Preparing herbal medicines

Bees and medicinal plants, Deanne Greenwood Medical Herbalist, Foraging, Hay fever, Herbal home remedies, Home herbal remedies, Making Tincures No Responses »

Jun 132018

Foraging

This is my favourite time of year with regard to all things herbal. For the next few months I will be very busy indeed, with all the lush medicinal plants that are sprouting up everywhere in a glorious and wild profusion of colour and aroma.

When the plants are in their optimum state for harvesting, and the weather conditions are right, I’ll be off gathering what I need to create potent herbal tinctures.

Hot, sunny mornings

Typically, I’ll be waiting for a hot sunny day, which will first take the morning dew off the plants, and then bring the therapeutic saps and oils to the surface of the leaves and flowers. I try to get out late morning, before the day gets too hot and the plants, and I, start to wilt a little.

Elder flowers

Recently, I’ve gathered fluffy heads of elder flowers and spread some of them out to dry on racks above the boiler in my boot room. The heady scent they give off is quite intoxicating – especially when I first open the boot room door in the morning. I’ll use the resultant dried plant, mixed with similarly dried peppermint and yarrow, to make a herbal tea which is the absolute best for colds and flu as it makes you sweat, as well as having lots of other therapeutic properties.

I am also macerating some of the elder flower heads in diluted organic grain alcohol to make a tincture (takes about two weeks) that I often use for prophylactic treatment of hay fever – mixed with other herbs, such as eyebright and nettle.

My fingers were stained nicotine yellow after harvesting the elder – not a good look for a health practitioner!

Nettle

The nettle – gathered when it was heavy with seed heads, is also currently in maceration.

Sage & Rosemary

From the allotment, I’ve harvested pungent sage – bravely fending off the fat bumblebees that were buzzing all round the purple flowers on the sage and didn’t take kindly to me chopping down their nectar supply – and rosemary, of which I have several large bushes.

My fingers and nails this time were engrained with a thick layer of brown and green oils. (At this time of year, I often have to explain to patients that my disgusting looking nails are not the result of having just done an oil change!)

St John’s wort

Next on the agenda is St John’s wort, which is said to flower on June 24^th – St John’s Day, hence the name. Today (June 13^th) the rather large bush in my garden has one fully opened flower, and many buds, so I’m hoping it will be in full flower pretty much bang on target!

Lemon balm, Meadowsweet & Yarrow

And so many more still to do – lemon balm, meadowsweet and yarrow being a few of my favourites.

Healing energy

It is such a rewarding practice, because the herbal medicines I prepare myself are always the very best, most potent in my dispensary. You can smell and taste the vibrancy and healing energy in them.

Spirit of Plants and People

That is not to say the herbal medicines I buy in from accredited suppliers in other parts of the country, who also grow many of their own plants, aren’t of the highest quality and therapeutic efficacy – it’s just that I feel home-prepared have the edge. Partly because the sole herbalist is better able to harvest at the absolute optimum time, but mainly because, I believe, the spirit of the person who picks and prepares medicinal plants infuses into the plant and gives the medicine an extra power and energy.

Hence always gathering and preparing herbal medicines with respect, love and gratitude.

Varicose veins, Raynaud’s phenomenon

Circulatory disorders, Herbal home remedies, Raynaud’s phenomenon, Varicose veins 4 Responses »

Nov 222014

Poor circulation

It’s that time of year when the symptoms of circulatory disorders such as varicose veins and Raynaud’s syndrome can flare up. I see a lot of patients with throbbing veins in their legs, and hands and feet that are blue and numb with cold. Often, they have these symptoms, in a milder form, all year round – they just notice them more once winter comes around.

Home remedies

So here’s a bit of self-help advice, as well as info on how herbal medicine can help with regard to the bigger picture, ie, identifying and treating the cause of these symptoms.

Varicose veins

Last winter, a 60-year-old woman came to see me with varicose veins that she’d lived with for 35 years, since her first pregnancy. They were always more painful in the winter, and particularly bad since she had started working in an office with central heating. Her legs throbbed, ached and itched.

Weak veins

I explained that varicose veins are a circulatory disorder resulting from weakened veins and valves, and the blood pooling, rather than flowing through, the veins. Standing or sitting for long periods often make this worse, so avoiding this will obviously help. Regularly sitting with legs raised up can also help relieve the symptoms of varicose veins.

Herbal help

There are a number of herbal remedies that can help tighten and tone the veins, and boost blood circulation, thereby easing the discomfort.

Witch hazel

The first is distilled witch hazel, a natural astringent and anti-inflammatory that you can buy in pharmacies. Gently stroking it over the veins, using a piece of muslin or cotton wool, cools and tightens the veins and can bring instant relief.

Calendula cream

You can use infusions of yarrow or calendula (aka marigold), both of which have the same astringent and anti-inflammatory properties, in the same way and for the same effect. (Make a tea with the dried herb, allow to cool, strain and chill in the fridge.) Or try a soothing witch hazel or calendula cream.

Horse chestnut

For longterm relief, which will include improving venous tone and blood circulation, you’ll need to see a medical herbalist for an internal remedy that will be formulated specifically for you. One herb I find very effective for internal use, in many cases, is horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum). I make my own potent horse chestnut tincture from the freshest organic horse chestnut seeds, collected as they fall and processed immediately. This will be combined with other herbs according to individual requirements.

Bilberry

Another one is bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus), which contains a compound called anthocyanosides which help strengthen blood vessel walls.

Raynaud’s phenomenon

I may also use horse chestnut and bilberry in formulas for Raynaud’s phenomenon – a circulatory problem in which the small arteries that supply blood to the hands and feet narrow, causing cold and numbness, followed by burning and pain as they warm up. Other useful herbs for Raynaud’s include Prickly ash (Zanthoxylum americanum), ginger (Zingiber officianale) and ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba), which are all fantastic circulatory stimulants.

Herbal supplements

It’s not simply a case of taking one of these herbs as a supplement, though. Herbal medicine is far more complex than that. To be really effective, especially when being used for longterm, chronic health problems, herbs need to be carefully selected and combined with other plants to suit the individual person. Everyone has different constitutions, susceptibilities and responses.

Find out more

If you’d like to find out more about how herbal medicine works, please take a look at my About Herbal Medicine page. For more general information about Raynaud’s phenomenon go to www.raynauds.org.uk/raynauds/raynauds.