Immunity: The Next Seven Generations

Early in my career as a homebirth midwife and childbirth educator, I questioned the moral and ethical dilemma of whether a newborn baby should be allowed to die from natural causes at home or be kept artificially alive in a hospital. I began practicing midwifery in the mid to late 1970s when free-standing birthing centers had not yet become an option. Labor and delivery rooms became “birthing rooms,” but the sign over the door is the only thing that changed. Practices and procedures that turned low-risk women into high-risk continued behind closed doors.

In good conscience, I could not follow the rules put in place by a male-dominated medical system that put women at risk. For a low-risk woman, giving birth is a natural process, not a medical procedure needing intervention. Women should have the right to choose a home birth attended by trained professionals. A low-risk woman increases her risk factor the moment she walks through hospital doors.

The same rules that increase a woman’s risk are the same ones that require her to birth and raise a child that otherwise would have died of natural causes before, during, or shortly after birth. Some people would agree that raising a severely handicapped child is a hardship for everyone involved and that it places a heavy burden on society and the family. Wouldn’t a year of grieving the loss of her child and bearing the scar left on her heart be better than a lifetime of compromises, suffering, and tears? Are we not more empowered when we trust the wisdom of nature and our inner guidance than white coats who gallop in to rescue us – from what? These questions plague and haunt me to this day.

Practicing out-of-hospital midwifery gave me the freedom to support low-risk women making a personal choice not to give their power away to a mechanistic medical system. The mechanistic model does not address the whole person and demands compliance. That can have disastrous results in a setting where machines dictate what a woman may be experiencing, and the doctor becomes credited with the outcome. A disempowered new mother may not make the best choices for herself or her newborn.

Many of my clients in the late 70s and early 80s practiced east Indian spirituality, yoga, and vegetarianism. We were considered counter-culture, but we laid the groundwork for what would become popular culture over thirty years later, except for home birth.

Fear is a powerful motivator. Western Medicine, and its practitioners, are adept at instilling fear in patients. Many sick people rush into procedures and drugs that may not be in their best interest. FDA-approved drugs kill over 100,000 Americans each year. The FDA pretends to protect the public while harassing those who offer safe alternatives. An even more shocking statistic is that the total number of deaths caused by medical errors in the U.S. is more than 250,000 per year.

Statistics support the safety of homebirth, but fear drives women into the hospitals. Fear also informs legislation that limits out-of-hospital birth options while obstetricians actively seek to suppress home births. Big Pharma educates doctors through its financial support of medical universities and affiliated teaching hospitals while funding research and suppressing safe and effective alternatives that threaten profits. In the last 40 years, what has changed is how powerful the pharmaceutical lobby has become and Big Pharma’s success in gaining control of the mainstream media through its advertising dollars.

“The more we allow the regulation and control of our food and our medicine, the more we lose control over our individual choices and personal freedoms. If we choose to continue to allow ourselves to be robbed of these choices because we fear the processes of life and death, we will lose that which is essential to being human — free will and sovereignty.”
— From Wisdom of the Plant Devas: Herbal Medicine for a New Earth by Thea Summer Deer

As a childbirth educator, I started teaching vaccine awareness over 40 years ago. I gave parents information from both sides of the argument, to vaccinate or not to vaccinate so they could make an informed choice. Today, due to extensive censorship campaigns, this is sadly no longer possible. We have managed to give away enough power to the medical cartel that we are now losing our choices in health care and our medical freedoms. Our health care system is being held hostage by the money interests and immune system hijacked by vaccine profiteers. And it all starts at birth.

Newborns rely on passive immunity from maternal antibodies for approximately three months following birth while being further protected by their mother’s milk. The neonate’s passive and natural immunities may become compromised through premature birth, surgical birth, mother-infant separation, reduced skin-to-skin contact, skin sterilization, and failure to breastfeed. A lack of stimulation, and an altered microbiome after a cesarean section, have a profound impact on a newborn’s immune system. Vaccines launched into an immature immune system as part of an immunization campaign add insult to the injury.

The innate immune system is the defense system with which you were born. Innate immunity involves barriers that keep harmful things from entering your body. These barriers are the first line of defense in an immune response and what is known as the surface immune system in herbalism. Vaccines reprogram, suppress, and override innate immune responses.

The deep immune system in herbalism is called Jing in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Jing corresponds with the Water Element. The Jing forms the essence of who and what we are and governs our reproductive potential and ability to handle illness. Pre-natal Jing is the genetic inheritance we received from our ancestors and what we will pass down to the next seven generations. Our ancestor’s struggles, the diseases they survived, and the natural immunity they acquired are all encoded within us. In one generation, we are at risk of losing this immunity with the development of gene therapies and extensive immunization schedules. Is this how we honor our ancestors? Vaccines disrupt at the level of the Jing. All pharmaceuticals overheat the Liver (Wood Element), which depletes the Water Element.

The Water Element corresponds to the kidneys and adrenals. It is a yin element. Our modern yang-driven society depletes the Jing, exhausts our adrenals, and compromises our immunity, vitality, and longevity. If we do not protect the Jing, future generations will not survive in a sterile, vaccine-dependent world. Other things that repress immunity are fever reducers and antibiotics. If a person is healthy and the body not allowed the fire of fever to burn off pathogens, then an acute symptom turns into a chronic pattern. The fever is not the offender, nor is the infection. They only serve to expel the offender. The offender is not an invader to be defended against.

When illness becomes the enemy, instead of the effort to restore balance to the body, we lose sight of how to guide the body through illness to its healthful conclusion. That is true on all levels when we make anything an enemy to be fought against. We have lost our guides while being taught to live in fear of the wild and unpredictable power of nature. It is a power with the ability heal and transform. Supporting body wisdom to express through illness with Medicine rather than to suppress through knowledge of pharmaceuticals is the difference between healing and heroics. Medicine in this context becomes whatever supports healing: physical, spiritual, or otherwise.

The goal is to see an illness to its natural conclusion, which is a restoration of health, just as the earth is restored after the cold, hard, expression of winter and the erratic expression of spring. The earth doesn’t defend herself against winter: she merely makes adjustments and is supported by the elements to do so. When the body is not supported to heal itself and see illness through to its natural conclusion, disease results, and sometimes this can occur through generations of genetically encoded imbalance.

The indigenous peoples of the earth have always understood how this principle of healing works and what it means to let nature take its course. We can no longer think our way through life or an illness. Thinking allows us to perceive only ideas, while the intelligence of nature allows us to perceive the entire universe.

The moral and ethical dilemmas remain. Who should be allowed to live, and who should be allowed to die? I hold a vision for the future that includes co-creating with nature and imagining: What else might be possible?

Learn more about Jing in the online course Hidden Treasure: Kidney Essence & the Water Element

References:

I’ll Keep My Gallbladder, Thank You!

Apr7

Why Your Gallbladder is Necessary and How to Keep It Healthy

Supporting the Gallbladder. Learn more in Love Your Liver: Spring & the Wood Element

When a friend of the family recently announced her upcoming gallbladder surgery after discovering a gall stone following a gallbladder attack, I had to ask, why? It was her first gall bladder attack, and yes, they are excruciatingly painful, but to agree so quickly to surgery was deeply concerning. It wasn’t the first time that a friend or family member had rushed to have their gallbladder removed, and not all were without repercussion. In answering the above question, I feel pretty confident that it comes down to education and support. This is why after studying and teaching about this condition for over forty years I felt compelled to share the following information. Shouldn’t we be asking why there is an epidemic of gallbladder surgery and how can we take better care of this organ? It is my hope that the information contained in this article may empower you to take another look at why your gallbladder is necessary.

Unfortunately, it is not very likely that you will be encouraged to forgo gallbladder surgery by a doctor, nurse or surgeon, or that they will tell you that keeping your gallbladder is a realistic option. There are a few reasons for this and one is that the Western mechanistic model of allopathic medicine uses drugs and surgery as its main tools, and if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. In other words, all of the reference points are within the model and alternatives are rarely considered, let alone known, used or understood. If you want to learn about alternatives you will need to seek an alternative practitioner like an acupuncturist, herbalist, naturopath, or chiropractor. Medical practitioners who are serious about Integrative and Complementary medicine are also seeking out alternative practitioners in order to learn what is not being taught in medical school.

Another reason you will most likely hear from your doctor or surgeon for having a cholecystectomy is that 1 in 5 newly diagnosed patients with acute cholecystitis who do not have surgery readmit to the emergency room within about 12 weeks. Also, people who have a medical procedure to eliminate gallstones have them return 50% of the time and 80% of those return to have their gallbladder removed. Those are not bad odds considering most of those people are probably not making dietary or lifestyle changes, but it is still being used as an argument as to why you should just go ahead and get the surgery.

In my experience, the main reason most people choose to have their gallbladder removed, in addition to lack of reliable alternative information, is because most people aren’t willing to make the necessary dietary and lifestyle changes that would keep them gallstone free, or to follow a protocol that could help to eliminate existing gallstones. It takes time to empower ourselves with information that could help us understand what may have caused the problem in the first place and most people don’t know the right questions to ask when seeking alternatives. We also live in an instant gratification society and when it comes to physical pain, most people will take the easiest and quickest route to avoid and prevent it. This makes us vulnerable to the drug and surgery pushers who capitalize on fear and cause us to make hasty decisions that may not be in our best interest long term.

I think it’s important to note here that I am not a medical doctor and that surgery and drugs can be lifesaving. So please make your informed decisions in partnership with your health care provider. I recommend that you continue to be monitored as gallbladder disease can be serious and life threatening. The information presented here is for educational purposes only so that you can make an informed decision. I am an herbal practitioner in the Energetic Model aligned with the Wise Woman and Western European Herbal Traditions, and drawing from the wisdom of Chinese Medicine and Five Element Theory.

In Chinese Medicine, Five Element Theory is the study of relationships and organ systems are paired within each of the five elements. The gallbladder is a yang organ (hollow), paired with the liver, a yin organ (solid), and corresponds with the Wood Element. Yin balances yang and when the gallbladder is removed it sets up an imbalance in the paired organ system that causes other systems to weaken and collapse. You can live without your gallbladder, but should you? I would suggest you read the literature for yourself, especially testimonials from people who suffered long term complications and quality of life issues after gallbladder removal.

Cholecystitis, or biliary colic, is the most common type of gallbladder disease as either an acute or chronic inflammation often due to gallstones blocking the duct and causing bile to build up. Bile is made in the liver and stored in the gallbladder until the body needs to digest fats. If the liquid bile contains too much cholesterol, bile salts, or bilirubin, and the gallbladder doesn’t empty completely or often enough, it can harden into pieces of stone-like material forming gallstones. Two types of gallstones are cholesterol and pigment. For the purposes of this article I will be discussing cholesterol as they account for 80% of stones.

Gallbladder disease is more common in females, especially post-partum when estrogen levels are high. Gallstone related disease is a leading non-obstetrical cause of hospitalization in the first year postpartum. This is why I began researching this dis-ease over forty years ago as a practicing midwife. Most hormonal imbalances postpartum develop due to estrogen dominance. Birth control pills also increase risk and effect the ability of the gallbladder to contract and excrete bile.

Dietary factors are important considerations and one that you won’t see commonly discussed is vegetarian diets, which are implicated in gallbladder disease. In fact, you are likely to read that vegetarian diets can prevent gallbladder disease because it reduces the amount of cholesterol in bile and increases fiber in the diet. The fiber part is accurate, but the reason vegetarian diets are implicated is that very little bile is produced since the liver is not stimulated to produce it. This results in large fat molecules not being properly emulsified, making it difficult for lipase to bind, leading to incomplete or reduced fat absorption. Lipase is necessary for fat-soluble vitamin absorption (Vitamins K, D, E & A).

A shortage of the enzyme lipase may lead to high cholesterol. A deficiency of lipase, taurine, or lecithin can lead to a lack of bile and the formation of gallstones from cholesterol. Raw butter and cream is the highest source of lipase, with the highest source of lipase and lecithin being fertile eggs. Another cause of fat and mineral malabsorption, and inflammation, is gluten sensitivity.

One of the most important dietary considerations also happens to be the most deficient in the modern diet. It is the inclusion of the bitter flavor. When the time comes for the body to digest fats, the gallbladder contracts and pushes bile into the common bile duct that carries it to the small intestine where it aids in digestion. The bitter flavor is responsible for toning the gallbladder so that its action of contracting and pushing the bile into the bile duct is maintained. Our ancestors knew the importance of bitter, which also stimulates the production of saliva when introduced into the mouth and they included herbal bitters as part of their health regimen.

So, what are the risks of having or not having gallbladder surgery? While there is some chance of developing an infection necessitating emergency removal (5%), with a little support your body is capable of passing gallstones on its own. That said, cholecystectomy is the most common surgical procedure performed in the United States according to the Journal of the Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons with 1.2 million done annually and largely covered by Medicaid. In fact, cholecystectomy was the most common operating room procedure for Medicaid and uninsured stays while ranking 8^th most common operating room procedure among patients with private insurance. The increase in surgeries can largely be attributed to the advent of laparoscopic surgery and the laparoscopic cholecystectomies in the early 1990s.

Bile duct injury continues to be a significant complication and is the leading cause of litigation against general surgeons. While the advent of laparoscopic procedure has substantial benefits (outpatient, quicker recovery, less pain) these did not come without risk, most notably a doubling of the rate of major biliary tract injury. Injury to the bile duct often results in additional surgical procedures, increasing the risk of morbidity and mortality.

Cholecystectomy also increases the risk of bowel cancer because without your gallbladder, bile drips continuously into the digestive system and can also cause diarrhea and may lead to higher cholesterol levels. It can leave you sticking close to the bathroom and no longer tolerating certain foods.

So when a friend of the family recently announced her upcoming gallbladder surgery, I had to ask, Why not try a simple alternative before undergoing surgery? And why not implement some simple changes that might leave you never having another gallbladder attack again?

Some people claim that a gallbladder cleanse or flush can help break up stones and empty the gallbladder, but that is not recommended here. It is good to remember that the body is naturally able to cleanse and flush itself when supported properly and that is the approach and philosophy of the Energetic Model and Wise Woman Tradition.

Our goal is to increase the amount of bile created by the liver and secondly to assist the easy passage of that bile through the liver and gallbladder. Certain herbs can bring about an increased production and flow of bile, including bitters. This may be enough to help break down existing stones and carry that debris through the duct. Recommendations below are generalized suggestions, do not include dosages and are not meant to be a complete protocol. To learn more about the liver and gallbladder, or when and how to do a flush, Please consider enrolling in Lo ve Your Liver: Spring & the Wood Element at Five Element Academy.

Dietary & Lifestyle Recommendations:

• Increase your exercise to 2-3 hours a week to reduce risk

• Increase fresh fruit and vegetables

• Include bitter greens like romaine lettuce and dandelion

• Increase water and soluble fiber intake

• Eliminate gluten and potential food allergens, and foods high in sugar and carbohydrates. The more refined and processed food the higher incidence of gallstones. Go for high fiber, low sugar.

• Include parsnip, apple (particularly Granny Smith) radish, pear, seaweed, lemon, lime, raw butter, cream, milk, egg, avocado, parsley, barley, beets, and cucumber in the diet.

• Apple cider vinegar daily

• Use olive, coconut and flax seed oils.

• Raw, fresh pressed apple juice may soften gallstones and can help them pass.

• Acupuncture may be effective in relieving pain and spasm, reducing inflammation and volume of the gallbladder and restoring proper function. In combination with Chinese herbs, Acupuncture may be highly effective.

• Lose weight slowly if necessary. Obesity increases your risk for developing gallstones.

• Eat slowly and mindfully

• Avoid large meals

Supplemental Recommendations:

• Vitamin C can help change cholesterol to bile

• Potassium Iodide, Iodine and Seafood high in iodine (helps dissolve cholesterol)

• Fish oils and Omega 3s

• Disodium Phosphate – supports liver and gallbladder functions (Standard Process brand)

• HCL acid and pepsin

Herbal Recommendations:

• Bitter roots like Dandelion, Burdock, Yellow Root, Yellow Dock

• Take herbal bitters daily before meals

• Drink mildly bitter teas like Chamomile

• Turmeric reduces inflammation

• Anti-lithic herbs, also known as “stone breakers” can help dissolve stones taken in tinctures or teas: corn silk, gravel root, stone root, parsley root, and enteric-coated peppermint oil.

• Spasmolytic, Chanca Piedra for relaxing smooth muscle and expelling stones

• Castor oil packs can relieve pain and can support the passing of stones.

The use of castor oil packs in aiding gallstone passing cannot be over emphasized. This and the use of bitters and herbal infusions were well known by our ancestors. It is this Wise Woman Tradition that has brought us this far and we would do well to not lose sight of it. Let your care provider know, “I’ll keep my gallbladder, thank you!” And then ask for their support and guidance to make the wisest and most informed choice.

Disclaimer: Talk with your doctor before trying to treat gallstones on your own. If you have yellowing of the eyes, fever or chills, and intense abdominal pain, seek medical care immediately.

Resources:

Love Your Liver: Spring & the Wood Element at Five Element Academy

Gallbladder Disease, for more information on the different types of gallbladder disease. https://www.healthline.com/health/gallbla dder-disease

Cholecystectomy: Surgical Removal of the Gallbladder, American College of Surgeons https://www.facs.org/~/media/files/education/patient%20ed/cholesys.ashx

References:

Gallbladder, Cholecystectomy, Open, Mark W. Jones; Jeffrey G. Deppen. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books /NBK448176/

Characteristics of Medicaid and Uninsured Hospitalizations, October 2012, Lorena Lopez-Gonzalez, Ph.D., Gary T. Pickends, Ph.D., Raynard Washington, Ph.D., and Audrey J. Weiss, Ph.D.

https://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb182-Medicaid-Uninsured-Hospitalizations-2012.jsp

Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy and Newer Techniques of Gallbladder Removal, Jeffrey B. Comitalo, MD. JSLS 2012 Jul-Sept; 16(3): 406-412.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3535814/

Trauma Acute Care Surgery, Mestral C, Rotstein O, Laupacis A, et al. A population-based analysis of the clinical course of 10,304 patients with acute cholecystitis, discharged without cholecystectomy. 2012;74(1):26-30.

The Herbal Medicine Chest: A Must Have Healing Salve Formula

Jan2

Thea’s Comfrey-Goldenseal Healing Root Salve

Forty years ago when I embarked on my journey as a midwife and a mother, I learned about the healing properties of comfrey and goldenseal through my herbal studies in midwifery practice. Comfrey, Symphytum officinale is a miraculous plant that long has been used to heal damaged skin and mend broken bones. As a midwife I prepared comfrey leaf and root in an infusion to be used in a sitz bath, or as a compress, for healing perineal tears, abrasions, and episiotomies. Comfrey could also be found growing in my garden where I would gather, chop and simmer it in a nourishing postpartum soup to help with internal healing of the new mother’s placental site, and to build blood and insure an adequate breast milk supply. I later wrote about this magnificent and misunderstood herb for internal healing in my book, Wisdom of the Plant Devas: Herbal Medicine for a New Earth.

Comfrey Fig 3 — Comfrey, Wisdom of the Plant Devas

Goldenseal root powder, Hydrastis canadensis, was the other ingredient I used along with sea salt in the postpartum sitz bath. These ingredients helped to reduce inflammation, prevent infection, soothe and astringe tissue. The results were phenomenal.

Most homebirth midwives forty years ago did not have the ability to carry lidocaine, nor had we been taught how to suture perineal tears. This was one of the reasons I fought in the Florida legislature alongside other women to help change the outdated lay midwifery laws. We were successful in this effort and subsequently founded the South Florida School of Midwifery in order to train and license home birth midwives, otherwise known as lay, or direct entry midwives.

Before I had the ability to suture, I became very skilled in preventing perineal tearing and adept at healing tears and abrasions that may have occurred during delivery. Even after I began suturing it was important to help the perineum heal well and quickly. Comfrey-Goldenseal sitz baths always did the trick.

To illustrate this ability of comfrey-goldenseal to heal perineal tears, I would like to share one of my earliest experiences with a mother who tore severely because of a precipitous birth. She had to be taken to the hospital to be sutured by her back up physician, who lacking in bedside manner made the following statement upon his examination. “It looks like a hand grenade went off in there!”

Determined to help this mother heal I proceeded to prepare comfrey-goldenseal compresses, applied twice daily for the first two days, and then a comfrey-goldenseal sitz bath twice daily for the remainder of the week until her follow up visit. I accompanied her to the follow up, and upon examination the same physician looked up at me, then back at the mother, then back at me and said, “This isn’t the same woman you brought in here a week ago is it?” He couldn’t believe that she had healed so well and so quickly.

I began my midwifery career at the same time that I became a mother. As the mother of two young kids who were always banging their knees, skinning elbows, or otherwise collecting scratches, bumps, bug bites and bruises as they explored their world, I decided to make a healing salve using the same two main ingredients, comfrey and goldenseal, which I had been using in the sitz baths. The result was an amazing salve that healed things quickly, and prevented infection and scarring. It has lived in my medicine cabinet ever since.

What makes this salve different than most that you will find on the market, is the quantity of goldenseal root powder in the formula. Because goldenseal is very expensive (over $100 pound) most herbalists and manufacturers use goldenseal leaf instead, and very little root. It is the quantity of goldenseal root that makes it so effective.

I also use both comfrey leaf and root in my formula so as to achieve the healing benefits of both parts of this plant. Comfrey root may contain 8 to 10 percent allantoin, which is easily absorbed through the skin and found to a lesser degree in the leaves. Allantoin promotes cell growth to speed wound healing. Comfrey leaf also aids in healing mucous membranes and protects the skin against irritants, making it an essential ingredient in salves and ointments for the treatment of wounds, burns, bruises, cuts, sprains, chapped lips, dry vagina, cold sores, diaper rash, bug bites, nail fungus, and skin irritations.

While I have made batches of my Comfrey-Goldenseal Healing Salve over the years for friends and family, it wasn’t until I stared teaching at herbal medicine conferences that I started making it for public consumption. To date it has been used by dozens of people including doctors, veterinarians, and a plastic surgeon who recommended it to his patients because of its ability to reduce scarring. It is especially useful for animals because all of the ingredients are edible and animals tend to lick their wounds.

Because I want for you to also have a relationship with these healing herbs, and because I would like to empower you to make your own salve or to help someone heal after giving birth, I have included my formulas for both postpartum sitz bath and a healing root salve.

Comfrey-Goldenseal Healing Salve

Ingredients (preferably organic):

3 ¼ cup cold pressed olive oil

¾ cup unrefined sesame oil (high in Vit. E and acts as a preservative and skin healer)

2 oz. comfrey leaf

2 oz. comfrey root, cut and sifted

2 oz. goldenseal root powder

golden beeswax beads, approx. 4 oz.

1 tablespoon Vit. E oil, or wheatgerm oil (acts as a preservative and skin healer)

Bake in a warm oven (lowest setting possible ,approx. 170º) in an enamel pot for 4 hours stirring with a wooden spoon every 30 minutes or so. Strain through a fine cheesecloth and press into a measuring cup. Measure and return oil to clean pot on stove top. Add beeswax (1 oz. per cup) and stir on low heat until melted. Add wheatgerm or vitamin E oil, stir well and remove from heat. Fill containers immediately as it will harden quickly upon cooling. Stir once in container with a wooden chopstick to redistribute and prevent settling.

Comfrey-Goldenseal Sitz Bath

Ingredients:

1 gallon of water

2 ounces comfrey root, cut and sifted

2 ounces goldenseal root powder

2 ounces dried comfrey leaf (or 2 cups chopped fresh comfrey)

2 tablespoons sea salt

Simmer comfrey and goldenseal root for thirty minutes uncovered. Add comfrey leaf and salt. Stir to dissolve salt then cover and remove from heat. Let steep 15-20 minutes. Strain and use as hot as possible in a compress, or sitz bath. Heat also brings more blood into the area, which aids in healing. Note: may burn slightly at first, but quickly becomes soothing.

Wrist 1week comparison — Day stitches removed compared to one week later after using salve.

Testimonials

That salve is great stuff. I’ve been suffering with lots of hand abuse issues as a hand drummer and musician, and it has expedited healing and helping to cause the shedding of injured tissue and replacing it with new. – M. Olson/Tucson, AZ
Thea’s Comfrey-Goldenseal Salve is an amazing healing potion for the skin. I has numerous stiches on my face from surgery due to skin cancer, and now six-months later, after using the salve nightly, the results are unbelievable! People, even my plastic surgeon are amazed with how my face looks. I am so happy to have found such a terrific healer for the skin. – C. Carter/Key Largo, FL
Promise, a Morgan colt born at Carpe Diem Farms, is healing beautifully. I am using the salve daily and we are working on scar reduction/elimination. Dr. Claudle has difficulty believing that he survived and is amazed at the speed in which he healed. Thank you for your help. – S. Blair/Highlands, NC
Thea’s Comfrey-Goldenseal Salve healed my son’s diaper rash faster than any other diaper rash ointment I’ve used. – A. Blanton/Highlands, NC
Your salve is the first of many that I have tried on Yazi’s ears (wolf-dog) that affected any healing. His ears are now almost back to normal. Your salve is something very good. Keep telling people about it, I believe in it. – Hannah/Taos, NM
Thea’s medicine salve saved the day. After an irritating condition vaginally, and not accepting hormonal salve as a remedy, my suffering has ended. Thank you. – B. Martz/Tucson, AZ
Thea’s Comfrey-Goldenseal Healing Salve has been wonderful. It provides a soothing quality I haven’t found in any other product. I had an infected tattoo and within 3 days the infection subsided, and the salve soothed my skin to health. I highly recommend it. – A. Graser/Asheville, NC

Fibrocystic Breast & Cleavers: A Premier Spring Lymph Tonic

Mar23

Galium aparine

“What herbs would you recommend for breast cysts?” Dr. Mary inquired during our recent phone conversation. It is the type of question I get asked a lot. Especially from those who want to replace a pharmaceutical with an herb, thinking it would be a more “natural” approach and healthier alternative.

Initially I tried to divert the question by suggesting that her patient’s caffeine intake might be looked at, since it is a known agravator of breast cysts. I, myself, have resolved this issue simply by eliminating coffee and chocolate. But I knew that in order to recommend the herbs that Dr. Mary was inquiring about we would need to have a deeper conversation.

I am an herbalist, not a medical doctor, and a medical doctor is not an herbalist. One practices in a mechanistic (Allopathic) model and the other in an energetic model. Understanding a few basic concepts of how herbal medicine functions in an energetic model can help us to understand the long-lasting results that can be achieved from taking a more natural approach.

So, I asked Dr. Mary is she would be willing to make the time to have this conversation and she was. Healing takes time, as do most natural processes. The good news is what took decades to manifest as illness may only take months or possibly years to restore to wellness.

I began by explaining that the longest lasting result from herbal medicine is in its tonic ability to restore whole bodily systems. A tonic is something that is taken consistently over time, not the quick fix that our fast-paced world demands. The affinity of herbs for certain body systems (circulatory, respiratory, urinary, etc.) and their actions (lymphatic, hepatic, tonic, etc.) illustrates their intelligence and aids us in choosing the best ones.

Healing is also about relationships and it takes time to be in relationship. An herb taken over time brings you into closer relationship with it, especially if you are growing, harvesting, making, smelling, tasting, drinking, digesting and eliminating it. Pharmaceuticals that go directly into the blood stream bypass most of these checks and balances. Locally grown and seasonal herbs are exponentially more potent energetically. Herbs are some of our greatest allies if we are willing to take the time to get to know them.

“Nobody sees a flower really; it is so small. It takes time – we haven’t time – and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.” – Georgia O’Keeffe

Dr. Mary’s timing for asking about breast cysts the week of Spring Equinox couldn’t have been more perfect. The action of herbal lymphatics is almost always indicated when there is breast congestion. The plants that nature gives us in Spring deliver a number of lymphatic system and liver tonics for clearing the congestion of Winter.

Source: Mayo Clinic

For women, the largest reservoir of lymph is located in the tissues of the breast. Lymph drains away from the breast and breast cysts develop as a result of fluid accumulation inside the glands in the breasts. Fibrocystic breast is not a disease and may be the result of hormonal changes aggravated by weight gain, stress, caffeine, chocolate, smoking, and poor diet. In addition, restrictive clothing that presses on lymph nodes can impede lymph flow. Research studies show that hormones tend to collect in breast tissue, a good reason to eat organic hormone free meat and dairy, and a lymphatic self-breast massage is recommended. Having cysts doesn’t increase your risk of breast cancer. They may, however, make it more difficult to find new lumps or other changes that might need evaluated by a doctor, so be familiar with how your breasts normally feel so you will know when something changes. One of the ways to identify a cyst is that they tend to feel fluid-filled with distinct edges and move more freely than a hard mass.

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One of the herbal allies that I was excited to share with Dr. Mary was Galium aparine, commonly known as Cleavers, and with a special affinity for the breasts and lymphatic system. It grows abundantly in our Appalachian Mountains and I gather it every spring. An herbaceous annual it can be found in moist wild areas of all temperate zones worldwide. Not surprisingly it is considered a common weed, as are many of our medicinal plants. Cleavers, or more affectionately, Velcro Weed, are one of the easiest herbs to identify because of their straggling stems and branches that grow close to the ground, their whorls of leaves, and their clinging nature by which they attach themselves readily with small hooked hairs. The entire aerial plant is harvested in spring in early flowering and used fresh or dried. The fresh herb has a high-water content so care must be taken not to crush during harvest and to dry quickly in order to avoid spoilage. Geese love the seeding plant, hence the common name of Goosegrass.

“Cleavers is a very valuable plant, being perhaps the best tonic available for the lymphatic system.” – David Hoffmann

Cleavers is especially useful for breast cysts and as a premier Spring Tonic is rich in chlorophyll, promoting lymph drainage. It strengthens lymphatic circulation, eases breast congestion, tonifies veins, counters blood clots and has the ability to work fibrosities out of the tissues including uterine fibroids. Useful for urinary tract infections and prostatitis it is a diuretic that cools and shrinks inflamed tissues of the urinary tract.

While Galium aparine may have an affinity for the lymphatic and urinary tract system, I, personally, have an affinity with the herb because it is known as a “deer medicine” in Native American herbalism. This is partially because in the spring-time deer find it sweet scented and like to bed down in its dense patches. It has also been used throughout our human history as bedding material, giving yet another common name to this common weed, Bedstraw. To whatever name you cleave, may it encourage your waters to flow clear and current, and restore you once again to wellness.

Learn more: Love Your Liver: Spring & The Wood Element at Wise Woman University

cleavers-juice-002

How to use:

Dried herb infusion: 3 teaspoons dried herb to 1 cup of water, infuse 3-4 hours or overnight. Drink 1 cup, 3x/day. Boiling destroys medicinal value of cleavers, use dried herb with warm or cold-water infusion.

Tincture of dried herb, 1:5 in 25%, 4-8ml 3x/day (David Hoffman)

Fresh plant juice: 1-2 teaspoonful (5-15 ml)

No known contraindications

For relief from breast pain and lymphedema use 20 drops every 2 hours for 24 hours.

To shrink cysts and other benign lumps 20 drops, 3x/day of cleavers tincture is usually effective within a few days. More than this may thin the blood. Cleavers contain coumarin, a blood thinner* useful for cancer, stroke and heart disease prevention but increases risk of hemorrhage during surgery. Some women report increased menstrual flow after using cleavers to relieve premenstrual breast tenderness.

*Anticoagulant – thinning the blood, reducing risk of stroke, helps prevent the initiation of cancerous tumors.

Assist immune system when glands are swollen by taking 10 drops of cleavers tincture 1-2x/day for up to a month. (Susun Weed)

Note: There is somewhat of a difference of opinion between herbalists in tincture dosing with Hoffman recommending a more therapeutic dosage. I have found Susun Weed’s recommendations to be generally effective. Please check standardization and adjust for your specific needs.

References:

Breast Cancer? Breast Health! By Susun Weed

Making Plant Medicine by Richo Cech

Mayo Clinic https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/breast-cysts/symptoms-causes/syc-20370284

The Earthwise Herbal, A Complete Guide to Old World Medicinal Plants, by Matthew Wood

The Herbal Handbook, A User’s Guide to Medical Herbalism, by David Hoffmann

Lymphatic Drainage Massage of the Breast https://youtu.be/uXB6LTAjARU

A Mid-Summer’s Evening Primrose and Menopausal Ally

Jun21

Photo by Nicholas

Hiking in the high desert with renowned herbalist, Susun Weed, at the beginning of my menopausal years was a gift from the goddess. Susun had come to Tucson, AZ to meet with her editor, Betsy Sandlin, in order to put the finishing touches on The Menopausal Years manuscript. With Betsy in the midst of her change it couldn’t have been better timing.

Pollinator bee approaching

A mutual friend had gathered us together for a morning hike through the saguaros in the Santa Catalina Mountains beneath Mount Lemmon, named for the botanist and mountain trekker, Sarah Plummer Lemmon. Sarah trekked to the top by mule and foot in the late 1880’s with Native American guides who called this granite mountain above the heart of the city, “Frog Mountain.”

Oenothera biennis

As we retraced Sarah’s footsteps at the base of this city’s backyard wilderness, I confessed to Susun that I was experiencing heavy menstrual bleeding and was concerned. “Oh! You’re experiencing menstrual flooding, are you?” she responded. A flood it was. Welcome to perimenopause. I was relieved to have the diagnosis, but I was only in my late thirties and wondered if it was normal to be experiencing this kind of bleeding. She reassured me that it was a symptom of early menopause and suggested that I take capsules of Evening Primrose seed oil daily for six weeks, coupled with Vitex berries (aka Chasteberry) to stabilize progesterone shifts and decrease flooding. She even gave me a Xeroxed copy of her as yet unpublished manuscript with the protocol (see below). It worked like a miracle. I will be forever grateful for the synchronicity of that morning and the information that I now get to share with you as we pass it down the Wise Woman way.

Evening Primrose, Oenothera biennis, is a biennial wildflower that blooms in mid-summer. The Evening Primrose that most of us are familiar with is the yellow flowering variety in a genus of about 125 species. Native to North and South America it is not closely related to the true primroses (Primula). In the Desert Southwest the fragrant tufted Evening Primrose, Oenothera caespitosa, is a southwestern species that first blooms white, but turns pink or light magenta. Most native desert species are white.

True to its name the flowers open in the evening but will stay open for most of the following day. They can be seen on a dark night from a distance possibly due to some phosphorescence in the flowers. Moths and certain bees that are specifically designed to gather pollen from the Evening Primrose flowers are effective pollinators. Evening primrose tends to germinate in disturbed soil, growing wild throughout North America in pastures and fields. Seeds ripen from late summer to fall and it is cultivated in North and South America and Europe for its seed oil.

Evening Primrose oil, an omega-6 EFA, contains high amounts of GLA. The mature seeds contain up to 10% GLA and 70% linoleic acid. This rich source of GLA, the precursor of linoleic acid, and an unusual long-chain fatty acid is found in only three other plants: black currants, borage seeds, and hemp seeds. Because the human body needs a balance between omega-6 and omega-3 essential fatty acids it is recommended to use evening primrose in combination with fish oil containing omega-3 EFA’s.

The seed oil of O. biennis is used clinically in Britain to reduce the symptoms of PMS, most notably the pain of menstrual cramps and breast tenderness. It may even protect against breast cancer. Additionally, evening primrose oil is thought to aid in fertility by improving the quality of the mucus lining the cervix. The oil extracted from its seeds has long been a favorite of women for female reproductive disorders. Midwives use it both orally and topically to aid the cervix in ripening for birth.

This natural polyunsaturated fatty acid is an effective anti-inflammatory used to ease the symptoms of arthritis, colitis, diabetic neuropathy, hypertension and high cholesterol as well as dry skin conditions and eczema. It eases prostate swelling in older men, too. Evening primrose oil is considered a carrier oil in the world of aromatherapy and is prized for its abundant food, health, cosmetic and medicinal benefits.

Evening Primrose
Photos by Thea

Back home in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina Evening Primrose grows abundantly all around me. The Cherokee use it as a food source eating the leaves as greens and boiling the young root. While I had been introduced to many naturalized European imports in my herbal studies, it was refreshing to discover a native of North America that had been successfully introduced in Europe and naturalized in England as a garden escapee.

Evening Primrose continues to be an ally for me, even after menopause aiding in keeping my heart healthy, reducing inflammation and alleviating joint pain. As I was reviewing my notes for this article I found the Xeroxed copy of the manuscript Susun had shared with me. In the margin was a handwritten note from Susun and I quote:

“Betsy and I discovered we both thought of you as anything but ‘Cynthia!’ Hope you don’t object to my shortening your name to ‘goddess,’ Thea.”

Well, of course I didn’t object to being called a goddess! And that’s how I not only met a new herbal ally, but also claimed a new name. So, if you should happen to meet her on a mid-summer’s eve, Evening Primrose is an ally that serves the goddess well.

Recommendations:

Please consult with your healthcare practitioner for recommended dosages for specific needs.

Evening Primrose seed oil 1,300mg softgel 2x/day (Solgar or Barlean’s) up to 3,000/daily

Chasteberry, Vitex agnus-castus is a slow acting herb and it may take up to 3 months to see an effect. Supports women achieving menopause either naturally or through surgery, radiation or drugs. Naturally increases levels of progesterone and luteinizing hormone in the blood (by nourishing and increasing the responsiveness of the body’s own feedback systems). While this can be helpful during early menopause it needs to be used more judiciously during the “melt-down” years when too much LH is dilating the blood vessels causing hot flashes and palpitations. Inhibits prolactin and over 50% of women experiencing PMS have high levels of prolactin. Helps to keep cycles more regular. Especially useful for women experiencing fibroids, endometriosis (anti-inflammatory effect on the endometrium), emotional mood swings or hysteria, and fertility issues. Long term results come from long term use up to two years. Not for use during pregnancy except as directed by your midwife or health care practitioner. Is an anti-aphrodisiac for men hence the name “chasteberry,” yet increases women’s libido when taken over time.

Vitex Extract: 1000 mg. daily (Gaia Herbs) Vitex Tincture: 1:4 Take 1 dropperful/1 ml (approx. 30 drops) of tincture 3-4/x day.

References:

New Menopausal Years, by Susun Weed

Delmar’s Integrative Herb Guide for Nurses, by Martha Libster

A Modern Herbal ,Volume 1, by Mrs. M. Grieve

Frog Mountain Blues, by Charles Bowden

Register now for Thea Summer Deer’s work-at-your-own-pace class, Heal Your Heart: Summer & the Fire Element at Wise Woman University.

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