Melodie,
Herbs are very potent medicines and need to be researched before using them.
A co worker of mine was taking black cohosh for hot flashes and it was working beautifully for her. She went to the Dr. for a regular check up and her liver panel was off the wall. She had a bunch of tests to make sure it wasn't something else going on in her body, and then they determined that it was the black cohosh.
She stopped taking the cohosh and her liver panel returned to normal.
I was taking Chapparral as a part of my Cancer regimen. When I went to the Dr. for my arthritis (triggered by BCG's ) and my Dr. said, "your liver panel is out of the normal range" and I had to really, really think it over, and then I remembered that Chapparral is toxic to the liver.
You have to be careful with herbs, but that does not mean that with proper knowledge and application, that they can't be beneficial also.
Regards,
Rosemary