Back in the 1980's when I studied the correspondence courses of the then General Council and Register of Consultant Medical Herbalists[I lived outside the UK and had no opportunity to do the clinical work leading to Membership] prescriptions generally consisted of a mixture of fluid/liquid extracts.Tinctures generally tended to what I should call "strong" botanicals,such as myrrh,senna,capsicum.Repertories and prescribers of that time,such as "The Modern Botanic Prescriber" by Eric Powell MNIMH contained prescriptions generally in fluid extract form.

In recent years I have notedthat the trend has been towards tinctures and away from fluid extracts and I wondered whether one of the practising herbalists who contribute to the Forum could explain the reason for this change.

Thank you and belated Easter greetings to all.

Kevin

Hi Kevin,
What an intersting question--it made me stop and think.I studied with the GCRCH and qualified in 1994. I think the move towards tinctures has happened for a number of reasons.

1) As FE`s are used in such small quantity there is less flexibility when making up a prescription and you either end up prescribing in very small doses,which patients find fiddly or you have to dilute it--which seems quite pointless to me.

2)Cost. to buy in FE`s is very expensive and many herbalists would find it difficult to keep a wide range of herbals in stock.

3)As a herbalist,I prefer to make my own medicines where possible and to take advantage of any herbs that I grow or wildcraft.I can only practically do this if I make tinctures.I have a duty free license that allows me to buy ethol alcohol duty free and make medicines that I can sell to the public. The regulations involved in this are very stringent.It is an interesting fact that to satisfy these regulations seem to differ in different parts of the country as you apply to your local Customs and Excise .Some herbalists i know have been unable to obtain a license and use vodka.They must have to charge a lot for the medicines to recoup their costs.

As to the number of herbs in a working repertoir, I work with a range of aprx 150 herbs on a daily base and some others that I use occasionally.
Of course,it musn`t be forgotten that there are some herbs that should only be used in FE form and visa versa.

An interesting topic,and I`d love to hear other people`s views on this subject.

Linda

Hi Linda,

Thank you for your response.I was also hoping there would be some other views raised on this subject,but not to worry!

I found your comments most interesting and from a personal point of view have found tinctures easier to work with,that is where self-medication is appropriate.The also seem much easier to obtain in small quantities than was the case with the old fluid extracts.

Kevin