Interview With Medicinal Herbalist Dr. Amber Robinson

James Egidio: 0:41

Hi, I’m James Egidio your host of the Medical Truth Podcast. The podcast that tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about the American healthcare System. Just a disclaimer, this podcast, in its associated content, websites, articles, provide general information and Discussions about health and related subjects. The information in other content provided in this podcast or blog, website, or any other linked material are not intended and should not be considered or used as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Please consult with your personal physician. Medications made from plants have been used throughout human history. Today, over 100 pharmaceutical drugs and medicines trace their roots to chemical compounds in plants. My guest is an author, educator, and aromatherapist and herbalist, where she received her herbalist and aromatherapist distinctions from heart of herbs in order to complete the rigorous requirements to become a level two NAHA certified professional. Aromatherapist with the National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy she also holds a master’s degree as well as a PhD in nutrition and has written several books. Her latest is Aromatherapy and Essential Oils for Healing 120 Remedies to Restore Mind, body, and Spirit, where it currently has 4.705 with 247 reviews on Amazon, as well as a book called Forgotten Backyard Re Remedies. It can be found online at the www.BitterHerbalist.com and www.backyard-remedies.com. Is my pleasure to have on the Medical Truth Podcast. My guest Dr. Amber Robinson. Hi Dr. Robinson. How are you today?

Dr. Amber Robinson: 2:28

Hello. Hey, I am wonderful. Thanks for having me.

James Egidio: 2:32

Absolutely. Please share with the audience of the Medical Truth Podcast a little bit about yourself and what you do what you have going when it comes to aromatherapy and herbs.

Dr. Amber Robinson: 2:44

Okay. Born and raised here in the Missouri Ozarks. And that has fostered a love for nature and all things natural and a love for plants. And as I grew up I realized that. I wanted to follow that calling. I actually was a high school English teacher for 10 years before I finally retired and decided to become an herbalist full-time and studied and went to school for that. I love where I live here on an 80 acre farm we have lots of native medicinal plants. And as so even from the time I was a little girl I remember my grandparents showing me plants and how to use them and they were edible in medicinal, different plants. And I just thought that was really interesting and I’ve always loved science. So I ended up years ago, my husband got me a still for Christmas. Like you think a moonshine still and it was glass and I learned how to distill my own essential oils in that. And I’d always loved essential oils before that, but just I was able to, living here off grid on this homestead has allowed me to grow and wildcraft or forage for plants that I can use to create both essential oils and herbal medicine.

James Egidio: 4:05

nice, what inspired you to get involved with herbs and aromatherapy and herbal treatments? And herbal medicines, I should say?

Dr. Amber Robinson: 4:13

I guess it would start with my grandmother. She’s still alive. Her name is Doris and she is 84 and as healthy as can be and just growing up, she would take us to gather water crest in her spring and she would, tell us about herbal treatments that her grandparents used growing up in extreme poverty, one of nine children, they had to learn those things just to survive. And so it started there, but it, and that stuff never leaves you, even though I went to college for journalism and got my bachelor’s in that I had my first child when I was 24. And having kids made me reevaluate everything again. And I think. I really wanted what’s best for them. It wasn’t anymore about just about me. It was about them and what I could do for them and how I could be the best mom that I could be and give them the best care that really rekindled things. And that was probably 14 years ago.

James Egidio: 5:15

Yeah. Share with the audience a of the Medical Truth podcast a little bit about like pharmaceutical medications that are made from plants. Cuz I don’t think a lot of people, when they hear pharmaceuticals and they hear herbal supplements and they sometimes they don’t put the them together. Some, and yet absolutely there are medications.

Dr. Amber Robinson: 5:33

Yeah. And it’s a common misconception and I like to tell people I’m, not that far. We are not that far apart. The allopathic medicine and herbal medicine we’re not as far apart as people would like you to believe. And there are a long list of herbs that are still used today to create pharmaceuticals. For instance, one that I think is really interesting because it’s really relevant for right now, is Shikimic acid and Shikimic acid comes from three different plants that we know of that researchers have found and. It’s in unripe sweet gum balls. Have you seen the gum trees with the spiny balls on them? Sure. Yeah. They have starshape leaves. Those unripe green seed pods have shikimic acid as the, as do some pine needles and star anese. Star Anese was originally used to extract the shakimic acid to make what we know as Tamiflu and they decided that wasn’t a very sustainable plant cuz Star Anes is not very sustainable to use that way. So they, they found that it was also in Sweet Gum and Pine, so they could continue extracting that Shikimic acid. And there are others like Willow Bark contained Salicin. Salicin is used to create aspirin,

James Egidio: 6:52

right?

Dr. Amber Robinson: 6:53

We also have poppies, the Opium Poppy. opioids, opioids are still used today. Those are just three off the top of my head. We also have the fox glove plant. And that’s not one that we even use in the herbal world because it’s toxic. But in lab, they can actually extract certain glycosides from that plant to create medicine for congestive heart failure. And they do that

James Egidio: 7:17

right? For the medication? I believe it’s digitalis.

Dr. Amber Robinson: 7:21

Yes. And that’s the Latin name of that.

James Egidio: 7:23

Is that right? It’s that is the na yeah. Latin name. And then I also pulled up when I, like I said, I pulled up this sheet here, and I we’re looking at you mentioned Poppy that’s on this list. Then the Jesuit priest discovered an Alkaloid from the Cinchona Calisaya tree, which could be used to treat malaria leg cramps. Today, we call it Quinine. and like you said, Tamiflu, that’s on this list as well. And then the aspirin, like you’d mentioned, and then the Pacif Yew was discovered to contain a substance that slows down cell division in the body, which is the drug called Taxol, which is used to treat cancer patients in chemotherapy, which of course, I’m sure the pharmaceutical companies turn around and charge thousands and thousands of dollars to access this stuff. Insane. But, and of course everybody knows about penicillin being a Yeah. To fight bacterial in it, which was a mold. Yes. So what my question is, what is the. what is aromatherapy and what is the difference between aromatherapy and being herbalist? Cuz you mentioned you’re also, and I mentioned that the opening of this episode that you’re aromatherapist. But what is the difference between aromatherapy and herbalist?

Dr. Amber Robinson: 8:40

That’s a really good question, and it can be summarized in that herbs are a whole plant. Usually the whole plant, where portions of that plant are used to create herbal medicine. However, aromatherapy takes those plants, those same herbs that we might use medicinally and condenses them to create a very strong volatile oil. That’s the end result of the distillation process. So essential oils are going to be much stronger, but they’re also. Plant isolates. They do not contain all of the compounds that would be in herbal medicine, but they contain isolated compounds that were in those plants. So there are pros and cons to each and actually, I don’t know many people who are herbalist and aromatherapists because those two worlds tend to collide over philosophical beliefs. And, you shouldn’t use plant isolates and you should use whole plant medicine. But I tend to integrate both of them

James Egidio: 9:40

so I guess my question is to, that follow up question is, so they collide. Why do they collide? Because I. I, I guess when I equate aromatherapy, I equate it to having a little device that you pour a few drops of oil in and it diffuses the oil into the air, which is wonderful. And then of course herbs, cuz I’ve was in the nutritional supplement industry myself over 30 years ago. And, taking herbs. And I remember being in the industry and hearing about when they isolate certain concentrates out of the herbs, they’re adulterating the herbs by taking the active ingredient out of them. And there were certain, companies that sold herbal supplements that you take orally that where they had not done that and taken out the active ingredient and yeah. Why would they collide? I guess that’s my question. Why would those

Dr. Amber Robinson: 10:38

they collide because essential oils are considered by many to be a very strong, very condensed. Form of plant medicine and your herbal extracts that like the kinds that I make, I usually make tinctures, which are a very simple, made you fill a jar with the plant material. You cover that in a, at least 80 proof alcohol that helps to extract the plant, the compounds from the plants, and then you leave it for six weeks, strain it out, and that takes all the compounds that were in that plant, that the whole, like I just harvest the whole thing. and I take all the compounds from it, they’re gonna be in that extract. And some of them might be less water soluble than others, but with essential oils, they’re going through a chemical process of distillation. And you’re near the end product. Is this oil? You could start out with, how so many pounds of plant material and you end up with this much essential oil, right? So we’re talking a difference of strength, of different isolates. And a lot of people in my that, like the things that I do will use bolt. But as a general rule, if the herbal extract doesn’t work, then we’ll try something different. Possibly aromatherapy and all aromatherapy is something that’s exploded over the years. One of the things that we’re starting to see more in the aromatherapy field as a aromatherapist is incidents, people using them incorrectly. You have a lot higher chance of having an adverse reaction to an essential oil than an herbal extract because essential oils are just downright strong. Yes. And people use them incorrectly. Yeah.

James Egidio: 12:20

When you say incorrectly, how are they using ’em incorrectly? Because I only know of. using essential oils other than the way I used to use, let’s say, eucalyptus in a steam room on a towel or whatever to breathe it in. But how are people misusing the oils? Are they consuming them internally? Is that what Yeah, what it is,

Dr. Amber Robinson: 12:40

there are a lot of there are two major of ways that you can misuse them. The first is internal use. Some people say no, because I have been told to do that and blah, blah, blah. at the end of the day, it’s your body, whatever, but it’s putting a load on your liver and kidneys that probably doesn’t need to be there. Plus people have reported burning their esophagus, having esophagus damage because they’re adding oils to water and oil and water don’t mix right. So it floats on top and they just, get this major contact with the essential oil in their throat and stomach.

James Egidio: 13:14

Oh, okay.

Dr. Amber Robinson: 13:14

And sometimes that can cause major issues. Not to mention they’re taking something that’s really condensed and strong and ingesting it when it’s not really the whole term. Aromatherapy is to suggest that we inhale that for healing because it’s such a strong isolate and plant compound that to put it in a diffuser like you were discussing. Or even to put it in just a little like on a cotton ball and inhale. is just as therapeutic and you can get the same really positive results. Yeah. But the other thing that we’re seeing is people not diluting them first. I get they are taking them what we call. And applying them to the skin and they’re having major rashes or skin peeling, or sometimes some essential oils you shouldn’t put on before you go out in the sun. Okay. They’re photos sensitive and so then people put on mostly citrus oils and then they’ll go out in the sun and have a horrible burn because of that. Yeah. So we always caution people to dilute their essential oils in a carrier oil like olive oil or, something like that first

James Egidio: 14:21

yeah. Yeah. It’s interesting you say that too because, I have experience with and I’m a firm believer in all the holistic and naturopathic remedies. I don’t take any I’ll be 60 in July and I don’t take any medications, pharmaceutical medications. But it’s interesting you say getting back to the essential oils and using a lot of herb to make the oil, you go, I go to a couple places that when I lived back in Vegas to buy essential oils, like I said, for the steam room, man, it’s like sticker shock, some of those oils are so expensive, but I could see why they’re expensive, because I guess it’s the process, right?

Dr. Amber Robinson: 15:03

It’s the process. I sit here and make my own essential oils at home, and I’m excited here Now different plants contain more oil than other plants. But it does take a lot to get just a little bit of oil. But at the same time, there are a lot of essential oil companies that are overpricing really bad. So

James Egidio: 15:22

yeah. Yeah. I know Basil oil is, has very beneficial too, right?

Dr. Amber Robinson: 15:28

Yeah. Comes out, I made that before. It’s, it does. quite a bit of basil to make that, but it’s antimicrobial. And I, I don’t know if you’ve worked with Hydrosols before, but that’s the No. A byproduct of the distillation process. So after the process is over and I have this beaker, it’s not just oil that’s in the beaker, it’s hydrosol, and then the oil floats to the top of the hydrosol. And then I have to take something. to suction the oils off. And hydrosol is really beneficial too. It’s just basically essential oil water, but it’s a lot safer. It doesn’t have as many issues with causing adverse reactions.

James Egidio: 16:06

Yeah. What are some of the oils, I guess now that I don’t, I didn’t really have that question in store for you, but what are some of the oils that, that you use and what are some of the ailments that are they are used for? because you mentioned

Dr. Amber Robinson: 16:19

Sure.

James Egidio: 16:19

Antimicrobial with basal oils. So lavender, go ahead.

Dr. Amber Robinson: 16:24

Yeah, absolutely. So lavender, like you just said and basil, those antimicrobial oils are really handy for, okay. One of the things I use when I distill lavender, I take that hydrosol that I was telling you about after I cycle my oil off. and I use that to sanitize my yoga mat Oh, cool. And it just refreshes and sanitizes. And I use it as a natural deodorant spray. I blend it with other things to create things like that. Some other oils that I use a lot, because I have two boys, age 10 and 12. They get bumps and bruises a lot, and I can use oils like. helichrysum to rub on the bruise. I can, those kind of things are really helpful. Yeah. Yeah. I know Lavender’s used for sleep

James Egidio: 17:15

too. They could, I guess you spray it on a pillow case and you can Yeah.

Dr. Amber Robinson: 17:19

Yeah. We do a diffuser in both my boys’ rooms, so if they’re having a hard time we’ll do a little bit of lavender and a little bit of camomile in their diffuser at night. If they just seem to be struggling to sleep and it really seems to help them. And another thing that we use is peppermint. and ginger because when you have kids, you get tummy aches. Those things are really handy for nausea and upset stomach.

James Egidio: 17:42

So to the listeners and viewers of the Medical Truth podcast, how and where can they access high quality herbal supplements and aromatherapy products and what should they know before doing so?

Dr. Amber Robinson: 17:55

That’s also a really good question, and I get asked this a lot. I don’t work for any companies. I make my own oils, so the information you’ll get from me is pretty straightforward and pretty direct. I do not buy from multi-level marketing companies because they’re overpriced. I’m just gonna, I’m gonna say that. Yeah, that’s fine. One of the essential oil companies that I use the most, if I’m going to buy oil, is plant therapy. They’re very reasonable priced and they have a good track record. And that’s you need to, yeah. What’s their website? Is it PlantTherapy.com? Yeah. Yep. Yeah. And they’ve worked with Dr. Robert Tisserand here and there, and I think he even has his own line through them. Maybe not, but he has worked with them in the past and he’s a big essential oil expert, so yeah. I really like plant therapy. I’ve been using them for a while, and like I said, their prices are really good and they have good quality products. Nice. Then as far as herbal supplements, one of my favorite places to order from if I’m not growing it myself, if I’m growing it myself, I order seeds from BakersCreek.com that’s here in Missouri. It’s in Mansfield, Missouri. And they do awesome organic, non gmo, medicinal herb and vegetable seeds but if I’m purchasing supplement or herbs, I usually go through Mountain Rose Herbs.

James Egidio: 19:23

I’ve heard of them,

Dr. Amber Robinson: 19:23

and they’re very reputable. And they really have a focus on quality. So I’ve never received anything from them, but I was disappointed with.

James Egidio: 19:32

Good. All right. And then what advice do you have when it comes to aromatherapy and herbal supplements to the listeners and viewers of the Medical Truth Podcast?

Dr. Amber Robinson: 19:42

don’t be afraid to, especially with herbal supplements don’t be afraid to try them because you might just be shocked at how well they work. And yeah, do your research. Make sure that it’s a, if you’re purchasing from a company, make sure it’s a credible company that, that takes care of their products and is involved in the process from the growing of that plant to the harvesting and the processing.

James Egidio: 20:10

Yeah. Yeah, and I think for the people that are listening to that may be on medications, pharmaceuticals probably confer with their doctor too before they, they get started on a regimen of any one particular type of herb or something like that diffusing.

Dr. Amber Robinson: 20:26

Yes. And I would also add that do, like you said when it comes to aromatherapy, something else that’s worth mentioning is the safest way to enjoy aromatherapy with is just holding it in a personal inhaler and giving that a smell every now and then. Yeah. That’s not gonna cause any contact with your skin, and you’re not going to be ingesting it.

James Egidio: 20:48

Yeah, I did that. Like I said with the eucalyptus soil in, in a steam room and peppermint too. I used to use on my tongue a little bit of peppermint, a drop of peppermint oil

Dr. Amber Robinson: 20:58

and also make sure that you do your research before you give kids essential oils. There are certain oils that contain certain compounds that should not be used around children, and a lot of people aren’t aware of that. There’s rosemary, peppermint, eucalyptus they contain a compound called one eight Senol. And that can actually cause the opposite of your intended effect, cuz most people are gonna use those essential oils for respiratory issues. Like eucalyptus and the peppermint because of that menthol. And for children that could actually backfire. So Oh, okay. For children I like 10 and under, I as a general rule, just use something else. and pets. That’s, my cat has jumped up on my table like 10 times while I was talking to you. But cats should not be around essential oil. So when I’m diffusing upstairs, I put my cat downstairs. Yeah. They shouldn’t be used around pets unless they’re jumping on your table. I know. I was having a, I don’t know if you saw, but I was like, oh, get outta here. That’s funny.

James Egidio: 22:00

My guest, Dr. Amber Robinson. Her website is the bitterherb.com. Also -www.backyard-remedies.com and she wrote a book called Forgotten. Backyard Remedies. That’s one of the books I’ve mentioned I really liked cuz it’s illustrates a lot of pictures and what not and what to do with the herbs and it’s really cool. But both books are awesome. Like I. The, your most recent book is Aromatherapy and Essential Oils for Healing, correct? Yes. And that’s 120 Remedies.

Dr. Amber Robinson: 22:31

Go ahead was supposed to come out, but it is postponed right now, so I will keep you up to date. It was on medicinal plants as well. Okay. Through the same publisher that did the essential oil books. Yeah. And we’ll put that on the website as well, that link to your books. and thank you so much for coming on to the Medical Truth Podcast. I really appreciate it. It’s awesome. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you for having me.

James Egidio: 22:57

All right, thanks.