Pain, Nerve & Muscle

[Guest guest]

Any time you experience nerve damage or injury, you can count on it being pretty unpleasant. Neuralgia is the term doctors use to describe nerve pain—the sharp, often tingling pain that runs along a nerve and can sometimes create an uncomfortable dullness or numbing sensation. Nerve pain can be caused by pressure on the nerve—say, from a ruptured spinal disk—or by a simple injury such as a sprain. One common example of neuralgia is sciatica, a condition that involves pain running down the back of your leg, along the sciatic nerve. Neuralgia can also result from repeated use of a particular nerve or muscle group. An example of this is the infamous carpal tunnel syndrome, in which a nerve in your wrist becomes compressed, causing great pain in the wrist and hand. This syndrome is fairly common in office clerks, writers and others who spend most of each day typing, and in carpenters who spend their days pounding nails. You can also develop compressed nerves by continuously leaning on your elbow or crossing your legs all the time. Degeneration of the nerve fibers themselves, which is most common in elderly people, also leads to constant pain. And certain diseases, such as herpes and the closely related shingles, cause painful skin eruptions that break out along the nerves. The herbal treatments I suggest for nerve pain can be used to treat these disorders as well as to relieve the symptoms of nerve degeneration resulting from diabetes and nervous system disorders such as multiple sclerosis (MS), in which the protective sheath that surrounds the nerves is partially destroyed. While there is no known cure for either of these disorders, I have certainly seen herbs improve the quality of life of people who suffer from them. None of the available herbs offers the significant pain relief given by prescription drugs. (Granted, there are some pretty strong painkillers derived from plants, such as morphine from opium poppies, but these are available only by prescription.) Unlike heavy-duty prescription drugs, however, the herbs mentioned here help heal your nervous system instead of only suppressing the pain. And they don't dull the senses and are not addictive, as are many of today's popular prescription painkillers.

There are actually many herbs that can help relieve pain, and not all of them work the same way. vervain are nervous system relaxants that help you recover when your nerves are damaged, inflamed or strained.

Vervain is also considered a nerve tonic, especially when used constantly over several weeks—it improves the general action of the nerves and makes the system healthier. (It is also rumored to be a mild antidepressant, which may be one reason it used to be called "simpler's joy.") I find it works best when mixed with other nerve tonics.

Every spring, the hills around my home are covered with two excellent nervous system toners: oats. Both of these herbs are available as ingredients in formulas and occasionally as individual tinctures.

All of these nervous system herbs help relieve pain. They can be useful in treating pain brought on by sciatica, herpes, shingles and carpal tunnel syndrome. These herbs can be taken internally as tinctures or pills. chamomile, lavender. I know firsthand the benefits of such herbs. A few years ago, while writing my herb encyclopedia, I began experiencing nerve problems in my shoulders, arms and wrists. Sometimes problems like this creep up on you slowly when you are busy, and it takes something fairly dramatic to make you realize how dire things have become. For me, that day came when my wrists hurt so badly that I was unable to turn the doorknob to get into my house. It was obvious that something had to be done, and quickly. I had given up my massage practice and my pastime of playing the recorder because of the pain. In fact, I could barely finish typing the encyclopedia. The next thing I knew, I was wearing wrist braces, even at the wedding of my friends and . I did several things to cure myself and spare myself from impending surgery (which is not always successful). At and 's wedding reception, I got a gentle lecture from , who is also an herbalist, about practicing what I preach. The next day, I adopted an aggressive natural healing program that began with a visit to an excellent osteopath (whom I met at the wedding!) and a not-so-gentle lecture about the importance of herbs and exercise and reducing my stress level over deadlines. Then I started getting regular massages with relaxing aromatherapy oils and using herbs inside and out. I took the Nerve Pain Tincture (see below) with an extra dose of Saint-'s-wort combined with the muscle relaxants hops, chamomile and

The herbs ended up fixing all sorts of nerve-related problems that had stoically never mentioned, at least until they were gone. That was years ago, but has not stopped talking about her herbal success. Her enthusiasm is so strong that she has adopted herbalism as part of her life, and she and her husband, son, daughter, grandson and niece have all benefited from taking herbs for a number of different problems.

That this kind of pain relief is possible with herbs has not gone entirely unnoticed by the drug companies. The compound capsaicin, from Valerian, cramp bark sedate the nervous system and also stop tight muscles from going into spasm. Other helpful agents include the same compounds that color berries and grapes red and deep purple. These compounds also calm and sedate the nervous system. You can get these substances, called anthocyanidins, by eating plenty of the fruit or buying the fruit-derived extracts in capsules sold in natural food stores.

In one study, a skin and Saint-'s-wort flowering tops, oats and ginger rhizome and

[Guest guest]

This is the source on my article http://www.mothernature.com/Library/Bookshelf/Books/15/19.cfm

You're taking a teaspoon of each tincture listed, adding them together and then taking a dropperful of the next ones and adding them to the mix you already have and then taking

internally by dropperfuls

the "=" sign I believe should be a " + " sign meaning a dropperful.

SuziPersian <persian13@...> wrote:

HI SuziI had a look in our files, thought we had a conversion thing but nothing aboutdropperfuls. I wonder why it is not all given in dropperfuls, or all in teaspoons?Also do you have the origianal text there as mine shows as = dropperfuleach and now I wonder if that should be a quantity?thanksPersianOn Sun, Oct 31, 2004 at 02:02:59 -0800, suzi wrote:> Nerve Pain Tincture > 1 teaspoon each tinctures of Saint-'s-wort flowering tops, skullcap leaves, fresh oats and licorice root > = dropperful each tinctures of ginger rhizome and vervain leaves > Combine ingredients. Take 1 dropperful every half hour, as needed during an emergency. To relieve chronic pain, take 2 to 4 dropperfuls a day. > -- "We have enslaved the rest of the animal creationand have treated our distant

cousins in fur and feather so badly that,beyond doubt, if they were able to formulate a religion, they woulddepict the devil in human form" - Ralph Inge"The human body has no more need for cows' milk than it does for dogs' milk, horses' milk or giraffes' milk." ~ Klapper, M.D.Only when the last tree has diedand the last river has been poisonedand the last fish has been caughtwill we realise we cannot eat money. - Cree Indian saying

[Guest guest]

Suzanne wrote:

> This is the source on my article

> http://www.mothernature.com/Library/Bookshelf/Books/15/19.cfm

> You're taking a teaspoon of each tincture listed, adding them together

> and then taking a dropperful of the next ones and adding them to the

> mix you already have and then taking

> internally by dropperfuls

> the " = " sign I believe should be a " + " sign meaning a dropperful.

> Suzi

> *//*

=================================

It is a teaspoonful of each tincture listed: Saint 's Wort,

Scullcap, Witch Hazel or Chamomile

You also add in 1/2 dropperful of tincture of ginger and vervain.

Very few people go by dropperfuls because droppers vary so radically.

There are anywhere from 400 to 700 drops to an ounce (depending on your

dropper) Quite a variation. A dropperful can be as little as 30 drops up

to maybe 50 or more, again depending on the dropper used and the size of

the opening. This is not a very precise method so obviously precise

amounts are not that important.

--

Peace, love and light,

Don Quai

" Spirit sleeps in the mineral, breathes in the vegetable, dreams in the animal

and wakes in man. "