Feverfew Uses and Plant Monograph
For a long time, I thought that everyone experienced headaches weekly. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I learned that headaches are actually not a ubiquitous experience! It was then that I started trying to find herbs to help mitigate the frequent headaches I experienced and the occasional migraines. The first herb I came across was feverfew.
Feverfew has a long history in the European herbal pharmacopeia, and has been used by Indigenous groups in the Americas since its introduction to these continents in the early 19th century.1 There has been a lot of modern clinical research done on feverfew as well. When I first tried the tincture, I thought it was the most awful bitter flavor and wanted nothing to do with it.
Then in herb school I finally met feverfew and tried nibbling the fresh leaves and flowers. I watched the way they grew through the whole season and the next year tried the tincture again — this time in a blend with some other nervines and better tasting aromatics. I could still taste the feverfew, but it was now a flavor that I recognized. Pretty soon, I was craving that deeply bitter, almost acrid flavor with aromatic notes. At the same time, my headaches were decreasing in frequency and my digestion was feeling better too.
Now, feverfew is a dear friend in my herb garden, and I love watching them bloom throughout the summer and cherish the jar of dried blossoms and leaves at the end of the season. Feverfew has become one of the most frequently reached for medicines in my house, and I continue to get to know this plant more each year.
Feverfew Uses & Plant Profile Summary
- Botanical Name: Tanacetum parthenium
- Other Common Names: featherfew, featherfoil, midsummer daisy, febrifuge plant
- Family: Asteraceae
- Parts Used: aerial parts in flower
- Energetics: cold, drying
- Taste: fragrant, bitter (what we also call an aromatic bitter)
- Plant Properties: anti-inflammatory, anthelmintic, anti-cancer, antimicrobial (bacteria, fungus, virus), antispasmodic, bitter tonic, carminative, emmenagogue, febrifuge, nervine
- Plant Uses: remedy for migraines and other headaches, musculoskeletal spasm, menstrual cramps, digestive support, and fever-reducer
- Plant Preparations: fresh plant, tincture, infusion, compress/poultice, capsule
Remedy for Headaches
This is maybe the most well-known modern use of feverfew. It is an effective remedy for tension headaches, as well as migraines that are accompanied with muscle tension.2,3,4,5,6 Migraines are a type of vascular headache, meaning that the origin of the pain and inflammation is changes in blood flow in the vasculature of the brain. Within the umbrella of vascular headaches vasodilatory (blood vessels dilating) headaches often feel like your head is experiencing intense outward pressure, whereas vasoconstrictive (blood vessels constricting) headaches often feel like your head is being squeezed or crushed. Migraines usually present as a mix of both, and are distinguished from other headaches by the presence of inflammation. These are all instances where feverfew shines.
David Winston recommends feverfew for vasodilatory headaches that get better with application of cold.7 However, Simon Mills also indicates it for vasoconstrictive headaches because of its antispasmodic action.8 Similar to Winston, William LeSassier recommended it for headaches that come with feelings of “fullness or heat in the head”, or when the forehead feels “full with pounding and throbbing, especially over the left eye.”9 In Traditional Chinese Medicine, feverfew is indicated for Liver Fire headaches.10 Feverfew could effectively be considered the “aspirin” of the 18th century.11
Current research suggests that several constituents in feverfew inhibit prostaglandin synthesis. Prostaglandins are lipids produced when cell damage occurs to help control the body’s inflammatory response, so inhibition of these can reduce inflammation, thereby reducing pain.12 Interestingly, the mechanism of prostaglandin inhibition by the sesquiterpene lactones (see more below in constituents section) in feverfew is different from that of salicylates found in plants like willow and meadowsweet.13 This is why combining both willow or meadowsweet and feverfew is a great start for a headache (or other pain/inflammation) remedy!
Easing Musculoskeletal Spasm
Feverfew is a great ally for muscle cramping of all kinds, and especially menstrual cramps. I have a good friend who experiences intense menstrual cramping but also has a physically demanding job. While working on their farm last year they decided to eat a handful of feverfew blossoms and leaves from the plants they were weeding out of the rows. Upon eating the leaves, their cramps completely calmed down within 10 minutes, and they were able to continue working the rest of the afternoon. To me, this was a great testament to the powerful and quick acting effect of feverfew on muscle cramping and spasm. As described above, feverfew is also a great remedy for the migraines or painful headaches that folks often experience alongside menstruation.
Feverfew is also helpful for skeletal muscle spasms, especially those accompanied with intense pain. I find that it’s wonderful for back and neck muscle spasms in particular. It can also be great for muscle tension that accompanies arthritis and sciatica. It’s an herb that can be used tonically, that is to say, long term and daily, for nervous system and musculoskeletal tension relief.
There is long-standing traditional use of feverfew as a remedy for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but human clinical trials have not conclusively proven this connection.14 [PubMed: 2673080]],15However, in-vitro studies have shown that feverfew extracts inhibit various inflammatory pathways that are characteristic of RA.16 For both RA and general muscle spasms, the herb is best taken internally.
Digestion Mover and Soother
Feverfew is a classic bitter herb to support digestion in a myriad of ways. If you need to spark appetite, feverfew is a great choice. It’s a particularly good ally for sluggish digestion that is accompanied by a headache, or poor vascular circulation in general in the body.
As a carminative, feverfew helps reduce gas and bloating, and relieves nausea caused by the same. It’s also specific for worm parasites in the GI tract. I love feverfew combined with blue vervain as a remedy for slow digestion due to nervous tension or anxiety. It’s also a good ally for when there is a lot of variation between constipation and diarrhea.
There is speculation that part of the way that feverfew works in the gut is reducing the amount of the amino acid 5-HT in gut lining cells.17 5-HT gets converted to serotonin, which helps regulate motility. Overstimulation of this conversion pathway, however, can lead to excess gut cramping and spasm, so toning down the serotonin synthesis eases the discomfort.18
Immune and Respiratory Support
The name “feverfew” actually comes from a corruption of the word “febrifuge,” which hints at this plant’s original usage. The Greek physician Disocorides recommended feverfew for “all hot inflammations.”19 Hot feverfew tea will indeed help to break a fever, and combining it with other fever-supportive herbs, such as peppermint and yarrow, can mellow out the intense bitter flavor. Any illness that comes with a fever and chills could be helped with feverfew.
At the same time, feverfew is also antimicrobial due to its high concentration of aromatic volatile oils, which are known to be antiviral, antifungal, and antibacterial. The plant is also anti-inflammatory, helping calm an inflamed respiratory tract that presents as coughing and wheezing, or inflamed sinuses that result in earaches or dizziness. By the same token, feverfew is also a great remedy for when these symptoms are part of an allergic response to pollen, dust, mold, etc., rather than to a pathogen.
Topical Antimicrobial
If there is a skin infection with bacterial or fungal cause, a poultice or compress of feverfew can be applied. Combining the feverfew with calendula, plantain, yarrow, or other skin-specific vulneraries and antimicrobials can be very beneficial.
Adjunct Therapeutic for Cancer Protocols
There has been increased interest in the past 10 years in feverfew as an adjunct therapeutic for cancer protocols, focusing on the plant’s primary constituent, parthenolide.20 Recent modeling studies have shown that parthenolide extractions improve apoptosis (cell death) of several human cancer cell lines, and inhibit nuclear factor kappa-beta (a protein transcription factor that is responsible in large part for inflammation and cell proliferation).21 There is also some evidence for parthenolide-inhibiting metastasis of epithelial cancers.22 On a broader note, the strong anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties of this plant make it a great choice to include alongside traditional cancer treatments.
Constituents
Sesquiterpene Lactones:23
- Parthenolide (anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer)
- Chrysanthemonin
- Alantolactone (antimicrobial)
Monoterpenes:24 (antimicrobial, antispasmodic, carminative)
- Camphor, Camphene
- Carvacrol, Borneol, Limonene, Pinene, Eugenol, etc
Flavonoids & Phenolics:25 (antioxidant, anti-inflammatory)
- Apigenin
- dl-O-caffeoylquinic acids
- Kaempferol, quercetin
Some melatonin in the leaves.26
Botanically Speaking
Feverfew is a perennial plant, beloved by herbalists and tolerated by farmers. It grows as a weed throughout the farm fields where I live in New England and readily self-seeds each year. Feverfew loves rich farm soil, but isn’t too picky as long as there is adequate sun. The plant is native to Europe and thrives in temperate climates. In North America, feverfew can be found growing wild from eastern Canada down to Maryland and as far west as Missouri.27
As is typical for asters, the flowers are composite with yellow centers and white petals. Unlike chamomile, the centers are flat and disc-like rather than conical. The stems have fine hairs as do the alternate, pinnate, serrate-margin leaves. In fact, the leaves often look feathery in the way that mugwort does. While tenacious through the first frosts, the plant doesn’t actually grow that large, only about 2 feet tall maximum. If you grow your own, sow the seeds early, or propagate via root division or cuttings. I love letting the seeds get wind-blown around the garden and letting the plants decide where a new patch should be each season.
Plant Preparations and Dosage Suggestions
- Infusion: 1 tsp per cup; 4 oz 3x daily
- Tincture: 1:2, 60% EtOH; 1–4 mL 2–3x daily. You can start with a higher dose then reduce over time.
- Capsules: 100–300 mg of standardized extract (0.2-0.4% parthenolide) daily up to 4x daily; Herbalist Betzy Bancroft also recommends the advice of functional medicine Dr. Bill Cole who advises 600mg of capsules at first sign of migraine, then repeat every hour up to 3 additional doses.
- CO2 extract: 6.25 mg 3x daily
- Fresh leaves: 2–3 leaves daily as a general headache preventative.28
Special Considerations
Feverfew is contraindicated in pregnancy due to strong downward moving energy and action as an emmenagogue. Feverfew is also not recommended during lactation.29 It is also contraindicated for folks with aster family allergies. Feverfew can cause dermatitis and mouth sores when chewed fresh.30 Use caution if on anticoagulant medications due to the potential blood-thinning action of feverfew.31
There is another documented effect sometimes called “post-feverfew syndrome” when folks discontinue regular use of feverfew and report aches/pains, stiffness, anxiety, poor sleep, and headache. The American Herbal Products Association advises that “Persons discontinuing feverfew should reduce the dosage gradually over a 1-month period to avoid ‘post- feverfew syndrome.’”32
Footnotes
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