My latest rant. Given the choice between the two, which would you pick? (In Ramblings)
I was reading a report on a recent study where it was found that nearly a third of all American kids are using some type of holistic medication, and close to 1 out of every four uses herbal medicine or dietary supplements.
The study goes on to claim that almost half of the parents didn't feel it necessary to provided the kid's doctor with that information. First, that's probably a bad idea. If you're going to see a physician, he or she needs to be made aware of any herbs or supplements you're taking. Yes, I realize there is the "scowling look factor" to consider, but if I assume you're seeing a physician that respects your choices this shouldn't be an issue. Some conventional drugs and traditional herbs don't mix. Now off the soapbox and back to the issue at hand.
In the story, the researchers admit that most of the holistic therapies are relatively safe. However, the very next statement reads as follows:
"The more important concern is that someone might use alternative therapies at the expense of conventional treatments for diseases that could easily be treated with existing therapies"
Why in the world would that be a problem for the patient? If I'm sick with the flu, is it not better for me to to use a very safe and effective Elderberry syrup as opposed to the "conventional" therapy of needless and ineffective anti-boitics?
If my baby has diaper rash, wouldn't some soothing emollient herbs (like Marshmallow) be better than applying an isolated steroid? If I have adult onset diabetes, are you suggesting that regular insulin shots is the better alternative to me losing 50 pounds and changing eating habits to a more healthy diet?
I would think that the more important concern should be the person receiving the best possible health care that does the least amount of damage during the healing process. It doesn't necessarily need to line the pocket books of pharmaceutical companies, nor does it need to perpetuate the isolation of the patient from the healing process.
A new report out from French researchers finds that...
Eating fish or seafood at least once a week lowers the risk of developing dementia, researchers have found.
Which just goes to prove what I've been saying all along. You're crazy if you aren't eating more fish.
(Sorry. Couldn't help myself!
In what is definitely a case of yet another knee-jerk reaction, the head of science and ethics at the British Medical Association,Dr. Vivienne Nathanson (not a licensed or even practicing acupuncturist,) issued a call for all acupuncturists to warn patients/clients about driving home after sessions.
According to the report in on the BBC website,
She said the fact that acupuncture produces drowsiness could often be a positive side effect for patients, many of whom were suffering from painful conditions that had left them unable to relax and sleep.
My feeling is a little common sense goes a long way here, and that this announcement my be a little... pointless.
In an unrelated story (and not even close to true,) the head of Pediatrics for Mt. Hope hospital said that "bricklayers need to wash their hands before eating."
I've posted a new lecture/walk-and-talk combination that I'm developing. Great for anyone interested in Sonoran desert plants. (In Lectures and Walk and Talks)
I'm working on a new lecture/walk-and-talk combination. This weekend, I spoke to some fellow herbalists (it was a day of sharing) about an inconspicuous and ubiquitous shrub here in the Sonoran desert, Ambrosia deltoidea... also known as triangle-leaf bursage or just simply burr sage.
Bursage is just about everywhere you step in the desert at this elevation (1200 feet.) If you're out in the desert, you'll probably pass right by it thinking its another plant that's succumbed to the desert drought. Not so. It may look dead, but this little plant who's name means "immortal" will spring back to it's grey-green color with a good rain.
Bursage acts as a nurse plant to many of the more recognizable inhabitants, like the Saguaro cactus. For the first few years, Saguaro and other plants need shelter from the blazing sun, howling wind, and other less pleasant aspects of our desert. Ambrosia provides that shelter, and it's not uncommon to find a nursing species growing underneath just about every Ambrosia shrub you find; if you look hard enough.
The lecture will consist of probably about 10 plants, but focus more on the spiritual and physical aspects of the plant, in an effort to give the students a better understanding about the plant as a companion species on this planet. I'm sure we'll talk medicinal qualities as well, but these aspects will be de-emphasized for this lesson. I really enjoyed this Saturday's talk and am looking forward to expanding the offering of plants.
So is this what Canadians mean by universal healthcare?Painkillers, anti-inflammatories and prescription drugs used to treat epilepsy and blood cholesterol were found in waters near sewage treatment plants across the country, according to the first Canadian study of the problem paid for in part by Environment Canada and obtained under the Access to Information Act.
Maybe it's must me, but that doesn't sound like a good thing.
It's unclear what impact the drugs are having on people and wildlife. But scientists worry about people with allergies to drugs and the effect of mixing different drugs together, as well as building resistance to antibiotics. In laboratory tests, trace drugs that disrupt hormones can turn male fish into females.
It maybe unclear to the reporter, but it's pretty dang clear this is not a good thing.
The research proves prescription drugs are a problem that cannot be flushed away. "Everyone uses pharmaceuticals from time to time," said Jagorinec, a lab operations supervisor [from Calgary.] "Inevitably we end up flushing those drugs down the toilet in one form or another."
Not all of us use pharmaceuticals, my friend. However, I do see your rather icky point. Thanks to Mike Lascelles of PharmaWatch for bringing this to my attention.
I found an interesting website today called Forbidden Science. Interesting stuff, and a great skeptical voice on modern medicine. Not sure how she feels about herbalists, but I'll hang out for a while and get the lay of the land.
I really like what she has to say about pharmaceutical companies and their influence on doctors:
Science is supposed to be objective. Unbiased. Certainly if the person performing an experiment has a monetary stake towards having the outcome of an experiment go a certain way, that taints everything. And yet our society seems to believe that Medicine is scientific when in fact it is corrupt to the very core.
Go read the whole story. It's a quick read, but well worth it.
Two great reports on stress. One (not so surprising) on high powered business executives and their addiction. The other an eye opening report on how stress affects our teens. Scary stuff, but welcome to our world!
Maybe they should read this book:
... at least that's what I thought. (In Ramblings)
Been talking about this so much, thought I should post it! (In Formulas)
This is a wonderful recipie formulated by Jennie Blechman, an outstanding herbalist from Pagosa Springs, Colorado. I discovered the anti-inflammatory and pain releving properties of this remedy on a recent ski trip. I'll leave the rest to your imagination!
Artemisia's Pain Formula
Hypericum perforatum - 3 pts.
Scuttelaria laterifolia - 2 pts.
Piscidia erythrina - 2 pts.
Piper mythesticum - 1 pt.
Salix alba - 1 pt.
Stachys officinalis - 1 pt
Curcuma longa - 1 pt.
Dosage - 30 - 90 drops to six times daily.
Now this is strange. At 3:00 PM today, I was smacked with the most intensely painful headache I've ever encountered. True, I'm a major wuss when it comes to pain and I rarely get headaches except for the self-induced over-indulgent nature. Today's was a doozy. I had to suffer through an hour long telephone conversation, all the while rubbing my temples, pulling at my scalp and thinking of how much it hurt.
Recognizing when I'm beat, I left the office to try and take care of the problem at home. I downed at least 90 mils of a custom compound called "Artemisia's Pain Forumla". I discovered this formula in Wolf Creek this winter when my wife twisted her knee in a skiing accident. It's formulated by herbalist Jennie Blechman of Artemesia Botanicals in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. It helped my wife then as well as when she had reconstructive surgery on her ACL a few months ago (yep, same knee, this time a hockey accident.)
After a half an hour, the Pain Formula wasn't cutting it. Still a throbbing, motion sensitive pain behind my left eye. Right after I took the tincture, I also applied some Lavender essential oil to my forehead, temple and upper cheek area. I've found Lavender very helpful when I do get mild headaches, like the one I had over the weekend. (That was flu recovery, and not the brown-bottle variety.) Not today.
And in case you're wondering, Tylenol or aspirin were simply out of the question. I've been free of that stuff for a little over two years now, and I'm not heading back if I don't have to. The trouble is, I was out of any other pain killer in my personal apothecary. Noting much to do than try and sleep it off.
I had a bit of fresh Eschscholzia tincture that I made earlier in the year. Not a very powerful sedative, but as much pain as I was in, I didn't think it would take much coaxing for my body to head to nighty-night land. I also wanted to make sure that flu virus wasn't lingering around from a couple of days ago, so I added a dash of Larrea to the mix. (Did you read about my Larrea experiments? Fascinating.)
Within 15 minutes, the throbbing was gone. It was still around, but only noticeable when I sat up too quickly or moved my head suddenly. That was 10 minutes ago. Now I have the "memory" of the pain, but a quick shake of the head shows it gone baby, solid gone!
It's been said before that each headache is as unique as the person suffering it is. I'm a believer now! And it looks like a little Eschscholzia and Larrea combo is a lethal combo to mine!
Scanning through my stats this morning, I noticed a few odd search queries used by folks to find my website. My favorites so far:
tribulus cultivation - You poor, crazed person. Tribulus terrestris grows well enough on it's own, thank you very much. And while I'm no supporter of attempts to wipe it out, I'm not an advocate of spreading the seeds far and wide either.
howie brounstein dead - What? I just hopped over to Howie's website and didn't see any notice of this. I also checked with The American Herbalist Guild; no mention. Musta been some other Howie, I imagine.
information on the cocklebur plant - Wow. Someone else interested in Xanthium strumarium! How very cool. Hopefully they found my materia medica on this helpful plant.
Keep those strange search phrases coming!
I got a strange notion to try Larrea tridentata as a fresh blossom tincture, rather than a leaf extract. Read on the results (In Good Stuff to Know)
Sometimes, herbalism is more art than science. People often ask how certain plants were discovered to have medicinal properties. After all, they don’t wave big signs around saying, "Eat me! I'm good for the flu."
Of course, we can't go back 40,000 years in time, so we'll never have a definitive answer to that question. History does give us a few examples of ancient peoples observing other animals interacting with plants, and chances are you've seen your dog or cat eating grass in the back yard.
But the question remains: How does the animal (even if not the hairless bipedal type) "know" what plant is good for them and which ones to avoid? It's not huge leap of faith to assume our 4.5 billion years of co-habitation and evolution with all of our other companions might have something to do with it. Remembering we are simply manifestations of Gaia, why should she not have equipped all of her creatures with an innate ability to "know" which companion species to turn to for nourishment as well as healing properties? It is, after all, in Gaia's best interest to continue the unbroken chain of life. Teeth for weapons, thick hide for armor, sight, smell, hearing and the other senses; self-preservation by way of medicinal plant knowledge seems a logical gift as well.
Well this hairless bipedal is willing to give it a go as well. I've always been attracted to Larrea tridentata, also known as Creosote bush or Chaparral. (Both are misnomers, by the way.) Larrea is a ubiquitous plant here in the lower elevations of Arizona, forming "monocultures" by exuding a type of natural growth inhibitor in the surrounding soil. It's been used by the native peoples of this area since their arrival some 10,000 years ago. Larrea is also the oldest living organism on the planet, with once specimen being dated at over 11,500 years old; predating human settlement of this land.
This begs a return to the original question. How did the first people know to use Larrea? And use it they did. Every culture of this area employed Larrea for a variety of medicinal uses. Known as the "pharmacy of the desert" it's uses are legion, ranging from an antiseptic wash to a remedy for cancer; a true panacea of the plant kingdom.
Naturally, you would assume our first arrivals noticed a variety of animals interacting with this plant and simply followed their lead. Trouble is, most desert inhabitants, excluding a few species of insect, give this plant a wide berth. So much for observation. And you can rule out doing it for the taste, too. Nothing, I repeat, nothing tastes as offensive as a nice cup of Larrea tea. Take it from me. No one accidentally ingested some Larrea and thought "Yummy. Can I have some more?" (Shudder.)
But someone, somewhere did discover the medicinal properties of this truly amazing plant. I use the word amazing for good reason, as that initial trial that must have tasted so horrible spread throughout the land. Leap of faith? I doubt it. Someone saw the sign the plant was waving around and listened to it. Speaking of that…
Earlier this year, I began to wonder about using just the flowers of Larrea as a tincture. As I mentioned earlier, Larrea tastes really, really bad in either tincture form or as an infusion. Trying to make a glycerite via displacement seems a waste of time, as you'd just wind up with some nasty tasting sweetened liquid, assuming you could displace that much alcohol. I began to wonder if a tincture of just the flowers, excluding the leaves and green stems, which are normally used, would make a more mild flavored tincture.
So off I go to the east valley in search of some flowering Larrea. Flowers normally appear on this plant after a decent spring rain, although they can flower after any rain if the spring is unnaturally dry. Like this year. As dry as it was, the Larrea in the north valley where I live gave up on the idea of flowering. Luckily the east side had a little more rain that we did. I navigated a good 30 miles from civilization and found a perfect specimen deep in a wash, bristling with blossoms. For the next two hours, I filled a 32-ounce cup with flowers, a tedious but very Zen-like experience. I returned home and prepared my flower tincture, opting for a very inexact preparation of about 75% alcohol mix just covering the top of the flowers.
Fast forward by about a half a year to the start of the cold season. You can always tell when it's here by the changing of the scenery. In most parts of the country, it's the leaves that change colors. In Phoenix, license plates change colors, as "snowbirds" from the chilly north come to enjoy the valley of the sun for five or six months. Now where was I? Oh yes, cold season.
This year, the cold virus hit my family in two waves. I was first, encountering the effects about two weeks ago, and my wife got round two, which happened just last Thursday. Knowing Larrea to have anti-viral properties (amongst many others) I decided to give it a go. 2 mils, taken about three hours apart for my waking hour was the total duration of treatment. Where a cold normally lays me out for two days straight, with a killer sore throat and swimming head followed by two to three weeks of sniffling and congestion, this time I experienced no sore throat at all, only minor dizziness and absolutely no subsequent sinus issues of any type. A one day cold? I haven't been that lucky since I was a kid!
My wife's story is equally astonishing. She started feeling "icky" Thursday morning, but being the stoic neglected to mention anything to her Voodoo doctor (as she affectionately refers to me) until mid after noon. I started her on the Larrea regiment, with only about 1.5 mils (she's about 50 pounds under me) every three hours. By the next morning, she was all better. My wife has had recurring sinus infections since she was 18, and any type of disruption in her system usually wreaks havoc on her nose for weeks on end. Not this time. No after effects. None.
Tincture of fresh Larrea tridentata blossoms… I'm hooked! I just noticed some late summer blooms from our recent rains on the northwest side of town. Think I'll head that way tomorrow and start a batch to get us through the rest of the winter season!
"There are three things which build and maintain civilization throughout time: pure air, pure water, and pure food. And as an eternal truth I say unto you, that there are three things which bring the end of civilization, even the mightiest that have ever been and shall ever be, from the beginningless beginning to the endless end of all time: impure air, impure water, and impure food." - Zenda Avesta, c. 3000 BC.
I'm a little puzzled by this study on the effects of HRT. (In Ramblings)
Consider the following opening line of text taken from a study presented at the annual meeting of the North American Menopause Society (NAMS).
When quality of life is considered, combined estrogen-progestin hormone therapy (HT) is highly cost-effective for treatment of perimenopausal symptoms.
Wait a tick. Exactly how is it you can use the words "quality of life" and "cost-effective" together like this?
I'm puzzled. I'm further puzzled by the article, which apparantly shows that women on the pharmaceuticals in the study gained a whopping 1.7 additinal months of life. Surely I'm reading this thing wrong. Can someone help me out here?