@aikomike, here is an example of why telling your doctor is important. I have had several different surgeries and some herbs can interfere with prescription medicines and should should not be taken together. Some of those herbs can thin the blood, so if you are taking a medicine to thin your blood or the doctor has told you to take aspirin to keep your blood thin, then you need to watch how much you bleed when cut. Another good sign is massive nose bleeds. Anyway can you imagine the problem if your going to have surgery? Before a surgery your doctor will take you off all blood thinners, but what if you were also taking a herbal supplement, like turmeric for inflammation and pain, but didn't tell your surgery team? "Turmeric, especially in supplement form, is a blood thinner and can significantly increase the risk of bleeding when combined with anticoagulant (like warfarin) or antiplatelet (like clopidogrel) medications, raising the chance of bruising, internal bleeding, or prolonged clotting." All I can say is poor surgery team if you bleed out and they have no knowledge of why. Thank goodness before surgery, "doctors commonly order blood tests called coagulation studies, specifically the Prothrombin Time (PT) and Partial Thromboplastin Time (PTT) tests, to assess a patient's blood clotting ability." Hope this answers your question, take care. I highly suggest doing research on any herbs you take before using.