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Pulsatilla, the nerve tonic.

July 18, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Pulsatilla is a nerve tonic and relaxant. It has anti inflammatory and antispasmodic properties and is a mild analgesic (pain killer)

I use it for imbalances in the female reproductive system such as PMT and find it especially useful for period pains, especially when mixed with Cramp Bark, which is  a muscle relaxant.

Cramp Bark, is discussed seperately in the West Rise Marsh walk and on the web site.

Pulsatilla is also an herb I very often put into a mix to help people relax and get to sleep. When I first started to practice, with a case of facial acne which was proving difficult to clear up, so I phoned my mentor at the time who advised me to use Pulsatilla as it has skin cleansing properties. Well it certainly made the difference and I now rarely leave it out of any skin mixture.

I use it in tincture formwhich you will be able to buy from any good herb supplier. I will not advise any dosage here as strengths of tincture varies, so follow the instructions on the bottle.

You will also find it in tablet form and again please follow the instructions.

Do not confuse it with the Homeopathic Pulsatilla preparation which has completely different actions.

As usual, if you have any other medical conditions or are pregnant, please see a qualified Medical herbalist or your Doctor.

Linda Bostock

Medical Herbalist/herbal Health Information.

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Crampbark/Guelder Rose (Latin Name: Viburnum Opulis)

July 11, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Crampbark

The give away is the name of this plant! It is used as an antispasmodic, relaxing the muscles all over the body and can be used to relieve cramps of all kinds including period pains. It is a bushy tree, a native of North America but I see it growing commonly in English parks where it has been planted for its spectacular white flowers in the spring and gorgeous red berries in autumn.

As the name suggests it is the bark of the plant which is used and this contains the very potent antispasmodic, viopudial as well as salicin which is an aspirin like compound, effective as an herbal analgesic and painkiller.

I regularly use it in my herbal tinctures to relax muscles in conditions such as arthritis and period pains as well as putting it in an anti-inflammatory cream that I make up which I call for want of imagination aches and pains cream!

Linda Bostock

Medical Herbalist/Herbal Health Information

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Herbal Health Information for Period Pains

July 11, 2011 by Leave a Comment

For some reason it is the chemistry lesson which sticks in my head when I think of period pains. They are so all consuming and debilitating when they are bad and well meaning older women telling you they will go away after you have had your first baby, really does not help. Pain free normal periods should be the norm for us and achievable with a few easy lifestyle changes.

As with everything else diet plays a huge role.

Of course the usual sensible diet includes 5 a day fruit and veg, but also very importantly a good vitamin B, zinc and omega oil intake. Vitamin B is found in all good quality meats and dairy products.

There is a BUT and that is modern farming methods. Intensive farming leeches all the goodness out of the soil, so vitamin and mineral levels may not be as high in modern foods as they were in the past (even 20 years ago). So my message is to buy good quality food.

Zinc is low in modern foods but also hard to absorb. It is essential for the production of over 80 hormones in the body, the reproductive ones being some of those. Zinc is needed for the metabolism of essential fatty acids which are also essential for hormone production. Sometimes I wish I had shares in pumpkin growing as I tell everyone who I think needs a zinc boost, to eat a dessertspoonful of pumpkin seeds sprinkled on their cereal in the morning. Oats are a good source of zinc and so are most shell fish.

There is so much information in the ether about essential fatty acids that I will not say too much here, just make sure you are getting a good combination of omega 3,6,9, in your diet.

Surprisingly, moderate exercise is also important as it increases the blood flow in the body, which the reproductive organs will benefit from.

The two herbs I use to help with period pains are Pulsatilla and Crampbark, mixed together as tinctures in equal quantities. For adults the dose is 5 mls twice a day, taken three days before the period is due to about the second day of the period.

Both of these have had their own write up in separate articles, but briefly, they both have a relaxing effect on uterine muscle to prevent it cramping.

It is a good plan to start taking the mixture about 3 days before a period is due so that the muscle does not go in to spasm once the period has started.

Remember don’t self medicate if you have any other medical condition or are on any orthodox medicines, go visit a Qualified medical herbalist. All the examples I give you in these write ups are mixtures and doses I use on my patients in clinic which are taken under my supervision.

Don’t confuse the herbal tincture of Pulsatilla with the homoeopathic preparation which has a different action.

Linda Bostock

Medical Herbalist Dip Phyt.

Herbal Health Information

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Chamomile (Matricaria Recutita) Shingle Beach at Eastbourne June 2011

July 11, 2011 by Leave a Comment

I could write a few books about this herb, but I won’t otherwise you won’t have time to read about all the other fabulous plants I have written about. It looks like a large daisy with loads of feathery little leaves and has a strong apple scent when crushed.

Chamomile on the beach

Every self respecting Tudor garden had a chamomile lawn and there is a chamomile seat in Kew Gardens. Actually I haven’t been there for a few years so I hope it is still there. It is the flower heads that are used which contain volatile oil, chamazulene, flavonoids and tannic acid. I’ve already told you volatile oils are antibacterial and chamazulene is known to be active against staphylococcus aureus. As well as having anti bacterial properties chamomile is a wonderful digestive system herb, stimulating the production of digestive enzymes and has relaxing and calming properties.
Chamomile is mentioned in ancient herbal pharmacopoeias and is still one of the favourite plants used by modern day Medical Herbalists.

If you want to drink it as a soothing night time drink instead of tea or coffee, you can usually find a preparation on the shelf of most supermarkets. Make sure these do contain just chamomile, as many herb teas are blends of plants.
You can also buy the loose flowers from an herb supplier or if you have it in your garden can pick it and dry the flowers to store throughout the year.
The rule of thumb is to use one teaspoon of dry flowers to one cup of boiling water, just as you would make any other tea. Leave this to stand for five minutes, strain, let it cool a bit and drink. Ok if you have a sweet tooth you may put some honey in it, but it does taste nice on its own. Monsieur Poirot (he of the “Poirot ee as been so blind”) calls this a Tisane.

Linda Bostock
Medical Herbalist

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Herbs and Dog Walking on the Beach

July 11, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Around about 9 o’clock every week day morning, the dog and I walk across the road to the beach. He is of course, only interested in all the other doggy smells and trots around doing his own thing, following, but completely ignoring me. He is not the kind of dog who likes to chase after balls or stones or run around excitedly with other dogs, NO, smells are his thing. That’s ok though because I can peacefully think my morning thoughts and have a look at what is going around me.

Usually at this time of year the beach, which is a shingle beach by the way, is a mass of colour with so many different plants it is hard to separate them. But this year we have had very little rain in April and May and a friend asked me if the beach had been sprayed with weed killer the plants are so sparse!

What we have got is spread out and fairly scrawny, but for whatever reason there is a bit of a Poppy Fest going on down there with:-

Opium poppies

Yellow Horned poppies

Field poppies

They are all competing to put on the best show and reminding me of the flower fairies.

Opium poppies

Well you may think that Afghanistan has the monopoly on these but they grow very well in England. Before the advent of modern painkillers the opium poppy was the best herbal pain relief as it contains Morphine alkaloids and codeine. The resin from the seed head is collected and dried and used medicinally. Sadly both morphine and codeine are addictive so herbalists are no longer allowed to use the plant medicinally.

Opium Poppies on the Beach

Morphine sits on the same nerve ending receptors as our own natural pain killers called Endorphins and block the pain sensation being transmitted along the nerve pathways.

Never mind, even though we are not allowed to use them medicinally, we can look at them and that is a real feast for the eyes. There are several different colours on the beach varying from a pale mauve to a deep red in all shapes and sizes.

Yellow Horned poppies

These are gorgeous, with bright yellow open flowers and long spiky seed heads which look like horns, hence the name!

To be honest I don’t know if they have ever had a medicinal use but certainly they are not used by herbalists now.

Yellow Horned Poppies

Field poppies

Not so many of these as of the other two and mostly in the hedgerow in the track leading from the beach to the campsite.

It takes your breath away when you look at a plant as perfect and beautiful as the field poppy. A bit like looking at your new born baby and being amazed that all those little fingers and toes are so small and so perfect.

Field Poppies on the Beach

They are a fantastic deep red in colour with a black centre.

Here at last is a plant we can use medicinally. It has calming properties and I have picked the flowers in the past and made syrup with them.

To make the syrup, pick the poppy flowers and layer them in a clean jam jar with sugar. As they compress down, keep topping the jar up.

Put the lid on the jar and leave it in the sun or a warm place for a bout two weeks until the sugar has melted and turned red.

Strain this syrup into another clean jam jar seal it and use it as needed.

A teaspoonful just before bed will help aid a natural relaxed sleep or it can also be used to ease a tickly cough.

The poppy I use frequently in my clinic is the Californian poppy, which has hypnotic and sedative properties as well as being a nerve relaxant. I put it into my mixes for patients suffering from Insomnia to help them relax into a natural sleep.

When you watch the Video, apart from the poppies, take a look at the Martello tower. The Martello towers were built all along the southern coast during the Napoleonic wars as a defence to attack from the sea. They are spaced out at about 500 yard intervals, the next one along towards Hastings being converted to a house. The one on our beach is occupied by the pigeons and was scarily undermined by the terrible autumn storms last year which washed away about 20-30 feet of beach. A couple of years ago an autumn storm washed away another part of the beach and exposed a series of stakes sticking up from the beach in a grid pattern which we were told were also Napoleonic beach defences. Luckily I had my camera with me that day so got a good record of them before the shingle Lorries came and built the beach up again.

As usual there is a separate poppy article in the Herbs and Health section and please do  join me on my next herb walk.

Linda

Linda Bostock

Medical Herbalist

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Poppies – the Natural Pain Killer

June 16, 2011 by Leave a Comment

POPPIES

It is such a great shame that medication with the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, is addictive and therefore not permitted to be used as a plant medicine. It has strong pain killing properties as it contains morphine alkaloids and codeine and before the arrival of modern pain killers it was the best analgesic in the herbal pharmacopoeia.

poppy seed heads at North harbour beach

The poppy species practitioners can use, though, is the Californian poppy, Escholzia californica.this has mild pain relieving properties and is a sedative and nerve relaxant.
I use it as a tincture combined with Passiflora and Wild lettuce to help people with Insomnia.
There is also the field poppy just coming into flower now and oh so pretty.

yellow poppies on the beach

The flowers only last a day and are very fragile. I have picked the flowers in the past and layered them with sugar in a jam jar to make syrup. I topped the jar up with flowers and syrup as everything compressed down and left it to stand for three weeks on a window ledge, in sunlight.
Then I poured the resulting syrup into another clean jam jar and stored it with the lid on.
A teaspoon of this syrup before bedtime, will help relax people with insomnia into a natural sleep, or help to ease a tickly cough.

More poppies on the beach

There are the usual cautions attached to this:-
These articles are not intended to encourage you to self medicate but for you to develop an interest in plant medicines.
Do not self medicate if you are on any orthodox medicines
Find a qualified practitioner if you need help with plant medicines.
Don’t experiment with plants on yourself or other people. Plants do not suffer fools gladly, even potatoes in their ancient form were poisonous and in fact any green areas in a potato contain an alkaloid similar to that found in deadly nightshade!
Enjoy looking, smelling and learning. Plants are our life givers.

Linda Bostock
Medical Herbalist Dip Phyt.

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Herb Walk Around Pevensey Castle, May 2011

June 16, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Herbs and History

I may have mentioned before, that the wind always blows by the seaside.

Well the day we went to do our herb walk at Pevensey Castle, just outside Eastbourne, the wind was very definitely blowing which made the sound recorded on the video come out like a “hounds of the Baskervilles” take.

We went to look at the Pellitory, which grows on the walls of the castle and the lime trees growing in Westham churchyard adjacent to the castle, in the next village along.

Pellitory climbing castle wall

Pevensey Castle was originally built by the Romans and the Roman walls are pretty much in tact all the way around. It was in the bay a short distance from the Roman Castle, (not Hastings) that the Normans landed in 1066 and built the first Norman castle inside the Roman walls, using the walls as part of the castle construction. Next door to the castle, in the village of Westham, is a church reputed to be the first ever church built by the Normans.
We are always astounded that the site is not constantly overrun by tourists as it is of such historical significance, but it seems to be a bit of a secret tourist attraction.
Many plants grow on the Roman walls which are constructed from flint, with tile layers interspersed, I presume to act as a damp proof course.
The plants I have seen at various times on the walls include, wallflowers, plantain, grasses, stonecrop, red Valerian and of course the Pellitory.
A short distance from the Norman part of the castle, inside the Roman walls is a huge bank of nettles which is fitting as it was the Romans who originally brought the nettles to England, to flail their joints in the cold weather (the Romans were a bit strange but we mustn’t knock them as they left us a legacy of fantastic heating and sewage systems).
Walking through the castle grounds and out through the west gate you immediately enter the village of Westham where the church is.
It is called St Mary’s and is a beautiful church. Behind the church, in the old part of the churchyard, are three magnificent lime trees.

You can complete the walk by turning left at the lime trees and going straight ahead through the newer part of the churchyard which leads to a path taking you behind the castle.

Lime Tree in Westham Churchyard

This is quite interesting as it gives you a good view of how the Norman castle was incorporated into the Roman walls. At the time the Romans landed, the sea came right up to that area and in fact Pevensey is one of the Cinque Ports now left high and dry.
You will find a write up of Lime flower and Pellitory in the herbs section and I will do a more in depth talk on Nettles in another video.

Linda Bostock
Medical herbalist

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Passiflora or Passion Flower (Passiflora Incarnata)

June 13, 2011 by Leave a Comment

If I want an Herb which really looks after someone suffering from nervous strain, I reach for the Passiflora.

It is such a wonderful gentle, calming, supporting nervine with mild sedative properties, that it is useful for any condition involving stress where the person needs calming and supporting.

Because of these properties, Passiflora may be used for cases of Insomnia, as it calms the brain as well as relaxes the body. One of the problems with insomnia is the brain goes in to hyperdrive and starts thinking about stupid things in a loop system, such as shopping, cleaning, washing, work, children’s activities, anything really, to prevent you getting to sleep.

Passiflora is an Herb which calms this mental restlessness down so that people can fall into a natural relaxed sleep. Night Night!

Don’t use it in pregnancy though; you will just have to put up with that little footballer having fun inside you at two o’clock in the morning.

Linda Bostock

Medical Herbalist

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Lime Flowers – from Pevensey Castle Herb Walk

June 13, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Lime Flowers
Tilia Europea
Herb Walk near Pevensey Castle in Westham Norman churchyard.
24.05.2011

The dried flowers are used which contain volatile oils, mucilage, tannins, and flavonoids.

The flowers have antispasmodic, diaphoretic (make you sweat) sedative and diuretic properties. They are also known to clean out arteries which have fatty deposits on the walls.

Apart from anything else, being gently sedative and antispasmodic they make a good calming and relaxing night time drink as they are low in tannins and taste good.

I often add lime flower to a mixture of herbs in tincture form for a blood pressure mix (usual warning, don’t self medicate if you have high blood pressure consult a Doctor or a Qualified medical herbalist).

Linda Bostock
Medical Herbalist. Dip.Phyt

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Herbal Health Information for Insomnia

June 7, 2011 by Leave a Comment

There is no easy answer to this one as there are so many reasons people suffer from insomnia. Too much Caffeine is top of my list. Stress is next. Inability to relax, worry, overactive brain, noise sensitivity, not enough exercise, poor nutrition, hunger and so it goes on.
When I have a patient visit me suffering from Insomnia I look at lifestyle with a fine tooth comb.
Although this applies to general good health it is essential that a person is well fed. By well fed I do not mean over fed I mean has the right nutritional ingredients going into them.

LOOK AT YOUR DIET: – it needs to be a well balanced intake of protein, fats and carbohydrates with foods containing a fair share of vitamins and minerals such as fruit and veg. Never go to bed on an empty tummy but also do not eat just before you go to bed as this activates the digestive system at a time when the body should be calming down for the night. There is some research that shows calcium helps natural sleep which is why many people like a milky drink before bedtime.

CAFFEINE containing foods must be cut out of the diet
Tea, coffee, chocolate, coca cola, and all stimulant drinks such as red bull.
Many people think that drinking green tea is better for them, but green tea is higher in caffeine than ordinary tea so is not good to drink if you suffer insomnia. I don’t really drink very much alcohol, but one mad evening had one of those vodka alcopop drinks and was awake most of the night.
When I looked at the ingredients I saw the drink contained caffeine! So it is worth checking ingredients on packaging.
Giving up caffeine is HARD. Caffeine is addictive and the withdrawal symptoms include pounding headache and caffeine cravings, which can last for up to a week.
What I normally advise people to do is to reduce it slowly until they are on low caffeine intakes and can come off it without the withdrawal symptoms.
Tea and coffee substitutes are:-
The best substitute I have found is Rooibos tea (any supermarket) drunk weak and black.
Honeybush tea (internet) which is similar to Rooibos
Peppermint tea, which is a good morning cuppa.
Any herbal tea.
And of course loads of water……….no don’t bother to say YUK it is our natural drink.
A safe fizzy drink to have is Seven up as it has no additives, but, remember, fizzy drinks are a treat and should not be your normal daily drink.

EXERCISE is very important as we are natural “wanderers”.
So many people are doing sedentary jobs that it is important to make time to exercise. Exercise does several things for us, stimulates good blood circulation, uses up excess carbohydrates to prevent weight gain and uses up adrenaline shooting around the system from our bosses or co-workers or the lady in the supermarket having wound us up during the day.

HERBS
I have a favourite sleep mix which I make up in clinic which contains:-
Passiflora
Skullcap
Valerian

The other herbs I use are Californian poppy and Wild lettuce but not all in the same mix. You will be asking why I haven’t mentioned Chamomile. I love Chamomile but there are a few people who react completely back to front if they take Chamomile as a sleep aid and become hyperactive, so I use Chamomile mostly for the digestion and also to calm hyperactive children.
To go back to my sleep mix

Passiflora I have talked about in its own little article. It has mild sedative properties and is a relaxant.

Skullcap is a relaxing nervine as well as being anti spasmodic and relaxing. I use it because it is the only herb I know, which, due to its relaxing nervine properties, stops the brain going in to overdrive and thinking all those horrible “loop” thoughts when you are trying to get to sleep, such as, the shopping list or what activities the children have the next day or what shall I wear to my daughters wedding, or the amount of work piling up in the in tray, etc etc etc.

Valerian. You either love it or hate it. Smells like smelly feet but WHO CARES, when it is just about the best relaxing herb in the Herbal Pharmacopoeia.
Cats love it, my red headed daughter loves it and my once red headed now bald husband loves it, but the rest of the world hates it. I will list its actions:-
Sedative
Hypotensive (lowers blood pressure)
Hypnotic
Calming
Relaxant
Spasmolytic
All of this without giving you a woolly head the next day what more can you ask for?

There are many over the counter sleep mixes on the market, containing some or all of these herbs, but make sure they are licensed, or you could go visit your local herbalist.

Linda Bostock
Medical Herbalist Dip Phyt.

Herbal Health Information

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