The MediHerb Podcast

In this clinically rich conversation, David Casteleijn revisits Passionflower through a far more nuanced lens than its traditional “mild anxiolytic” label. Drawing on decades of practice and deeply personal clinical observations, David explores the herb’s powerful role in acute nervous system dysregulation—particularly in states of panic, PTSD, and heightened sympathetic activation. He shares practical insights into “stacked” dosing strategies, demonstrating how passionflower can rapidly interrupt escalation cycles without the residual sedation, making it a valuable tool both in-clinic and for patient self-management.

Beyond acute use, this episode expands the conversation into long-term nervous system retraining, highlighting passionflower’s potential role in supporting neuroplasticity and reducing reliance on substances such as alcohol and anxiolytics. David also challenges common assumptions around dependency, safety, and herb-drug interactions, while unpacking emerging insights into its broader neurotransmitter activity. With discussion spanning ADHD, addiction patterns, and herb selection, this episode offers practitioners a deeper, more flexible framework for prescribing Passionflower across a wide spectrum of presentations.

In this episode of the MediHerb Podcast, we welcome Angela Hywood to draw on some unanswered questions from the MediHerb Unplugged livestream. Angela shares her evidence-informed approaches to supporting patients in complex clinical scenarios, with dosing strategies and clinical rationale.

 

Bio: Angela Hywood is an experienced naturopathic clinician with over 26 years of clinical experience, specialising in integrative endocrinology, women’s health, fertility and pregnancy care. Angela is a well-known speaker at complementary and integrative medicine conferences in both Australia and internationally and has published articles in complementary medicine journals in Australia and USA.

Concussion is often minimised as a “head knock,” yet it represents a complex traumatic brain injury with far-reaching systemic consequences. In this episode, we welcome Louise Cork to unpack the physiological cascade that unfolds following impact — from axonal shearing and ionic shifts to glutamate excitotoxicity, blood-brain barrier disruption, neuroinflammation, and gut permeability. We explore how this acute response can evolve into persistent post-concussion syndrome (PCS), and why some patients remain symptomatic months, or even years, after the initial injury.

Through a functional naturopathic lens, this conversation provides practical guidance on assessment, red flags, collaborative care, and therapeutic layering, while discussing the critical role of the gut-brain axis, immune activation, metabolic dysfunction, glial priming, autonomic dysregulation, and mitochondrial compromise. With the right support — nutrients, targeted herbal medicine, and realistic lifestyle rehabilitation, post-concussion outcomes are not fixed, and meaningful recovery is possible.

Following the MediHerb Unplugged livestream, renowned herbalist Kerry Bone returns to address some of the audience’s unanswered questions. Drawing on decades of clinical and research experience, Kerry explores complex and often misunderstood areas of herbal therapy, including the use of berberine-containing herbs, the role of St Mary’s Thistle in gut health, and evidence-informed perspectives on Echinacea and Withania in autoimmunity and endometriosis.

The conversation also examines time-restricted eating and how targeted herbs may support metabolic and longevity pathways, before moving into deeper clinical territory with discussions on plaque stabilisation, APOE4 and dementia risk, with key herbal considerations in Parkinson’s disease.

Packed with practical insights and integrative clinical frameworks, this episode is essential listening for practitioners navigating complex, chronic presentations.

In this episode, we welcome Dr Elizabeth Steels and explore the rapidly growing world of biohacking and longevity medicine—examining the technical, lifestyle, supplemental, and medical interventions people are turning to in pursuit of vitality and human improvement. Beth unpacks the pros and cons of this trend-driven space, including the risks of information shared without context or personalisation, and the growing pressure to self-optimise through constant tracking.

We discuss the unique role natural healthcare practitioners play in guiding patients through this landscape with evidence-based, individualised support. From a naturopathic perspective, targeted biohacking techniques for vitality are well understood as foundational pillars—mitochondrial health, autophagy, inflammation reduction, and gut function, to support patients in navigating the noise and focus on interventions that truly enhance cellular health and reduce long-term disease risk.

With realistic goals and incremental change, Beth highlights how sustainable, personalised biohacking with naturopathic principles can support meaningful improvements in healthspan—with natural healthcare practitioners leading the way in keeping it grounded, balanced, and evidence-informed.

 

Bio: Elizabeth is a clinical biochemist and nutritionist with over 30 years experience in clinical practice, research, clinical trials, formulation and regulatory affairs. She runs a consulting and research clinic in New Farm, Brisbane. She is also an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, School of Pharmacy, University of Queensland, and has a growing team of clinical naturopaths enrolled in MPHIL and PHD students, also becoming researchers to further support natural health research. The projects vary from metabolic disease and diabetes, pain and peripheral neuropathy, GIT health, candida overgrowth, to probiotics for bone health in menopause. She is well published and often speaks at academic and industry events.