It’s All Natural… So It Must Be Safe

During my 35 years as a massage therapist, I heard a lot of things from clients lying face-down on the table. Some were heartfelt, some were questionable, and some made me pause just long enough to decide whether to laugh or educate. One of the most common went like this: “I started taking this herbal supplement. It’s all natural, so it can’t hurt me.”

Now, I understood what they meant. Natural sounds wholesome. Clean. Like something you’d find growing along a quiet country road—or even in your herb garden—instead of behind a pharmacy counter with a warning label that folds out like a road map. I’d usually answer the same way every time. “Well… poison ivy is all natural too. But I wouldn’t use it for anything.” That generally got their attention.

Out here in the country, “natural” doesn’t mean safe. It just means nobody put it in a bottle yet. We’ve got plants that heal, plants that irritate, and plants that will make you wish you’d never brushed up against them in shorts. Even the chickens don’t eat everything they see—and they’re not exactly known for thoughtful decision-making. If a chicken walks past something without pecking it, I figure that’s a pretty solid warning sign right there.

I think part of the problem is that if something doesn’t come with a printed list of side effects, people assume there aren’t any. No warning label, no problem. We all know not to roll around in poison ivy, but there are a whole lot of plants that fall into the category of “looks harmless” that probably ought to come with a sign that says: if you don’t know what you’re doing, you shouldn’t be doing it.

Like coltsfoot. Those bright yellow flowers that show up first in the spring, before the dandelions are even thinking about opening their sleepy eyes. They look cheerful. Helpful, even. The kind of plant that seems like it would bring you a cup of tea and ask how you’re feeling. They’ve been used for generations for coughs and colds, and folks swore by them. But just because people have used something for 200 years doesn’t mean it’s harmless. Kind of like a few old-time farm tools—worked great in my grandmother's day, might also take a finger off if you aren’t paying attention. Turns out, coltsfoot comes with a few strings attached that nobody mentioned back in the day—including liver damage.

And it’s not the only one.

A lot of those old remedies worked. That’s why people kept using them. But they worked for the same reason a sharp blade works—use it right and it helps you, use it wrong and you’re headed for trouble.

Foxglove was used for heart conditions, but it contains digitalis, where the difference between helpful and deadly is dangerously small. Comfrey—sometimes called “knitbone”—was used to heal bones and bruises, but can cause serious liver damage if taken internally. Pennyroyal showed up in remedies for colds and digestion, but can be toxic even in small amounts and has caused fatal poisonings. Jimsonweed was used for asthma and pain relief, often smoked, but can cause severe hallucinations and delirium that nobody signs up for twice. Yarrow was used for wounds and fevers and is one of the milder ones, but can still trigger allergic reactions and interact with medications. Even elderberry, which people still use today, has to be prepared properly because the raw plant can make you sick. And belladonna… well, the name “deadly nightshade” really was all the warning label anyone should have needed.

Nature doesn’t hand out instruction manuals, and it definitely doesn’t label things “safe for beginners.” A lot of what we use in modern medicine started out in plants, and somewhere along the line somebody figured out the right dose, the right preparation, and what happens when you get it wrong. That’s the part people tend to skip when they say, “it’s natural,” as if that settles the matter.

I’m not against supplements, and I’m not against herbs. I’m just in favor of a little common sense before you start treating your body like a science experiment based on something you read on the internet at midnight. Because natural can help you, and natural can also knock you flat if you’re not paying attention, and sometimes the difference between the two is just a matter of how much you take—and whether you know what you're doing.

And if all else fails, just remember: poison ivy is natural too.

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