Herbal Dosage and Intent
How much should I take? This is the question people who take herbal formulas want to know, and like most things, the answer is complex!
The concept of dosage is especially crucial in the Western pharmaceutical landscape where most medicines offered by “Big Pharma” have long lists of terrible side effects and taking too much could be a life threatening event.
It is true there are some plants who carry chemical compounds that can either interact with pharmaceuticals (so shouldn’t be combined), or are only to be taken in low doses (1 or 2 drops), and under the supervision of an experienced herbalist because taking too much could also be a life threatening event. These plants are rare and not sold by big companies off the shelf in stores, and I don’t offer them either. So let’s go beyond possible herb dosing danger (uncommon) and look at reasons why I list recommended doses on my offerings.
Plants are as much living beings as people are, and so it’s best to interact with plant supports as respectfully as we would interact with each other.
First and foremost when we take from nature we’re going about it in a reciprocal way, like we would if we took something from a friend. We ask permission, we make sure we’re not always the one taking in the relationship, and we also give. We help out our friends (tending them), and we never take so much that we deplete a friend’s energy. If we can start off our relationship with certain plants by ingesting a plant infusion (herbal formula) with the lowest amount needed, it’s more respectful to the plant community because we don’t take more than we need. Make sense?
Ingesting plant tinctures, elixirs, glycerites, vinegars/oxymels and herbal teas in order to support our physical, emotional, spiritual bodies is not a business transaction. Instead it is a supportive relationship where the two beings involved listen to each other, a back and forth friendship.
This engagement doesn’t need to be perfect, it’s really about presence and listening, finding a way to stay with the herbal allies you’re engaging, versus ingesting, forgetting, and going on with your busy day.
With the plant formulas I offer there are brief recommendations on how much to take, and how to work with the plants. Here I am providing a more in-depth look into these recommendations.
The first day of taking a formula I almost always say “start slow”. Start with 5-10 drops to get a sense of how the herbs feel in your body. At this point you are beginning a relationship with the plants. The slow start is one of intention, purpose, and curiosity. It’s a way to invite the plants in and listen to them, allowing a reciprocal relationship to unfold.
If 5-10 drops 2-3x the first day are unnoticeable, then increase to half a dropper full (approx. 15 drops) 2-3x per day on the second day. If that is enough to start noticing an effect, then you can stay at this dosing for now, until something changes for you and you want/need to adjust the amount you’re taki
Remember both you and the plants are living beings who vary from day to day. The herbal formulas themselves are shelf stable, but the plants have an intelligence that allows them to meet your body where its at and to go where they are needed. The effects of the plants do change with you each time you take them, as you are changing. It is common to adjust your dosing up or down according to this fluid and changing relationship.
This is why we say, pause and listen to your body when ingesting herbal medicine. Notice the interaction your body is having with the plants. 🌿
The maximum amount of drops I recommend each time you ingest it (each dose) is one dropper full - approx. 30-40 drops from both 1oz and 2oz bottle droppers, one big squeeze to fill it up as much as possible (read at bottom of article about dropper variance…).
I recommend taking most herbal formulas 2-3 times per day as it is helpful to keep the herbs in your body, in a steady manner, so they can do their work/care.
I like breakfast, lunch, dinner, but some other configurations may work better for you:
upon waking and before bed
two or three midday breaks in your day
Whatever timing works best for you, is easy to remember, is convenient to do, and feels good in your body!
So then once you settle on:
how many drops work for you at the time of interacting with a specific formula
how many times per day you can manage
Then you can usually plan on taking it for 2 weeks straight. After 2 weeks pause for a week.
During the pause you should be able to feel a shift in your body. This shift helps you get to know exactly what/how the formula was affecting you. At this point it is easier to decide if you want to continue again for 2 weeks straight and follow the pattern of
2 weeks on
1 week off pause
2 weeks on
Repeat that pattern until the herbs have either done what they came to do, in which case you would stop ingesting them…or maybe they are needed as a continual tonic support that is helping you function in your life, and you will use them for months to years following this common herbal dosing pattern.
Acute when there are unwanted symptoms that arise suddenly and demand attention immediately:
headache
nausea
stomachache / acid reflux / indigestion
diarrhea / constipation
cold, flu, viral outbreak
infection
excess uterine bleeding
panic attack / high anxiety
traumatic event
Acute means a different dosage approach may be required. This is when working with a herbalist is helpful! You can safely follow the above dosing recommendations I have described (and what is on the bottle), however you may be able to temporarily increase the dose (ingesting on the hour, or 5-6x daily) to address the acute situation immediately and quickly, then move back down to the recommended dosing amount, frequency, and time frame.
Tonic when you are ingesting herbs proactively as a preventative approach, when you have a chronic issue that is an ongoing discomfort/concern, and/or you are in long term repair mode working on the ongoing stages of healing something that was acute, but is no longer.
For quite some years I had heart issues that were an uncomfortable result of anxiety, stress, trauma. My heart was “fine” according to the Western Medical system, but it wasn’t feeling fine so I chose to support it with a plant known to be a heart ally. For years I used this specific herb in a variety of formulas daily, following the above on/off pattern of dosing, eventually I noticed I didn’t have this recurring discomfort anymore so it was time to see if the tonifying/re-balancing was complete by stopping the herb for longer than one week. I discovered I didn’t need to ingest this plant ally daily any longer. Every now and then in an acute event of HIGH stress I will lean back on that herb, and it does its work in just a few days…because the long term tonic approach had really resolved/re-balanced the things in my body that had led to the uncomfortable recurring symptoms.
I hope this bit of writing has helped you understand the process of ingesting herbal formulas! Feel free to leave a comment or send an email with any general questions you may still have. I can’t diagnose or recommend herbs and amounts for you without an herbal consultation + intake form. If you’re interested in that contact me here so we can discuss.
Remember…
Plants are alive, even when infused into a carrier like alcohol, vinegar, honey, glycerin, or water. Plants respond to energy in general, and definitely respond to your attention when swallowing them. They are present with you when you take time to notice how they taste and feel. Do they feel warming, cooling, tingly, relaxing, energizing, fortifying, protective….?
The amazing thing is the plants know how to make their way in your body to where they are needed and begin their work. We can keep this relationship of care open and flowing when we thank the plants for being here, and ingest them with reverence.
Dropper bottle variance:
The reason I use the word approximately (30-40 drops) when saying “a full dropper” is because the droppers on both
1 oz and 2 oz bottles vary by manufacturer.
A 1oz dropper is always shorter than a 2oz dropper, but they pull approximately the same amount when you squeeze the bulb, somewhere between 30-40 drops.
Factors that can affect how many drops you get from a “full squeeze” on any given day are: temperature of the liquid, thickness of the liquid, how you angle or don’t angle the dropper when squeezing.
Once you comfortably reach a “full dropper” dosage the possible difference in those 10 drops will most likely not have a noticeable effect in your body.
If you want to count each drop up into the 30 drop zone, to get the exact same amount each time you are certainly welcome to do that, but it is not necessary!