This is my own, personal experience with using a herbal homeopathic remedy. I am not a doctor or a medical professional. The below describes what has worked for me. Before delving into the world of herbal homeopathy, please consult your doctor!

Since I was a junior in high school, It seemed that every Winter, I would inevitably begin coughing. This cough would often become a mild upper respiratory infection. Over-the-counter drugs would offer some relief from the symptoms, but those always left me feeling groggy. Visits to the doctor always resulted in a prescription for anti-biotics.

Often, visits to the doctor would leave me frustrated because I wanted relief from the coughing. Doctors would always give me an expectorant - something that induced more coughing. Fed up with the never-ending cycle, I decided to research other remedies that would offer some relief.

This is one I bet no American readers have heard of before. I have very close and dear friends from Taiwan who often share their culture with me. On one occasion, I was experiencing an upset tummy and was very quickly handed a strange pill called Seirogan. I took it as I totally trust my friends. It seemed to calm my tummy down but didn't alleviate the problem completely. When I was ready to leave, my friend Pao asked if I would like more. I graciously accepted and took the little bottle home.

In this day and age where over-the-counter and prescription medications run rampant, have you ever stopped to wonder if there were better solutions to taking care of your health? Do any of the homeopathic cures or Chinese herbal medicines actually work? Here are my personal reviews of a few that I have tried.

Ginger - Used for motion sickness
At age 16, my parents and I took a ferry ride from Port Angeles, WA to Victoria, B.C. in Canada. I really didn't want to use the motion sickness pill I usually took because it made me so sleepy, and I didn't want to spend my whole day feeling like a zombie. I was told that ginger capsules were supposed to keep you from getting motion sickness, so I decided to try that instead.

As a mother of five, grandmother of two, and educator for sixteen years, I've had more than my fair share of opportunities to deal with sick children. For years, my response was the same as almost anyone's would be. I would bundle up the ailing child and rush off to the nearest MD so that they could poke and prod and "hmm" and "ha" and finally prescribe some pill or syrup that may or may not clear up the problem, but would likely bring with it a few worrisome side effects that I'd have to be watchful for.

As you might have guessed, I don't do that anymore.