I find it just as important to take preventative measures as to heal problems when they arise. Instead of drinking carbonated or packaged beverages, I make up a two gallon batch of herbal tea and keep it stocked in my refrigerator. Two gallons last one person anywhere from three days to two weeks, depending on the outside temperature. All my iced herbal teas contain Green Tea with a combination of other herbs depending on the time of year.
These are the herbal remedies I have tried and which have worked for me and my family. None of this is medical advice, nor is it a guarantee it will work for your body.
When I was 24 years old I walked through a dirty pond barefoot and stepped on a sharp rock. It cut my foot and infected my blood with blood poisoning. I could see the reddening of the vein as it progressed up the inside of my right leg. By the time I could find some yarrow and mint leaves and make a strong tea, the infection was already up to my groin. I drank a strong yarrow tea (very bitter, which is why I added the mint) and six hours later the infection was completely gone.
I hadn't had a tetanus shot since I was 17, not believing they were necessary as long as yarrow continued to grow on this planet. When I suffered a compound fracture of my lower left leg and calcaneous fracture in my right heal, the nurse in the emergency ward asked me when I last had a tetanus shot. I told her when I was 17. She went into hysterics when I politely declined a tetanus shot at the emergency room. I was so concerned she might suffer a nervous breakdown, that I accepted the shot for her sake.
I suffered a compound fracture of the lower left tibia and fibula. The bones literally poked through my skin. The orthopedic surgeon did not believe me when I said I would be back to near normal in 18 months. In reality, it took me about 16 months before I could return to normal activities. I will admit, there is still a lot of pain in my leg after spending 9 solid hours of hard labor on my feet, but the pain doesn't start until I sit down, and then only when I try to stand again. While working and sitting, there is little to no pain. The flexibility of the ankle is severely limited, but I'm looking into ways to correct that, too.
The most important step for healing broken bones, I found, is good nutrition. A diet high in protein, calcium, copper, zinc, magnesium, manganese, l-arginine, and l-glutamine is essential. Supplements of glucosamine sulfate and chondroiten help prevent the onset of arthritis.
Comfrey is also very effective in healing broken bones. About six months after surgery my new bones were still not solid. I drank comfrey tea for three weeks and the bone seemed to knit very quick after that. I took a few relatively young leaves and put them into the bottom of a glass. Then using a blunt object, crush the leaves to a pulp in the glass. With the leaves still in the glass, I add 6 to 8 ounces clean drinking water, stirred, and drank it down. I followed this regimen once a day for three weeks with no noticeable side effects. I also made a compress of crushed leaves, placed them directly over the wound area, and then wrapped it with an Ace bandage, changing and cleaning twice a day.
Infection is one of the worst things that could happen while recovering from a bone injury. I took extra care not to contaminate the dressing, changed it at least twice each day according to the doctor's instructions, and took two capsules of yarrow herb each day. When the doctor prescribed antibiotics, I took them as prescribed, even though I was aware of the dangerous side effects. Aside from death, no side effect could be worse than getting an infected wound.
Pain pills were prescribed, but I stopped taking them three weeks after surgery. I simply didn't need them. Later on, when I was spending 9 straight hours on my feet, I would feel a lot of pain after sitting. The pain was so acute, I could barely move. Then while trying to cure toenail fungus by soaking my feet in Pao d'Arco tea, I discovered that the pain was greatly relieved due to the tea bath. I now soak my feet regularly in Pao d'Arco tea.
After one year I insisted that the screws and plates used to hold the bones together be removed. The orthopedic surgeon was not happy about this, but the bones had healed quite well by then and the screw heads and plate edges were rubbing against my tendons when I mowed the lawn.
I must also stress that during the first six months I did absolutely nothing that would stress the bones. I stayed in bed and moved in a wheelchair. I followed the doctor's advice very close, but he never recommended or prescribed nutritional supplements. I did that on my own after reading about the experiences of others online.
I haven't found anything that cures a cold or flu, once it has been caught. But I have found that taking one capsule of yarrow herb on a daily basis has prevented me from catching a cold or flu. I now grow yarrow in a planter near my back door so that I always have a supply handy. I intend to continue taking yarrow on a daily basis, especially in light of the anticipated bird flu and West Nile virus.
My next door neighbor had confronted me with the bad news that he had esophogeal cancer. He also told me he had been constipated for three months and only squirts of liquid were passing through his rectum. When he had told his doctor about this, his doctor said it was not a problem. I was shocked. I immediately made him a vegetable cocktail with a juicing machine using fresh tomatoes, carrots, celery, beets, aloe vera, lemon balm, St. John's wort, and yarrow. He drank a large glass at 2:30pm. At about 2:30am the following morning he had a very large bowel movement and two hard pellets that he could have sworn were rocks.
Unfortunately, the damage was already done. The blocked system had caused him to develop GERD, which led to esophogeal cancer. He continued drinking the vegetable juice cocktail right up to the time he had cancer surgery. Just before the surgery he commented that he hadn't felt as healthy since he was 10 years younger.
The moral of this story is never ignore constipation or underestimate its importance.
When I was very young my ears became infected and began draining. The problem became so severe that eventually a mastoidectomy was performed, which caused permanent and severe hearing loss. When my son was three years old, he developed the same problem. We took him to the doctor, who prescribed the same antibiotics and ear drops my doctor prescribed 20 years earlier. I didn't give him the prescribed medicine but looked for an herbal cure. I found it in Healing Ourselves by Naboru Muramoto. The simple solution was to eliminate dairy products (mainly cow milk and ice cream) from his diet. Then for three days we fed him a diet consisting only of whole grain rice, aduki bean juice, and mushroom barley soup.
After the third day his skin looked like the hide of a Holstein cow, except that it was bright red and white instead of black and white, which lasted for about one hour. Prior to his skin changing color he urinated considerably. His mood went from being whiny and selfish to being very happy and sharing. When his skin started changing color we took him to the doctor, just to be sure everything was okay. The doctor was absolutely amazed that he was completely cured and stated he had never seen anything like it. When I explained to the doctor the cure I used, he replied that if he used this method he could lose his license to practice medicine. Consequently, a very effective and very inexpensive cure for ear infection exists but nobody is allowed to practice it.
My next door neighbor approached me one day with the news that he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. He asked if I knew of an herbal cure. I had never worked with cancer before and told him so. But I helped him do some research so he could make his own decisions.
I could not find record of a single person who survived esophageal cancer using herbal remedies, although there are numerous testimonials from people who have survived other cancers by drinking large quantities of Essiac tea or Pao d'Arco tea (one or the other, but not both). He decided to have the surgery. The surgery involved removing an 8" portion of his esophagus. It was low on the esophagus, so they also had to cut part of the esophagus away from the stomach to get it. The result was that he lost all sense of taste and couldn't keep his food down or liquids. The cancer then spread to his pancreas and liver. Despite his desperate attempts, he could not consume enough liquids and no food.
Afterward, he stated he would definitely have avoided the surgery and faced his demons directly with herbs if he could do it over again. Once he lost his appetite and ability to hold down food and liquids, he lost any chance he had of maintaining strength or using herbs. He eventually starved to death. He asked me to share this information on the web for others who are faced with esophageal cancer.
When my neighbor with cancer had developed jaundice due to liver failure, I ordered bupleurum root. When the herb came in and I told him what it was for, he wasn't interested. So it sat on my shelf. A few months later, my cat contracted FIP. His condition deteriorated until he, too, developed severe jaundice, was throwing up yellow bile, was dropping feces uncontrollably, and had lost so much weight he looked like a skeleton with fur. My mother asked if I was giving him herbs, to which I replied that I was afraid it would kill him. Then it dawned on me he was going to die anyway, so what could it hurt?
I made a tea by boiling one tablespoon of bupleurum root and one tablespoon of pau d' arco bark in two cups of water. After boiling for ten minutes I turned off the heat and added one tablespoon of dried yarrow flowers and leaves and let it steep for about twenty minutes more. I strained the tea through a mesh strainer and poured it into empty medicine bottles with eyedroppers and refrigerated it.
At first I gave my cat five one milliliter drops every 20 minutes straight into the back of his mouth. After two hours I administered the five drops every two hours for 24 hours. Then I reduced the dosage to every two hours during my normal waking hours for several days. I continued the treatment every few hours for two more weeks. He was pretty weak in the beginning of treatment, so I also crushed up a cat vitamin, mixed it with water, and fed him about 5ml twice per day until he started eating again.
The jaundice gradually went away over a two week period. He recovered fully, regained his appetite, and is regaining weight. It looks like this incurable cat disease is no longer incurable, at least for herbalists. I can only wonder what it would have done for my neighbor, but not being a doctor, it wasn't for me to prescribe.
I read that soaking a finger with fingernail fungus in Pau d'Arco tea would cure it. I tried it and it worked quite well. Too bad it wasn't as effective on my toenail fungus.
After men have been castrated, their hair grows back thick and dark. Apparently hair loss is directly related to testosterone production. Conversely, the lack of sexual activity may lead to prostate cancer. It would seem that hair loss may be a sign of a healthy male. I haven't found any herbs that safely regenerate hair, but neither am I worried about it.
Herbs are not the answer to every situation. My mother had kidney cancer. She was not into herbs or supplements at that time and preferred to place her trust completely with her doctors. In her case, the cancer was still contained within the kidney. The kidney was surgically removed and no radiation or chemotherapy was needed. She has been cancer free ever since, but has also taken a greater interest in herbs and vitamin supplements to boost her overall health.
An excellent cure for poison ivy is to wash the body with Pau d'Arco tea. I use about ¼ cup Pau d'Arco bark to one gallon of water. Bring to boiling, and boil for five minutes, then turn off the heat and allow the tea to cool to a comfortable temperature. The itching will subside almost immediately allowing a comfortable nights sleep. Continue to wash the infected area two to three times a day. The poison ivy will be completely gone in about three or four days. The juice from rhubarb stalk is also effective in relieving the itching almost immediately.
Not all herbal mixtures are necessarily beneficial for the body. While dandelion roots, leaves, flowers, and even dandelion wine made from the flowers are very good diuretics, I have found that dandelion wine (not the teas) causes fluid to build up in my foot, which causes a lot of pain in the heel. The quantity of dandelion wine consumed was only two ounces every night for a week. The fluids did not build up in both feet, but only in the foot that sustained a lot of damage from a compound fracture. I stopped drinking the dandelion wine and two days later the fluid and pain were completely gone. I don't know if other alcoholic beverages could cause this effect, but I will keep it in mind.
When I broke my legs, I was bedridden and needed to eat a healthy diet. This caused me to gain 30 lbs. I had heard about diet pills, but wasn't interested due to the negative publicity. Then I read that ma huang is an ancient herbal remedy for many symptoms, weight loss being one of them. Ma huang is the same thing as ephedra, a key herb in modern weight loss pills. I decided to try one cup of ma huang and green tea in the morning. This herbal combination turns out to be an excellent stimulant that causes me to want to work all day long. The result is that I have lost ten pounds in ten days. So far, I have not detected any negative side effects.