Gladstar - Rosemary Gladstars Herbal Medicine for Men

This book wouldnt have been possible without his love and support. He not only offered his insights and opinions freely but also volunteered his help through an intense period of writing. Roberts also my go-to guinea pig he has tried many of these herbal remedies and recipes and seems to be the healthier for it.

Thank you, Robert, for being in my life.

To those men in the herbal community who are offering classes on mens health, writing books, and spreading the word, I applaud your pioneering efforts: Guido Mas, Matthias Reisen, Michael Phillips, Ryan Drum, James Green, Stephen Buhner, David Winston, Matthew Wood, and Christopher Hobbs.

Endless gratitude and thanks to Nancy Ringer, my amazing and ever-patient editor, and to publisher Deborah Balmuth, without whose patience and vision few of my books would ever have seen the light of day.

This publication is intended to provide educational information for the reader on the covered subject. It is not intended to take the place of personalized medical counseling, diagnosis, and treatment from a trained health professional.

In the years since I wrote my small book Herbal Remedies for Mens Health, herbal use has skyrocketed, and the herb and natural supplements industry has burgeoned into a $9 billion business. But little has changed in regard to mens health.

Womens health and healing have become hot topics. In my own personal library, the section labeled Womens Health has gotten rather crowded; books here are stacked so high that they have begun to topple over each other. Some of them are excellent resources, written by caring practitioners, both men and women, and they offer the reader a rich tapestry of guidance, remedies, and recipes for supporting womens well-being.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for mens health. In comparison, there are few published articles, fewer books, and not a lot of information circulating, especially on preventive care. My shelf for books about mens health remains dismally bare, except for a few brave classics. The Male Herbal: Health Care for Men and Boys by James Green, published in 1991, was groundbreaking not only because it was the first book of its kind on the subject, but also because it presented Greens revolutionary and rather unique views on male health. Green has since written an excellent second edition. Stephen Buhner, a well-known author, philosopher, and herbalist, has also contributed a couple of excellent references on mens health, The Natural Testosterone Plan and The Vital Man; the latter explores the crisis of becoming middle-aged and the inherent problems and solutions for that stage of mens lives. There are other books, of course, available on mens health, but many of them focus on either the penis or the prostate as though men didnt have other body parts or suffer from other ailments that need attention and care.

So why isnt more information available? Different approaches? Different views to draw upon? Arent men interested? Dont they get sick? They may tell you they dont, but when you look at the statistics on male health in the United States, they present an entirely different picture. In its first year on the market, more than one million prescriptions for Viagra were written solely for impotence, letting mens best-kept secret out of the closet. Seven percent of men are infertile. Heart disease is the number one killer of men in America, and hypertension is rampant. More than 70 percent of men over the age of 60 have prostate problems requiring medication of some kind, and men continue to die on average 8 years before women.

Men make up slightly less than half of the total population, yet compared to women, they account for significantly fewer visits to doctors offices. One study by CNN and Mens Health magazine found that while 83 percent of women would go to a doctor for chest pain and 77 percent for shortness of breath, one-third of all men would not go to a doctor even upon experiencing life-threatening symptoms such as severe chest pain or shortness of breath. While 55 percent of women have screenings for various types of cancer, only 32 percent of men undergo screening, and even more revealing, only 23 percent have screenings for prostate cancer, the most common cancer in men. As David Winston, herbalist and author, notes, While men are heir to many of the same problems that plague women, there is a real reluctance to get help, to act preventively, or to initiate treatment until vague symptoms have become realized pathology.

It doesnt present a very healthy picture of the American male, nor does it say much for a health care system that seldom addresses the needs of half of the population. Information is sorely lacking, and men seldom, if ever, talk about their emotional and physical needs. Sadly, the holistic healing community has little more to offer. Its far easier for men to find sexual tonics to increase potency and anabolic protein powders to build mass than it is for them to learn how to support their body over time and to address health problems as they come up. Somethings wrong with this picture.

Thankfully, things are slowly but surely changing...

When I was young, I thought it was natural that men dont seem to be as interested in their own health as women are. I erroneously thought, as many people do, that men simply dont have the same degree of physiological complexity or physical problems. After all, where were the breasts, the womb, the ability to give birth? I find this rather limited perspective sadly amusing now, and apologize for it, having since discovered how marvelously intricate and cyclic the male system is. Today, we are finally acknowledging that mens bodies and needs are just as complex as womens, that they go through similar seasonal and cyclic life changes, and that they have many concerns surrounding their health men just deal differently.

Often women find it easy to talk about their problems. They seek help. They turn to other women. Its not uncommon for women to spend a great deal of time when they are together talking about their feelings, their desires and dreams, and their health and about men. This openness is not always the case in mens circles. Men may talk about a wide range of subjects, but they dont generally talk about their prostate troubles or their fear of losing virility. Its not considered manly to be ill or, worse, to be emotionally or physically in need.

Years ago, my former husband, Karl, told me about an exciting football game hed played while in college. He was the quarterback, had the ball, and was racing toward the goal line when he was knocked down and severely injured his shoulder. Rather than tell anybody, he played until the end of the game in severe pain with a shoulder practically pulled out of its socket. He was admired by his teammates for his tenacity, and even many years later, he would tell this story with a mixture of pride and sheepishness, because that shoulder still caused him endless pain. I found this story particularly interesting because it demonstrates the way in which our society trains men, and the characteristics they learn to pride themselves in and are admired for. Even at their own expense often at great cost to their bodies, and certainly their feelings their job is to be strong and keep going.