They will need to know how he orshe is doing, how he or she is
presenting to them.
(08:21):
Do they seem warm?
Do they seem cold to them?
Are they stagnant or not?
How is their chi?
And and that's very different.
What's interesting about itthough is that in TCM and
Western herbalism we will tendto arrive at the same conclusion
many times with what we'rerecommending at the end, which
is actually quite lovely.
Ivelisse Page (08:41):
you explained that perfectly so that's really
interesting.
I didn't know that there was twodifferent types of herbal
medicine.
I thought it was all in one.
For patients that are undergoingconventional cancer treatments,
should they avoid herbalmedicine or are there certain
ones that should be avoided?
Janet Maendel (08:59):
Okay.
That depends on where they arein their treatment.
That depends on the patient.
It depends on the factors thatwe're looking at the time.
When they're getting theirchemotherapy right now, then we
usually just stop the herbalsand most of the nutraceuticals,
quite frankly.
And we use the things that willhelp with the chemotherapy
(09:22):
itself, and we will support thepatient throughout that.
We'll use fasting for that, andwe will make sure their
inflammation is down for that sothat they're responding to the
chemo better.
Some places will usehyperthermia especially with
radiation, things like that.
So we will not, I usually don'tuse a whole bunch of supplements
when the patient is actively instandard of care.
Ivelisse Page (09:45):
And how do you use it, typically, the herbal
medicine with cancer patients?
Janet Maendel (09:50):
So with cancer patients it depends on what
we're looking at.
I use the metabolic approach.
Which I know you've done some ofthis on your website, so you
know, Or on your podcast Ishould say.
So it depends on what I'mlooking at.
So if we're looking at theterrain of the person, there are
various different elements thatcan pop up that we would be
concentrating on.
(10:11):
So we can be looking atmetabolics, we can be looking at
angiogenesis markers, we couldbe looking at inflammation, we
could be looking at pain,stress, mental health.
And so depending on what thebiggest terrain issues are.
After we look at that and afterwe promote some of the lifestyle
things that can be done formetabolics.
(10:31):
For example, if this is a personthat has high insulin resistance
may be a diabetic orpre-diabetes, once they have
their foods dialed in and theexercise, if they can, I may
support them with burberine ontop of that.
I may suggest DHA for theinflammation.
I may add boswellia for someonewith a high inflammatory profile
(10:53):
or something with some swellingsomewhere, or curcumin.
I don't use just a whole bunchof herbals for every single
person that has cancer becauseit depends on what the picture
is that's in front of me, and itdepends on what we're looking at
and what we're trying tosupport.
Ivelisse Page (11:06):
Yeah, that's really good.
And what's right for one personmay not be right for the next
person.
And it's really, again,important to have an integrative
oncology practitioner thatspecializes in this, that can
really support you best, knowingwhat aspects and when in the
treatment process would be thebest time to introduce and to
(11:27):
use.
Just like with supplementsthough, I hear that the quality
and the brand makes a differencein the effectiveness of the
herbs used.
Can you talk about that?
Janet Maendel (11:36):
Yes it does.
The thing is we don't alwaysknow for sure when we're buying
supplements, and that's justacross the board.
We're all hoping, and doing allour research and finding these
people at conferences and tryingto sign up with companies that
tell us that their products arepure, that have third party lab
testing.
Some have two or three thirdparty lab testing papers to show
(11:58):
us.
So we do try as much as we canto have the best for our
patients because truth is inherbalism as well as in other,
medications, of course.
But in herbalism, if it's notpure, it's very concentrated in
whatever the impurity or thetoxin is that's within that
capsule.
So it is very important thatit's pure and it's very
(12:20):
important that it's testedbecause even the plant,
depending on when they harvestedit, and depending what parts of
the plants were used, all ofthat actually needs to be shown
in a lab that it is actuallywhat they're selling, so that
when we're dosing it, that we'resafe and effective.
Ivelisse Page (12:35):
That's really important.
Here in the United States I knowBelieve Big has a FullScript
account that those who work withBelieve Big and patients are
able to order professional gradesupplements, which have been
third party tested and that whatyou're actually getting in that
bottle is in that bottle.
I think we've all kind of gottenaccustomed to sometimes using
(12:57):
Amazon and other things, but wedon't know how it was stored,
how it was shipped, and so thatmight lose its effectiveness.
So I love, making sure that thesupplements and the herbal that
I use are actually physiciangrade, so that's true.
So yeah, most complimentarytherapies, herbal medicine is
not covered by insurance.
(13:18):
Is it expensive or how much doesit typically cost if someone is
coming in to see you?
Janet Maendel (13:23):
You're right, they're not covered here either.
And the cost for the supplementsdepends how many they need and
how long they'll be on a certainprotocol.
So for the coming in to see methe original appointment, the
initial appointment is one priceand then the follow up
appointments is another price.
And then the labs that I sendthem to, they pay the lab for
(13:46):
the blood work and whatever elseis going on.
And then they also, my patientsactually all order through
FullScript.
I wasn't sure if we were able tosay words or names.
Ivelisse Page (13:55):
Oh sure.
Absolutely.
And yeah, anything that'shelpful.
Janet Maendel (13:58):
So yeah, so it depends on what they're ordering
from FullScript.
Ivelisse Page (14:00):
And it's not expensive, at least for what I
have seen.
I'm able to go to the herbalistand get the teas and the
tinctures that I need and it'snot expensive.
It's the cost of a goodsupplement.
So if someone was wondering howmuch that is, it's not, at least
here in the United States, it'spretty affordable.
Janet Maendel (14:16):
It's, it's not an easy question to answer.
So if I'm, if I'm sendingsomebody that's like a monthly
dosing strategy, I would thinkit would be in Canadian dollars,
it would be anywhere from$250 to$400.
Ivelisse Page (14:30):
What aspects of cancer care are herbal remedies
most helpful?
Janet Maendel (14:36):
Wow, that's a good one.
I think all of them.
Cuz my head is going, okay, I'mgonna say stress, and then I'm
like well, it's definitely notjust stress because it's
inflammation too.
And then there's immunity.
We can support genetics with it.
And so I, Everything I have tosay all the things.
I'm sorry, I'm biased here.
Ivelisse Page (14:55):
No, I It's a holistic approach.
Correct?
What are your favorite ones touse?
Janet Maendel (15:00):
I love Burberine.
and I like it because in cancer,we know that the insulin driver,
the sugar driver, is a hugething.
And in many cases, by the timewe see these people, it's not
easy to get the insulin backdown to a nice normal range.
It's really not easy often toget the sugars down, to get the
(15:20):
A1C down.
And so I like using Burberinefor that.
It's been shown to be aseffective as metformin, in
trials.
But it's not a silver bullet.
We can't take it and eat cake,it just doesn't work.
So that's one of my favorites.
I like adaptogens because ofcourse in oncology we're looking
at very high stress.
And we're looking at what thebody needs to modulate.
(15:43):
so I like rhodiola for that,it's a really nice herb.
It will help for mentalperformance as well in mental
health, which of course wereally need in cancer.
It will help the body adapt thestresses that are coming at it.
So that plus an even more solifestyle factors that we can do
for that.
So I really like that one.
I like boswellia and curcumin.
(16:04):
I like those for inflammation.
I like mushrooms, for immunity,
Ivelisse Page (16:08):
Those are all fantastic.
Yeah.
When my integrated practitioner,we do my blood work every year
and Burberine is one that I'mstill on and that I use.
And, in the wintertime I loveusing the mushrooms.
In, I think my community has aspray and I love using it
because it just kinda keeps myimmune system strong in the
middle of the winter.
It's worked really well for me.
(16:30):
those are really greatrecommendations, and of course
they're not recommendations,they're actually your favorites.
Again, they'll be individualizedfor whatever a patient needs is
what will be prescribed by anintegrative practitioner.
Is there anything else inregards to herbal medicine that
I haven't asked you that youfeel would be important to share
(16:51):
or talk about?
Janet Maendel (16:51):
One of the things that I really love about herbals
is beyond everything we justtalked about, is their ability
to modulate.
The body is always looking forbalance and looking for
homeostasis.
No matter what we're looking at,we're looking at the immune
system.
It still need balance.
We can't inhibit one part andstimulate another and be
healthy.
Same goes with stress.
Too little stress isn't workingfor us, too much is just not
(17:15):
working for us either.
So what I like about herbs isthat many of them have the
ability, if not all of them, butmany of them have the ability to
completely modulate us withwhatever we need.
And, it's a living medicine.
It's alive.
Ivelisse Page (17:29):
Yep.
that's amazing and, thank you somuch for sharing your knowledge
with us.
I really appreciate all that youhave shared with us today, and I
know that the information isgonna be very helpful for those
who are interested in learningmore about it.
We can put some links in regardsto your website that people can
look into and as well as otheravenues for them to dig a little
(17:53):
deeper into herbal medicine.
But thank you so much forjoining us today, Dr.
Janet.
I really appreciate your time.
Janet Maendel (18:00):
You're welcome.
It was lovely meeting you, andthank you so much for inviting
me.
Welcome to today's episode on the Believe
Big podcast.
My name is Ivelisse Page andit's an honor to spend this time
with you.
Today we are going to bespeaking to Dr.
Janet Maendel on the benefits ofherbal medicine.
Janet is a certified functionalmedicine practitioner.
A manual osteopathic therapistand is a board certified
(00:59):
internationally registeredherbalist.
She lives and works in southernManitoba Canada.
Janet applies the principles offunctional root cause medicine
for conditions such as hormonalimbalance, infertility, and P C
O S, intestinal health,autoimmunity and cancer
(01:19):
prevention and support.
Janet believes cancer is not aprocess to be taken lightly and
to be treated with a one sizefits all approach, but a
collection of disease processesthat encompasses everything the
person has lived through.
Welcome, Janet, to the show.
Janet Maendel (01:38):
Thank you so much.
I'm very happy to be here.
Ivelisse Page (01:40):
So Janet, our listeners are always interested
in discovering what our guest'sfavorite health tip is.
What would you say is yours?
Janet Maendel (01:49):
My favorite health tip is to do something
every morning when you wake upto promote wellness and health
over illness and disease.
And so that can be somethinglike meditation and prayer, a
calming of the mind and, it canbe something like exercise,
walking, running or justmovement.
And for me, those practices helpme manage my day, take on my
(02:14):
day, and hopefully lower mystress and help me adapt to
what's coming at me for thatday.
Ivelisse Page (02:19):
I would say that is my favorite one as well.
I start each morning withmeditating and prayer, and when
I don't do that, my day does notgo as well.
So it really adds a sense ofpeace to your day.
And so I agree that would bemine as well.
So Dr.
Janet, what is herbal medicine?
Janet Maendel (02:37):
Herbal medicine is a pretty broad term, but
essentially it's using plants.
And everything that we can dowith them and all the
formulations we can make withthem and blend.
And we use them in a medicinalway.
And that can be anything from adaily support to something
therapeutic where we're actuallyworking on something and working
(02:58):
on somebody's disease process.
Ivelisse Page (03:00):
Okay.
I know that a lot of people havequestions about their safety.
Are herbs safe to use?
Janet Maendel (03:06):
Yes, herbal medicines have a very, very good
safety profile.
It always seems to me that muchof what we see and much of what
we read that scares us aboutherbal medicine is because it's
misunderstood.
And when something ismisunderstood, it brings fear.
And so they're very safe,especially when taken as
(03:26):
recommended by your herbalist.
Ivelisse Page (03:28):
Yeah, I completely agree.
I use them through my cancerjourney and even still today.
And like you said, when it's notindividuals just randomly going
and getting an herbal remedy,it's really working with an
integrative practitioner likeyourself that is knowledgeable,
that knows your family history,that has done that proper intake
to really see what is your bodymissing or needing to help
(03:49):
support it best.
And so I love that you saidthat.
I was told that there is nolicensure or regulations of who
can call themselves herbalist orwho can practice in the United
States.
So it's important to do yourresearch.
What would you say to someonelooking to someone who knows
herbal medicine and who's welleducated?
Janet Maendel (04:10):
Usually you can just ask the person, really.
You can ask the herbalist ofwhere their training is, where
their training is from?
There are plenty of goodaccredited schools that you can
phone and that you can talk to.
Here in Canada, Herbalist don'thave to be registered to
practice.
But when you can find somebodywho's registered in your country
or internationally, there justis that extra layer that shows
(04:33):
you that there was a board thatlooked at the training and that
in some cases gave another testor another evaluation of some
sort that can tell you where sheis or where he is.
Ivelisse Page (04:45):
Yes.
Great advice.
So how can herbs aid in healing?
Janet Maendel (04:50):
They have many properties that, depending on
what you're looking at anddepending what the person is
going through, and dependingwhat what puzzle I have in front
of me.
So I always do a verycomprehensive intake for every
person I see.
Functional medicine is just mygo-to for basically everybody.
And then once I have that, onceI have the intake, and I have
(05:11):
the labs and I have everythingthat I need, then I decide after
lifestyle factors, aftereverything else that we can
change and modulate in ourlives, then I will reach to
herbs.
Because herb is a medicine andsometimes we don't need it.
Sometimes we just need to modifywhat we're doing in our daily
practices to promote ourwellness and our wellbeing.
Ivelisse Page (05:34):
Yeah.
And how are they created?
Janet Maendel (05:36):
Oh wow.
So that depends on who you areand where you're getting them
from.
So many herbalists will do theirown formulations and they'll do
their own tinctures.
And so we'll either grow or buyherbs from a reputable source,
and tinture them and blend themourselves.
And then other people will sortof make blends of their own and
then give them to their patientsas a tea.
(05:57):
I have done a number offormulations myself.
They're almost all tinctures cuzI like tinctures, I like how
they work.
I like how quickly they work.
I've become busier as the yearshave gone by, so I am buying
more than I used to.
But tinctures is my go-to,liquid capsulations and then
also dried herbs capsulationscan be found.
(06:18):
And so it depends on what youwant, what the method is also
what the patient can take Iguess.
They're not all the same.
Ivelisse Page (06:23):
Yeah, we have an herbalist here in town.
There's two different ones andone makes their tincture and
some of them don't taste thatgreat And then there are others
that is more of the tea formthat you were talking about,
which I love the one for immunesupport and I drink that in the
wintertime and it's justfabulous, all the different
herbs inside.
So you use the tincture versionmore so than the teas?
Janet Maendel (06:45):
Yes.
And they rarely taste good.
I should tell you that.
Ivelisse Page (06:50):
I know.
That was a surprise to me.
I was like, oh my goodness.
Sometimes just a teaspoon ofsugar makes the medicine go
down.
unfortunately we can't add sugarto it for sure, especially in a
cancering process.
I always say I can do anythingif I know that it's gonna help
me.
If it's gonna help me, it'sgonna make me feel better and
it's good for my body.
Then I can pretty much handleanything.
(07:12):
And so I think if we go into itwith an attitude of I am going
to see how this works, and mostpeople would be surprised how
wonderfully they do work.
And your body just reallyaccepts and really heals so
nicely, when you're giving itwhat it needs.
So what is the differencebetween Western herbal medicine
and Chinese herbal medicine?
(07:33):
I heard those two differentterms.
Janet Maendel (07:35):
So my training is in Western herbalism and we tend
to be a little bit more.
I like to say less traditional,but I'm going to have to explain
that though.
So we tend to be a little bitmore scientific based, which
isn't necessarily a good thingin herbalism.
So we do look at a pathology,and we do look at the disease
process, and we do look at labsand things, and then we try and
(08:00):
find the herbs or the blends, orother nutraceuticals according
to what we see there.
Chinese medicine is more of theperson that they see.
How they are presenting.
They will need to know more thanjust the diagnosis.
They will need to know how he orshe is doing, how he or she is
presenting to them.
(08:21):
Do they seem warm?
Do they seem cold to them?
Are they stagnant or not?
How is their chi?
And and that's very different.
What's interesting about itthough is that in TCM and
Western herbalism we will tendto arrive at the same conclusion
many times with what we'rerecommending at the end, which
is actually quite lovely.
Ivelisse Page (08:41):
you explained that perfectly so that's really
interesting.
I didn't know that there was twodifferent types of herbal
medicine.
I thought it was all in one.
For patients that are undergoingconventional cancer treatments,
should they avoid herbalmedicine or are there certain
ones that should be avoided?
Janet Maendel (08:59):
Okay.
That depends on where they arein their treatment.
That depends on the patient.
It depends on the factors thatwe're looking at the time.
When they're getting theirchemotherapy right now, then we
usually just stop the herbalsand most of the nutraceuticals,
quite frankly.
And we use the things that willhelp with the chemotherapy
(09:22):
itself, and we will support thepatient throughout that.
We'll use fasting for that, andwe will make sure their
inflammation is down for that sothat they're responding to the
chemo better.
Some places will usehyperthermia especially with
radiation, things like that.
So we will not, I usually don'tuse a whole bunch of supplements
when the patient is actively instandard of care.
Ivelisse Page (09:45):
And how do you use it, typically, the herbal
medicine with cancer patients?
Janet Maendel (09:50):
So with cancer patients it depends on what
we're looking at.
I use the metabolic approach.
Which I know you've done some ofthis on your website, so you
know, Or on your podcast Ishould say.
So it depends on what I'mlooking at.
So if we're looking at theterrain of the person, there are
various different elements thatcan pop up that we would be
concentrating on.
(10:11):
So we can be looking atmetabolics, we can be looking at
angiogenesis markers, we couldbe looking at inflammation, we
could be looking at pain,stress, mental health.
And so depending on what thebiggest terrain issues are.
After we look at that and afterwe promote some of the lifestyle
things that can be done formetabolics.
(10:31):
For example, if this is a personthat has high insulin resistance
may be a diabetic orpre-diabetes, once they have
their foods dialed in and theexercise, if they can, I may
support them with burberine ontop of that.
I may suggest DHA for theinflammation.
I may add boswellia for someonewith a high inflammatory profile
(10:53):
or something with some swellingsomewhere, or curcumin.
I don't use just a whole bunchof herbals for every single
person that has cancer becauseit depends on what the picture
is that's in front of me, and itdepends on what we're looking at
and what we're trying tosupport.
Ivelisse Page (11:06):
Yeah, that's really good.
And what's right for one personmay not be right for the next
person.
And it's really, again,important to have an integrative
oncology practitioner thatspecializes in this, that can
really support you best, knowingwhat aspects and when in the
treatment process would be thebest time to introduce and to
(11:27):
use.
Just like with supplementsthough, I hear that the quality
and the brand makes a differencein the effectiveness of the
herbs used.
Can you talk about that?
Janet Maendel (11:36):
Yes it does.
The thing is we don't alwaysknow for sure when we're buying
supplements, and that's justacross the board.
We're all hoping, and doing allour research and finding these
people at conferences and tryingto sign up with companies that
tell us that their products arepure, that have third party lab
testing.
Some have two or three thirdparty lab testing papers to show
(11:58):
us.
So we do try as much as we canto have the best for our
patients because truth is inherbalism as well as in other,
medications, of course.
But in herbalism, if it's notpure, it's very concentrated in
whatever the impurity or thetoxin is that's within that
capsule.
So it is very important thatit's pure and it's very
(12:20):
important that it's testedbecause even the plant,
depending on when they harvestedit, and depending what parts of
the plants were used, all ofthat actually needs to be shown
in a lab that it is actuallywhat they're selling, so that
when we're dosing it, that we'resafe and effective.
Ivelisse Page (12:35):
That's really important.
Here in the United States I knowBelieve Big has a FullScript
account that those who work withBelieve Big and patients are
able to order professional gradesupplements, which have been
third party tested and that whatyou're actually getting in that
bottle is in that bottle.
I think we've all kind of gottenaccustomed to sometimes using
(12:57):
Amazon and other things, but wedon't know how it was stored,
how it was shipped, and so thatmight lose its effectiveness.
So I love, making sure that thesupplements and the herbal that
I use are actually physiciangrade, so that's true.
So yeah, most complimentarytherapies, herbal medicine is
not covered by insurance.
(13:18):
Is it expensive or how much doesit typically cost if someone is
coming in to see you?
Janet Maendel (13:23):
You're right, they're not covered here either.
And the cost for the supplementsdepends how many they need and
how long they'll be on a certainprotocol.
So for the coming in to see methe original appointment, the
initial appointment is one priceand then the follow up
appointments is another price.
And then the labs that I sendthem to, they pay the lab for
(13:46):
the blood work and whatever elseis going on.
And then they also, my patientsactually all order through
FullScript.
I wasn't sure if we were able tosay words or names.
Ivelisse Page (13:55):
Oh sure.
Absolutely.
And yeah, anything that'shelpful.
Janet Maendel (13:58):
So yeah, so it depends on what they're ordering
from FullScript.
Ivelisse Page (14:00):
And it's not expensive, at least for what I
have seen.
I'm able to go to the herbalistand get the teas and the
tinctures that I need and it'snot expensive.
It's the cost of a goodsupplement.
So if someone was wondering howmuch that is, it's not, at least
here in the United States, it'spretty affordable.
Janet Maendel (14:16):
It's, it's not an easy question to answer.
So if I'm, if I'm sendingsomebody that's like a monthly
dosing strategy, I would thinkit would be in Canadian dollars,
it would be anywhere from$250 to$400.
Ivelisse Page (14:30):
What aspects of cancer care are herbal remedies
most helpful?
Janet Maendel (14:36):
Wow, that's a good one.
I think all of them.
Cuz my head is going, okay, I'mgonna say stress, and then I'm
like well, it's definitely notjust stress because it's
inflammation too.
And then there's immunity.
We can support genetics with it.
And so I, Everything I have tosay all the things.
I'm sorry, I'm biased here.
Ivelisse Page (14:55):
No, I It's a holistic approach.
Correct?
What are your favorite ones touse?
Janet Maendel (15:00):
I love Burberine.
and I like it because in cancer,we know that the insulin driver,
the sugar driver, is a hugething.
And in many cases, by the timewe see these people, it's not
easy to get the insulin backdown to a nice normal range.
It's really not easy often toget the sugars down, to get the
(15:20):
A1C down.
And so I like using Burberinefor that.
It's been shown to be aseffective as metformin, in
trials.
But it's not a silver bullet.
We can't take it and eat cake,it just doesn't work.
So that's one of my favorites.
I like adaptogens because ofcourse in oncology we're looking
at very high stress.
And we're looking at what thebody needs to modulate.
(15:43):
so I like rhodiola for that,it's a really nice herb.
It will help for mentalperformance as well in mental
health, which of course wereally need in cancer.
It will help the body adapt thestresses that are coming at it.
So that plus an even more solifestyle factors that we can do
for that.
So I really like that one.
I like boswellia and curcumin.
(16:04):
I like those for inflammation.
I like mushrooms, for immunity,
Ivelisse Page (16:08):
Those are all fantastic.
Yeah.
When my integrated practitioner,we do my blood work every year
and Burberine is one that I'mstill on and that I use.
And, in the wintertime I loveusing the mushrooms.
In, I think my community has aspray and I love using it
because it just kinda keeps myimmune system strong in the
middle of the winter.
It's worked really well for me.
(16:30):
those are really greatrecommendations, and of course
they're not recommendations,they're actually your favorites.
Again, they'll be individualizedfor whatever a patient needs is
what will be prescribed by anintegrative practitioner.
Is there anything else inregards to herbal medicine that
I haven't asked you that youfeel would be important to share
(16:51):
or talk about?
Janet Maendel (16:51):
One of the things that I really love about herbals
is beyond everything we justtalked about, is their ability
to modulate.
The body is always looking forbalance and looking for
homeostasis.
No matter what we're looking at,we're looking at the immune
system.
It still need balance.
We can't inhibit one part andstimulate another and be
healthy.
Same goes with stress.
Too little stress isn't workingfor us, too much is just not
(17:15):
working for us either.
So what I like about herbs isthat many of them have the
ability, if not all of them, butmany of them have the ability to
completely modulate us withwhatever we need.
And, it's a living medicine.
It's alive.
Ivelisse Page (17:29):
Yep.
that's amazing and, thank you somuch for sharing your knowledge
with us.
I really appreciate all that youhave shared with us today, and I
know that the information isgonna be very helpful for those
who are interested in learningmore about it.
We can put some links in regardsto your website that people can
look into and as well as otheravenues for them to dig a little
(17:53):
deeper into herbal medicine.
But thank you so much forjoining us today, Dr.
Janet.
I really appreciate your time.
Janet Maendel (18:00):
You're welcome.
It was lovely meeting you, andthank you so much for inviting
me.
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