‘Chamomile is God’s Xanax’: Integrative medicine gives patients more options

By Rob Volansky

Fact checked by Shenaz Bagha

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Adding certain herbs and improved nutrition to Western medicine can have myriad benefits for patients with rheumatic and autoimmune conditions, said a presenter at the Rheumatology Nurses Society Annual Conference.

“Integrative medicine is about giving the patients another option,” Iris Zink, MSN, RN, ANP-BC, a rheumatology nurse practioner and co-owner of Pine Hollow Partners in East Lansing, Michigan, told Healio. “Many patients are scared of pharmaceuticals and western medicine since COVID.”

Zink said her clinic offers patients Western and Eastern medicine options for patients, with an emphasis on the word “and.”

“Integrative medicine is ‘Western medicine and,’ not ‘or,’” she said. “I don’t want them to not take a biologic for their lupus or their rheumatoid arthritis. But if they have the desire to take something more natural to help with their inflammation, I offer them options that are safe and evidence-based.”

Zink stressed that she is careful to counsel patients who want to stop taking disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs or biologics altogether.

“Most patients are not super successful with that unless they dramatically change their diet and commit to meditation,” she told Healio. “But it is hard for them. So many times, they get off their medication and then their disease rebounds because they are unable to stick to their anti-inflammatory diet.”

Even for patients who can stick to a strict diet, the stress of daily life and having a chronic disease can have an ongoing detrimental impact on their health, according to Zink.

“We are all in fight or flight mode all the time,” she said. “It makes it very difficult to get fully in remission.”

During her talk, Zink provided list of herbs and their potential benefits, starting with the anti-inflammatory properties of turmeric.

“It can help with lupus, uveitis and inflammatory bowel disease,” she said. “If you are going to pick one supplement they can afford, I would pick turmeric.”

Green tea also has anti-inflammatory properties, as well as potential benefits for cholesterol and gut health by reducing the bacteria H. pylori, according to Zink.

“It also helps with hot flashes,” she said.

Rhubarb root can also help with hot flashes and H. pylori, while lemon and tangerine peel can mitigate surprising rates of scurvy among rheumatology patient populations who fail to get enough citrus in their diets, Zink added.

“You would be shocked at how many people have no vitamin C or very, very low vitamin C in their system,” she said.

Ginger can improve blood flow in patients with peripheral vascular disease, while chamomile can help manage anxiety, according to Zink.

“Chamomile is God’s Xanax,” she said.

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