Chamomile: allergy.

Botanical name: 
Matricaria recutita
Problems: 
Allergies

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.herbs
Subject: Re: Chamomile dangerous?
From: xenoraine.aol.com (XenoRaine)
Date: 1 Jan 1997 21:23:11 GMT

I frequent the Herb BB on AOL everyday. I chat with these people daily, we are not selling anything, just giving growing tips, recipies, contact names, and sharing a lot of laughs.

People often mention Chamomile as "soothing" and "relaxing." Not for me. I've tried it on 5 seperate occasions in the past 3 months. After about half a cup my throat begins to itch terribly. I made a post last week mentioning this and asking if anyone else had heard of this happening. Well it turns out that some people that have an allergy to ragweed may very well have an allergy to chamomile. The throat begins to itch and/or swell up.

Needless to say, with a very itchy throat driving you crazy, chamomile is anything but soothing. That is the only herb that has ever affected me that way. So I would suggest using your best judgement on this one. If you know for a fact that you are allergic to ragweed, try sipping half a cup of chamomile to see if it affects you in any other way than soothing and relaxing.