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A wee bit of personal experience with herbs that I would like to share.

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  • A wee bit of personal experience with herbs that I would like to share.

    On Goldenseal Root:

    So I've managed to stumble across this very useful over the counter blend of Echinacea Purpurea (aerial), Goldenseal root (root), Burdock (root), Gentian (root), Wood Betony (aerial), and cayenne pepper (fruit). They are listed in order of highest to lowest concentration. I haven't done any research into the traditional uses of this blend, but I do know that Goldenseal is a powerful anti-infective agent and has known to be so for several centuries.

    Suffice it to say, everytime I've had an upper respiratory or sinus infection in the past year I've taken this blend and the infection has been killed off in 24 hours (and sometimes signifigantly less than 24 hours). Given the problems with antibiotics, I've found this to be a very useful herbal medication. It even killed off a particularly virulent bronchial infection which had me bed-ridden for 4 days last winter. I was about to check myself into the infirmary but decided to give the herbs a try since I knew doctors would just fill me up with antibiotics. There was a drastic improvement by the next morning.

    That being said, goldenseal is a particularly powerful herb, if you do take it, you should do so for no more than 10 days. (i've never taken it for more than 2 days myself, and never needed to) And you should could consult a medical proffessional before taking it, especially if you are currently taking prescription medication. There are known drug interactions with the herb, but I don't recall them off the top of my head. I think it may inhibit the action of anti-clotting agents like warfarin, but that may be a different herb i'm thinking of. Pregnant women should never imbibe goldenseal root. Also, you can use goldenseal to flush toxins from your system. (some people use it to pass drug tests)

    That being said, it has been traditionally known, and in my experience is quite potent, as an anti-infective and anti-parasitic agent. And its usually a hell of alot safer and more beneficial than antibiotic medication.

    Thanks for reading, if anyone here has any personal experience with any herbs TCM or otherwise, which they would like to share, then please do so in reply to this post. With a bit of community participation we may develop some very helpful medical information to share with others via this forum.
    Show me a man who has forgotten words, so that I can have a word with him.

  • #2
    Zinc sulfate is also very effective with viral infections. Some old time doctor told me this fifteen years ago, it was one of those "medical rumors" that had absolutely no proof, but, demonstrated great effectiveness. I've been using it since. (The pharmaceutical companies have recently just jumped on the band wagon with respect to this).

    200 mg of Zinc Sulfate each day, from the very onset of the suggestion of a viral infection, along with one gram of Vitamin C, and plenty of rest, and you can pretty much knock out just about all URI's (upper respiratory infections) before they take root. The important thing is to take it early in the infection. Zinc has been shown to interfere with viral replication. It works. I used it, in much much greater doses, when I came down with that viral pulmonary infection in Beijing this past March (along with a bunch of other stuff).

    Remind me to talk about this TCM shit for asthma I've been taking...
    Experienced Community organizer. Yeah, let's choose him to run the free world. It will be historic. What could possibly go wrong...

    "You're just a jaded cynical mother****er...." Jeffpeg

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    • #3
      Fresh papaya flesh kills amoebas and many types of fungus. That's been proven in studies, but only with parasitic amoebas. Also, aqueous papaya seed extracts are known to cause reversible sterility in male rats.
      Show me a man who has forgotten words, so that I can have a word with him.

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      • #4
        So Ephedra is now illegal in the U.S. as of the new year. Which is good and bad. The extractives of Ma Huang were being abused all over the place and several people died (including a pro baseball player, funny how laws get passed when pro athletes die) but this sucks all the same becuase Ma Huang is a very useful and safe herb when used properly and prescribed by a licensed herbalist.

        Now we won't even be able to put Ma Huang into a whole herb formula because it contains trace levels of ephedra and anything an herbalist gives a patient falls into the category of "dietary supplement".

        Wouldnt it be better if herbs which are potentially dangerous when abused were treated like prescription drugs? Thus being only available upon the prescription of a licensed herbalist? I mean christ we already have a national board exam for licensing herbalists and acupuncturists which is set up by the government.

        Doc, you have money. Lobbey this.
        Show me a man who has forgotten words, so that I can have a word with him.

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        • #5
          I agree man, but some of the general public (it is weird when the general public knocks itself isn't it) is too stupid to realize that things at extremes never end up being good... just watch any kids movie.
          practice wu de

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          • #6
            Doc, you have money. Lobbey this.

            Sure. Once I get through the long distance phone bills, the daily food bill for three of us, and all the school expenses, I'll see what I can do for the herbalists of the world.
            Experienced Community organizer. Yeah, let's choose him to run the free world. It will be historic. What could possibly go wrong...

            "You're just a jaded cynical mother****er...." Jeffpeg

            (more comments in my User Profile)
            russbo.com


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            • #7
              You have no idea how many mahuang jokes I've heard..

              Hey, have you heard you can't use my wang anymore...
              practice wu de

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              • #8
                becuase Ma Huang is a very useful and safe herb when used properly and prescribed by a licensed herbalist.

                During this last trip to China, I went to the University of Beijing's Traditional Medicine College, and spoke with one of their top lung people about my spastic bronchitis, which, was really ruining my year. He prescribed this special tea that they use specifically for asthma. He told me to take two to three packets of this tea, twice a day.

                I felt uneasy about drinking so much of this stuff, so I started with half a packet a day. Which, was fortunate.

                One night, when I was trying to resolve the issue between Xingwei and Decheng, I had taken a whole packet of tea. Didn't have my morning dose. About an hour after drinking this stuff, my head started to feel very warm. I sensed that my blood pressure had elevated greatly (I could tell from feeling my pulse). I got a bit tachycardic, and my face and upper body got flushed. It was a god awful feeling, one that I really didn't enjoy. In fact, for the two hours that it had lasted, it was a bit frightening. The effect finally wore off that night.

                I stopped using the stuff. It wasn't until much later, that I read the contents of the tea on the back of the box. One of the ingredients was ephedra. The rest of the stuff, was your usual Chinese unidentifiable herbal stuff.

                Now, of course ephedra, being a sympathomimetic agent, is going to cause bronchodilation. But, it has many other, more harmful, cardiovascular effects, effects, which the Chinese seem to ignore. Western asthma medicines tend to be more beta two adrenergic, which avoid the cardiovascular effects while still presenting potent bronchodilatory effects. And, they have the typical Chinese patient drinking six of these packets a day. The cardiovascular effects of this drug, in these dosages, portend a high risk of stroke and myocardial infarction.

                Overall, not a good idea. Kind of like killing a fly with a 12 guage shotgun.
                Experienced Community organizer. Yeah, let's choose him to run the free world. It will be historic. What could possibly go wrong...

                "You're just a jaded cynical mother****er...." Jeffpeg

                (more comments in my User Profile)
                russbo.com


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                • #9
                  Did the medicine contain whole ma huang or ephedra which had been chemically isolated and removed from the plant?
                  Show me a man who has forgotten words, so that I can have a word with him.

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                  • #10
                    It contained pure ephedra.

                    But what difference does it make. The chemical compound of ephedra is ephedra, as long as it is not bound up by some other substance. Even then, if it becomes unbound in the body during breakdown, it becomes effective again.

                    Nasty feeling. It was truly horrible. I'm lucky I had no untoward effects from it.
                    Experienced Community organizer. Yeah, let's choose him to run the free world. It will be historic. What could possibly go wrong...

                    "You're just a jaded cynical mother****er...." Jeffpeg

                    (more comments in my User Profile)
                    russbo.com


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                    • #11
                      Yeah. It makes a difference. Concentrations of ephedra are much lower in whole herb ma huang, and in addition a good herbalist will combine it in a formula with other herbs which reduce the toxicity and lead the herb away from the heart and pericardium channels.

                      Sadly, the chinese herbs in the US are much safer than those in mainland china. Chinese manufacturers have been known to lace formulas, teas, and pills with chemical extractives of herbs (as opposed to the whole herb prepared traditionally) and FAR WORSE than that. There are several lawsuits going on against a california based importer of chinese herbs (the formulas and pills were produced in a factory in china and then imported) because their formulas contained significant amounts of western prescription drugs. This included but was not limited to formulas traditionallly used to "calm the shen" containing paxil or zoloft in addition to the herbs.

                      Doc what did you say about trusting chinese businessmen in another thread?
                      Show me a man who has forgotten words, so that I can have a word with him.

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                      • #12
                        LOL, I shouldn't laugh, but that is kind of funny in a way.
                        practice wu de

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                        • #13
                          Concentrations of ephedra are much lower in whole herb ma huang, and in addition a good herbalist will combine it in a formula with other herbs which reduce the toxicity and lead the herb away from the heart and pericardium channels.

                          Well, that's news to me. Care to explain the pharmacology and physiology of that?

                          The effects of ephedra are not toxic effects. They are pure and simply, the sympathomimetic effects of the drug, which I might add, is the reason why they are going under the auspices of the FDA. The way to counter those effects, is to combine the ephedra with a beta blocking pharmacologic agent, or, an agent which binds the ephedra in the intestine, thus preventing its absorption into the bloodstream.
                          Experienced Community organizer. Yeah, let's choose him to run the free world. It will be historic. What could possibly go wrong...

                          "You're just a jaded cynical mother****er...." Jeffpeg

                          (more comments in my User Profile)
                          russbo.com


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                          • #14
                            found this cartoon..

                            ephedra cartoon...
                            Attached Files
                            I do not have a psychiatrist and I do not want one, for the simple reason that if he listened to me long enough, he might become disturbed.
                            "Life can keep providing the rain and I'll keep providing the parade."
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                            • #15
                              Doc, because I love you, here it all goes.

                              About the difference between ma huang and ephedrine....

                              All of the following is excerpted from the Chinese Herbal Medicine Materia Medica by Bensky et al. Any thing in parantheses is my writing, everything else is written by Bensky et al. "..." denotes a place where I have skipped a portion of the text as written.

                              Ma Huang

                              Actions and Indications: (it should be noted that ma huang is not indicated for weight loss and never will be)
                              Releases the exterior and disperses cold...
                              ...
                              Facilitates the movement of Lung qi and controls wheezing: for cough with wheezing due to obstruction of lung qi by wind and cold...
                              ...
                              Promotes urination and reduces edema...
                              ...
                              Cautions and Contrindications:
                              If too much of the herb is used, or for too ong a period of time, it may cause heavy sweating that weakens the body. Toasting with honey reduces this dispersing property. Use of the herb may also raise blood pressure or cause restlesness and tremors. Use with caution in cases of deficiency with sweating or wheezing. See Toxicity below.

                              Dosage: 3-9 grams (raw, stem only) This herb is often decocted first and the foam on the surface of the decoction removed before adding other ingredients. Use raw for exterior disorders, raw or honey-toasted for asthma. Good quality is light green in color and has a solid center.

                              Major Known Ingredients: ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, 1-N-methylephedrine, ephedine, 1-norephedrine, d-N-pseudomethylephedrine, d-dimethylpseudoephedrine, benzyl-methylamine, 1-alpha-d-terpineol.

                              ...

                              Toxicity:
                              Three cases of ephedrine toxicity were reported after ingestion of as little as 15ml of a 1% solution. Symptoms included diaphoresis, temperature elevation, epigastric pain, nausea, vomiting. The antidote used successfully was atropine. Especially in conjunction with cardia glycosides, ephedrine can cause cardiac arrhythmias.
                              Show me a man who has forgotten words, so that I can have a word with him.

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