I searched through the tags, but I only found things related to general depression and anxiety.


So after several years of dealing with what felt like sporadic depression, almost always followed by panic attacks, I have found out that I suffer from premenstrual dysphoric disorder.  Actually, finding this out has been kind of a relief, since I always thought I was just crazy/unstable.

Obviously, I'm here because I'm not to keen on the idea of taking antidepressant medications and would like to find an alternative.  However, I'm not sure where to begin.  Because I'm moderately to severely depressed/anxious for a brief period of time (About a week or two before my period) my inclination is to go for something that could be used on an "as needed" basis.  So far I'm considering kava kava for particularly bad episodes (which occur about once every two months), and cutting down on caffeine, salt, and sugar :(.  I already exercise regularly. 

Does anyone here have experience with PMDD, or trying to treat it without prescription antidepressants?  Should I be treating symptoms on an as-needed basis, or should I be treating it throughout the month, even when I feel perfectly fine?

 I've been battling a sinus infection for roughly 5 months now, and I'm just completely done with this. I tried nasal irrigation, but it actually made things worse (which I read can happen if it's a bacterial infection), I tried antibiotics but they make me too sick to take them, I've tried so many things that I actually forget everything I've tried, which makes it sound like I've tried nothing. But trust me. I have. 

So right now I'm trying a course of this awful tasting garlic concoction. Basically it's a ton of garlic infused in a bit of wine, olive oil, vinegar, and hot water. It's only been about a day and a half, and sometimes it feels like it's working. But sometimes it doesn't.

I've heard great things about grapefruit seed extract. I've heard of people just drinking in it a glass of water, or people using it in their nasal irrigation water. Has anyone had any experiences with this? Is it worth the effort? Is grapefruit seed oil the same thing as grapefruit seed extract? 

If you know of any other things I could try, I'd love to hear about those, too. I'm about ready to just cut that darn nose right off my face, I'm so sick of not being able to breathe properly. 

I'm at a loss, so I'm looking for advice.

I'm considering a career in Natural Medicine, only I'm not sure what and need a good place to start research. I'd like to learn more about what career path's are available as well as schools.

Do any of you have any reputable websites? I don't know where to start, there's tons of information out there.

Thank you.

So I've got some dark patches on my thighs due to friction from a fatter time and I'm wondering how one can get rid of that darkness? I've heard tea tree oil can be good for this, but so far only one person has said that and I'd like some other opinions.

Hi all,
Spent too many of my younger days at the beach, hiking and gardening, and now just shy of 30 I am starting to get sunspots on my face, which I am self-conscious of at times as I don't regularly wear make-up. I heard sunscreen is the best prevention (I regularly use suncreen, but as far as treatment, dont really know what to do -- have any of you successfully treated (lightened) sunspots? I heard lemon is supposed to work, but have not tried it and wouldnt know how much/often would be appropriate for use, although it does seem rather mild relative to the other chemically stuff out there. Thanks for your help.

Has anyone successfully used Lobelia to quit smoking?

I understand that Lobelia supports respiratory health, and that its molecules are similiar to nicotine and may help reduce the craving for cigarettes. I also know it can be toxic in large doses.

I have some Lobelia essence. Can someone tell me the best way to use it? In my experience it generally take a few weeks to feel the influence of an herb, so can someone give me an idea of the optimal time to set my quit date from when I start using?

Hello. Recently I have been living in a living hell of fear for the health of my heart. Talks with docs about thickened ventricular walls, overstressing my heart, fear of imminent heart attack, etc. You get the picture. This past week I had an echocardiogram done, and the tech (who is a doctor in her own right) told me she saw NOTHING wrong with my heart, that it was working at above normal capacity! Pshew! Big stress load taken off!

OK, so question: I have read that dandelion is an excellent diuretic (I still have a fluid buildup/excess weight/high blood pressure problem which must be addressed), and that chickweed is good for weight loss. I made an infusion of those two herbs yesterday, along with oatstraw, and quite frankly, all I got out of it was some loose stool and a NASTY belly ache! Wha'd I do wrong? Yeah, it was pretty strong, by the time I actually drank it after it had cooled enough.

Hawthorne is good for heart support, but I have no idea how to best use the powdered Hawthorne that I have. What other herbs are good as diuretics, and can anyone point me in the right direction to find frequency and dosages; how long should any given herb be used? I was told by a well-read friend that herbs and supplements don't help you if you don't take them every day, yet something like bearberry should not be used long-term. Is there a chart posted online somewhere that lists various herbs and how they should be used? I know I sound like a newbie at this, but actually I have several years of self-teaching but no one more knowledgable to do course correction with when I get a full head of steam.

My GP has prescribed me Colpermin, which is basically peppermint oil in capsules. Being a good little vegan, I'd prefer to get a vegan version of this. As far as I know, peppermint oil capsules are peppermint oil capsules, the active ingredient and general padding are the same. The problem is finding an equivalent dosage. Colpermin contains 0.2ml (note that's ml, not mg) peppermint oil, usual dose 1 capsules 3x day, sometimes 2 capsules. The peppermint oil capsules I've seen elsewhere contain either 50mg or 200mg peppermint oil. I've asked my pharmacist, who supplies their own brand peppermint oil (200mg) as well as Colpermin, and they couldn't work out what the equivalent would be. Any ideas?

Hey o wise ones...

So, I usually use an infusion of calendula with tea tree oil (5mL tea tree to 500mL infusion) for candida infections on me. Is this safe to use on my almost five month old baby? ETA: any suggestions for oral thrush in babies? That is, is calendula okay taken internally? I'm pretty sure tea tree is NOT, although it's in our toothpaste, so it must be okay for adults.

And while we're at it, I think the same five month old baby was exposed to conjunctivitis yesterday and seems to have a swollen eyelid with slight weeping in one eye today. Normally I'd just say she's been rubbing her eye too hard (which she sometimes does) but if it is worse in the morning (we're in Australia, so she's just gone to sleep for the night) I want to treat it. Nurse On Call, the government phone service help line, says antibiotic cream from the doctor. Of course, I'm not keen on that if I can help it. My medicinal herbal says calendula tincture on a warm pad for conjunctivitis. It seems calendula is the order of the day in our house! But again, that's for adults. So, is that safe in a baby's eye? Would I be better using an infusion instead of a tincture because a baby that young shouldn't have alcohol in their eye? Or is the alcohol needed to fight the bacteria and so an infusion would be pointless?

Thanks in advance!

AWESOME HERB LINKS

The Medicine Woman's Roots
Wild Plants and River Tales of the Gila River
http://bearmedicineherbals.com/?cat=119 on formulating
shamanism intensive

Southwest School of Herbal Medicine in Bisbee, AZ
http://www.swsbm.com/homepage/

Biochemistry
http://www.genome.jp/kegg/pathway/map/map01060.html

Medline
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/herbalmedicine.html

Anarchoherbalism
http://www.swsbm.com/homepage/Anarcho-herbalism.html

I was using herbal insomnia containing Valerian, passion flower,  hops, mistletoe, wild lettuce and chamomile.  I thought it was the Valerian that was causing my bad dreams but I didn't notice disturbing dreams when I took only Valerian so I wonder if any of these others can cause bad dreams.

I have catnip growing in my yard and I know it could be taken as a sleep aid, is there any chance it will cause bad dreams too?  I can dry the cat nip and make tea out of it or make my own capsules.  I googled and couldn't find anything about cat nip and bad dreams so I'm hopeful.

I'm taking the second quarter of a series of botanical medicine courses, and we are assigned a couple of cases each week. Here's one of them. I have often enjoyed some of the healing ideas that you guys have. Do you care to suggest anything for ( this man? )

I know that the essential oil of pennyroyale is toxic, but what about a tincture? There's an online store selling it but I want to make sure it's safe.

Any naturopathic treatments for a pinched or compressed sciatic nerve? My friend has this condition in the lumbar, just above hip.

The doctors are prescribing strong painkillers and rest, and he is considering acupuncture... any other ideas?

TIA

Hi. I started taking Omega 3 supplements a couple of weeks ago. I'm on HBC that I can skip the inactive pills on and haven't had a period since November - my pre-menstrual symptoms run all the way to psychosis, so this is judged prudent by all concerned. I've been cramping and getting spotting/breakthrough since Saturday night. Does anyone know if the Omega 3 could be causing this? Or is it possibly time to change brands of the pill? (I've kept having to do this since I was 15 or so as eventually the same thing happens with every brand. I was just really hoping to stay on this one a bit longer coz they cause minimal impact on everything else.)

(x-posted to vaginapagina

Inspired by a recient post, I thought I would share my aloe gel based hand sanitizer with everyone! With the Flu fear, alcohol based hand sanitizer have been flying off the shelf here in Georgia. With that, so is the rise in child alcohol poisioning / stomach issues after use of those products. As we all know with kids, everything winds up in the mouth.

I make my own hand sanitizer with aloe and essential oils (EO)

2oz PET plastic bottle with a flip top
1.5 oz Aloe goo
.5 oz Witch Hazel (a little less leaving room at the top of the bottle for EO)
5 drops of Lavender EO
5 drops of Peppermint EO
5 drops of Tea Tree EO
5 drops of Lemon EO
1 drop Thyme EO
The properties of EO are antimicrobial without the drying effects of alcohol based sanitizer. And if the kiddies put their hands in the mouth the risk of alcohol poisoning is nil with EO.

I've been doing research for a few days on Dong Quai and I talked to a few people I work with (health food store) in our supplement department, but I still have questions in regards to Dong Quai and the possible side effect of breast enlargement.

I'm curious if any of you have used it, or know anything about it and how often this side effect occurs? I actually do NOT want it to happen, and have looked for alternatives, but I like that it helps with cramping AND circulation and anxiety.

Thanks in advance.

Hello, my name is Ruth and I am new to this community. Recently, I have been very interested in herbal remedies and am learning a lot from the information you guys have here. =]

I am posting today because I want to know if anyone has any herbal remedies for toothaches. Unfortunately, my mother has been in a lot of pain today (today of all days being Mother's Day) and we have tried aspirins, black tea, and plain coffee (for the heat). My mom has gotten to the point where she has to put warm cloths next to her cheek to ebb the pain. I have also looked through the tags and I can't find anything.  If I missed something, I apologize and would appreciate being directed to it.

By the way, my mom plans on going to the dentist tomorrow but knowing them, she might have to wait a few days before anyone sees her. I just want to know if there is something we can temporarily use to lessen the pain. I'd really appreciate it!

Thanks!

I have a feeling that it's just my seasonal allergies worsening to the point where I feel the need to do something about them, but does anyone have some advice what what might work? My major symptoms are a dry, sore throat (feels sandpaper-ish), coupled with a hoarse voice, some nasal congestion, and a feeling of swollen adenoids (that might just be the sinus pressure showing up in another form, though).

They were bothering my last year too, but I never got to the point where I lost my voice.

I'm trying to find a really local honey, but so far all I've been able to find is still from about 35 miles away - would that be close enough? I've been recommended sabadilla, but symptom-wise it looks like nux vomica might be a little closer; hard to tell since none of the homeopathic information I've found for hay fever/seasonal allergies mentions a sore throat.

Is there something I'm missing, or does a combination of the semi-local honey and nux vomica sound like the way to go? I need to try to keep from losing my voice - have auditions in a week and will need to be able to project my voice well.

http://www.cqs.com/influenza.htm

Article distilled:

* take enough vitamin c to the point of having mild diarrhea - around 6000 grams per day
buy ascorbic acid, not the chelated forms such as calcium or sodium ascorbate or Ester-C, because at the acute illness dosages you would be taking too much of these minerals
* multi vitamin w/ calcium
* 6000 mg of the amino acid lysine per day, 2000 mg per meal
* 2 quarts water per day - no soda or aspartame laced anything etc.

Be CONSISTENT w/ the vitamins and build it up into your system

and if you can live in some place as beautiful, sanitary and isolated as this w/ loved ones, all the better! ;-)

In the interest of meeting media hysteria with actual information, here is a great article that was published in 2006, on the correlation between Vitamin D sufficiency and immunity to viral pathogens. Which makes two things we can do to help ourselves through this crisis (if, in fact, it turns out to be a crisis anywhere but the newspaper) --get more sunshine to up those Vitamin D levels, and do more research!

( Medical evidence that Vitamin D significantly increases immunity to 'flus and other viruses )

hello! I was reading through some oriental recipes for tea thats good for the skin and i read loquat leaf,which i have three loquat trees in the backyard,and i figured they were the same? I looked over and over through google and the wikipedia source says they are poisonous but I still keep finding various tea recipes for it.Would it be safe or not?

if not,any other herbal tea's for complexion/skin you may want to suggest would be wonderful!
thanks  :o)

Hi, I just joined your community.  Looking for some new friends.

I have a friend who is over 80, and has recently had a fall. It wasn't bad and the bruising has healed really well, but it has really knocked her confidence.
I'd like to make her a tea or something similar that can give her a bit of a boost. I was thinking about Lemon Verbena, as it makes a very nice tea and is good for low moods and nervousness. I've found that it is contraindicated with kidney problems, but her kidneys are fine. She does have blood pressure and thyroid problems, as well as asthma, but from what I've read the Verbena might help with the asthma too.
Do any of you have any thoughts on my ideas, or anything else I could give her or add to the tea to make a blend?
I am open to any suggestions!

I thought this might be a good thing to post here. I'm going to try this in my own house :)

Hi!

I've been living in Israel for a couple of years now and have finally settled in enough (and gotten used to the language enough) to venture out with local field guides and get to know the local flora. In the UK and the US I was well versed in local herbal medicines and food plants, but a lot of what I see here is completely new to me. Some plants are very similar looking to what I know from other places I've lived, but just not the same plants. So... I find myself on the hunt for information and lore about the plants here.

I've started out by keeping track of what plants I have identified, taking pictures, getting links to information about the plant itself from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem and Flowers in Israel, but I still haven't found a good source for information about what plants are medicinal or edible. At the moment I'm doing this in a hit-or-miss fashion, looking up each new plant's Latin name on Google with the words "medicinal" and "food" attached to see what comes up. You can imagine how limited my results have been.

Do any of you have any ideas how I might find information about medicinal and edible qualities of plants I identify more easily? Is there an ethnobotany portal out there that has what I am looking for? Or perhaps some online herbalists' compendium with Latin names of plants?

That would be super useful.

Thanks!

I'm wondering... is it possible to become "immune" to the effects of valerian?  The past few times i have taken it, i have been awake all night and felt horrible, absolutely tired, and unable to function the day after.  (i do not take it on that regular of a basis... so i don't think my body would have built up a tolerance for it.)

Could i just have a bad jar of tablets?

Any suggestions for a different herb i should try for quick sleep without feeling groggy the morning after?  I know, i read through the memories but i want to know if you have any new ideas out there.

-Thanks

I'm looking for suggestions on drying herbs. I know some people use a dehydrator, but I'd really rather avoid that route if possible.

I tried hanging some mugwort to dry but it came out kinda... crunchy, to be exact.

Any suggestions? Or perhaps there's a certain way to hang the herbs when drying?