Woman relies on traditional medicine to treat health issues

By Hannah Van De Peer via SWNS

A student who shunned traditional medicine to treat her health issues with herbs and stinging nettles says she has "never felt better."

Ash Ruiz, 27, turned to alternative remedies starting to study medicinal botany at Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia, in 2017.

The course inspired her to try complementary and alternative medicine for her own health issues - including echinacea for digestion and mullein for bronchitis.

Ash suffered from polycystic ovary syndrome - a condition that affects how the ovaries work - from the age of 14, and used the contraceptive pill to regulate her menstrual cycle.

But she decided to seek herbal treatment instead after reading about the benefits and tried raspberry leaf tea and chasteberry vitex, which she says made her "feel like herself again".

Ash has also used red clover and stinging nettle tea for balancing her hormones and oat straw and Nervine herbs - like lavender - to calm anxiety.

Ash says her herbal remedies have helped with her migraines, irregular periods and anxiety and she'd "never go back" to using traditional medicines alone.

Ash, a herbalist, from Woodbridge, Va., said: "I’ve been on tons of different meds from a really young age, but now I feel more in balance with myself.

"I was put on birth control from a really young age - and now I’m constantly trying to find natural ways to regulate my hormones.

"It started with juice cleanses - but now I use teas and tinctures."

Ash had been suffering from irregular periods, weight gain and anxiety from the age of 14.

In 2010, her parents took her to a gynecologist for a scan - which showed she had "a lot" of cysts in her ovaries.

She was prescribed the contraceptive pill to regulate her periods and stop her migraines, weight gain and severe anxiety, and took it for seven years.

She says she “didn’t know any better” before studying medicinal botany - but her own health struggles led her to trying herbs for herself.

“I have a condition called PCOS,” Ash said.

“It’s a hormonal condition - and it can be insulin-resistant.

“My main symptoms were irregular menstrual cycles.

"From as young as 14, I could go three to four months without having a period.

“My parents didn’t have a lot of knowledge about natural remedies, so they took me to a gynecologist - who did a lot of scans.

“None of us knew any better, so when I was put on birth control, I just took it. And it was horrible from then on.

“I used to have migraines, irregular periods, weight gain, anxiety - so many symptoms, the list goes on.

“And birth control just made it so much worse - I did not feel like myself.”

In 2017, Ash began studying biology at Virginia Commonwealth University and chose medicinal botany as a module.

She liked how “different” it seemed from the other areas of study and poured all her research into St John’s Wort - a plant used to treat depression, burns and cuts among other conditions.

Ash “fell in love” with medicinal botany - and felt like her career path was “meant to be.”

She said: “I took my first class in 2017, and from then on, I felt like it was meant to be.

“I was trying out a juice cleanse anyway, for my PCOS symptoms. It all just kind of tied together, really.”

Six years later, she still studies herbalism alongside running her medicinal herbs business - and she tests all her remedies on friends and family.

The first change she noticed when trying different herbs was that her anxiety faded away - and made her think “this is the real deal”.

Her herbs of choice to ease PCOS symptoms include chasteberry vitex, St John’s Wort and raspberry leaf tea.

“I’d tell anyone to try raspberry leaf for hormones,” Ashley said. “Even pregnant women.

“Some people prefer to take it as a tincture - but I always steep it in hot water and make a tea.

“It’s a uterine tonic, which means it helps to tone and strengthen the uterus - even though I had extremely irregular periods with PCOS, when I did get it, it would be very heavy and painful.

“This was one of the first symptoms that alleviated when I started drinking raspberry leaf tea.

“I also saw such a huge improvement in my energy levels - as fatigue was one of my symptoms, too.

“I’ve seen such drastic improvements in my cycle - my periods are more frequent with a lot less pelvic pain and discomfort.”

Ashley's favorite herbs and what she uses them for include:

1. Chasteberry vitex, red clover and stinging nettles - regulating hormones
2. Raspberry leaf tea - good for uterus health
3. Mullein - respiratory conditions like bronchitis
4. Milkvetch plant - clearing mucus
5. Echinacea - immunity booster