bobble wrote: ↑Sat Nov 14, 2020 12:21 am
Hi Dutch Uncle,
Yeah we do seem to be at the back of the race in the uk when it comes to being able to defend ourselves, both physically and healthwise. I looked into herbal medicines a few years back and you may be able to find some alternatives for some of your medications. They used to extract digitalis (a heart medicine?) from foxgloves, aspirin from willow bark and bladderwrack was used to help goiter(thyroid) problems.
There was a scene from the Outlander series where the lead female was trying to make penicillin from mouldy bread! So don't despair, there's a lot of info you can get online.
Chewing raw garlic helps to ease toothache and might help with abscesses
The heart drugs digitalis & digitoxin are still made from the synthesised active ingredient from Digitalis Purporea, the common Foxglove, but I would caution, very strongly, against attempting this yourself. Regulating dose would be extremely difficult, and it's not something you really want to make a mistake with. I'd be reluctant, with over 30yrs experience, to do so. I can't emphasise enough how easy it would be to kill yourself or someone else with some things, and digitalis is one of them.
Aspirin from willow bark is easier, and viable for almost anyone. Ditto seaweed.
I'd suggest first looking at alternate methods - check out Dr Aseem Malhotra, UK Consultant Cardiologist in this case & then take it from there. Then look at potential substitutes for meds.
All of the herb based applications in Outlander are accurate; Diana Gabaldon is a lovely woman, and she really does do her research properly. But that doesn't mean it's a simple as mix it up and off you go. For example, what's not explained in the series - although it is, clearly, in the books - is that it's not mould that's penicillan. What you need is the substance the mould excretes to fight off other moulds. You also need to be able to stabilise that and preserve it. Thorn apple is another great one. In the series, it's used to loosen the breathing of an asthmatic.
For toothache - garlic is good, so is oil of cloves, but most find the taste a bit off putting. And you don't want to be chewing anything on a raw socket. If you're going to use garlic, slice it and tuck it over the socket. The other thing that's more pleasantly flavoured and also effective is peppermint oil.
Regular salt mouthwashes will help with healing. And if there's bleeding, gather some self heal, steep, as if making tea, then strain and use as a mouth wash. It's a bit less stinging that other astringents & whilst it doesn't taste great, it's effective. Don't swallow it!
Happy to help if anyone has any questions about herbs & general health that I can answer
My sister's been having a bit similar - pain started just before lockdown started, and there was *no* help available. She's just had an extraction under sedation (I had to stay with her for 24 hours, medically necessary) and the same thing is about to happen again, staying with her after an extraction. As things opened up a bit, she even had to go to London for a scan of some sort … interesting but unhappy about it, at our age. They couldn't decide what the trouble was till then, x rays didn't show anything