For headaches

[nicodiemus]

Hello!

Which plants are good for headaches? I remember seeing RM chew on a variety of willow, but i don't know which.

Any others?

I get terrible (crippling) migraines, and the medicine is quite expensive. The preventatives make me ill or tired.

Nico

 

[BushTucker]

I used feverfew years ago, but I dont think it classes as a bushcraft remedy!!

 

[nicodiemus]

It does if you dig it out of the ground with your bare hands!

 

[Ed]

For normal headaches there are a couple of natural remedies including willow bark and Meadowsweet (roots and flowers IIRC) as they both contain salicylic acid from which asprin (acetylsalicylic acid) was synthesised. But you need to do your research as many of these herbs also have other properties, like meadowsweet can cause tightening of the airways leading to bronchial spasms in large doses. Also you need to be careful as some people have a reaction to some of these herbs/barks.

Feverfew is the one I have used for migraines and found it very effective and is commonly available in healthfood shops in pill form as well as loose leaves, but again do your research.

The main problem with gathering medecine in the wilds is that you have no idea on what dosage (sp?) is in them as it all depends on time of year, size of plant, how much you use, type of ground its growing in etc.... etc... ..... the list goes on.

Remember!! the difference between poison and medecine is the dosage!!

Ed

 

[Toddy]

Feverfew works, it's the only time I can eat it though.
It's available fresh ( if you can find a relatively sheltered spot) all year long and it becomes a weed in the garden.
If you don't have it I can send you a couple of seedlings (need to weed ) pm if you would like some. I'll send you the herbal medical literature advice too which gives doses and the like.

atb,
Toddy

 

[xylaria]

Feverfew is a wild british plant, for migraines one leaf a day wrapped in bread. There is side effects like the reason you wrap in bread is stop mouth ulcers.

Willow I have used most native willows for topical pain relief when out and they all work. What i do is chew a soft withy tip until i taste aspirin and then spit on to effected area. For internal problems I have kept the chewed inner bark under my tongue until i cant take the taste for any longer and then spit it out.

Meadowsweet is found during the summer near water. That also contains aspirin, it is used to treat stomach ulcers by herbalists. I collect it and dry it for winter colds as it very nice to use in hot brew. I don't find it makes me feel sick like lemsip does.

There was a really good thread on natural pain relief a few months ago.

Aspirin from natural sources still has side effects. I cringe when I see the phrase 'Safe, natural remedy' in a health food shops. Mother Nature provides some good medicines, but they are medicines and require wisdom to stay safe.

 

[robin wood]

I find Tai Chi and a range of exercises to help relieve stress around the neck and improve posture helps for me..not really bushcraft but it feels like it is treating cause rather than just dealing with the symptoms....not sure that chewing willow bark is so much better than popping an asprin.

Interesting when I worked in woodland with a high fallow deer population at rutting time they thrash the iritating skin covering off the antlers on young trees and we always rteckoned they favoured willow though I have never seen objective research to prove it.

 

[nicodiemus]

Wow! Thanks for all your responses guys. I'll send you a PM, Toddy.

Robin, i am a practioner of wudang taichi, currently on hiatus due to injury. It DOES help!

 

[ganstey]

Robin, i am a practioner of wudang taichi, currently on hiatus due to injury. It DOES help!

Hmm, I wonder if there's a correlation between taiji and bushcraft - I study and teach Yang Style

G

 

[nicodiemus]

Haha! Perhaps there is.. my instructor is a Viking in his spare time. Perhaps there's further correlation there? I've noticed several vikings on this board, but i am proud to be taught taichi by (afaik) the world's only tai chi viking!

Edit: Good to see someone using pinyin, btw. Taijiquan! (excuse lack of accents!)

 

[rg1984]

I tried chewing on some meadowsweet root during the summer and I have to say it wasn't pleasent. Myself and my friend did it at the same time and the faces we pulled were totally undescribable! It was like eating the muscle relaxant 'deep heat'!! Dont know if its better to boil the root but I wont be eating it again!

 

[John Fenna]

I find Tai Chi (Li form) good for stress as are karate warm ups and short forms.
Seems we have a lot of martial artists with headache probs in Bushcraft!
Feverfew helps, as does willow - can't say I harvest my own though - I let my herbalist do this,plus my kidney stone avoidance gloop and blood pressure reduction gloop (an aquired taste!). The stuff is more effective for me than any NHS treatment - they even said they could do nothing to stop my recuring kidney stones and I would have them for life, my herbalist said "drink this daily" and I have only had one go of stones woth hospital treatment since(instead of at least once a year!

 

[nicodiemus]

I lived in China for a while. I am familliar with the gloops you are talking about. Vile!

 

[Prophecy]

I tried chewing on some meadowsweet root during the summer and I have to say it wasn't pleasent. Myself and my friend did it at the same time and the faces we pulled were totally undescribable! It was like eating the muscle relaxant 'deep heat'!! Dont know if its better to boil the root but I wont be eating it again!

Was it as bad as Ray Mear's face when he ate the waterlilly seeds?

'Yes...that's still bitter'.

*Gordon's turn*

'Mmm...yes...very bitter!*

 

[Toddy]

I tried chewing on some meadowsweet root during the summer and I have to say it wasn't pleasent. Myself and my friend did it at the same time and the faces we pulled were totally undescribable! It was like eating the muscle relaxant 'deep heat'!! Dont know if its better to boil the root but I wont be eating it again!

For headaches it's the flourish that is used. The roots make a great tincture and subsequent ointment for aching joints, but it's used on the outside not inside.
Their always remind me of a kind of spicy germolene

chers,
Toddy

 

[sallyinwales]

Have you also looked at whether a particular food or habit is causing the headaches? I get persistant migraines if I eat too much wheat for example, but it took me years to identify that as the culpirt as I can be fine if I get the amount just right. For other people, a particular stitting or standing posture can be enough to kick off a migraine. If you get them a lot its probably worth exploring all these possibilities as well as looking for cures for the symptoms

 

[nicodiemus]

Artificial sweeteners are the only surefire trigger. Needless to say, i have to avoid a LOT of commercial foods.

 

[Toddy]

Check for things like liquorice too, it's a vaso dilator and they trigger migraine for many folks

It is much used nowadays as a cheap, flavour boost filler in many of the herbal teabags, especially the frutiy ones.


cheers,
Toddy

 

[Davy Stephenson]

A good guide and one I have used many alternatives from is Culpeppers complete herbal it has all the government and virtues, but be very careful or you might not wake up one morning.
Tormentil was a life saver one day, I was out in the middle of nowhere and toothache came on, a search for the little yellow plant and its white carrot like roots did the trick.

Davy.