A herbal poultice is a wad of fresh (or dried but remoistened) herbs that is usually applied to larger injuries and designed to help with more internal issues such as broken bones, pulled tendons and strained muscles. Poultices tend to be a combination of herbs which will take away pain, reduce swelling and inflammation, as well as start the healing process in the affected area of the body.

While poultices, herbal salves, and remedies can be used to treat many things, there are times when a hospital visit is necessary. Treating an immediate bleeding issue by putting Cayenne on a wound is fine, but if the wound is severe, going to the hospital and getting stitches is usually the best course of action. The same applies to broken bones — applying salves or poultices to help the bone heal faster, and help remove pain is fine. However, don’t try setting the bone yourself and treating it completely home.

A compress is clean cloths that have been dipped in a herbal solution–usually an infusion or tincture. A compress can be used in two ways. A poultice can be held in place with a compress, or it might be placed directly against the skin. This type of compression is known as a fomentation.

Don’t assume that by using herbal remedies to treat common problems you’ll never have to visit a doctor or hospital again. There are some injuries where a trained medical specialist could mean the difference between life and death.

With that said, let’s look at some of the most useful herbal poultices you should know about.

An excellent multi-purpose poultice to use for cuts, wounds, abrasions, scrapes, swelling and pain from broken bones, sprains and infected sores: Goldenseal, Comfrey, Slippery Elm, and Aloe Vera.

Another excellent poultice which is great for helping broken bones to heal faster, as well as treating problems with joints, gout, or ligaments: Comfrey, white oak bark, mullein, black walnut, marshmallow, queen of the meadow, wormwood, lobelia, scullcap. These herbs would need to be mixed with mineral water, aloe vera juice or gel, or petroleum jelly before being applied.

Often poultices will still work well if you have at least one of the main ingredients. For instance, comfrey is needed to remove pain, repair skin and cell damage, and help reduce swelling. Goldenseal primarily helps with infections, and aloe vera helps to carry the herbs deeper into the multiple layers of the skin. Aloe vera also has it’s own pain removing and healing properties too.

Onion all by itself is excellent to use as a poultice for soreness, swelling and bruises. In the case of an ear ache, cut an onion in half and make hash marks across the top to release the juice. Put it in the over for a few minutes to hear up. Place the onion on the affected ear for as long as possible or until the pain subsides.

Herbs have a lot to offer in regards to our health, but to truly learn about herbs you need to experience them with your own senses. Trained herbalists can tell the best use for an herb by it’s aroma, whether it tastes bitter, sweet, etc. If you would like to learn more about the healing properties of plants, visit Herbal Energetics.

There are many holistic therapies for hypertension. Everything from vitamin supplements to meditation can improve blood pressure according to recent studies. One easy switch to make in your diet is the addition of olive oil. Reducing your saturated fat intake and replacing them with olive oil can markedly improve your health and blood pressure. There is speculation that the polyphenols in the oil could be the reason it is beneficial.

There are many holistic therapies for hypertension. Everything from vitamin supplements to meditation can improve blood pressure according to recent studies. One easy switch to make in your diet is the addition of olive oil. Reducing your saturated fat intake and replacing them with olive oil can markedly improve your health and blood pressure. There is speculation that the polyphenols in the oil could be the reason it is beneficial.

Fish oil is another addition to your diet that has shown promising results. Including salmon twice a week in your nutrition plan or eating other fatty fish like sardines can help lower blood pressure in hypertensive individuals, though the effect on people with normal blood pressure is not yet clear.

One hypothesis is that some cases of hypertension are caused by a heart dysfunction of the endothelial vasodilator mechanism. The amino acid L-argnine has been shown to be highly effective in reversing this dysfunction. Taken either orally or intravenously it may prevent or correct hardening of the arteries, and increase the coronary blood flow to the heart.

Some herbs showing good preliminary results are coleus Forskohlii which may lower blood pressure and improve heart function and hawthorne, which helps dilate coronary blood vessels to lower blood pressure. Rauwolfia is considered the most potent hypertensive herb because only a small dose is required and the side effects are limited, with the most severe being nasal congestion.

Working with a homeopathic professional will help you formulate a plan to find what works for you. But do not be afraid to discuss herbs and vitamins with your physician. Eastern style medicine has become more accepted in the American medical community as a complement to routine medical treatments.

You also may consider adding yoga, or tai chi, as keeping your body limber and well-stretched will make life easier for your heart by increasing blood flow.

In no particular order:

Reishi – Yes, this yummy mushroom can help lower your blood pressure. As commercial farming of Reishi becomes more popular with in the United States you will be seeing more and more of this heart healthy fungus. Reishi helps lower blood pressure and LDL cholesterol, along with reducing blood clots.

Resveratrol – Resveratrol is only found in red wine and is the reason that doctors recommend a daily 4 ounce glass of wine for anyone over the age of 21. Resveratrol helps lower blood pressure by improving blood flow, especially within the brain. Resvertrols affect on the brain suggests that it can also help reduce strokes. Many studies have also shown that Resvertrol can help fight obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Coleus – A root in the same family as the ornamental plant. The forskolin in Coleus helps lower blood pressure by relaxing the muscle tissue with the blood vessels walls. Coleus also helps breakdown the fat that is stored within the blood vessels.

Arginine – Arginine is an amino acid. Arginine is found in chocolate, dairy, fish, meats, and nuts. Arginine helps lower you blood pressure by counteracting blood-vessel constriction.

Bilberry – Bilberry is a close relative to blueberry. Bilberry may be listed on product labels as Vaccinium Myrtillus. Bilberry helps lower blood pressure by increasing blood flow. Some studies also show that Bilberry may also help prevent cataracts.

Co-Enzyme Q10 – Study after study shows that Co-Enzyme Q10 is beneficial to the heart. Co-Enzyme Q10 can be found in both fish and meat. Co-Enzyme Q10 lowers blood pressure by relaxing and widening the blood vessels, especially the blood vessels in the heart. Co-Enzyme Q10 also has overall health benefits by helping cells to produce more energy.

Garlic – Garlic also know as Allium sativum is a widely popular food ingredient. Garlic not only helps lower blood pressure, but also helps reduce arterial plaque and blocks the formation of additional arterial plaque.

Hawthorn – Hawthorn is another herb that studies have shown to have many heart benefits. Hawthorn helps lower blood pressure by improve blood flow, specifically within the heart. Evidence has been found that shows Hawthorn may have been used as a remedy as far back as ancient Greece.

Magnesium – Magnesium is essential for overall health, not just heart health. Magnesium can be bought as an over the counter supplement or consumed in food. Foods that are high in magnesium are dark green vegetables, beans, grains, fish, meat, and nuts. A magnesium deficiency can have many seemly unrelated symptoms like acne, fatigue, and sore joints. Many Doctors and studies recommend a magnesium supplement daily for almost everyone over the age of twelve.

Nattokinase – Largely popular in Japan Nattokinase is an enzyme derived from natto. It is unknown how Nattokinase helps lower blood pressure, most studies attribute its benefits to thinning the blood. Nattokinase also helps dissolve blood clots.

Potassium – Potassium helps lower blood pressure by helping the body regulate water balance. Potassium is also essential for proper electrical impulses within the heart. A potassium deficiency can be fatal, however caution should be used when taking potassium without a doctors consent. Potassium does build up in the body and you can overdose when not used properly or taken when not necessary.

Finding a natural method to reduce hypertension, whether it is lifestyle changes or herbal remedies, can save you a lot of money and have potential life changing effects. Remember to speak with your healthcare professional about your interest in alternative treatments and bring the appropriate research to your appointment if necessary.

It is possible to balance hormones with food. This concept may seem strange because you can’t actually eat hormones. What people often don’t understand is that all parts of the body are tightly intertwined. When something is wrong in one area, it can have a dramatic affect on every other area of the body. Nutrition is often the underlying cause of many health problems seen today.

The body’s hormones are balanced by the multiple glands. For instance, the pituitary, thyroid, and adrenal glands all have major impacts on how the body operates and functions. When these glands do not operate as expected, this can cause a variety of health problems in the body.

A lack of vitamins, minerals and general nutrition causes our body’s glands to not operate well. Since these glands don’t have the proper support they need in the form of nutrition, they have a more difficult time doing their job of maintaining the various health functions of the body. Simply by choosing healthier foods and lifestyles, the various glands in our bodies can be managed and maintained.

So the very first step in helping to balance hormonal problems is to start eating better. You hear the same mantra time and again for almost any type of health related problem, and the reason you keep hearing it is because it truly does make a difference.

Sugars and simple starches wear down your body with malnutrition. They also add excess body fat, and make all areas of your body have to work harder to clear out the added blood sugars you’re feeding
it.

Fiber rich foods, particularly fruits and vegetables, are very high in many types of nutrition that our bodies desperately need. Just the small step of adding more fruits and vegetables to your daily food intake can make a huge difference in how your body feels on a daily basis.

Now, if you have a difficult time adding more fruits and vegetables to your diet, you can get some very healthy doses of those vitamins and minerals by taking herbal supplements. Essentially, herbal supplements are like having vegetables in a pill. Most herbs contain a wealth of vitamins, minerals and essential nutrients our bodies are sorely lacking.

By boosting your nutrition with food and herbs, you’ll help your body’s thyroid and other glands begin to operate properly again, and this will in turn start regulating your hormone levels naturally.

Flatulence. Farting. Gas. Whatever you call it, it’s socially unacceptable. Nevertheless, it’s a very common occurrence for both men and women. Although many males grow up believing females don’t pass gas, some individuals have more problems with flatulence than others. Oftentimes this is caused by dietary habits or sensitivities to certain foods.

Many people will become gassy if they’re lactose intolerant, and they eat milk-based foods. Some will have the problem when eating grains such as wheat or rye, and still others will experience gas when they eat heavy carbohydrate meals. People who have chronic gas, however, often have an imbalance of digestive flora and bacteria. Specifically, they usually have too much Candida yeast flourishing inside their bodies.

There are many herbs which can neutralize gas, and many others which can force it to be expelled from the body. Which one you need will depend on your particular level of discomfort. Some people who get very bad gas for instance, feel quite bloated and swollen, and sometimes their stomach areas are a bit tender too. When this is the case, it’s usually easiest and fastest to neutralize the gas if you can. Neutralizing herbs are excellent for babies with gas and bloated, tender stomachs as well.

One of the best ways to deal with stomach aches caused by gas is with peppermint or spearmint. Both will expel gas from the colon, and calm vomiting too. This is a very common remedy used for babies particularly, because they like the sweet taste of these herbs. Simply put a small peppermint candy in a baby bottle with distilled water, or make a weak peppermint tea and put that into their bottle.

Any herb which is high in chlorophyll is excellent for neutralizing gas too. Standard green teas for instance, or Parsley and Alfalfa supplements work wonderfully.

Garlic will expel gas from your digestive tract as well, and this herb is particularly important for people who have chronic gas problems. Since chronic flatulence is a sign of having an overgrowth of yeast bacteria in your digestive tract, taking garlic for several days will help kill the internal yeast infection, and re-balance the proper flora within your body.

If however, you notice that you seem to get more gassy after eating certain foods, you may want to try experimenting with what you’re eating. Cutting down on certain milk products for instance, could solve your primary gas problems, as can cutting down on wheat, rye or gluten.

Some people have found excellent results by simply lowering their intake of sugars and simple starches, and this probably works so well because it effectively starves the candida yeast bacteria.

Welcome to a three part series on herbs and hormones. There are many common health problems that have a hormonal imbalance as their root cause. This series will take a look at how herbs can help with these problems.

Numerous health problems, symptoms, and conditions are related to, or caused by, hormonal imbalances in a woman’s body. In fact, so many things are caused by hormonal problems, that many of the complaints are dismissed as psychosomatic complaints by doctors who don’t know any better.

Just a few of the problems caused by hormonal imbalances include acne, night sweats, chronic fatigue, vaginal dryness, mood swings, depression and anxiety, headaches, fuzzy thinking, and water retention or swelling in various parts of the body.

More severe problems are also caused by hormonal imbalances though. Some of these include infertility, Endometriosis, fibroids, heart palpitations, urinary dysfunction and infections, breast pain, and irregular periods.

These problems, however, are not limited to women entering menopause which is the common belief of both men and women. In fact, many problems which affect teenage girls, young adult women, and middle aged women are all caused in whole or in part by hormonal problems.

Teenage girls often experience heavy acne problems when their body is going through puberty, and this is known to be caused by the hormonal changes happening within her body. Unfortunately many young women never get their hormones balanced properly though, so they continue to struggle with acne throughout their lives. Even older women can suffer from acne which again, is due to hormonal imbalance.

Very painful periods and heavy blood flow is another symptom or side effect of hormonal imbalances of women at all ages. In fact, a common prescription remedy for these symptoms for years has been to prescribe birth control pills, which are known to adjust the hormone levels in a woman’s body.

Women’s bodies create two hormones naturally: estrogen and progesterone. Both hormones play important roles in a woman’s body, and the balance needs to be kept in order for everything to work properly. Many things can throw the balance of these hormones off however, including stress, poor nutrition, or proper exercise.

Doctors and medical scientists will often be concerned primarily with estrogen–primarily because a woman’s body produces less of this hormone as she ages. The link between the two hormones, and the full importance of the progesterone’s role in a woman’s body is not fully known. Most often, treatments simply try to replace estrogen in as a woman’s body produces less of it.

The natural approach however, is to restore the balance of the hormone levels in the body. This in turn relieves the myriad of conditions and symptoms caused by an imbalance, and helps improve a woman’s overall health in the process too.

Many people think that only women are driven by hormones; however, men have hormonal cycles as well. Just like women, the hormonal levels in men go up and down during the day.

Men also go through a hormonal cycle each month that affects mood. From about age 40 – 55, men can experience male menopause, also known as andropause or Irritable Male Syndrome.

From the age of about 40 onwards, there’s no doubt that there is a small, gradual fall in testosterone as men age, although stress can have a significant effect on the hormonal levels in a man’s body too. Decreased testosterone can be accelerated by the presence of concomitant diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes.

The drop in hormones is modest in comparison to what occurs in female menopause. However, men experiencing male menopause will have a mix of the following symptoms–

• Loss of sexual interest sometimes accompanied by erectile dysfunction
• Fatigue
• Reduced physical strength
• Diminished bone mineral density
• Increased abdominal fat deposits
• Memory loss
• Less mentally sharp

The drop in testosterone is sufficient enough to question whether hormone replacement is worthwhile.

But as with hormone replacement therapy in women, testosterone replacement therapy does have some potential risks and side effects. For example, there is a risk for increased red blood cells—a condition known as erythrocytosis. Testosterone should not be given if a man has prostate cancer or an enlarged prostate.

Other than testosterone replacement therapy, there are several things you can do. Changes to diet and exercise habits can make a big difference. Depending on the mix of symptoms, your doctor may suggest an antidepressant. Because this condition is often treated by addressing the symptoms, there are many herbal remedies that are beneficial.

• Saw palmetto has been used for centuries to aid prostate health.
• Damiana is a herb that is beneficial to the male hormonal system and considered an aphrodisiac.
• Fo-ti (ho shou wu) is effective as a blood tonic especially if fatigue is a symptom.

References:

The Andropause Mystery: Unraveling Truths About the Male Menopause

The Irritable Male Syndrome: Understanding and Managing the 4 Key Causes of Depression and Aggression