Poison Ivy Backyard Remedy and then some

My dear friend's Husband wrote me an email yesterday .... plagued with an annual whipping of Poison Ivy. It's like an unwelcome visitor from a mean old bully from school, they just obnoxiously arrive, with a sense of entitlement and expectation. At first you think, well maybe it's be different this year .... maybe they have changed and become more compassionate. .....but it just gets worse and worse. Pretty soon you just want to choke them.

So, for anyone out there, my invisible voyeurs, here is my response. Keep in mind the myriad remedies that books and herbalists avail .... not to mention the wealth of medicine that our green world offers ..... I cannot possibly list all of the plentiful options. I list the simplest, most easily attainable remedies that I know WORK.

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"Hi! Oh bummer - poison Ivy, no fun.

Well, if it were me, I would probably make up a strong batch of Mugwort vinegar for it. It's my most reliable PI remedy. Not the kind that has to steep for six weeks, (you obviously don't have six weeks to wait!) but a brew of sorts. You could use the silvery Artemisia in your yard if you can't find regular mugwort.

I would roughly chop it; a good 8 oz cup of it; and put it in a pot (enamel, glass or stainless) with an equal amount of apple cider vinegar. Warm it over low heat for about 10 minutes, keeping it gently steamy like hot tea. Then cover it and let infuse for another 10 or 20 minutes. Don't strain it. Put the whole thing in a jar and refrigerate it like that. Shaking it before applying is good. You can apply it as often as needed with cotton. You can pour some into an extra bottle to take with you. It will last a while so don't worry about it going bad.

Some helpful additions are:

Peppermint or Chamomile (tea bags work O.K. if you have those on hand)

Clay - like the facial clay - you can get french green clay at your local health food market

Goldenseal powder - last resort as it is endangered and extremely expensive - but a sure fire relief for intense itching and PI that is oozing or blistering. You can add this to your solution or just sprinkle it on as is. Beware the gorgeous yellow color that stains! Oregon Grape root is an optional substitute.

Colloidal silver - not found in your back yard, unfortunately - but a bottle of this clear aqueous liquid is great not just because it helps, but because it's invisible - in case you have a business meeting or something where you can't show up painted yellow :) You can also add this to your Artemisia vinegar. "

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What is your favorite Poison Ivy cure???

Some Home Remedy Suggestions To Help Reduce Nerve Pain

Today's post from jbbardot.com (see link below) is a useful and informative article about what many call alternative treatments for neuropathic pain but are really more supplements, designed to help reduce the impact of the symptoms. It's important to realise that none of these treatments will work on their own. The key words are 'help to reduce'. Any successful treatment for nerve pain symptoms has to be based on a holistic view of your problems. The treatments mentioned here will probably help in combination with lifestyle changes, regular medication and mental adjustments but you need to explore the options to find what works best for you. Furthermore, they all need time to work (if they're going to work at all), so buying one pot and giving up after two weeks will not help you except by helping to empty your wallet. You need to do your research and find out what's best for your own situation and that, in combination with a good discussion with your doctor. Unfortunately, there are no miracle cures for nerve pain but there are hundreds of choices as to how you can best relieve your own pain. The suggestions mentioned below represent just some of the options you have.
 

Soothe Diabetic Foot Pain And Peripheral Neuropathy With Effective Home Remedies and Alternative Treatments 
Posted by JB Bardot 2017

Peripheral or diabetic neuropathy affects 60-70 percent of all diabetics with stabbing, burning pain in the hands, feet and especially the toes, according to DiabeticLiving.com. Additionally, many non-diabetics are affected with painful neuropathies of no known cause. Initially experienced as numbness, and tingling of the affected parts, neuropathies often develop into feelings of having hot or icy needles stabbing sensitive flesh. Pharmaceutical medicines may or may not help manage pain, and often produce unwanted side effects. Fortunately, there is a more natural, multi-disciplinary approach to pain management using a variety of home remedies, herbs, supplements, homeopathic remedies, and lifestyle adjustments.

Herbs, supplements and homeopathic remedies

• Topical applications of cayenne pepper mixed with olive or coconut oil relieves neuropathy pain for some people. Capsicum, the active ingredient in cayenne, may feel hot to the skin initially; however, it binds to the body’s pain receptors, fooling the neural pathways and lessening pain over a period of time.

• Omega 3 fatty acids in the form of fish oil supplements provide healthy fats that soothe nerves, helping to relieve pain and inflammation from peripheral neuropathy. Omega 3 fatty acids are also found in flax seeds and oil, borage oil and Evening primrose oil.

• Homeopathic remedies are effective at providing relief from peripheral neuropathies for many people. Remedies such as Plumbum Met, Phosphoric Acid, Phosphorous, Zincum Met, Pulsatilla, Graphites, Lachesis, Gelsemium, Baryta Carb, Causticum, Zincum Phos, Agaricus, Mercurius, Sulphur, Cuprum Met, and Rhus Tox. This list is not exhaustive. Consult a homeopath for the correct remedy based on your individual case.

• Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) reduce stress hormones which can be the cause of some neuropathies. Treatment eventually leads to the reduction of inflammation and pain.

• Lecithin, a fat emulsifier, will reduce diabetic neuropathy pain by working to protect the liver and pancreas from the effects of eating oils high in trans fats and hydrogenated fats. Lecithin is found naturally in the body and is important in the production and transmission of energy. The myelin sheaths that cover nerves are made primarily from lecithin. Most lecithin is made from eggs or soy and it’s important to use a product that’s organic and labeled non-GMO.

• High doses of the B vitamin, Inositol added to one’s diet has been shown to reduce pain and the frequency of peripheral neuropathies. Additionally, increase doses of vitamin B-complex — especially B-6 and B-12 — to help calm and repair damaged nerves and provide pain relief.

• Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA) works to regenerate nerves damaged by diabetes and other causes. ALA is a sulfur-containing compound found naturally in the body. Some studies suggest that this antioxidant may actually improve circulation, enhance the action of insulin and reduce oxidative stress, thus preventing neuropathies.

• Keep your body alkaline by drinking a pH drink from 1 to 3 times daily. Mix 2 Tbs. fresh lime or lemon juice with 1/2 tsp. baking soda. Allow all foaming and fizzing to go flat. Add 10 – 12 oz. water and drink all at once.

• Manage pain and frequency of attacks by keeping glucose levels stable, suggests pain specialist Dr. Robert Gerwin, of Johns Hopkins University. There are a number of ways to maintain blood sugar. Eat foods lower on the glycemic index scale and avoid those whose numbers are high. Take a daily supplement consisting of cinnamon and chromium to lower glucose levels and help prevent diabetic neuropathies.

Lifestyle adjustments

• Wear well-fitting shoes, with large toe boxes.

• Protect hands and feet in winter with warm socks, gloves and shoes that keep feet dry.

• Sit with legs uncrossed to encourage good circulation.

• Stop smoking cigarettes. Smoking causes the blood vessels to constrict, worsening circulation and aggravating neuropathy pain.

http://www.jbbardot.com/home-remedies-and-alternative-treatments-for-diabetic-foot-pain-and-peripheral-neuropathy-2/

Corydalis Yanhusuo Herbal Remedy For Neuropathic Pain

Today's post from news.uci.edu (see link below) talks about a compound derived from the Corydalis plant that is both effective against neuropathic pain and non-addictive. Everybody is looking for alternatives to opioids as nerve pain analgesics and as such, there has been more investigation into Chinese medicine, where herbal drugs such as Corydalis have been used for a great deal of time. As far as the West is concerned, they are accepting the analgesic qualities but looking for a more 'refined' and scientifically acceptable way of presenting the compound. In the meantime, the herb is available in health shops. However, many health shop preparations are not fully tested and the customer takes a risk if they use them. Maybe it's a question of doing as much research as possible and trying it out for yourself, for a reasonable but relatively short period of time but again...let the buyer beware.

Chinese herbal compound relieves inflammatory and neuropathic pain
 Irvine, Calif., Jan. 2, 2014 
 
UCI study also shows novel analgesic to be nonaddictive

— A compound derived from a traditional Chinese herbal medicine has been found effective at alleviating pain, pointing the way to a new nonaddictive analgesic for acute inflammatory and nerve pain, according to UC Irvine pharmacology researchers.

Working with Chinese scientists, Olivier Civelli and his UC Irvine colleagues isolated a compound called dehydrocorybulbine (DHCB) from the roots of the Corydalis yanhusuo plant. In tests on rodents, DHCB proved to diminish both inflammatory pain, which is associated with tissue damage and the infiltration of immune cells, and injury-induced neuropathic pain, which is caused by damage to the nervous system. This is important because there are no current adequate treatments for neuropathic pain.

Moreover, the researchers found that DHCB did not generate the tolerance seen with continued use of most conventional pain relievers, such as morphine.

“Today the pharmaceutical industry struggles to find new drugs. Yet for centuries people have used herbal remedies to address myriad health conditions, including pain. Our objective was to identify compounds in these herbal remedies that may help us discover new ways to treat health problems,” said Civelli, the Eric L. ; Lila D. Nelson Chair in Neuropharmacology. “We’re excited that this one shows promise as an effective pharmaceutical. It also shows a different way to understand the pain mechanism.”

Study results appear in the Jan. 20 issue of Current Biology.

They are the product of a collaboration between two teams separated by the Pacific Ocean. As traditional Chinese medicine gains greater acceptance in Western medical practice, Xinmiao Liang at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics in China and his group have been working to create an “herbalome” of all the compounds in plant extracts that display pharmacological properties. The UC Irvine team suggested applying “reverse pharmacology” – a novel drug discovery approach that Civelli devised about 25 years ago – to the herbalome project.

Together they screened 10 traditional Chinese medicines known as analgesics, testing nearly 500 compounds for their pain-relief abilities. Only DHCB in corydalis induced a reproducible effect.

Corydalis is a flowering herbal plant that grows in Siberia, Northern China and Japan. People utilize its root extract to alleviate menstrual cramps, chest pain and abdominal pain. It’s been previously studied for its analgesic properties, but this is the first time DHCB has been identified, extracted and tested.

Chronic neuropathic pain affects more than 50 million Americans, yet management of this pain remains a major clinical challenge due to the poor results and severe side effects of conventional analgesics. Civelli said that drawing upon traditional Chinese medical-herbal products could lead to a breakthrough treatment for these patients.

DHCB needs to be evaluated for any toxicity before it can be developed as a drug. It’s also possible that if the compound is chemically modified, a more potent pharmaceutical may be found. While DHCB is not currently available, it is part of the Corydalis yanhusuo root or extracts that can be purchased in health stores or online.

Yan Zhang, Lien Wang, Gregory Scott Parks, Kang-Wu Li, Mi Kyeong Kim, Benjamin Vo, Emiliana Borrelli, Zhiwei Wang, M. Julia Garcia-Fuster and Z. David Luo of UC Irvine;

Chaoran Wang, Xiuli Zhang, Zhimou Guo, Guangbo Ge and Ling Yang of the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics in China; and Yanxiong Ke of the East China University of Science & Technology also contributed to the study, which was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grants MH60231 and DA024746), the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia & Depression (now the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation), the Tourette Syndrome Association, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the National High-Tech Research & Development Program of China.

About the University of California, Irvine: Located in coastal Orange County, near a thriving employment hub in one of the nation’s safest cities, UC Irvine was founded in 1965. One of only 62 members of the Association of American Universities, it’s ranked first among U.S. universities under 50 years old by the London-based Times Higher Education. The campus has produced three Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Michael Drake since 2005, UC Irvine has more than 28,000 students and offers 192 degree programs. It’s Orange County’s second-largest employer, contributing $4.3 billion annually to the local economy.

Media access: UC Irvine maintains an online directory of faculty available as experts to the media at communications.uci.edu/for-journalists/experts/. Radio programs/stations may, for a fee, use an on-campus ISDN line to interview UC Irvine faculty and experts, subject to availability and university approval. For more UC Irvine news, visit news.uci.edu. Additional resources for journalists may be found at communications.uci.edu/for-journalists.

http://news.uci.edu/press-releases/chinese-herbal-compound-relieves-inflammatory-and-neuropathic-pain/