Grow your own drugs...

[xylaria]

Willow it is the soft cambium layer on the soft twigs ends. I have treated myself for head ache by holding the chewed up bit under my tongue. I tend to use meadowsweet flower tea if I have a achy temperature rather than willow bark. I am running out of supply of it now as the stream where it grows was perpetually flooded. Meadowsweet is nicer on the stomach than willow bark.

I was at the dark ages meet last weekend, and tried out a treatment for the bronchitis I brought with me. I chopped up some dried birch polypore, and some fresh rosemary that was growing outside, and boiled them in the wok, and inhaled the vapours. It wasn't a stingy as eucalyptus and tea tree which is what i normally use. I felt considerably better for it, I felt less infected, as I would with a tea tree inhalation, but without the appalling taste.

Take wild plant medicine at your own risk. Natural doesn't mean safe it just means it doesn't have warning label on it.

I thought the herbs that cause vomiting are taken because they also cause hallucinations. My knowledge of this is almost entirely based on watching Bruce Perry BTW.

 

[gregorach]

Culpepper is a fascinating source, but you don't want to take it too seriously... Many of his medicinal ideas are based on the Galenic doctrine of the Four Humours.

 

[Doc]

Natural doesn't mean safe it just means it doesn't have warning label on it.

BTW.

Good advice. Many modern medicines are plant derived (morphine, digoxin, the cytotoxic chemotherapy drugs vincristine and paclitaxel, for instance) and despite having clear benefits when used judiciously, they are also potentially lethal if used incorrectly.

 

[Cobweb]

I've chewed Willow bark for headaches before, and I've drank feverfew tea (which the taste alone stops you thinking about your headache long enough for it to work) I've used bruised comfrey leaves on slices and cuts for healing. I would love to learn more about the medicines available out side rather than relying on Boots.

The programme looks like a good one, if they cover identification and preparation properly. If they don't I'm a little concerned about people going out and potentially kill themselves, think that it's only a plant, what can it do to me?
It's the 'health and safety' trap.

 

[Man of Tanith]

Hi all,
there is book being released to coincide with the television series. I saw it in one of the book clubs my sister gets (can't remember which one i'm afraid). I've got a copy on order not entirely sure if it covers identification, but in this world of health and safety and compensation i would of thought the author/presenter would of done some if only to cover his own behind?
Regards,
Sam

 

[stijnb]

this one is really usefull(also for recreational use ) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactuca_virosa

 

[w00dsmoke]

A few years ago... ok more than a few years ago when I was experimenting on controling pain with non oppiates, I made a few interesting discoveries.

Willow bark yeagh, I just chewed it, bitter as hell but chew I chewed it until I started to sweat and it seemed to help a fair bit. The other was passion fruit flowers (passiflora). They like the sun and grow very well in Scotland on a south sheltered wall. The leaves infused are soporific (sleep indusing). My next major discovery was while doing some research I came across an article on how the Germans in ww1 and 2 dealt with pain and shell shock after they ran out of oppiates-they used the flowers of the Lime Tree which is a common park tree. Again I infused the dried flowers in hot water. It worked for me and I still use this a lot.

I also found out that some native plants/fungi containing halluinogenic alkoloids are also exceptionally good at pain control however the hallucinations and the toxicity are also extremely difficult to control and tbh it's dancing with the devil and dicing with death daring with that stuff. NOT a good idea but I was young and desperate at the time.

 

[Cobweb]

I've heard of Lime flower tea for new mums but didn't know what it was doing really, thanks Woodsmoke.

 

[Nagual]

Just looked this up at the beeb. It starts between feb 28th and march 6th - can't find out exactly when, sorry.

In the series, James uses a delicious mix of gardening, cooking, health and beauty and offers viewers an informative guide to plants. He tells how their beneficial properties may help with minor everyday ailments, from coughs and colds to eczema and insomnia. ...

Grow Your Own Drugs, James shows viewers how to make a variety of remedies, including a cream to soothe insect bites, a hot chocolate to reduce anxiety, a pillow to aid sleep and a head lice treatment. "We look at a whole range of minor everyday ailments," he says, "from athlete's foot to sore throats". Many of James's remedies were tried out by people with these minor ailments, "and although they weren't clinical trials, their feedback was really interesting," he adds. ...

Source

 

[xylaria]

Good advice. Many modern medicines are plant derived (morphine, digoxin, the cytotoxic chemotherapy drugs vincristine and paclitaxel, for instance) and despite having clear benefits when used judiciously, they are also potentially lethal if used incorrectly.

Even over the counter drugs come with dosage, contraindications, and side effects sheet, a plant requires a lot research to get that information A few months ago, i came across a patch of fleabane, it was used in the past to treat headlice, scabies and fleas, so I decided to experiment with it for headlice. Sensibly I only treated myself. It didn't kill head lice at all, and made my scalp itch far worse than any nits ever could. Considering the botanical family the plant is in it proberly contains substances simerlar to permethrins, to which modern lice are immune. These substances are now banned for use on cats, and are allergenic for some people. I knew all this before I put the tisane on my hair, but the experiment was worth an educated risk. I have done other experiments like putting drops of various essential oils on lice to see if they had any effect, they behaved no different to the control (veg oil). Tea tree doesn't appear harm them, it just has a psychological effect of smelling clean to humans. They run away from neem oil though.

I have serious concerns about people that think just because something natural it is safer than an OTC medicine for a common ailment. I will watch the program with interest.

Lime flower tea is really nice, it is sometimes known as linden tea. I have never drunk it in enough quantity to produce any painkilling effect, but I found it very pleasant and relaxing. I have ODed on hops trying to treat insomnia, i had numb lips for a day. I cured the insomnia by walking out of the job before I got my face rearranged by a client.