Self-Heal, An Herbal Remedy

Have you noticed this herb growing in your lawn or pasture? If so, you have the makings of a sore throat remedy close at hand. I was unfamiliar with self-heal until recently, but it's been used for sore throats, to staunch bleeding wounds, to treat heart disease, bruises and more for many years. It's properties are anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, and anti-viral.  AND the plants supply vitamins C,  K and thiamine. 

Photos of self-heal courtesy of our daughter in Virginia.

The following excerpt is from britannica.com:
{self-heal, Perennial weed (Prunella vulgaris) in the mint family, native to North America and widespread throughout the continent. Growing 6–14 in. (14–36 cm) tall, self-heal is often a low weed in lawns. The often-prostrate branches root readily wherever they touch soil. Tiny, two-lipped, lilac-coloured or white flowers are clustered into noticeable dense, spikes. Leaves have sparsely toothed or smooth margins. Regarded in medieval times as a cure-all, the dried leaves and flowers are still brewed for soothing sore throats.}

Top view.

I first heard of self-heal earlier this year while reading a post by Mary Ann, who was born and raised in an Amish community. You can read the post at  A Joyful Chaos. She didn't know what it was called, but after seeing the picture at her site my daughter and I identified it as self-heal. 

Upright spike surrounded by whorls of tiny mouth shaped flowers. The leaves are sword-like. Stem may be 4-sided.

Although self-heal is widespread, I had searched our yard and pasture several times but couldn't find the plant on our property. (That'll be remedied as soon as possible.)

We were visiting our daughter in Virginia over the weekend and got an up-close look and a supply of it to have on hand for when the inevitable sore throat appears.

As it happens I'm trying it out today since I woke this morning with a sore throat. It does have a soothing effect on the throat, probably due to the tannin it contains.  I brewed about a tablespoon of the whole plant (dried) to make two cups of tea.  I added some raw honey and a squeeze of lemon for flavor, but self-heal is not bad tasting at all. It's in the mint family so it doesn't really taste like a weed. 

Self-heal is reported to diminish the length of time a sore throat sticks around. I'll let you know how mine does, but in any case,  I'm definitely adding self-heal to my herbal medicine chest. 

ETA: I drank a total of two cups of self-heal tea the day I woke with a sore throat. My throat felt better as the day went by. The next morning it was barely sore at all. Today is the third day, and I have no trace of soreness.  I believe I'd call self-heal a "sore throat tea", too, just as it was known to Mary Ann in the Amish community. 

See a physician in case of a serious sore throat.
I'm not a doctor - I just know a good thing when I try it, and it works for me.

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Kidney Stones - Home Remedy

Have you ever had a kidney stone? Do you know someone who has had them? If not, you may/will sooner or later. Would you know how to help them or yourself get rid of a kidney stone without losing your cool?  Sometimes a doctor will send the patient home with instructions to just wait it out until it passes or sometimes the doctor will schedule surgery to blast the thing to smithereens (costing you thousands of dollars.) Well, our experience has revealed that, often, neither scenario is necessary.

True story:
I've never had a kidney stone, but Goodman has had many kidney stones. The first one was a total shock as he thought he was going to die from the pain. He had no idea what was causing it, and we had insurance at the time so he went to the doctor and was sent home to wait it out. 4 or 5 days ensued before the stone passed. OUCH, but it was finally over.

Years passed happily by... then two years ago the dreadful thing happened again. This time I scanned my herbal remedy books and the internet to see what could be done. I thought it would probably take some kind of drastic measures to alleviate the situation, but I was sure those would be better than waiting for a jagged chunk of hard calcium to make it's way to the light of day. Sure enough, there's a natural solution that begins the dissolving process so that the stones pass within 24-48 hours.
 The solution:

Make LEMONADE with real lemons and have the patient drink a glassful every two or three hours until the stone passes. It's been our experience that the method does indeed work within 24-48 hrs, usually within 24 hours. How easy is that? But what about the pain, you ask. Pain means the stone is lodged in an uncomfortable spot. Try to get it to move by turning somersaults (ha ha) or some less strenuous exercise. I've witnessed this work, also.
Not only has this remedy worked for my husband several times, but it's worked for another family member, also.

Now, I'm not a physician, so if you need to, by all means, see a doctor.  If you are sure you have a stone and are willing to let it pass naturally... make some lemonade to expedite the process.

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