Socrates had that right. Not even he could have imagined that so many different causes have been found for headache. Here are just a few that may need to be considered when someone presents with new onset headache: Brain Abscess Sinusitis Stroke, Hemorrhagic Encephalitis Stroke, Ischemic Glaucoma, Acute Angle-Closure Subarachnoid Hemorrhage Headache, Cluster Subdural Hematoma Headache, Migraine Temporal Arteritis Meningitis Temporomandibular Joint Syndrome Otitis Media Trigeminal Neuralgia Fever Anoxia Cervical spondylosis Tumor Caffeine dependency Nonprescription analgesic dependency Severe anemia or polycythemia Uremia Hepatic disorders Toxic effects from drugs or fumes (carbon monoxide) Dental disease Paget disease of bone Refractive error Hypertension Hypoxia Lesions of the eye or middle ear Lesions of the oral cavity Even for a partial list, that's pretty daunting - and a good reason to get checked out by a qualified practitioner, even for something deceptively simple-sounding like "headache", if it's a new problem.

From a distinguished expert on herbalism and other forms of alternative medicine, Edzard Ernst: "Craniosacral therapy (CST), which, confusingly, is sometimes also called âÂÂcranial osteopathyâÂÂ, was invented less than half a century ago by an osteopath. He thought that the spinal fluid is pulsating, the cranial bones are sufficiently movable to enable a therapist feel this pulse from the outside, and that it is possible to influence this process with very gente manual manipulations which, in turn, would restore health in sick individuals. According to the inventor, the CST-practitioner uses his or her own hands to evaluate the craniosacral system by gently feeling various locations of the body to test for the ease of motion and rhythm of the fluid pulsing around the brain and spinal cord. Soft-touch techniques are then used to release restrictions in any tissues influencing the craniosacral system..." "To many desperate patients or distressed parents of ill children - CST is often advocated for children, particularly those suffering from cerebral palsy - this sort of lingo might sound impressive; to anyone understanding a bit of physiology, anatomy etc. it looks like pure nonsense. CST has therefore been considered by most independent experts to be on the lunatic fringe of alternative medicine."... Clinical trials have not been kind to craniosacral therapy. "The conditions treated in the trials were diverse: cerebral palsy, migraine, fibromyalgia and infant colic. All the badly-flawed studies reported positive results. The only rigorous trial was the one with children suffering from cerebral palsy - and here the findings were squarely negative. The conlusion of my review was blunt and straight forward: âÂÂthe notion that CST is associated with more than non-specific effects is not based on evidence from rigorous randomised clinical trialsâÂÂ. This is a polite and scientific way of saying that CST is bogus..." "In a nutshell: 1) ineffective therapies, such as CST, may seem harmless but, through their ineffectiveness, they constitute a serious threat to our health; 2) bogus treatments become bogus through the false claims which are being made for them; 3) seriously flawed studies can be worse than none at all: they generate false positive results and send us straight up the garden path." http://www.ebm-first.com/craniosacral-therapy.html Note that I could have just said "Craniosacral therapy is bogus" without any references and expected readers to believe me. But I think visitors to this forum deserve more than personal opinions.

To clear up some misconceptions: First, comfrey does not have proven efficacy against tooth decay, either as a preventative or to reverse decay that's already underway. Safety as a mouth rinse is probably not a major concern apart from possible local irritation, if one is careful not to swallow any. Many responsible herbalists recommend against any internal use of comfrey because of the risk of pyrrolizidine alkaloid toxicity, implicated in some cases of acute liver failure and a concern for possible carcinogenicity. Oral formulations are banned in most countries for this reason. Young children are especially susceptible to toxicity from comfrey (even a few days of taking comfrey internally can be fatal). Contrary to what's been stated, acute liver failure is not a significant consideration when it comes to use of NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs). Tylenol (acetominophen, which can be hepatotoxic) is not an NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) like aspirin or Motrin. Tylenol is not an anti-inflammatory agent - it works by a different mechanism than NSAIDS to reduce pain and fever. Used in proper dosage and not combined with other things that can damage the liver (i.e alcohol) it is a generally safe as well as effective drug. The real problem is when people take too much, which may happen when they combine or otherwise overdose on over-the-counter cold meds. The big difference between Tylenol and comfrey is that Tylenol is a proven effective drug. Comfrey may have limited value in topical pain control (when applied for limited periods on unbroken skin), but in general the claims made for it have not been backed by quality studies (something to consider when weighing a decision whether to ingest it). You cannot count on drying to significantly reduce the harmful alkaloids. Unfortunately, you also can't count on comfrey sellers to be knowledgeable and upfront about the composition of their products in our current, largely unregulated supplement market. I rarely take acetominophen, but feel a lot more confident about its safety than I do comfrey. And based on what we've seen already, if Americans began to ingest comfrey as commonly as they do acetominophen, it's extremely likely that comfrey would quickly pass acetominophen as the leading cause of acute liver failure in the U.S.

I live in eastern Washington and the people here are the same way! If you see someone in the park looking at roses or other plants, then most of them are happy to discuss plants and even offer suggestions of where to learn more. It's also common for neighbors to share plants, when they do garden. Not many people grow herbs, but those who do are also happy to share information and make recommendations. However, some have gone to school for this, others have life experience and some have both. If you want to get the most help available, I wouldn't discount any of these paths....since they all lead to knowledge and the ability to share that knowledge with others. FataMorgana- Nice to 'see' you...and I hope your gardens are all doing well. I agree with everything you said about growing your own plants and the reasons it is important to do so. Thank you for your insight :)