flowersophy

Pregnancy or a 30-mile run?

2012-02-28T16:17:00.000+01:00

Pregnancy

Miscarriage Prevention Tea

- 1 teaspoon eachcramp bark and false unicorn root

- ½ teaspoon each wild yam root and red raspberry leaves

- 3 cups water

- Bring the herbs and the water to a boil in an uncovered pot and then turn down heat and simmer for 5 minutes. After, turn off heat, cover and steep for another 20 minutes and strain out the herbs. Drink 2 cups every hour. These herbs can also be taken as a tincture: purchase all 4 herbs as tinctures and combine them, using the same proportions as above and take half a dropperful every 20 minutes.

Pregnant Belly Oil

- 4 400-International Unit vitamin E capsules

- 15 drops lavender essential oil

- 4 ounces almond or any light vegetable oil

- ½ ounce cocoa butter

- Open the vitamin E capsules and squirt the contents into the almond oil. Then heat the mixture in a saucepan over low heat and add some cocoa butter. After the cocoa butter melts, remove the mixture from the heat and let it cool. Add the essential oil and stir to blend. Massage the oil on your belly at least once a day, or as often as you desire.

Pregnancy Tea

- 5 cups water

- ¼ teaspoon ginger rhizome

- ½ teaspoon wild yam rhizome

- 1 teaspoon lemon balm leaves

- 2 teaspoons red raspberry leaves

- ½ teaspoon peppermint leaves (optional)

- ½ teaspoon fresh oats

- ¼ teaspoon dandelion root

- 2 ounces lemon juice (optional)

- Simmer the wild yam and ginger in water in an uncovered pot for about 5 minutes. Then, turn off the heat and stir in all other herbs. Cover and steep for 20 minutes and strain out the herbs. Drink 1 to 4 cups a day, warm or iced.

Nursing Tea

- 1 quart boiling water

- 1 teaspoon each blessed thistle leaves and vitex berries

- ½ teaspoon each nettle leaves and vervain leaf (optional)

- ¼ teaspoon each anise seed and fenugreek seed

- Pour the boiling water over the herbs and let steep for 20 minutes. Strain out the herbs and drink 1 to 3 cups daily.

TONING THE UTERUS

Try raspberry tea throughout the pregnancy for an easier labor. European doctors prescribe raspberry preparations to ease morning sickness and to prevent miscarriage.
Lemon balm, a gentle, relaxing herb that aids digestion and alleviates nausea, is also effective for pregnant women. Partridge berry, like raspberry, works as a uterine tonic to make pregnancy easier. These herbs make labor easier and keep you healthier during pregnancy.
Oat straw and nettles provide trace nutrients like calcium, which is important for a pregnant woman and will enhance the assimilation of these nutrients from other sources. Dandelion and nettle teas prevent the development of high blood pressure and water retention, which may cause a potentially dangerous condition during pregnancy known as eclampsia. This condition is dangerous to both you and your baby, so see better see a doctor if you do develop it.

MORNING SICKNESS

A common complaint during pregnancy is morning sickness, a combination of nausea, headache and dizziness, which occurs during the first few months of pregnancy. Take ginger first thing in the morning and repeat at the first hint of nausea during the day. Also drink a ginger tea or take a couple of capsules.
The liver is responsible for breaking down the excess hormones produced during pregnancy. More herbs that reduce morning sickness are wild yam, false unicorn root and liver herbs such as burdock.

PAIN DURING PREGNANCY

While the fetus grows, it puts pressure on parts in your body that are not used to carry so much weight. Wild yam, skullcap and chamomile help you to relax and to reduce pain due to muscle problems. American spikenard reduces lower back pain, a common complaint of pregnant women. Sore breasts and water retention are relieved with a tea of wild yam and dandelion.

MISCARRIAGE

If miscarriage threatens, there are herbs that can stop cramping and spotting. Try a tea or a tincture of vitex, wild yam, false unicorn root and cramp bark. Vitex promotes progesterone production, and the other herbs stop uterine cramps, and then lie in bed or in a place where you can relax completely, with your legs and hips elevated. Drink half a cup of tea or take half a dropperful of tincture every 20 minutes until the cramping or spotting stops. Also contact your doctor, as these herbs are not guaranteed to prevent a miscarriage.

TENSION AND STRETCH MARKS PREVENTION

In order to prevent stretch marks, try a massage oil specially designed for the expanding skin of your growing belly. Add lavender and cocoa butter, as both have reputations for preventing stretch marks.

BEFORE AND AFTER DELIVERY

Birth is compared to a 30-mile run. Some herbs may reduce these miles :)
Small amounts of black cohosh and blue cohosh during the last two weeks of pregnancy prepare the uterus for the final run by encouraging the light, early contractions weeks before labor begins. Cohosh is also used to for a slow labor once serious contractions begin. Take in small doses as both herbs can affect blood pressure!
After delivery, drink lightly sweetened, warm ginger tea, available at a natural food store or make it yourself by grating a teaspoonful of ginger and steeping it in a cup of boiling water. A tincture of shepherd's purse, cayenne or yarrow is effective in slowing postpartum bleeding. A few days after the birth, take daily sitz baths in calendula, comfrey, chamomile and rosemary to promote healing.
Massage your abdomen with the Pregnant Belly Oil provides balance for postpartum blues, resulting from the sudden hormonal changes, especially the drop in progesterone following childbirth. A tea, a tincture or capsules of wild yam, vitex and motherwort will help you through the slump.

BREASTFEEDING

Breastfeeding gives your baby natural defenses against disease. If your breast milk comes too slowly, try milk thistle, blessed thistle, nettles, vervain, vitex or the seeds of anise, dill, fenugreek, fennel and vitex. When you are about to wean your baby, drink a tea of sage or eat lentils flavored with sage to slow your milk flow.

If you know more helpful tips please leave a comment and share them with all our readers.

Rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and pain inflammation

2012-02-28T16:00:00.000+01:00

Rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and pain inflammation

Inflammation Pain Tincture

- ½ teaspoon each tinctures of ginseng root, bupleurum root, echinacea root, licorice root, yucca root and turmeric (if available)

- Combine the ingredients and take half a dropperful a few times daily or as needed.

Pain means that the sensitive nerve endings in your body become irritated, whenever tissue swells from a bruise, tensing of muscles or an overabundance of agents produced by your body in response to allergies, stress or a hormonal imbalance, and presses on the surrounding nerves. Get to the root of what is causing the pain and also to make yourself comfortable in the meantime. Chronic pain can cause a chain reaction in the body that can be devastating, as pain leads to long-term stress, possibly to depression, then to greater sensitivity to pain and thus to more pain.
Herbs which reduce inflammation can help stop your pain and they even do not have the long list of dangerous side effects resulting from long-term use of steroids and other anti-inflammatory drugs.
There are natural aspirins like willow bark and meadowsweet, with the magic ingredient inside named salicin, which converts in the stomach to salicylic acid, as aspirin does.
The name "aspirin" comes from "spirea," the old name for meadowsweet.
Willow bark or meadowsweet fight many of the same symptoms as aspirin does. Two cups of tea or 1 to 2 dropperfuls of willow bark or meadowsweet tincture usually does the same work by far less irritating your stomach than the synthetic drug. Also take meadowsweet to treat the pain of stomach ulcers.
Feverfew stops inflammation and the resulting pain by reducing prostaglandin levels and often works even better than aspirin.
Another herb that reduces pain is ginger, which has long history in India to treat inflammation and pain, known from diseases like rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis. The recommended dose is 500 to 1,000 milligrams a day, but doses that are double and even triple will bring quicker and better relief without side effects. And ginger, in addition to relieving pain, also brings more blood to the injured, inflamed area.
The enzyme bromelain, from the stem of the pineapple, is effective in inhibiting prostaglandins too, with no side effects. This enzyme also reduces inflammation resulting from arthritis or sports injuries, that´s why bromelain is currently being used for pain relief in U.S. hospitals.
Bupleurum, ginseng and licorice reduce or relieve pain resulting from inflammation. They stimulate the pituitary and adrenal glands to increase natural production of adrenal hormones such as cortisone to reduce the inflammation and consequent pain caused by conditions such as arthritis.
If you take prescription drugs with side effects to your liver, licorice stops the liver from breaking down and deactivating your body's natural cortisone too quickly. It also appears to enhance the action of bupleurum. Licorice-based cream reduces the pain and swelling of skin inflammation problems such as eczema and even arthritis when taken internally.
Licorice and ginseng also fight rheumatoid arthritis by enhancing the immune system. So does the use of gamma linoleic acid (GLA), found in evening primrose, borage and black currant oils, by reducing inflammation, boosting immunity and helping maintaining cell membranes in painful inflammatory disorders.
Cat's claw, not only enhances the functioning of the immune system, but also reduces inflammation. It is also used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, as it contains anti-arthritic compounds.
The famous immune enhancer echinacea also serves as an anti-inflammatory. It´s compound hyaluronic acid, which protects cells from germ and viral invasion also lubricates your joints.
Guggul, a resin from the myrrh tree, will relief from their arthritic pain, combined with turmeric, withania and the mineral zinc. The compound responsible for the efficacy of this treatment is curcumin, also responsible for the color of curry powder, which has been shown to be as effective as cortisone and phenylbutazone in decreasing inflammation. Curcumin, like cayenne, contains pain relievers that stop the neurotransmitter substance P from sending its pain signals to the brain, and it also decreases inflammation by reducing prostaglandin activity.
Skullcap, devil's claw and the compound lapachol from the South American herb pau d'arco are known to develop an anti-inflammatory for use on the skin.
Skullcap is effective in it´s sedative action and ability to stabilize nerve-related heart problems, and it produces no side effects.
Devil's claw is available as a tea and an external ointment for pain from inflammation caused by arthritis, rheumatic diseases, lower back pain and other inflammatory disorders.
Yucca reduces swelling, pain and stiffness.
Herbs that increase circulation, such as prickly ash, ginkgo, hawthorn and gotu kola, will help increase the blood supply to an inflamed area, thus speeding the healing process.

If you know more helpful tips please leave a comment and share them with all our readers.

Memory

2012-02-27T17:25:00.005+01:00

Alzheimer

Memory Tincture

- 1 teaspoon each tinctures of ginkgo leaves and Siberian ginseng root

- ½ teaspoon each tinctures of ginseng root and gotu kola leaves

- Combine the ingredients and take half a dropperful a few times a daily.

Take extra tincture about an hour before an exam or an important office meeting, or at any time you need some extra focus.

The main cause of age-related memory problems is arteriosclerosis, which slows the flow of blood to the brain, as the brain requires 20 percent of the total oxygen carried in the blood to function properly.
Most memory loss resulting solely from age can be prevented.
The four Gs—ginkgo, ginseng, Siberian ginseng and gotu kola—enhance mental abilities, such as concentration, aptitude, behavior, alertness and even intelligence. Take Siberian ginseng or ginseng while working under pressure and you may manage to increase your reading speed and concentration; as an added benefit, you may even feel stronger and more self-confident.
Ginkgo helps elderly people feel more alert, attentive and sociable and less moody, after one or two months of taking it, and it also improves their reaction time. Ginkgo does this is by boosting the brain's ability to use oxygen.
Ginkgo is good for long-term effects, but in the same time, it is also fast-acting.
Many college students rely on ginkgo, sometimes in combination with the other "brain herbs" (ginseng, Siberian ginseng and gotu kola), to help them get through. Students usually dose up especially heavily with a dropperful or two of the tincture about an hour before an exam, as the herbs seem to help them think faster and more clearly.
Club moss promotes circulation. A derivative of club moss reduces the breakdown of acetylcholine, which causes Alzheimer's disease, as neurons are destroyed because of a defect in a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine. The effect of this herb is three times stronger than that of drugs typically prescribed for Alzheimer's.

If you know more helpful tips please leave a comment and share them with all our readers.

Hyperactivity affects ten times more boys than girls

2012-02-27T17:17:00.000+01:00

Hyperactivity

Hyperactivity Tincture

- 1 teaspoon tincture of valerian rhizome

- ½ teaspoon each tinctures of passionflower leaves and catnip leaves

- ¼ teaspoon each tinctures of peppermint leaves and ( if available) linden flowers

- Combine the ingredients and for a 50-pound child, give half a dropperful several times a day.
Evening primrose oil will make kids much less hyperactive and they will experience fewer nightmares.

Children benefit a lot with dietary changes, such as when sugar and caffeine (from colas and other soft drinks) will be removed from their diets and they are given nutritional supplements such as magnesium and vitamins C and the B-complex, especially B6.

ADD, which affects ten times more boys than girls can be treated with herbs, a change in diet, avoiding potential allergic substances and counseling, usually for the whole family. Hyperactive children will improve when synthetic food colorings, milk, chocolate, sugar and certain preservatives become eliminated from their diets.
Hyperactive children are easily distracted, unable to concentrate, have a tendency to act impulsively and become aggressive without apparent reason. Children who are routinely given drugs such as methylphenidate, can have serious long-term effects, including a drugged, docile state, appetite and weight loss, insomnia and an irregular heartbeat.
Treat hyperactive children with valerian and your children will experience improved learning skills, muscle coordination and reaction time after only a few weeks of taking it. They will become also less anxious, less aggressive, less restless and less fearful. As valerian has an unpleasant taste, administer valerian-based formulas in tincture form. Catnip contains compounds similar to those in valerian. Linden flower tea is a good afternoon drink given to children to settle them down.

If you know more helpful tips please leave a comment and share them with all our readers.

Asthma

2012-02-27T17:01:00.002+01:00

Asthma

Breathe-Easy Tea

- 1 quart boiling water

- 1 teaspoon each echinacea root, chamomile flowers, mullein leaves and passionflower leaves

- ½ teaspoon each elecampane root and (if available) lemon verbena leaves

- Pour the boiling water over the herbs in a saucepan and steep for 10 to 15 minutes. Then strain out the herbs. For a 50-pound child, let it have a half cup of tea at least once a day as a preventive, and a few times a day when breathing becomes strained or when emotional conditions would lead to an attack. For a tincture of these herbs, give ¼ dropperful (15 drops) to replace each half-cup of tea and store extra tea in the refrigerator.

Ginkgo Throat Spray

- 1 teaspoon tincture of ginkgo leaves

- 5 drops chamomile essential oil (optional)

- ¼ cup water

- Combine the ingredients and store the mixture in a sprayer bottle. Shake well before using and use as needed to keep the airways clear.

Chinese Asthma Tea

- 1 teaspoon each magnolia flowers and rehmannia root

- ½ teaspoon don quai root

- 3 cups water

- Combine the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Then turn down the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. After, turn off heat and steep for 20 minutes and give 1 cup daily. Store some extra tea in the refrigerator.

Lavender Chest Rub

- 8 drops lavender essential oil

- 2 drops chamomile essential oil (optional)

- ¼ cup olive (or other vegetable) oil

- Combine the ingredients and rub on the chest as needed, especially before bedtime. If add chamomile as an antihistamine, replace 2 drops of the lavender essential oil with 2 drops of chamomile essential oil.

An herbal steam uses these same essential oils. Add two drops of lavender essential oil to a humidifier - but check the instructions to make sure your humidifier will not clog and be damaged by essential oils - in your child's room. You can also have your child inhale the steam from a pan of water containing four drops lavender essential oil.

A hot bath containing a few drops of lavender essential oil helps through the first signs of a serious attack and makes breathing easy for at least an hour.
Play safe and have your child sniff the oils before you use the chest rub, steam or bath for the first time, as some suffering from asthma are sensitive to any fragrance!

Asthma constricts the throat and lungs, making it difficult for a person to breathe. Asthma is most prevalent during childhood and early adulthood.
Exhaustion, stress, lung infection and even cold air, exposure to allergic substances, such as dust and smoke can trigger an asthma attack. Attacks are usually brief, but they are very frightening for child and parent alike.
Medicine offers children with asthma only little more than temporary relief. Herbs, however, not only help these children fighting the symptoms, but also reduce attacks by strengthening their lungs and their immune systems. Mullein and elecampane, which are exceptionally tonic and healing to the lungs, are found in almost every commercially available herbal formula for asthma. These same herbs even arrest or eliminate symptoms such as wheezing and shortness of breath, as they open the constricted bronchial passages.
Some herbs also act as antihistamines to open air passages and relieve wheezing - histamines produce swelling and constrict bronchial passages. Try anise, ginger, peppermint and chamomile: chamomile will slow allergic reactions, such as those triggering asthma attacks, by increasing the adrenal glands' production of cortisone to reduces lung inflammation and make breathing easier. Motherwort and passionflower, not only decrease the severity of lung spasms but also reduce anxiety, lessening the chance of an attack. Lemon verbena tea reduces wheezing.

Ginkgo reduces the susceptibility of children to various allergic substances and thus effectively decreases the frequency of asthma attacks. Ginkgo keeps the bronchial passages in the lungs from constricting. Ginkgo throat spray is used in the same way as the asthmatic inhaler. Ginkgo can be found at most natural food stores in both pill and tincture form.

Onions contain a compound that reduces the severity of asthma attacks. Drink onion juice every day, or as your child will most likely refuse to drink onion juice, add onions to his meals.
Give your child herbs that build up the immune system, such as echinacea and chamomile. Allergic reactions in many people with asthma indicate that an individual is suffering from problems with the immune system. Children with difficult asthma may benefit from taking a Chinese formula of magnolia, rehmannia and don quai.

As asthma is associated with allergies, keep the air as clean as possible. Air filters eliminate many allergens: pollen, mites, mold, animal dander and dust. Remove feather pillows and comforters from your child's bed, and wash his toys to see if these measures makes a difference. Avoid giving your child foods to which people with asthma tend to be sensitive, like fruit dried with sulfites (additives to help vegetables keep their color) or food that contains the flavor enhancer MSG (monosodium glutamate), used in many processed foods. One important way to prevent asthma in the first place is by breastfeeding your baby, as breastfeeding builds up the natural immunities that prevent children from developing allergies.
A good prevention for asthma attacks is a lavender chest rub just before your child goes to sleep. The lavender is a muscle relaxant, it keeps chest muscles and bronchial passages from constricting; and a mind relaxer, as it reduces the stress that might trigger an attack. During sleep, an antihistamine such as chamomile can be used in conjunction with the lavender.

If you know more helpful tips please leave a comment and share them with all our readers.

Kidney Stones

2012-02-27T16:49:00.002+01:00

Kidney Stones

Kidney Stone Tea

- 2 teaspoons hydrangea root

- 1 teaspoon cramp bark

- 1 teaspoon wild yam root

- 1 teaspoon joe-pye weed

- 1½ quarts water

- ½ teaspoon each plantain leaf, corn silk and yarrow leaf

- Add hydrangea, wild yam and cramp bark to water in a saucepan and bring it to a boil, then turn down heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and add other herbs, cover the pan and steep for at least 20 minutes. Then strain and keep refrigerated. Drink up to 3 to 4 cups daily. If some bleeding occurs, add 30 drops of shepherd's purse tincture to each cup of tea.

A tea is especially appropriate when treating a kidney infection because you should already be drinking plenty of water to keep kidneys flushed and help prevent the stones from forming. For convenience, you can also take this formula as a tincture; take 2 to 3 dropperfuls a day.

About half the people who had kidney stones will suffer them again, along with the symptoms of sudden, sharp waves of pain, nausea and profuse sweating. Heavy cases are even accompanied by bleeding and, if there is an infection, even fever. See your physician to determine the exact cause of your symptoms and the severity of your condition.
Kidney stones are mineral deposits made of calcium, uric acid or the amino acid cysteine, generally caused by your eating habits. Kidney stones will develop in vegetarians and people who eat plenty of fresh vegetables only about half as often as in people whose diet does not include green food. Obesity and kidney infections are factors too.
Lemon juice reduces the size of kidney stones, by helping eliminate the stones and reduce or relieve the pain that occurs as they are eliminated. To reduce infection, pain and spasms try cramp bark, goldenrod and joe-pye weed, for its ability to get rid of stones.
Goldenrod is effective in getting rid of kidney stones.
Agrimony, horsetail, yarrow, shepherd's purse, Saint-John's-wort and nettles will reduce bleeding caused by kidney stones.
Most kidney stones are composed of calcium combined with phosphate or oxalic acid, resulting from an accumulation of unused calcium, and lack of exercise is generally. Cranberries help prevent stones in some people by reducing the excessive amounts of calcium commonly found in the urinary tract. Rose hips have traditionally been used to ease various urinary tract infections. As calcium-phosphate stones are common in alkaline urine, cranberries and other herbs that acidify urine also help prevent stones.
Enzyme urease, which contributes to kidney stones, is increased by bacteria and alkaline urine. Rosemary almost completely inhibits urease.
Play it safe and avoid such foods as rhubarb, spinach, beet greens, sorrel, green tea and chocolate, as these are rich in oxalic acid.
Uric acid stones are found in urine that is too acidic: eat cherries, strawberries, apple juice, asparagus and nettles to make your urine alkaline. Consider changing your diet, as one thing that can cause acidic urine is an overabundance of protein. Meadowsweet, sarsaparilla, joe-pye weed and plantain will rid the kidneys of excess uric acid.

If you know more helpful tips please leave a comment and share them with all our readers.

Womens Infertility

2012-02-27T16:29:00.001+01:00

Womens Infertility

Fertility Tea

- 1 teaspoon each Siberian ginseng root, don quai root and vitex berries

- 1 teaspoon each cramp bark, motherwort leaves and wild yam rhizome

- 1 quart water
Place the herbs and the water in a pot and simmer for 5 minutes. Then turn off the heat and steep for 20 minutes. Strain out herbs and drink 2 cups a day. You can also take these herbs in tincture form.

Don't even begin to consider that you might be infertile until you have tried to get pregnant for at least one year, and even then, do not despair, as it sometimes takes even longer to conceive.
Herbs are successful in curing a woman's infertility when the problem lies in hormonal imbalance, caused by the menstrual cycle being disrupted by birth control pills. Herbs also help women who are infertile due to uterine fibroids or pelvic inflammatory disease, as long as there is no scarring or structural damage, such as a blocked fallopian tube, which requires surgery.
The chances are 50/50 that the source of the problem lies with your partner. But still, if you are extremely athletic or underweight, you may not have enough body fat. Women whose fat falls below one-quarter of their total body weight have trouble conceiving because they will not ovulate.
Stress can be another factor.
Herbs that increase fertility are vitex, Siberian ginseng, don quai from China and motherwort. Don quai shows that it helps the ovaries function better and helps reestablishing a normal cycle and fertility.
A big problem is not becoming pregnant, but avoiding miscarriage while being pregnant. Women often miscarry before they even realize that they are pregnant. Vitex has been found to increase levels of three hormones in pregnant women: progesterone, prolactin and luteinizing hormone (LH). These hormones cooperate to help a woman become pregnant, sustain pregnancy and promote the production of breast milk. One way to prevent miscarriage is by keeping the uterus relaxed with wild yam and cramp bark.
The immune systems of too many infertile women examined are either too lax or too aggressive.

If you know more helpful tips please leave a comment and share them with all our readers.

Menstrual Cramps

2012-02-27T16:19:00.005+01:00

Menstrual Cramps

Menstrual Cramp Tea

- 1 teaspoon cramp bark

- ½ teaspoon each chamomile flowers, motherwort leaves, fresh oats, wild yam root, hops strobiles and skullcap leaves

- ¼ teaspoon ginger rhizome

- 1 quart water

- Combine herbs and water in an uncovered saucepan. Bring it to a boil and then turn down heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off heat, cover the pan and let the mixture steep for 20 minutes. Strain out herbs and drink at least 1 cup to start, then drink as needed.

Menstrual Cramp Oil

- 2 ounces Saint-]ohn's-wort oil

- 8 drops each lavender, marjoram and chamomile essential oils

- Combine the ingredients and apply as often as needed by rubbing over the lower abdomen. This formula works also for lower back or shoulder pain, or any type of muscle cramps.

Menstrual cramps, or dysmenorrhea, is at least partly due to calcium that drops to low levels just before menstruation and to the increase in a hormonelike substance called prostaglandin 2 (PG2). Another promoter of menstrual cramps is stress. During this time, even drinking alcohol or eating lots of eggs, meat and dairy foods can worsen menstrual cramps.
Some herbs can decrease PG2 levels and the resulting cramping, such as evening primrose, meadowsweet, feverfew, hops, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, thyme, garlic and flaxseed. Some of these can be used to flavor food. Cereals with flaxseed can be found in most grocery stores.
Begin taking these herbs about a week before menstruation, when PG2 levels begin to rise. It could last three months before you see results. Also avoid fried foods such as potato chips and corn chips, as well as crackers, baked goods and anything containing hydrogenated oils like store-bought crackers and baked goods, as they increase PG2.
Cramp bark, false unicorn root, motherwort and red raspberry ease uterine pain, reduce inflammation and stop cramps.
Another favorite for reducing cramps is a tincture of fresh oats, which also contains the muscle-relaxing minerals calcium and magnesium. You can find a little medicinal dose of this relaxant in your morning oatmeal.
Even relaxing can cause menstrual cramps to subside. At least take time for a relaxing massage or bath with an oil made with chamomile, lavender, marjoram, ginger and/or clary sage if you are too busy to relax. The sedative properties of wild yam, chamomile, hops, valerian, skullcap, ginger, oats, motherwort and California poppy in an herb tea or tincture will have a relaxing effect on the uterus.

If you know more helpful tips please leave a comment and share them with all our readers.

Prostate Enlargement

2012-02-27T15:40:00.005+01:00

Prostate Enlargement

Prostate-Reducing Tincture

- 1 ounce tincture of saw palmetto berries

- ½ ounce each tinctures of sarsaparilla root, nettle root, wild yam root, echinacea root and pipsissewa or uva ursi leaves

- Combine the ingredients and take half a dropperful 3 times daily, as for a maintenance dose, take once a day.

Compounds in saw palmetto have a remarkable ability to inhibit DHT, the hormone that causes prostate inflammation. Saw palmetto is about 25 times stronger than cyproterone, a once-common prostate anti-inflammation and cancer drug.
Saw palmetto greatly reduces symptoms associated with prostate enlargement, including pain and incontinence, within three months.
But saw palmetto's soapy, bitter taste is not pleasant, so the best way to take this herb is to dilute the tincture in a small amount of water and chug it down.

Anti-inflammatory Prostate Oil

- 1/8 teaspoon each lavender and rosemary essential oils

- 2 ounces Saint-John's-wort oil

- 4 drops Roman chamomile essential oil (optional)

- Combine the ingredients and rub on the skin under the scrotum once or twice a day.

Herbs can help correct prostate enlargement. Known as benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), roughly half of men between the ages of 40 and 60 are plagued by it.

Prostate, which is located next to the bladder, is made of muscle, gland and connective tissue. Aa thin fluid that it secretes carries sperm down the urethra, the tube that transports urine from the bladder. As the urethra passes through the prostate, when the prostate enlarges, it pinches the tube causing urine retention. This generates an urge to urinate more often as the bladder never fully empties, resulting in an inability to void, false starts, dribbling and burning pain.

The symptoms don't necessarily express the extent of enlargement, but a doctor will. You need to see a doctor because problems like an obstruction in the urinary tube, a bacterial infection and bladder or prostate cancer need to be checked.
A common cause of prostate enlargement is changes in hormone levels. While a man ages, his testosterone levels fall and his levels of the female hormones prolactin, estrogen, LH and FSH rise. This hormonal shift results in many body changes like weight gain, changes in fat distribution and a decrease in muscle strength. A form of testosterone called dihydrotestosterone (DHT) begins to dominate, which can cause prostate cells to multiply excessively: four to six times the normal amount of DHT is found in enlarged prostates. While DHT increases with age, environmental pollutants like the chemicals dioxin, polyhalogenated biphenyls, and hexachlorobenzene also make this hormone accumulate in the prostate.

Pygeum reduces symptoms in less than six weeks, causing swelling and uncontrollable urination to disappear fairly soon, and decreasing the size of the prostate.
Pygeum is most effective when used at the first signs of prostate problems. This herb decreases prolactin production and also reduces the detrimental effects of testosterone. Pygeum is available as a tincture or in pill form and can be combined with saw palmetto. The dose recommended is two 100- or 200-milligram capsules a day.
Nettle leaves are used to stop the urine retention that often accompanies prostate inflammation. Nettle root appears to be a useful therapy for milder cases of prostate inflammation and a good alternative to surgery.
Nettle root, saw palmetto berry and pumpkin seed all help prostate problems, possibly because they contain b-sitosterol, a hormonelike substance that reduces prostate inflammation.
Nettle root as a treatment for the early stages of prostate inflammation, can be taken in any form, including a tea.
Gamma linoleic acid (GLA), found in evening primrose, borage and black currant seed products, also relieves prostate inflammation. Encourage GLA production in your body by eating a handful of pumpkin seeds or by taking one or two teaspoons of flaxseed oil daily.
Pumpkin seeds also contain an unusual amino acid called cucurbitin.
Good circulation is important for good health. Sitting in chairs for long periods of time, has been accused of contributing to prostate problems. Collinsonia, Saint-John's-wort, prickly ash and horse chestnut, all improve circulation. A warm bath in which you sit in water up to your waist with rosemary is also good for pelvic circulation. An anti-inflammatory oil made of Saint-John's-wort and essential oils of rosemary and lavender applied behind the scrotum to increase circulation will reduce inflammation and relax muscles.

It is common for cholesterol to build up in enlarged prostates. So a second war against prostate inflammation begins with the fight against cholesterol. GLA and pygeum specifically reduce the accumulation of cholesterol in the prostate.
Also try hydrangea and joe-pye weed, some-times with uva ursi, pipsissewa, yarrow and/or horsetail, to clear up the urinary tract infections that often come with prostate problems. Echinacea is a good choice to improve immunity and fend off infections.
As the size of the prostate reduces, you should continue taking herbs at a reduced level to keep symptoms at bay. When symptoms begin to recur, you will need to take your formula every few months; after about a year, you may discover that you no longer need the herbs.

If you know more helpful tips please leave a comment and share them with all our readers.

Stomachache Colic and Nausea

2012-02-27T14:50:00.005+01:00

Stomachache Colic and Nausea

Peter Rabbit's Tea

- 2 cups boiling water

- 1 teaspoon eachlemon balm leaves and chamomile flowers

- ½ teaspoon each catnip leaves and fennel or dill seeds

- Pour some boiling water over the herbs and steep for 10 minutes. Then strain out the herbs and allow to cool. Have your child sip this tea as needed, but sometimes as little as ¼ cup relieves.
This tea is can be used to address digestion problems as well as the stress and anxiety that can cause these problems. For colic, give your baby Peter Rabbit's Tea, diluted with an equal amount of water, before or after eating. Babies need only 1/8 to ¼ cup of the diluted tea. Also try the Tummy Rub Oil suggested below.

Child's Indigestion Bath

- 1 drop each orange and chamomile essential oils

- 2 drops lemongrass essential oil

- Add the essential oils directly to the bath water and stir to distribute on water's surface before your child gets into the tub.

Tummy Rub Oil

- 1 drop each chamomile and fennel essential oils

- 6 drops lemongrass essential oil

- 2 ounces vegetable oil

- Mix the ingredients together and rub on every hour, or as needed. Lemongrass instead of lemon balm is very expensive but is also very effective.

Peppermint Tea for Nausea

- 1 cup boiling water

- 1 teaspoon peppermint leaves

- Pour the boiling water over the leaves and let sit for about 5 minutes. Then strain out the herbs and serve at least half a cup. If you can't find fresh peppermint leaves, use commercial peppermint tea bags or peppermint candy instead.

One tasty herb that settles the stomach of a nauseated child is ginger, by having him drink ginger ale or eat candied ginger. If your child feels too ill to eat, try the Tummy Rub Oil above.

Stomachaches, the most common health problem for children, fortunately are usually one of the easiest to treat. However, investigate the cause: possibilities to consider include candies, bacterial infection, parasites, poor diet resulting from refined foods, and food allergies.
Colic cramps the intestines and makes babies cranky and irritable and is often caused by an immature digestive system. As colic often disappears when the baby's diet changes, food allergies also play a part.
Lemon balm, catnip, caraway, fennel, dill and chamomile cure most digestive upsets by soothing stomachache and gas pains. Indian and Lebanese mothers have give their babies dill, and Chinese mothers use fennel to ease colic and gas. European children are given a syrup of these seeds called Gripe Water and an indigestion treatment, that contains fennel, chamomile, caraway, coriander and orange peel.
A combination of chamomile, peppermint and red clover is another tip. If your kids like basil on pasta or cinnamon on oatmeal, go for it, as like most culinary herbs, these improve digestion.

Emotional stress as a big factor of any digestive problem. Like adults, children transfer problems and stress into physical ailments such as an upset stomach and bowel irregularities. A tea of lemon balm, chamomile, catnip and dill will soothe frayed nerves and anxiety. As children with indigestion are often cranky, they will sometimes refuse to drink even a tasty herbal tea. So try an herbal bath or tummy massage, those are soothing and help to reduce gas pains. Use essential oils such as lemongrass, orange and chamomile, that have calming fragrances, in either the bath or massage oil.

Nausea is another digestion-related problem, as children are likely to becoming nauseated while in a moving vehicle, as their inner ear structure is so small that the irregular moving disturbs the fluid-filled canals in the middle ear: The children´s ear tells the brain that the body is moving, while the eyes say that it isn't. This confuses the brain, causing dizziness and nausea. Activities like reading or playing lap games while traveling can prevent motion sickness more easily than looking out the window. A simple remedy for "travel nausea" is to watch the landscape go by, which convinces the eyes that the inner ear is correct.
Nausea asks for a simple tea of peppermint, or even sucking on a peppermint candy. Peppermint also prevents vomiting, although not during food poisoning or when the stomach needs to be evacuated.

If you know more helpful tips please leave a comment and share them with all our readers.

Swollen Testicles

2012-02-27T14:33:00.003+01:00

Swollen Testicles

Testicle Bath

- 1 quart water

- ¼ cup each mullein leaves and comfrey

- 1/8 cup chamomile flowers

- Bring the water to a boil and pour it over the herbs and steep at least 15 minutes. Strain and pour it into your bath.

Oil for Genital Infection/Irritation

- 1/8 teaspoon each tea tree essentials oil and lavender

- 1 ounce vegetable oil

- Combine the ingredients. Apply to the infected and irritated area at least twice a day. It will works even if the irritation is not caused by infection.
The Oil for Genital Infection and Irritation will also work on rashes and other irritations that occur on the genitals, including jock itch, which is a fungal infection. A measure to cure and prevent this is to keep the area dry. You can also apply the herbs as a dusting powder, which dries more than the oil. Also try wearing loose-fitting pants that allow air to circulate.

To completely get rid of an infection, you may also need to treat it internally. Try taking immune system stimulants such as echinacea and pau d'arco, which work especially well for skin infections. These herbs are effective in treating genital infections. You can take them as a tea or in pill form, although most men find a tincture most convenient. When you think the infection is gone, get checked by a doctor in a clinic.

Swollen testicles is a painful and serious condition that requires a doctor's care, if the testicles swell a lot, become extremely painful or stay swollen for several days. If it is accompanied by chills, fever or vomiting, do not try to self-treat it. Lumps or knots inside the testicles need to be checked out by a doctor. A chronic condition can be caused by an infection or by an enlarged prostate, a sexually transmitted disease, mumps or an inflamed urinary tract, which may lead to infertility.
After you have seen a doctor, use herbs like lavender or chamomile to reduce the swelling and pain. These herbs also fight infections that sometimes accompany swollen testicles. Wearing an athletic supporter to ease the stress on the area, and sitting in a hot bath is helpful too.
Try a herbal bath by adding a strong tea of comfrey, echinacea and mullein. Also take a mixture of infection-fighting herbs echinacea and goldenseal, along with ginseng and yellow dock. You will see definite improvement almost right away, and the pain and swelling noticeably diminishes in a couple of days. Five days after starting the herbs, you may be finally able to walk without pain.
If you cannot take a bath, soak once a day and gently rub on an Oil for Genital Infection/Irritation a few times daily.

If you know more helpful tips please leave a comment and share them with all our readers.

If God had to give woman dry skin, oily skin and wrinkles, He might at least have put them on the soles of her feet instead of her face

2012-02-24T15:04:00.001+01:00

The Face

Cleanser for Dry Complexion

- 2 ounces aloe vera gel

- 1 teaspoon glycerin

- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil

- 4 drops rosemary essential oil

- ½ teaspoon grapefruit seed extract

- 8 drops sandalwood essential oil

- Blend the ingredients and shake well before each use. Apply with cotton balls and then rinse off. You can substitute grape seed oil or Saint-John's-wort oil for the vegetable oil. You can also use jojoba oil, which is more expensive than vegetable oil but is good for the complexion, and which will not spoil unlike true vegetable oils.

Toner for Dry Complexion

- 2 ounces aloe vera gel

- 1 teaspoon vinegar

- 2 ounces orange-blossom water

- 4 drops sandalwood essential oil

- 6 drops rose geranium essential oil

- 800 International Units vitamin E oil

- 1 drop each chamomile and jasmine (optional) essential oils

- Combine the ingredients and shake before using. For the vinegar, use elder-flower vinegar. The jasmine is optional because it is expensive. Add liquid vitamin E oil or pop open two 400 International Unit vitamin E capsules. This toner is also a very good man's aftershave.

Cream for Dry Complexion

- ¾ ounce shaved beeswax,

- 1 cup water (or rose water)

- 1 cup vegetable oil

- 6 drops rose essential oil or 24 drops ( ¼ teaspoon) rose geranium essential oil

- Heat the beeswax and vegetable oil in a pot until the beeswax melts. In a separate pot, heat the water until it is warm. Then remove the center ring on the lid of your blender or food processor and pour the warm water in. With the blender on high speed, slowly add the oil-beeswax mixture and pour the oil steadily at just the right temperature—you should be able to put your finger in both the oil and the water without feeling pain. The mix should begin to solidify when three-quarters of the oil has been added. Meanwhile add the essential oils and carefully stir in top edges as they turn solid. Add oil until the mixture becomes too stiff to take any more, or until all the water is blended in. As you turn off blender, you should have a thick, smooth cream. Pour the cream into jars while it is still warm, as once it cools, it will be too thick to pour.
Be sure that you purchase beeswax from craft stores, natural food and herb stores or from beekeepers and not paraffin. Creams and lotions containing water carry a high risk of bacterial growth, whereas essential oils, beeswax and vitamin E are natural preservatives and give your creams at least a six-month shelf life. If you store your creams in the refrigerator, it should keep three times as long. As an extra precaution against spoilage, use grapefruit seed extract, a powerful antibacterial agent, or vitamin E. Mix eight drops grapefruit seed extract or 400 International Units vitamin E per ounce. Ensure that your tools, such as blender, bowls, measuring cups and containers are very clean. Even dipping a finger invites bacteria, so use a small spatula or a clean chopstick to scoop the cream from the jar.

Facial Steam for Dry Complexion

- 3 cups water

Method 1: Using Herbs

- 1 heaping teaspoon each rosemary leaves, rose petals and fennel seeds

- ½ teaspoon peppermint leaves

- Simmer water, add the herbs, then remove from heat and steep for 5 minutes.

Method 2: Using Essential Oils

- 1 drop each rosemary, rose geranium, fennel and peppermint essential oils

- Simmer water, then turn off the heat and add the essential oils.

For either method, set the pan somewhere where you can comfortably sit next to. Cover the back of your head with a towel and tuck the ends of the towel around the pan and the steam will be captured inside a mini-sauna. Then hold your head about 1 foot away from the water. Ensure that the steam is not too hot that and feels uncomfortable. Keep your eyes closed so that the essential oils cannot sting them. Stay in the steam for a few minutes, then leave to cool your face. Repeat this for a few rounds, as long as it's comfortable.

Scrub for Dry Complexion

- 2 tablespoons oatmeal

- 1 tablespoon cornmeal

- 1 teaspoon lavender, chamomile or elder flowers

- 6 drops lavender essential oil

- Grind the dry ingredients in a blender or an electric coffee grinder. Or try drugstores where they sell colloidal oatmeal, which needs no grinding. Add the essential oil and stir to distribute. Store it in a closed container. Then moisten 1 teaspoon with enough water to make a paste, dampen your face with a little water and gently apply the scrub. Rinse with warm water after.

Mask for Dry Complexion

- 1 tablespoon rose water or aloe vera juice

- 1 tablespoon ground oatmeal

- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil

- 1 teaspoon honey

- 2 drops rose geranium or palmarosa essential oil
Mix the ingredients and apply to your face. Leave it on for 5 to 10 minutes, then rinse off. Castor oil is a good choice for the vegetable oil as it has emollient qualities and because it mixes easily with other ingredients. You can keep the leftover mask in the refrigerator.

Cleanser for Oily Complexion

- 2 ounces witch hazel

- 1 teaspoon glycerin

- 1 teaspoon vinegar

- ½ teaspoon grapefruit seed extract

- 2 drops each cypress and grapefruit (optional) essential oils

- 6 drops lemon essential oil

- Repeat the directions given for Cleanser for Dry Complexion from above. If available, you can use an herbal vinegar.

Facial Steam for Oily Complexion

- 3 cups water

Method 1: Using Herbs

- 1 heaping teaspoon each lemon grass leaves, chamomile flowers, lavender flowers and rosemary leaves

- Simmer the water, add the herbs, remove from the heat and steep 5 minutes.

Method 2: Using Essential Oils

- 1 drop each lemongrass, chamomile, lavender and rosemary essential oils

- Bring the water to a simmer, turn off the heat and add the essential oils.
To steam, follow the directions for Facial Steam for Dry Complexion from above.

Mask for Oily Complexion

- 1 strawberry, mashed (optional)

- 1 teaspoon bentonite (or other facial) clay

- 1 tablespoon witch hazel

- 2 drops each cypress and lemon essential oils

- Combine the ingredients and apply. Leave on for 5 to 10 minutes and then rinse.

Toner for Oily Complexion

- 1 tablespoon aloe vera gel

- 2 ounces witch hazel

- 3 drops lemon essential oil

- 5 drops cedarwood essential oil

- 1 drop ylang-ylang essential oil

- Mix the ingredients and shake well before using. Excluding the ylang-ylang, which is too sweet-smelling for men, this makes also an excellent aftershave.

Age Spot Remover

- 1 teaspoon grated horseradish root

- ½ teaspoon vinegar

- ½ teaspoon lemon juice

- 3 drops rosemary essential oil

- Combine the ingredients. Grate your own horseradish, but it is important to add juice and vinegar right away, before the enzymes start to break down. Don't get your fingers near your eyes, as horseradish is really hot. Buying a bottle of ground horseradish is simpler but not as effective.

Toner for Mature Complexion

- 2 ounces orange-blossom water

- 2 ounces aloe vera gel

- 1 teaspoon vinegar

- 6 drops rose geranium essential oil

- 4 drops each carrot seed essential oils and Frankincense

- 2 drops jasmine essential oil (optional)

- 800 International Units vitamin E oil

- Combine the ingredients and shake before using. Use plain apple cider vinegar. The jasmine essential oil is optional as it is expensive. Use liquid vitamin E oil or pop open 2x400International Unit vitamin E capsules.

Blemish Remover

- ¼ cup water

- 4 drops lavender essential oil

- 1 teaspoon Epsom salts
Small cloth

- Bring the water to a boil and pour it over Epsom salts. When salts have dissolved, add the essential oil and soak a small absorbent cloth into the solution in order to press this compress on the pimples. Within minutes, as the cloth starts to cool, place it into hot water again and reapply. Repeat this several times; the lavender is antiseptic and anti-inflammatory.

Intensive Treatment for Acne

- ½ teaspoon powdered goldenseal root

- 12 drops tea tree essential oil

- Combine the ingredients into a paste, add water if needed. Apply it directly on your acne spots. Let it dry and leave it on the skin for at least 20 minutes, then rinse.

Facial Steam for Problem Complexion

- 3 cups water

Method 1: Using Herbs

- 1 heaping teaspoon each eucalyptus leaves, chamomile flowers, lavender flowers and rosemary leaves

- Bring the water to a boil and remove from heat. Add herbs and steep it for 5 minutes.

Method 2: Using Essential Oils

- 1 drop each eucalyptus, chamomile, lavender and rosemary essential oils

- Bring the water to a boil, turn off the heat and add the essential oils.
To steam, follow the directions for Facial Steam for Dry Complexion from above.

Acne Mask

- 1 teaspoon bentonite or other facial clay

- 1 teaspoon ground strawberry leaves (optional)

- 1 drop tea tree essential oil

- 1 drop chamomile, sage or rosemary essential oil
Water or toner

- Mix the ingredients. Leave on for 5 to 10 minutes and then rinse.

Herbs can be used to lessen the effects of aging, exposure to sunlight, they can add a healthy glow, heal facial disorders and prevent premature wrinkling.

DRY COMPLEXION

Start your day with a yogurt, honey and fruit smoothie on your face, if you suffer from dry skin, in order to coaxe water to the surface and moisturize dry skin.
A dry complexion means, the skin on your face probably has a fine texture with no visible pores. This skin tends to be thin and sensitive, and it may feel tight and dry, especially after you wash it. It may become sallow and develop a coarse texture. Dry skin, may be caused by underactive oil glands, probably from a combination of heredity and low hormone production. As skin constantly loses water through sweat and evaporation, tiny glands secrete an oil to coat skin and stop this loss.
Women, especially fairskinned women, tend to have drier skin than men do, that´s why they are more susceptible to premature wrinkling and flaking skin. Jumping into a chlorinated swimming pool or cooling by the dry air of air-conditioning increases skin dryness. Dry skin is also vulnerable to winter's wind and chapping cold, suppressing the oil glands' production. If the air inside your house is dry, use a humidifier. Also use a humidifier if you heat your home with a woodburning stove, which has a dries the skin. If you don't have a humidifier, you can keeping a pan of water over low heat on the stove.
Also use herbs to bring moisture to your dry skin. Try the essential oils of palmarosa, rosewood and sandalwood to stimulate oil production in dry skin. Small amounts of peppermint or rosemary increase the skin's oil production and improve circulation. Chamomile, lavender, jasmine, elder flowers, red clover and soothing herbs such as Irish moss, calendula, comfrey, marshmallow root and violets soothe and heal the irritation that develops as outer layers of dry skin flake off. The essential oil of carrot seed will soothe raw skin. Elder flowers improve your tone and texture.
With a dry complexion, always use as little soap as possible, as most soaps dry out your skin. Avoid far too drying foaming cleansers. When you use soap, use one designed for delicate skin. Else, wash with a water-soluble cleansing cream for dry skin, which are designed not to remove the skin's natural oil. And always pat your face dry very gently. Remove your makeup with a face cream instead of soap, and always use makeup that especially contains moisturizers.
Avoid facial toners with alcohol, as they will dry your skin. Use a toner with a vinegar base to soften your skin, help it maintain its natural acidity and relieve the itchiness and flakiness accompanied by dryness.
The astringency of hydrosols is ideal for dry skin as it increases the skin's water content. Hydrosols with aloe or glycerin also help skin to retain moisture. Facial creams that are half oil are good for dry skin. Heavy creams with even more oil offer effective protection from water evaporation but tend to be greasy. They are reserved for the sensitive skin around the eyes where aren´t any oil glands at all.
A facial steam can fight a dry complexion, but ensure it is not too hot and that it lasts five minutes maximum. Also, don't take a facial steam more than once a week because the heat in multiple steaming will further dry your skin. A gentle facial massage with an herbal scrub made with cornmeal and oatmeal is another option. Scrubs may be looking too harsh for a dry complexion, but they actually stimulate oil production and remove flaky, dry surface skin. A few minutes per treatment is enough.
Dry skin may be accompanied by inflammations such as blemishes or puffiness around the eyes. Chamomile, lavender, rosemary and Saint-John's-wort reduce these inflammations. Chamomile cream restores a smooth, healthy appearance to rough and red skin faster and more thoroughly than other creams do. It also improves "peak and valley" patterns, known as wrinkles.

OILY COMPLEXION

The a positive side of oily skin: it protects and lubricates, so you get fewer wrinkles as your skin matures.
Oily complexion is shiny and has large pores and a thick, coarse texture. In the summer, overexposure to the sun along with sunburn stimulates already overactive oil glands into even heavier production. Sweating only increases the skin's oiliness.
In winter, oil buildup is bad, as we wear scarves and hats. Excess oil attracts dirt, which breeds bacteria, cause infection and clog pores with dead cells.
Some herbs can slow the oil production. Basil, eucalyptus, cedarwood, cypress, lemon, sage, lemongrass, yarrow, ylang-ylang and the fruit and leaves of strawberry balance overactive oil glands.
Clean your oily face at twice a day with a neutral-pH (7.0) soap or cleanser and wipe away excess oil with cotton pads soaked in with hazel or a cleanser for oily skin. Also steam your face at least once a week to unclog pores and eliminate excess oil. Avoid scrubbing, which stimulates oil production. Use a facial mask of oats or clay to draw out and absorb surface skin oils and rinse the mask off before your skin begins to feel tight and itchy. A slight amount of grain alcohol in a toner is okay, but do not repeat it often. Alcohol is drying, but if you dry out oily skin too much, it produces even more oil to compensate.

MATURE COMPLEXION

Anyone over 25 has mature skin, but these lines typically start to form in your thirties. Chances of having mature skin and wrinkles in young age increase if you have a fair complexion or only a thin layer of fat under your skin, if you smoke, or if you spend lots of time in the sun.
Mature skin is likely to dry, so many of the recommendations for dry skin will apply; in addition, rose geranium, jasmine, Frankincense and myrrh rejuvenate skin by encouraging new cells to develop. Try unusual essential oils: carrot seed, helichrysum and cistus (known as rock rose). Marshmallow, comfrey and gotu kola heal the skin, stimulate skin-cell growth and soothe skin, which is irritated from being dry and flaky. Lavender, neroli, rosemary, rose and fennel are called anti-aging herbs. Use rose water and almond oil mixed with egg white to keep out the wrinkles and preserve the complexion fair and to promote firmness when your skin becomes too loosely attached to the muscles.
As you age, your body produces fewer of the hormones that keep skin supple and youthful, and supplies less oil, protein and natural moisturizing factors, which deposite water in the skin. Aging also dries the skin. Collagen and elastin fibers in the skin that are arranged like the meshwork of woven fabric will lose their strength, eliminating the skin's underlying support and causing it to wrinkle and sag. These fibers, not muscle, make your skin strong and keep it toned, firm and unwrinkled.
Encourage natural collagen production with herbs and foods that contain lots of vitamin C and compounds commonly associated with vitamin C: rutin, flavonoids and hesperidin. Herbs, such as gotu kola, echinacea and horsetail, increase skin elasticity and strengthen connective tissue.
Antioxidant herbs offer a strong defense against the skin's aging. These encourage cells to regenerate and prevent free radicals. Free radicals are quickly multiplying molecules, which are increased by cigarette smoking, inhaling car exhaust and ingesting certain pesticides. They play a role in the skin losing its elasticity and wrinkling and generally in all aspects of aging, including hardening of the arteries and the development of cataracts. Due to free radicals, a 40-year-old smoker is biologically older than a nonsmoker of the same age. Many natural cosmetics for mature skin include powerful antioxidant herbs like ginkgo, witch hazel and the essential oils of rosemary, marjoram and lavender and vitamins that stop free radicals.
Antioxidants also treat liver spots, discolorations of the skin. These sun spots appear on the face and hands as a result of sun exposure. There are many natural bleaching agents you can try on these spots and on other types of blotchy skin, such as horseradish, vinegar and lemon.
For a mature complexion, try the cleanser and masks suggested for dry complexions, but drying facial masks, like those made with clay or oatmeal, cannot be used often on mature skin and should be avoided if your skin is very dry. Occasional use of astringent masks and toners has an advantage for a mature complexion, as the water that they pull to the skin's surface slightly plumps up the skin and makes lines, wrinkles and enlarged pores seem temporarily smaller - just be home before the effect wears off! Avoid commercial toners that plump skin by irritating it and causing inflammation.

PROBLEM COMPLEXION

A problem complexion is represented by pimples, cysts, blackheads and whiteheads. It can be a constant source of worry and embarrassment. Acne occurs where there are the most oil glands, right on the face, back and chest and in severe cases, it scars and pits the skin. Acne usually improves in early summer, when increased sun exposure provides vitamin D and lightly exfoliates the skin, but also worsens if oil glands become stimulated by too much heat and sun.
Oil will get to the skin's surface traveling up the hair shaft. As your pores become clogged with excess oil and dead cells, the opening narrows, shuts off oxygen to the pores and encourages bacterial growth, infection and inflammation. Blackheads occur when trapped oil darkens as it oxidizes, which is not from dirt, as many people mistakenly believe. When pores become repeatedly clogged, they enlarge and change the skin's texture.
Antiseptic herbs, including goldenseal, eucalyptus, sage, rosemary and tea tree, reduce acne. Chamomile, elder flowers, red clover and licorice unclog the pores and refine, soften and heal the skin. Lavender, neroli and rosemary will stimulate new cell growth. You can apply a drop of tea tree essential oil several times a day as a spot-application on pimples, as long as you do not rub it on larger areas of your skin and you are not sensitive to the oil.
Cleaning your face thoroughly three times a day is an important move in treating acne. Many people with problem skin use foaming cleansers, be sure to choose one that is pH balanced. Also steam once or twice a week, using antiseptic essential oils or herbs.
Scrubbing aggravates the condition. Prefere an astringent mask of clay moistened with a facial toner to enable slight peeling and reduce large pores. Toners with vinegar are antiseptic, they will maintain the skin's acid balance. Heal damaged skin with a light lotion that contains aloe vera and little or no oil.
Acne is caused by hormone imbalances, especially high testosterone levels, which lead to excess oil production. Problem skin is most common during puberty, when hormones rage. Vitex berry is a herb that is known to reduce hormone levels and decrease their action, it helps control acne in young men and women. For women, vitex is helpful in alleviating premenstrual symptoms, and is especially useful in eliminating acne that occurs right before menstruation. It is available in natural food stores as a tincture, as tea, or in pill form.
Acne can also follow you into adulthood, around the chin and jawline, as the liver is responsible for keeping hormones like testosterone in balance. Herbs that help fight acne, include milk thistle, burdock, yellow dock, tumeric and sarsaparilla.
Stress is also partially responsible for causing skin blemishes, especially in women. Stress stimulates a rise in adrenal hormones in everyone, women's bodies respond to stress by overproducing testosterone.
A whole-foods diet with plenty of vegetables and going easy on fatty foods, especially concentrated fat, such as cheese, butter and fried foods will help too. Fatty foods do not directly translate into oil on your skin, but they do affect the functioning of your liver and thus your levels of hormones and stress. Fatty foods also block the action of important essential fatty acids in the body. Gamma linoleic acid (GLA), which is found in evening primrose oil, will increase these fatty acids and have helps in some cases of acne.

If you know more helpful tips please leave a comment and share them with all our readers.

It is impossible to look at people's faces without noticing their hair

2012-02-24T14:07:00.001+01:00

Hair

Herbal Conditioner for Dry Hair

- 1 pint boiling water

- 1 teaspoon each burdock root, calendula flowers, chamomile flowers, lavender flowers and rosemary leaves

- 1 tablespoon vinegar

- Pour boiling water over the herbs and steep for about 30 minutes. Then strain and add vinegar. Pour over your scalp and hair as final rinse after shampooing and leave it on without rinsing out.

Oil Treatment for Dry Hair

- 2 ounces aloe vera gel

- 6 drops each rose geranium cedar or sandalwood and rosemary essential oils

- 2 ounces castor oil

- 2 drops ginger essential oil (optional)

- Combine the ingredients and warm oil slightly, then comb and part hair into different sections, to massage the oil into your scalp. Cover your head with a towel and leave it on for 1 to 2 hours, then shampoo out. Castor oil is partially water-soluble and washes out of the hair better, but other vegetable oils can also be used: the Italians have long used olive oil for hot oil treatments, whereas in India, hot oil hair treatments are done with sesame oil and freshly grated ginger. A good way to add ginger to hot oil is as an essential oil.

Herbal Shampoo

- 2 ounces unscented shampoo (available at drugstores)

- 10 drops lavender essential oil

- 2 drops chamomile essential oil (optional)

- Combine the ingredients and shake well before shampooing.

Herbal Rinse for Oily Hair

- 1 pint boiling water

- 1 teaspoon each calendula flowers, burdock root, lavender flowers, chamomile flowers, lemongrass and sage leaves

- 1/4 cup vinegar

- Pour boiling water over the herbs and steep for about 30 minutes. Then strain and add vinegar and pour it over your scalp and hair as final rinse after shampooing. Leave it on without rinsing out.

Lemon Setting Lotion

- 2 ounces lemon juice

- 5 drops rosemary essential oil

- Use unsweetened lemon juice or squeeze and strain your own and use right away since it will not keep, then comb it onto your hair before setting.

Lola's Honey Water

- 5 ounces distilled water

- 5 ounces white wine

- 8 drops bergamot essential oil

- 4 ounces orange-blossom water

- 4 drops clove essential oil

- Combine the ingredients and rinse through hair after washing.

Henna Protein Pack

- 12 cups warm water

- 2 tablespoons honey

- 1 teaspoon olive oil

- 24 drops lavender essential oil

- 23 ounces henna for medium-length hair - use more or less, depending on length and thickness of your hair.

- 1 egg (optional)

- Apply the salve or cream around your hair line and put on thin latex gloves to protect your hands from being colored. Mix all wet ingredients and add them to the henna, pressing out any lumps. The mixture should have the consistency of cake batter: not too wet or else it will drip. Better prepare more than you need or you may not have enough to cover all your hair.
Wet your hair and part them in sections to apply the henna pack from the scalp to the hair ends. Cover your head with a plastic bag or a shower cap, wrap it with a towel to keep your natural body heat, that breaks down the henna and intensifies the color. Also use a hair dryer or sit in a sauna or the sun. The longer you leave the henna on, the deeper the color will be. One hour is sufficient, but up to 2 hours is fine as long as the henna does not dry out; then inse with lukewarm water. Do not use hot water! It will take a few rinses, then follow with a shampoo and a conditioner. After, dry and style as usual.

DRY HAIR

If you have dry hair, you may also have a dry scalp, split ends and unmanageable hair, and dandruff. Exposure to sun can also dry out your hair and scalp and you should protect them by wearing a hat or scarf. Especially dry hair, is fragile when wet, so wait to brush it until after it is dry. Hair is stretchable to nearly double its length when it is wet, and this is very damaging.
Each hair on your head has an outer layer that keeps moisture and protects the hair shaft. This layer is made of transparent, overlapping fibers like shingles on the roof. When the shingles are tight, your hair gets a smooth, shiny appearance that reflects light. Chlorine, permanents, hair dye, blow drying, excessive sun exposure and alkaline shampoos all strip away the natural oils and lift the shingles, causing a frizzy, flyaway look.
Even most shampoos dry out hair and turn it alkaline. Use a mild shampoo containing fatty acids, protein, balsams and moisturizers, and use only as much as needed to get your hair clean. Protein-rich ingredients, such as milk and egg yolk, have been used to condition dry hair and are still used in modern conditioners. Use conditioners that contain comfrey, this protein herb will help your dry hair. Hair is made up of dead cells, that´s why protein cannot directly feed it, but it can glue down the outer layer for a while. This protects hair and also helps hair reflect light for a look that is smooth and shiny instead of dull and dry. Hair will also seem thicker until the protein coat wears off.
Herbs for dry hair include burdock, calendula, chamomile, rose geranium, lavender, rose, rosemary, cedarwood and sandalwood. These herbs encouraging healthy hair also smell great! But your herbal shampoo does little for your hair in the brief time it remains in place. To really help your hair, use herbal conditioners and leave them on for a few minutes before rinsing. For dry, wispy ends, drop sandalwood or rosemary essential oil on your fingers and rub it in.
A hot oil treatment smoothes down the hair shaft to give damaged hair some shine, but it cannot always restore hair's flexibility and bounce. Still, hot oil cures a dry hair and scalp. The simple to prepare treatment can be a little messy to apply but it is usually worth the effort.
Look to your diet to make sure you are getting enough essential fatty acids. If your diet alone is not sufficient, a way to supplement it is to take evening primrose oil or other oil that contains GLA, such as flaxseed oil. Since diet and supplements affect only new hair at the roots, it takes a few months before you will notice that your hair grows in with more shine and body. Not only that, it will grow faster than usual.
Drink a tea made with equal parts oat straw, nettle and horsetail, or take these herbs as a tincture or as pills. High in silica and other minerals these herbs are important for hair growth.
Sulfur is effective in producing thick hair. Binding with the protein in the hair, it makes hair stronger and more flexible. Introduce sulfur to your diet by incorporating garlic, onions and members of the cabbage family and also by dining on nasturtiums, which you can add to your salad. Nasturtiums deals with all sorts of problems that result from having dry hair, and even prevents premature balding.
Ginger root is used to stop flakiness and keeps hair from falling out.

OILY HAIR

A little oil makes hair shiny as it smoothes out hair shafts by filling in minute abrasions, but too much oil makes your hair dull and lifeless, as oil makes the hair heavy and attracts more dirt, which can lead to dandruff. Brushing and scalp massage stimulate circulation and hair growth and also help to distribute the oils.
Cedarwood, cypress, lemon, lemongrass, sage and patchouli control excess oil production by the scalp. Add a drop of one of these essential oils into a small amount of your shampoo, after you first made sure that you like the fragrance. A vinegar hair rinse helps with dandruff and rinses excess oil off your hair. It also cuts soap and shampoo residues and leaves hair shiny, smooth and soft, as does a rinse of sage tea also helps to reduce dandruff and excess oil.
The harsh detergents found in many shampoos dry hair too much, encouraging the scalp to manufacture even more oil, whereas a good shampoo cleans your hair without stripping away natural oil or irritating your eyes. Avoid protein and balsam shampoos, which increase oiliness, make hair heavy and attract dirt. Baby shampoos made from olive or soy oil are the mildest and are usually pH balanced. If they are not pH balanced, you can make them more acidic by adding a teaspoon of vinegar per cup of shampoo.

BEAUTIFYING HAIR

Give your hair extra body with a setting lotion. Try out rosemary's ability to keep hair curly. Lotions made with quince, flaxseed, gelatin, agar, Irish moss or lemon give thin hair more body and can even be used if you have thick hair.
A solution of agar, a jellylike seaweed thickener used in cooking poured over your hair, which is set in little ringlets all over your head will give some fantastic curly hair, that will even be shimmering and jigging when walking, while setting hair with lemon gives it a much more natural look.
Honey Water, is the perfect hair rinse to beautify your tresses.
Changing the color? Permanent hair dyes, tints and bleaches force open the hair shaft so that they can penetrate inside to alter the color, resulting in frizzy appearance.
The color variations of natural products are given by combining different herbs. Brown and amber colors are created by henna combined with black walnut hull and sometimes iron oxide. For black and dark brown shades, indigo is added, while clove, sage and coffee are sometimes used in dark hair dyes. Neutral and blond henna are not henna at all, usually they are another herbal hair conditioner called Lyzifus spinachristi. Chamomile, calendula, turmeric and lemon will increase light highlights. Red henna may include safflower or hibiscus to soften the color.
Henna coats dry hair with a vegetable protein that makes it shiny with extra body, and it is drying to oily hair. Use henna to treat dry hair no more than once every few months. Some people are sensitive to henna, so do a patch test on your inner arm before trying this herb on your hair.

If you know more helpful tips please leave a comment and share them with all our readers.

The Skin

2012-02-24T13:30:00.002+01:00

The body

Lotion for Dry Skin

- 1 cup water or aloe vera juice

- ¾ cup vegetable oil

- 2 teaspoons liquid lanolin

- ½ ounce shaved beeswax

- 4 drops chamomile essential oil

- 10 drops sandalwood essential oil

- 20 drops lavender essential oil

Scrub Ball

- 1 cup Scrub for Dry Complexion

(- 2 tablespoons oatmeal
- 1 tablespoon cornmeal
- 1 teaspoon lavender, chamomile or elder flowers
- 6 drops lavender essential oil
- Grind the dry ingredients in a blender or an electric coffee grinder. Or try drugstores where they sell colloidal oatmeal, which needs no grinding. Add the essential oil and stir to distribute. Store it in a closed container. Then moisten 1 teaspoon with enough water to make a paste, dampen your face with a little water and gently apply the scrub. Rinse with warm water after.)

- Porous cloth, about 6 inches square

- String or cloth tie

- Tie the scrub inside the cloth with the string and throw the ball into your bath water, or hold the ball under hot water in the shower. As you squeeze the ball, a rich and creamy liquid scented with the essential oils will emerge, so wash with this instead of soap, squeezing as you need more liquid. The ball lasts for several washes, after which you should toss out the contents, wash the cloth and refill it with the new ingredients.

Floating Bath Oil for Dry Skin

- 2 ounces vegetable oil

- 12 drops each rose geranium essential oils and lavender

- Combine the ingredients and use 1 teaspoon per bath.

Dispersing Bath Oil

- 2 ounces castor oil

- ½ teaspoon hydrous lanolin (optional)

- 4 drops petitgrain essential oil

- 12 drops lavender essential oil

- Hydrous lanolin, which is available at any drugstore, is the easiest form of lanolin to use in a recipe because it contains only a small amount of water, which is just enough to make it easier to mix. Warm the lanolin in the castor oil just enough to melt it, then add the essential oils. Some oils float on the water's surface and some blend in the water, making it feel silky. In this oil, use petitgrain, made from the twig behind the orange flower, instead of the expensive flower of the bitter orange, known as neroli.

Aromatic Bath Vinegar

- 2 ounces vinegar

- 10 drops each lemon and eucalyptus essential oils

- Combine the ingredients and let it sit for 1 week, shaking the bottle daily. Then use 2 tablespoons per bath. Any type of vinegar will do, but red wine vinegar stored in a clear bottle will look best in your bathroom.

Aromatic Bath Salts

- ½ cup table salt

- 1 tablespoon each borax and baking soda

- 5 drops ylang-ylang essential oil

- 10 drops each lavender and lemon essential oils

- Mix the dry ingredients together, then stir it in essential oils. Use ¼ to ½ cup of the salts per bath.

Natural Sunscreen

- 2 ounces aloe vera gel

- 2 ounces sesame oil

- 1 teaspoon vitamin E oil

- 24 drops lavender essential oil

- Combine the ingredients and shake well before using, and remember, that this will not provide total sun protection.

The Body

Not only the face shows the most obvious signs of sun exposure and aging, but all of your skin suffers equally from these factors. Many people pay close attention to their faces, but forget the rest of their skin. It is natural to give your face extra care, but all of your skin deserves the best treatment. For a complete body care, treat your entire body with lotions, bathing and saunas.

DRY SKIN

Treat dry skin with body lotions, scrubs and bath oils. Soap, will dry out your skin, choose a cleanser or scrub designed for dry skin instead. If your dry skin itches, pour a quarter-cup of vinegar to your bath.
Herbs that enable oil production in dry skin are the ones that are used for dry complexions: chamomile, fennel, rose geranium, lavender, palmarosa, sandalwood and small amounts of peppermint and rosemary. Frankincense, jasmine, neroli and rose, which are expensive, are beneficial. Pouring essential oils of these herbs in your bath is good because they are attracted to your skin and are absorbed more easily in hot water. But be careful; many of them, like peppermint, may sting your skin. If your skin becomes irritated, rinse off with cool water and apply vegetable oil to sore areas.
Try bathing with floating bath oil. If you love soaking for hours in a hot bath, but find that your skin itches and shrivels afterward, your problem will disappear. As you emerge, your entire body moves through the water's surface and receives a light coating of oil, which is just enough to protect the skin from drying out, but too little to make it feel oily. As a bonus, the scent of a bath oil will keep for hours as a body perfume.
Dry skin benefits from improved circulation. For that, try an herbal steam sauna, as a dry sauna is not suggested for dry skin. If the sauna is designed to have water poured on it, pour a few drops of essential oil or some strong herb tea, such as lavender, chamomile or rosemary on the sauna rocks or whatever element the sauna has. If you cannot pour water on the heating element, put a pan of water containing the herbs or essential oil on it. Also make sure that no one in the sauna, including you, is sensitive to the oils! Stepping out to rinse with cool water a couple of times and then returning to the sauna helps increase circulation. If you have a heart condition or are pregnant, you will probably be advised against it.
Sweating does provide some hidden attributes. AHAs, are produced when we sweat and these are so good for the skin that they are incorporated into the expensive products of cosmetics companies. The main reason why physical exercise contributes to beautiful skin is the AHA lactic acid, which is contained in sweat.

OILY SKIN

Oily skin attracts dirt easily and can take on a greasy appearance, and should be treated like an oily facial complexion: use herbs such as sage, lemongrass, basil, eucalyptus , cedarwood, cypress, lemon, yarrow and ylang-ylang to normalize overactive oil glands. Bathing helps oily skin if you use the Aromatic Bath Salts or Aromatic Bath Vinegar. A few drops of the essential oils of any of the herbs can be added directly to the bath. Avoid high heat in saunas; it encourages your skin to become oilier in an effort to protect your skin from the heat.
Bath salts will make the water feel silky, will remove body oils and perspiration and soften the skin. They are inexpensive and very easy to make, as the ingredients can be found in any grocery store: boxes of table salt, baking soda and borax are the "mixed salts" used for commercial bath salts! Fancy "mineral" spa salts add ground seaweed or clay to increase the mineral content of the salts.
Table salt, borax and baking soda, which are sodium salts, will soften the hard water and help soap work better by creating more suds; whereas Epsom salts, which contain magnesium, will not soften water but soothe sore muscles. Sodium salts eliminate soap scum, that dirty, insoluble ring around the bathtub that emerges when minerals in hard water are combined with soap, and the film that hard water and soap leave on your skin and hair, making them look dull and feel rough.
Salt should be used to stimulate oily skin's circulation with a salt glow, an allover body treatment that you do before washing your body. Before taking the tub or shower, dampen a handful of regular table salt with a little water or milk, about a tablespoon of liquid to half a cup of salt, to lightly rub the damp salt over your body. After you get out of the shower or tub, your body will glow.

SUN-DAMAGED SKIN

Exposure to the sun is dangerous because of ultraviolet (UV) rays, that cause the skin to tan and burn, and can also cause skin cancer. Long ultraviolet (UVA) rays that are present all day long are only particularly destructive. These "aging rays" penetrate into the skin's lower layers, harming collagen, elastin and DNA, which carries a cell's genetic information. UVA rays even make skin more susceptible to the shorter UVB rays, which tan the skin's surface; they are strongest at midday. Both rays are responsible for premature aging and skin cancer, but the very short ultraviolet rays called UVC rays are mostly responsible for the increase in skin cancer - a problem with some sunscreens is that they block UVB rays only.
Sun damage may occur at any age, but the long-term effects on the skin, especially premature wrinkling and uneven pigmentation, become obvious only as we grow older. Most skin aging is thought to result from sun exposure. Compare your face and the backs of your hands with areas of your skin that rarely see the sun!
Prevention is the key, so limit your sun exposure, wear protective clothing or sunscreen when you go outside. 75 percent of sun damage occurs without even going to the beach and lying out in the sun, as we walk, ride a bike or even drive a car with the windows down. Skin cells spread a dark pigment called melanin through the skin to tan it in order to protect sensitive underlying cells from the sun's destruction. But this offers only limited protection, and after a few days of repeated sun exposure, the skin will also thicken in defense. Sunscreen users may be spending long hours in the sun with a false sense of security, as they may not be getting burned, but ultraviolet light also suppresses the immune system and sunscreens do little to prevent this.
Some protection can be found in nature's bounty. PABA (part of the B-complex vitamins) and cinoxate (cinnamic acid from cinnamon) are used in sunscreens. However, they also can cause allergic reactions and other problems.
Sesame oil will decrease the impact of the sun's burning rays by about 30 percent, while olive, coconut and peanut oils and aloe vera block out about 20 percent of the sun rays. This is lower than the high rates of commercial sun-screens, but suitable for little exposure.
Carrot-seed essential oil is good to sun-damaged skin and is also used to treat pre-cancerous skin conditions. The beta-carotene it contains has protects against ultraviolet-induced skin cancer. Pau d'arco is also an antioxidant with a reputation for treating skin cancer.
Avoid bergamot, which contains the phototoxic compound bergaptene, which increases the skin's sensitivity to light and can cause skin discoloration or rashes. A bergaptene-free oil is available, if you have very sensitive skin. Also be careful about using the essential oils of other citrus fruits, although they are much less phototoxic.

If you know more helpful tips please leave a comment and share them with all our readers.

Vaginal Infections

2012-02-24T12:36:00.002+01:00

Vaginal Infection

Douche for Vaginal Infections

- 3 drops each tea tree essential oils and lavender

- 3 cups warm water

- 2 heaping tablespoons yogurt
- Combine the ingredients in a douche bag and slosh around to mix well. Use treatment once daily. If the problem doesn't disappear within 5 days, consult a professional health practitioner.

Women's Infection Tea

- 1 teaspoon each cramp bark, echinacea root, Oregon grape root, burdock root and vitex seeds (optional)

- 1 quart water

- Combine the herbs and water in a saucepan and bring it to a boil for a few minutes. Then turn down heat and simmer gently for 15 minutes. After, turn off the heat and steep for 20 minutes. Strain out the herbs and drink 3 to 4 cups a day. This same formula can also be taken as a tincture; take a dropperful 3 to 4 times daily.

Many women experience recurring infections due to the increased use of antibiotics, which kill off beneficial natural flora in the vagina and allow more harmful bacteria and yeast grow.
Antibiotics are promoting vaginal yeast infections, which are caused by candida. A fungus that resides in the intestines and vagina, Candida means trouble only when it overpopulates, causing a yeasty, irritating discharge leading to swelling, itching and general discomfort.
Trichomoniasis is also a common vaginal infection, caused by the microorganism Trichomonas vaginalis, which produces a thick, yellowish discharge, resulting in swollen, inflamed genitals. Tnchomoniasis is seldom serious, but may be harder to get rid of than a yeast infection and may be much more unpleasant, with more intense burning and itching.
There are several other types of minor vaginal infections. If you suspect that you may have picked up a vaginal infection, even if you have no symptoms, get checked.
One infection that you can get without any symptoms is chlamydia, which can lead to sterility if untreated. Chlamydia, which can be passed on to a baby during birth, is one of the leading causes of blindness.
Herbal remedies help combatting trichomoniasis, yeast infections and chlamydia, which together make up 90 percent of all vaginal infections. If you are infected and you experience fever or pain, see a doctor or go to a women's health clinic.
An herbal douche is a very effective way to treat minor vaginal infections. Doing it wrong can upset the vaginal balance or possibly spread infection into the uterus, so if you douche, do it right: Ensure that the spray is not too forceful by suspending the bag no higher than shoulder level use a douche only to treat an occasional infection, not as a daily freshener.
Which herbs are best for douching? Lavender, tea tree, garlic and berberine (found in goldenseal, barberry and Oregon grape root) kill harmful microorganisms, including yeast and trichomonads. Tea tree is especially good at ridding women of a variety of different vaginal infections, whereas lippery elm is soothing, and uva ursi is a disinfectant and astringent that dries the discharge caused by infections.
Yogurt is good in a douche because it reduces unwanted bacteria, especially yeast and it is very soothing to irritated areas. Use a live strain of Acidophilus (read the label on your yogurt to find out what kind it contains), because Bulgaris and S. thermophilus are ineffective. Eating yogurt helps too. Eating eight ounces of yogurt a day for six months can effectively reduce vaginal infections.
Do not ignore even a simple vaginal infection. Untreated, it may spread into the uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries and even work its way into the bloodstream, which can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), which can leave scar tissue in its wake. PID is one of the most common causes of infertility and tubal pregnancies. Women who smoke, especially those who smoke ten or more cigarettes a day, are twice as likely to develop PID as those who don't.
Many cases of PID are the result of chlamydia, with the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea a close second. Gonorrhea developed new, drug-resistant strains that the old antibiotics cannot kill. With new, stronger drugs being created, tougher strains of gonorrhea are appearing.
Women's reproductive organs contain special immune cells designed to fight infection. If your system is attacked, your immunity needs a boost. For any infection, use immune-stimulating, infection-fighting herbs such as echinacea. For recurring vaginal infections, the problem might also be a hormonal imbalance. Too little progesterone can cause vaginal irritation and infection and thicken cervical secretions. To fix your hormones, take vitex in pills or a tincture or as a tea. Reproductive toners like wild yam, red raspberry and nettles come in handy to strengthen the uterus. And avoid tight or synthetic clothing that does not allow free circulation of air.

If you know more helpful tips please leave a comment and share them with all our readers.

Cancer

2012-02-23T15:36:00.002+01:00

Cancer

Compounds derived from the Pacific yew tree are already used to treat ovarian cancer and from mayapple for certain lung and testicular cancers. While these toxic herbs are not ideal for home remedies, there are herbs that can help you ward off cancer in the first place.
Thyme contains 40 cancer-preventing substances and sweet basil has more than 30.
Chronic smokers can take turmeric daily. Their bodies will convert and eliminate three to eight times more carcinogens than smokers who do not eat this spice. Regular use of even small amounts of culinary herbs like thyme, basil and turmeric can reduce your risk of cancer.
Garlic also protects against some forms of cancer. People who eat lots of garlic and its relatives, including onions, leeks, chives and scallions have fewer cases of stomach cancer.
Both raw and dried garlic have been shown to destroy tumor cells. It takes about three hours for garlic compounds to enter the cell, but once in place they get to work almost immediately.

HERBS FOR TREATING CANCER

If you have cancer, some herbs can reduce the effects of chemotherapy and radiation. Siberian ginseng can increase general resistance and improve side effects resulting from chemotherapy and radiation; resulting in numerous benefits, including better sleep, an improved appetite and even a renewed interest in life, as well as normalization of blood pressure, pulse and breathing rates. Even the wounds that resulted from the cancer healed faster. Siberian ginseng can counter the harmful effects of radiation treatment and increase the rate of healing and decrease the toxic effects of chemotherapy used to treat breast cancer.
Astragulus and ligustrum, these two herbs improve the immune response. Astragulus contains one or more extremely potent naturally occurring immune stimulants. Immune cells taken from people with AIDS and cancer became more active in the test tube and these people felt physically and emotionally strengthened after being treated with astragalus.
Shiitake mushrooms can be used to shrink cancerous tumors, Japanese hospitals give their patients a shiitake concentrate to increase their immune response. Japanese doctors also use an extract of a mushroom called polporus to improve the expected cancer survival rate by a few years.
Pau d'arco has been used since the time of the Incas and the Aztecs to treat various immune-related problems, including poisonous snakebites. This herb reduces most of the symptoms, especially the pain, in people who have various types of cancer. The only side effect is nausea.
Pau d'arco for use as a cancer treatment contains only moderate tumor-inhibiting abilities, but produces a definite immune response. The herb is sometimes effective in fighting cancer, malaria, viruses and bacterial infections and immune-related disorders as asthma, rheumatism, eczema, psoriasis, shingles and yeast infections. Success has also been reported with diabetes.

If you know more helpful tips please leave a comment and share them with all our readers.

2012-02-23T15:18:00.001+01:00

Allergy

Allergy Tincture

- 1 teaspoon each tincture of dandelion root and chamomile flowers

- ½ teaspoon each licorice root, gentian rhizome and marshmallow root

- Combine the ingredients and take half a dropperful an hour before each meal. Also use these same proportions to make a tea, although gentian is extremely bitter.

With symptoms including hives and difficulty breathing, these allergies can be life-threatening.
Food reactions can create havoc with digestion, causing gas, diarrhea and a long list of seemingly unrelated symptoms not associated with allergies, including stomachache.
Stress, immune system disorders, environmental pollutants, lack of immunity from infant weaning or poor dietary habits might all play a role as heredity, digestive problems and even emotions may also come into play. Impaired digestion, asthma, migraine headaches or an immune disorder, signalizes you that you are more likely to develop bad food reactions than those who don't suffer from these conditions. But even healthy individuals can develop these problems.
Signs include skin rashes, eczema, breathing difficulty, migraine headaches, blurred vision, muscle aches, nervous tension, fatigue, behavior swings, anxiety and even manic depression. Food reactions can be blamed for some cases of paranoia, loss of sight and hearing, hallucinations and catatonic stupors.
Food reactions can can take hours, even days to appear as symptoms, a delayed reaction is suspected in most such cases. Diagnosing is also tricky for other reasons: Sometimes it may not be the food itself, but the colorings, additives or artificial sweeteners in the product that cause the food reaction.
The body can respond to food reactions by releasing hormonelike substances that give you a pick-up and you will feel great at first. When those substances wear off and the unpleasant symptoms kick in, you won´t blame food eaten hours earlier that made you feel so good? A desire to experience the hormonal uplift even can make you unknowingly "addicted" to the very food that is causing your problems. Test problem foods at home through an elimination diet: Remove one of the suspicious foods from your menu for one week and then start eating it at every meal for three days if it takes that long to see if reactions occur.
Herbs combined with temporary diet changes offer something that conventional medicine does not: the possibility of a cure. Simply eliminate problem foods from your diet, but remember, the basic concept of healing the body, not just treating symptoms. You should address the real cause as well as the symptoms by improving digestion, liver function and immunity and reducing stress.
A cause of a food reaction is the entrance of poorly digested foods into the bloodstream, then the foods are treated as invaders and the body reacts badly. Improve digestion with herbal bitters and natural digestive aids such as papaya, pineapple and ginger.
Allergic symptoms sometimes occur when the immune system mistakenly recognizes food, such as milk or wheat, as foe instead of friend and attacks it. The immune system must operate healthy in order to recognize when something is an invader and when it is not. Marshmallow, chamomile, licorice and echinacea help the immune system achieve a healthy balance. Nervousness and stress are known to impair immunity and can make any allergic reaction more severe.
Garlic, onions, licorice and chamomile, all reduce inflammation by decreasing the body's production of histamine, prostaglandins and other inflammatory agents. Chamomile, licorice and marshmallow not only to stop the inflammation and the allergic reaction, but also improve digestion and reduce allergic responses. Chamomile does this even after the toxic food has been eaten by stimulating the production of cortisone in the body.

If you know more helpful tips please leave a comment and share them with all our readers.

Blood Pressure

2012-02-23T14:41:00.002+01:00

Blood Pressure

High Blood Pressure Tea

- 1 quart boiling water

- 1 teaspoon each hawthorn berries and flowers, valerian root, ginger rhizome and motherwort leaves
Pour boiling water over the herbs, steep for 20 minutes and strain the herbs. Drink at least 2 cups daily. You can also cook these herbs into a tincture using the same proportions.

Blood Pressure Lowering Massage Oil

- 2 drops cinnamon essential oil

- 12 drops each orange and geranium essential oils

- 4 ounces vegetable oil

- Combine the ingredients and use as a massage oil or add a teaspoon to your bath, stir well to disperse it before getting in the tub.

Rosemary Heart Oil

- ¼ cup dried rosemary leaves

- ½ cup olive oil

- Pour oil over the leaves in a jar. Place it in a warm location like in the sun or on a radiator for 2 days. Strain out the leaves and use this infusion as a massage oil to rub on the chest.

Low Blood Pressure Tincture

- ½ teaspoon each tinctures of hawthorn berries and flowers, rosemary leaves, ginger rhizome and Siberian ginseng root

- Combine the ingredients and take half a dropperful 2 to 4 times daily.

Important to know is how to maintain a healthy blood pressure so that blood flows efficiently throughout the body. And while high blood pressure and its dangers are relatively well-known,the less common low blood pressure can also present problems. There are numerous herbs that can be used to help keep your healthy blood pressure.

HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

This condition, if it is not controlled, increases your chances of dying from a stroke or heart attack.
You are more likely to get high blood pressure if you have problems with your kidneys, adrenal glands or blood vessels, eat lots of salt, are overweight or do not exercise regularly. There are long-term effects of caffeine on high blood pressure, and it is well documented that nicotine contributes to it. Stress also plays a big role. Stress and nicotine work in a similar fashion, both increase the release of adrenaline, which in turn raises blood pressure.
If your blood pressure is only borderline high, you might try herbs like valerian and hawthorn.
One way to maintain healthy blood pressure is to make your diet more herbal. Adding garlic to a meal can keep your blood pressure lower for an entire day. A daily dose of garlic oil—the equivalent of one-third of an ounce of fresh garlic—and onion oil will lower the blood pressure. As an added benefit, the cholesterol will also reduce.
If you drink coffee or black tea and suffer from high blood pressure, switch to green tea. Green tea lowers high blood pressure. Japanese women who drink green tea experience half as many deaths from stroke as those who don't, even though their diet contains large quantities of salt.
Another way to eat your way to a healthy blood pressure is to use powdered kelp and garlic as seasoning in place of salt. Although kelp contains some salt from the ocean waters, this is only a sprinkling compared to salt. Dump the salt out of your saltshaker and replace it with one of the salt substitutes sold in grocery stores that contain powdered kelp.
High blood pressure often goes hand in hand with tension; the herbal sedatives valerian, skullcap, lemon balm, linden and motherwort will help. These herbs reduce stress and muscle tension and may also lower blood pressure.
Blood pressure can also be lowered simply by sniffing a cinnamon-apple blend or orange blossom essential oil (also called neroli). Sniffing an orange will provide a similar effect, though to a lesser degree. Try biting into a fragrant apple or peeling an orange! And try sniffing rose geranium oil to keep your blood pressure steady. Use these scents also in a relaxing, blood pressurelowering massage or bath oil.

LOW BLOOD PRESSURE

If you have low blood pressure, sometimes so little blood reaches your brain that getting out of a chair only may make the room start swimming around you. Not only dizziness results from low blood pressure, fatigue can also be a problem. Low blood pressure is caused by infections, fever and anemia, and serious conditions, such as excessive bleeding and certain types of debilitating diseases.
Rosemary infused in white wine is a centuries-old treatment for poor circulation, low blood pressure and the headaches brought on by these conditions. Even today, rosemary ointment is designed to be rubbed over the heart to increase blood pressure. Make your own version of this ointment by infusing rosemary leaves in a vegetable oil and use the infusion as a massage oil.
Some of the same herbs that raise blood pressure also help lower it. Hawthorn, ginger, Siberian ginseng and ginseng apparently adjust blood pressure to your body's needs. A single compound in ginger can both raise and lower blood pressure. Ginseng works the same way. Given to people with low blood pressure, shock and an irregular heartbeat, it helps increase blood pressure and seems to strengthen heart contractions.
Siberian ginseng elevates blood pressure only in persons whose blood pressure is low, by tightening the walls of arteries.
Rose geranium: sit and sniff this fragrant plant twice a day, because just inhaling the scent of rose geranium will adjust blood pressure—either raising or lowering it—depending upon what you need. You can also buy the essential oil, which is usually sold as geranium. To benefit of this essential oil's powers, add a few drops to your bath water or simply put a drop on a cotton ball and sniff it.
Forskolin is considered a prototype of a new kind of drug to treat low blood pressure, congestive heart failure, blood clotting and asthma and to reduce the pressure in the eye in people with glaucoma. The compound comes from the plant Coleus forskohli and was discovered from the traditional Ayurvedic and Unani healing systems in India.

If you know more helpful tips please leave a comment and share them with all our readers.

Heartburn

2012-02-23T14:21:00.002+01:00

Heartburn

Heartburn Formula

- 1 teaspoon each lemon balm leaves, chamomile flowers and licorice root

- ½ teaspoon slippery elm bark

- ¼ teaspoon each catnip leaves and fennel seeds

- 1½ cups boiling water

- 1½ cups apple juice or carrot (optional)

- Combine the herbs and pour boiling water over them. Steep for 15 minutes minimum and then strain out the herbs and add juice. Drink 1 cup after each meal. In the refrigerator, this formula will keep for a few days.

Heartburn actually has nothing to do with your heart. The heat and pain of heartburn occur when your stomach releases acid up into your throat and the resulting burning sensation and spasm occur next to, but not in, the heart. Heartburn most commonly happens when there is too much acid in your stomach or you have a hiatus hernia (when your stomach bulges up slightly into the diaphragm, causing belching). Drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes and eating acidic foods all increase the risk of heartburn. Try using herbs to treat this condition.
Doctors no longer recommend drinking milk to ease heartburn. It has been discovered that milk only temporarily neutralizes the acidity and then causes the stomach into secreting even more acid. Antacids containing baking soda won´t help either. They hinder nutrient absorption, elevate blood pressure and acidity and upset kidney functions.
Helpful are herbs that decrease stomach acid: licorice root, meadowsweet, chamomile and lemon; and herbs that absorb excess acid: slippery elm, marshmallow, flax and fenugreek seeds. Since the malic and tartaric acids in carrots and apples also neutralize stomach acid, combine the juices of these vegetables with the herbs to make an extra-tasty tea. Chamomile, marshmallow, licorice, slippery elm, calendula, garlic, wild yam and Saint-John's-wort protect the stomach from its own acid and also reduce inflammation and infection of the lining.

If you know more helpful tips please leave a comment and share them with all our readers.

Chronic Fatigue, AIDS/HIV, Multiple Sclerosis and Other Serious Diseases

2012-02-23T13:59:00.002+01:00

Chronic Fatigue, AIDS/HIV, Multiple Sclerosis, Lupus

Some serious immune disorders, such as chronic fatigue syndrome (more accurately known as chronic fatigue and immune disfunction syndrome, or CFIDS), multiple sclerosis (MS) and lupus, are not well-understood. They are all related to problems of the nervous system. All of these serious illnesses require professional diagnosis, but as far as their treatment goes, often all you can do is treat the symptoms. Partial relief can be found through herbal treatments and therapies such as diet improvements, acupuncture, stress reduction and nutritional supplements such as pantothenic acid, vitamins C and B6 and magnesium.
Lentinan, a compound found in shiitake mushrooms, rises your energy levels and subsides fevers.
GLA has also been found to cure symptoms in many who have chronic fatigue and also those who suffer from MS or lupus. You might also consider trying a variety of immune and nervous system herbs, including wild oats, skullcap and especially Saint-John's-wort. The herbal formula will not cure the disease, but it can certainly improve your quality of life.
Warning: If you have lupus, avoid alfalfa, even the sprouts. This herb can encourage relapses of the disease after remission.
If you are HIV-positive, some herbs are not appropriate. Stimulating T-cells sometimes only encourages this terrible virus. Several herbs are used to improve immunity stimulate T-cell activity, but there is a possibility that herbal treatments would cause more damage than help. If you are HIV-positive or have AIDS and wish a herbal treatment, it is important that you work with a professional health care practitioner who knows about their effects, especially in combination with the various drug treatments available for these conditions.
High amounts of concentrated compounds from Saint-John's-wort, licorice, astragalus and the Chinese gourd Trichosanthin kirilowii, or the shiitake compound lentinan show to inhibit HIV by stopping its reproduction and by keeping the T-cells from fusing.
Compounds from Saint-John's-wort appear to disrupt the virus.
Infected cells are not capable of producing their own GLA, but when they are bombarded with GLA, they break up and die without harming the healthy cells.

If you know more helpful tips please leave a comment and share them with all our readers.

Immortality vs Angina and Irregular Heartbeat

2012-02-23T13:35:00.007+01:00

Angina

Heart Ease Tincture

- 1 teaspoon tincture of hawthorn berry

- ½ teaspoon each tinctures of motherwort leaves, chicory root, ginkgo leaves and reishi mushroom

- Combine the ingredients. Take half a dropperful a few times daily on a regular basis. Similar proportions can be used to make a tea from these herbs. Even though astragalus is a Chinese herb, it has become so popular that many natural food stores now sell it.

Your heart and blood system sends oxygen-filled blood to your body cells. If your heartbeat is weak or irregular, or your arteries are laden with cholesterol deposits or stiffened from atherosclerosis, blood flow is weak. The resulting lack of oxygen may leave you feeling dizzy and disoriented, and may turn your hands and feet numb. It even can lead to heart disorders such as angina pectoris and painful chest constrictions.
A reliable herb to help maintain your heart and blood flow is hawthorn. Use the bright red berries of this attractive tree and the flowers, which contain equally important medicinal compounds.
Hawthorn is an important ingredient in more than 36 pharmaceutical heart preparations in Germany.
Use hawthorn as a tonic at the earliest warnings of heart or circulation problems. Hawthorn provides some of the same benefits as digitalis—without the harmful, accumulative side effects like an increased risk of irregular heartbeat and toxicity—and can be used for mild heart conditions.
This herb increases blood flow through the heart by dilating the muscles that surround the major blood vessels, which is important in the treatment of angina. Hawthorn also decreases an accelerated heart rate, reduces spasms caused by angina and similar heart problems and allows your heart to function effectively even when not receiving enough oxygen.
Chicory slows a rapid heartbeat. Compounds in the roots have a weak digitalis-like effect. Low doses are safe for anyone to use. You can eat the roots in a dried or roasted form. If you are interested in eating the roots as a fresh vegetable, you may have to buy the seeds from a nursery catalog and grow your own plant. The roots of the plant can be replanted in a box in the cellar or garage at the end of the growing season, and the roots and greens can be harvested all through the winter.
Ginkgo and reishi, like hawthorn, improve blood flow to the heart, soothe chest pains, lessen the heart's demand for oxygen and reduce shortness of breath. Ginkgo can be compared to metroprolol and diliazem, two drugs that are commonly used to reduce heart palpitations and lower blood pressure. Reishi, which is actually a medicinal mushroom, steadies an irregular heartbeat. The Chinese call it the "mushroom of immortality", while in the sixteenth-century Ming dynasty they say it "mends the heart."
The Chinese herb astragalus helps the heart develop a regular rhythm, while it also reduces damage to heart cells. Astragalus is also used to destroy Coxsackievirus B, which infects the heart and causes an irregular heartbeat.
A special type of ginseng (Panax notoginseng) called pseudo, or sanchi, relieves angina spasms and pain. It is harder to find than regular ginseng, and equally expensive, but for many, the price is worth it. Sanchi ginseng, which is similar to ginseng in its chemical makeup and effects, normalizes heart rate, blood pressure and circulation and helps to prevent fatigue and relieve stress.
Motherwort's botanical name, cardiaca, actually means "heart" in Latin. This herb slows a rapid heartbeat and generally improves the heart's activity. As a nervous system sedative, it even reduces the anxiety, stress or nervous tension that often come with heart problems.
The sedative valerian is often helpful when used in addition to motherwort.
The night-blooming cerus—a cactus called "pain in the heart" by Shoshone Indians who lived in the deserts of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico - was once a favorite of both herbalists and regular doctors, who made a tincture of it to treat angina, heart spasms, heart pains and shortness of breath.

If you know more helpful tips please leave a comment and share them with all our readers.

Impotence

2012-02-23T13:01:00.006+01:00

Impotence

Impotence Tincture

- ½ ounce each tinctures of, ginkgo leaves, ginseng root, yohimbe bark, fresh oats and damiana leaves ( if available)

- Combine the ingredients. Take 30 drops of tincture 3 or 4 times a day for 2 months minimum. (Oats and damiana are most effective in tincture form. Ginkgo can be taken as a tincture or in pill form.)

Most men find it difficult to speak about their problems, especially sexual dysfunctions: impotence is more common than you might discuss with others. By age 65, a quarter of men are impotent. A lowered testosterone level followed by advancing years is often the source of the problem.
We know that testosterone levels can drop from fatigue, depression, overwork, stress and insufficient sleep, but poor circulation and nerve damage also take their toll and may lead to impotence.
Impotence may be caused by prescription drugs, especially some sedative, tranquilizer, ulcer and high blood pressure medications—which an older man is likely to take. But also many recreational drugs of the youngsters, including heroin, amphetamines, "downers" and alcohol, also reduce performance. While cocaine and amphetamines stimulate the nerves responsible for ejaculation, these drugs also block another set of nerves that control and sustain sexual interest, leading to short-lived performance with little gratification.
Many impotent men have too much of a pituitary hormone called prolactin. Stress increases prolactin, and the hops in beer to relax a stressed man slightly increases prolactin, as well as increasing estrogen. This makes the testosterone levels drop (thats´s why many heavy beer drinkers often experience hormonal shifts and develop enlarged bellies and breasts.) Besides, marijuana also increases prolactin and lowers testosterone.
Of course, having a compassionate partner is the best medication, but the first step to conquering impotence is to explore natural remedies for relaxation: unlike many pharmaceutical relaxants, valerian, skullcap, California poppy, kava and fresh oats ease physical and emotional stress without decreasing sexual desire or performance. Oats and kava are mild sexual enhancers. In addition, oats, damiana and valerian, deal with depression, which is often a cause of impotence. Feed the men with a blend of fresh oats, nettle leaves and seaweed and it may only take two months for the men's libido and performance to improve and their sensation to increase. California poppy, damiana, kava and oats are all used as tinctures.

IMPROVING CIRCULATION

Hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis) and related circulation problems that also lead to heart disease and stroke are a common cause of impotence because it prevents blood vessels from expanding and filling with blood. When damaged or weak blood vessels cannot function properly, neither can the man! Impotence gets even worse when someone with diabetes lets blood sugar levels get out of control.
Circulation problems, even those resulting from diabetes, can be treated with herbs. Ginkgo strengthens blood vessels that are under the skin's surface, improves their ability to dilate and provides a sufficient blood flow. It was found that ginkgo takes less than two months to improve sexual functioning.

TONING THE NERVES

The African herb yohimbe improves a man's staying power. Yohimbe usually doesn't increase sexual excitement, although some men interpret its stimulating effect that way. It improves the operation of the nerves that promote desire while dampening those that stimulate ejaculation, which is just the opposite action of cocaine. This leads to prolonged and increased pleasure.
Yohimbe takes about 30 minutes to take effect and then continues for a couple of hours. Yohimbe contains the compound yohimbine, a major ingredient in several prescription drugs for impotence with an impressive track record, but you will be able to get it only with a prescription. Both yohimbe and its extract, yohimbine, may take a couple of months for lasting results.
The concentrate yohimbine occasionally increases heartbeat, raises blood pressure or increases irritability, depression, nervousness or dizziness. If you have high blood pressure or diabetes, use yohimbe only under the care of a doctor. Don't take it with diet aids, commercial nasal decongestants that contain ephedrine, or with cheese, red wine or liver, since any of these combined with yohimbine sometimes causes side effects, such as headaches.

INCREASING TESTOSTERONE

For thousands of years, Chinese ginseng (which translates as "man root") improves not only virility, but also stamina and longevity (both sexual and general). Chinese herbalists still recommend it for men over 40.
Another sexual healer is a Chinese herb called fo-ti. According to folklore, a 50-year-old fo-ti root turns gray hair dark again, and a 150-year-old root will cause teeth to grow back in the elderly!
Some Central and South American herbs are also known to be aphrodisiacs: muira puama, damiana and sarsaparilla. The native Mexican herb damiana is still made into a popular alcoholic drink in Mexico, where it is widely recognized as an aphrodisiac.
General health has a strong impact on a man's sexual health. A healthy liver is vital to maintaining a good balance of male hormones. Serious liver problems, such as cirrhosis caused by heavy alcohol consumption, can be responsible for impotence.
Many male alcoholics become impotent as a result of liver damage. Indications that a drinker's testosterone is critical include the development of enlarged breasts, a reduction of the frequency with which he needs to shave and a diminishing of his sex drive. Herbs like milk thistle and probably shizandra help rebuild the liver.

If you know more helpful tips please leave a comment and share them with all our readers.

Mens Infertility

2012-02-23T12:37:00.002+01:00

Mens Infertility

Fertility Formula

- 1 ounce tincture of panax ginseng root

- ½ ounce each tinctures of raspberry leaves, fresh oats and ashwaganda leaves (if available)

- Combine the ingredients. and take 1 dropperful twice a day.

Aromatherapy Fertility Oil

- 5 drops rose essential oil

- 1 ounce vegetable oil

- Combine the ingredients. Massage into the lower abdomen and inner thigh once daily. Only use pure rose essential oil, preferably Bulgarian or Turkish rose attar.

Men who want to be fathers but who are infertile feel a deep sadness at not being able to father children. Many men automatically assume that their wives are responsible for the couple's infertility problems. In fact, in about half the cases of infertility, the problem is the man.
Over the last few decades, there has been a dramatic drop in men's sperm counts. The rising rates of infertility may result from overexposure to estrogen that starts even before the child is born. High levels of estrogen substances, which lower the male hormone testosterone, are found in birth control pills, pesticides and many meat products—how about eating organically grown foods?! Even water sources are polluted by estrogen-type detergents; male fish in such water are behaving like females because of a shift in the balance of their hormones.
So far, ginseng is the only herb recognized to stimulate testosterone production. The Chinese tell about men in their nineties fathering children after taking ginseng.
It´s useful to mention ashwaganda and pygeum, which is a tall evergreen tree, also called African bitter almond, whose bark has been used by the Zulus and other African tribes. The root of ashwaganda is an Indian sexual tonic for the treatment of infertility. Ayurvedic medicine views this herb in much the same way the Chinese view ginseng: ashwaganda "strengthens" sperm.
The Chinese have used fo-ti for ages to increase the sperm count and the common kitchen herb ginger stimulated hormone production and increased the sperm count in animals; you get a medicinal dose every time you flavor food with ginger.
Try adding pumpkin seeds to your meals. Zinc deficiency causes the sperm count to plunge, but adding zinc to the diet increases the count. Pumpkin seeds, a well known folk remedy for infertility, are especially rich in zinc. Buy them already shelled and eat them by the handful, or grind them and add them to your morning cereal.
Use rose essential oil—an expensive but wonderfully fragrant treatment. Rose essential oil, which has a timeless reputation as an aphrodisiac for both men and women, increases the sperm count. This fragrance also relaxes the body and mind. If you think that stress may be a contributing factor to your infertility, try rose essential oil along with some of the sedative herbs from the Stress chapter.
Men who want to reverse their infertility should take plenty of red raspberry leaves. Usually considered a woman's reproductive tonic, raspberry will be equally helpful for men. Animal breeders add raspberry leaves to feed to increase male fertility.
Oats, which are fed to racehorses, keep them healthy and fertile. Oats are best when harvested during their fresh, milky stage, so your best medicine is a tincture. You may also benefit by eating oatmeal.
Keep in mind that regular use of marijuana lowers testosterone levels and also decreases sperm production. Finally, tobacco and coffee consumption also seem to cause fertility problems, because they impair circulation. If impotence is a cause of infertility, see the Impotence chapter.

If you know more helpful tips please leave a comment and share them with all our readers.

Does the world stand on your shoulders?

2012-02-23T12:12:00.000+01:00

Stress

Cool-Down Tincture

- 1 teaspoon each tinctures of valerian rhizome, Siberian ginseng root, licorice root, kava root and California poppy plant (if available)

- Combine the ingredients. During emergencies take up to 1 teaspoon per hour. Otherwise, take ½ or 1 dropperful a day as a relaxing aid. Tinctures of valerian and skullcap made from the fresh root are stronger.

- If the tincture doesn't work or if you enjoy hot baths, combining herbs with heat is one way to combine two stress-relieving methods. Add herbs or essential oils to warm compresses or baths. At least 20 minutes of heat in a sauna or hot tub or half an hour of deep massage will change brain chemistry for the better. Add a few drops of essential oil the next time you get in your hot tub and see if that does not increase the relaxing effect. An aromatherapy massage is another way to deal with stress. The most relaxing essential oils include lavender, chamomile, sandalwood, orange, petitgrain and ylang-ylang.

Even when it is not the cause, stress often aggravates an illness. Stress has a powerful effect to the body. Your adrenal glands are controlled by your nervous system and they respond quickly to your emotions. Constant stress overworks these glands and they become exhausted. There is hardly a system in your body that is not influenced either directly or indirectly by adrenal activity. When your adrenal glands are exhausted, your body will not respond to life the same way; you will get sluggish and remain tired all the time. You may develop anemia and your blood sugar levels and blood pressure may be low, leading to even more exhaustion. Other symptoms include weight loss, digestive problems, skin discoloration and feeling overly emotional.

Individuals who are able to handle stress creatively are far better off than those who carry the woes of the world on their shoulders. If you cannot handle it, years of stress eventually may lead to heart disease, ulcers, allergies or mental confusion. Hostile people find extra amounts of adrenaline pumped out every time they get upset. Once the crisis passes, they have more difficulty calming down. As a result, these people are more prone to high blood pressure and heart attacks.
If stress is a problem for you, stay far away from recreational drugs, coffee and tobacco; sugar can also be problematic. Get a sufficient supply of the "antistress" B vitamins. Also try nervous system sedatives such as valerian, skullcap, chamomile and California poppy to help keep you calm and to repair damage that may already have been done.
Valerian calms people who are agitated, but stimulates those who feel fatigued
Passionflower makes people mildly euphoric and more contemplative.
Ginseng and Siberian ginseng will help you handle stress by sedating or stimulating your central nervous system to your body's needs. Ginseng also increases your brain's utilization of amino acids, which is important because when you are under stress, your body uses more protein than usual.
Shizandra, also has a regulating effect on the central nervous system. This herb quickens responses and makes people more alert while actually stimulating the nervous system. Shizandra also relieves headaches, insomnia and dizziness and calms a racing heart. It has even been reported to control anger and aggression.
Consider using herbs such as licorice, bupleurum and ligustrum to support adrenal glands. Licorice should be used with care—it can raise blood pressure in sensitive individuals.
Kava tea is used to induce relaxation, restful sleep and a sense of mild euphoria. Preparing kava fresh makes it much more potent. This herb is perfectly safe unless used in very high quantities—heavy kava users develop a scaly skin condition that remains until they cut down their dosage.
Kava is not a true sedative, it is a muscle relaxant that reduces convulsions; one of its compounds stops muscles spasms up to ten times more effectively than a common anticonvulsant drug. It is used to treat nervous tension, muscle spasms and tension headaches caused by a tight neck, as well as insomnia resulting from stress or tight muscles.

If you know more helpful tips please leave a comment and share them with all our readers.

Hemorrhoids and Varicose Veins

2012-02-23T11:40:00.000+01:00

Varicose Veins and Hemorrhoids

Varicose Vein/Hemorrhoid Tea

- ½ ounce each ginkgo leaves, hawthorn berries and flowers, and butcher's broom (if available)

- Hot water (to just cover the herbs)

- Combine the herbs. Cover them with hot water and steep for 5 minutes to strain and drink. The same herbs may also be used to make a tincture (so do commercial tincture formulas).

Varicose Vein/Hemorrhoid Oil

- 1 ounce Saint-John's-wort oil

- 8 drops each essential oils of cypress, chamomile and palma rosa

- Combine the ingredients and apply externally.

Varicose Vein/Hemorrhoid Compress

- 1 cup of cold water

- 1 teaspoon tincture of calendula or Saint-John's-wort

- 3 drops each essential oils of carrot seed and chamomile

- Combine the ingredients. Stir a cloth in them, wring out and place over your itching or broken varicose veins or hemorrhoids as often as possible.

Varicose veins and hemorrhoids have a lot in common. Both occur when circulating blood slows down fighting gravity on its journey back to the heart, and the extra load stretches weak veins. Blood relies on muscles in your legs and pelvis to push it back to the heart, and this is hard work if you sit or stand for long periods of time.
If you are overweight, pregnant or constipated, or if you commonly wear skin-tight pants or a girdle, the blood flow through your pelvic area is restricted, resulting often in varicose veins and hemorrhoids. Varicose veins are common during pregnancy, not only because a growing fetus pushes on the surrounding veins, but also because rising estrogen levels weaken the veins. That´s why women generally get varicose veins about four times as often than men. Enlarged veins may also indicate liver problems, since surface veins must take on the blood load when the liver becomes congested.
Varicose veins can cause lots of complications, while the main problems of hemorrhoids are pain and bleeding. Healthy veins produce a substance that breaks down fibrin, which is a protein that causes blood to clot. Since veins injured by varicosity do not break down as much fibrin, excess fibrin is deposited around the veins, which causes unsightly, hard lumps just under the skin.
When varicose veins begin to leak, your skin may itch. If enough blood pools in a vein, the vein can burst, resulting in slow-healing ulcers forming under the skin. A surgical operation, a sclerotherapy can destroy the offending vein, but other veins must then take on the load, and they will enlarge too.
The best ways to stop varicose veins and hemorrhoids from getting any worse is to strengthen your blood vessels and make them less porous. Some of the herbs used for heart problems, such as hawthorn and ginkgo, will do this. Ginkgo's ability to improve blood circulation and reduce the discoloration of varicose veins is well known.
The Indian herb gotu kola improves the structure of varicose veins and increased blood flow through them. Gotu kola strengthens the connective tissue.

Ginkgo and gotu kola are even more effective when used together. Both ginkgo and gotu kola have been shown to be more effective and better tolerated than tribenoside, the standard drug used for this purpose.
Horse chestnut and butcher's broom can also be used to make veins stronger and less porous. Butcher's broom, a Mediterranean shrub, does much more than deter pests—it encourages blood to move up out of the legs, decreases inflammation in the veins and helps to tighten the veins.
Horse chestnut, an ornamental tree from Asia, is one of the few herbs that needs to be taken with extra care. Small doses - 50 milligrams of the plant's active ingredient, aescin - taken two or three times a day are sufficient; very high doses are slightly toxic. Horse chestnut is "venotonic," you will have a tonic that improves the tone of the veins by tightening the elastic fibers in their walls.
Horse chestnut, the enzyme bromelain from pineapple and gotu kola will stop the enzymes that break down damaged veins. After 12 days of taking horse chestnut, the level of these enzymes will drop by one-quarter. Bromelain prevents vein breakage right after surgery, as operations are necessary to remove badly varicosed veins. Pineapple and garlic prevent fibrin from forming lumpy deposits around varicose veins.
The compounds anthocyanidins are beneficial in treating varicose veins, they will stop swollen capillaries from leaking by making them less porous. These compounds are considered so safe that they are even used during pregnancy.
Similar compounds known as proanthocyanidins— derived either from grape seeds or from pine needles—support skin and blood vessels in many ways. They increase the amounts of intercellular vitamin C and collagen: fibrous protein bundles that form the connective tissue that sup ports blood vessels, ligaments and cartilage. Another effective way to strengthen connective tissue is with the silica-rich herbs horsetail, knotgrass and nettles.
Horse chestnut, butcher's broom, calendula and Saint-John's-wort are used in several varicose vein ointments and in suppositories for hemorrhoids, to reduce inflammation, pain and broken veins. The witch hazel sold in drugstores and the essential oils of palmarosa, chamomile and cypress show similar effects. If varicose veins break, you should cover them with a cold compress of calendula or Saint-John's-wort with chamomile and carrot seed essential oils. This decreases the swelling and pain and delivers healing factors to repair the veins.

If you know further helpful tips please leave a comment and share them with all our readers.