When you are young and womanhood is that serious, unimaginable block of time that lies in the future, you believe menopause is a phase. Then time carries you forward faster than you expect and you realize that menopause is not just a graduation from mid-life to later life; menopause is an experience. By the time that you are there, you also realize menopause is nothing like mid-life crisis or any other phases. There are mental, emotional and physical symptoms that all have to be dealt with. Below are some herbal remedies that can help women to do just that-cope and continue.

Depression. . .

is one of the most common symptoms of menopause, even occurring in various degrees in women who have not previously suffered with depression. Some herbal remedies to consider for depression are:

Soothe your head the morning after with some gentle natural remedies to detoxify your liver and restore vitality.

A night on the town with good friends and a few drinks (too many) can be fun until we wake up in the morning with and awful hangover. Why you feel so terrible is, your body's way of telling you not to treat it so badly in this way. In the meantime, there are some things you can use to get you back to your best.

Excessive alcohol consumption speeds up your production of urine as your body tries to expel toxins, leaving you feeling thirsty and dry mouthed. The resulting dehydration causes headaches, depression, irritability and insomnia. The symptoms can be combated with herbal remedies but the easiest way to avoid a hangover is to consume alcohol moderately.

Chemotherapy is the chemical treatment of cancer, given in accordance with an individual's treatment plan. It may be given in a hospital, a clinic, a doctor's office or at home. The dose may be given over several days, once a week, or once a month, with treatment lasting anywhere from several weeks to several years. The medication used can greatly help cancer patients. But the side effects of chemotherapy can be powerful. Below I have listed some of the more common side effects of chemotherapy (side effects will vary with the type of medication used for chemotherapy), and provided some recommendations on herbal remedies for treating these side effects.

There are several natural remedies that will increase your chances of conception and these can be integrated into your diet with a minimum of inconvenience.

Fertility plays an important part in every woman's life. Some women conceive easily (and sometimes without any plans for a child) whereas others, whose bodies are functioning just as effectively, find that the road to conception is inexplicably long and rocky. It can be very upsetting to yearn for a child, only to find that it is taking far longer than you would wish.

Herbs can help to prepare your body and make it more 'open' to pregnancy. Used with other methods, such as an ovulation chart or the Billings method - a system that involves monitoring cervical mucus to determine ovulation dates - herbs can help. You should also deal with any stress in your life. If you are tense and anxious, this can block conception taking place so remember to use herbs to help you relax more.

For many of us, when the weather starts to turn cooler, we start to think about boosting our immune systems to ward off winter's cold and flues. In Thailand winter is still by Western standards reasonably warm. The North-east tends to be generally cooler than Bangkok, with temperatures dropping into the mid 20°C. As the winter chill sets in many turn to simple, yet effective natural remedies to warm the body and build up the immune system. Next time you're feeling unwell, try some of these Thai herbal remedies!

I run with a very crunchy crowd. We sit around, nursing our babies, comparing our latest cloth diaper purchases, while discussing the difference between buying certified organic or local produce. We debate everything from veganism to anarchy. Cross nursing isn't unheard of, and neither is unschooling, home birthing, or any of the other alternatives we embrace. Herbal remedies fit right into many of our philosophies of life.

Now, I'll admit I was a skeptic at first. I grew up with a sister whose life depended on medical technology. I had a lot of respect for Western medicine. I had seen people's lives saved by it. But it turns out, there's a lot of good in natural remedies. Chamomile tea can calm even the crabbiest baby, and it helps me get to sleep at night. Tea tree oil is a natural disinfectant and can be used for household cleaning or used as an ingredient in shampoos and skin salves. The scent of lavendar eases headaches. Aloe eases the sting of sun burn.

Buying natural remedies can be confusing. However, any herbal product you purchase should have some kind of label or instructions that come with it to help you. Here are some tips to help you know what to look for on those labels.

We read the labels of the food we eat. It just makes sense that we read the labels of anything else we put into our bodies. If you find commercially marketed herbs that do not have informative labels, you should question the viability of the herbs. Fresh or dried herbs that are purchased from the people who have grown them probably will not have a label. With these people, you need to know what the herbs are supposed to look like and go from there. It is no different from buying vegetables at a farmer's market.

Home remedies are making a comeback. A couple of generations ago there was very little medicine. Knowledge of herbs, vegetables, fruits and berries was necessary to treat sickness. There were cures for coughing, mustard packs for chest congestion, and teas for fever and stomachaches. Food was both nutritious and a medicine, some to prevent and some to cure and people today are finding their way back to natural remedies.

Pioneers looked to their fields, woods, and garden for their medicine. We all know that apples keep the doctor away and cranberries are good for the urinary tract. Chicken soup soothes colds and vinegar cleanses the body. Many of our medicines today are versions of old-time remedies.

Ginger-ale and Coca-Cola were originally used as medicine. Digitoxin which is used to treat some cardiac conditions originated from the foxglove plant, morphine comes from the opium poppy, and quinine comes from the bark of the cinchona tree.

Choosing where to buy your herbal remedies can be a daunting task. There are so many places you can get natural remedies, it is difficult to know which one would be best. Here are some tips to help you choose the best supplier to meet your needs.