by Tara Mackey | Blogroll, Wellness
It was the middle of winter, and the excruciating pain in my muscles and spine were shooting up into my neck. It hurt so much I was screaming into my pillow. I could not stop crying.
I begged my boyfriend, “Cut my back out.”
He looked at me like I was crazy.
“Cut it out,” I said. “I’m over this.”
I was in the middle of a flare up of my rheumatoid arthritis — a disorder for which I’d been on a prescription cocktail of fentanyl patches, Flexeril, and Celebrex for the last 12 years.
The moment that cutting out my own back seemed like the only way to get to the root of my pain, I knew something really had to change. The pain, exhaustion, daily blackouts, excruciating aches, and emotional toil needed to stop.
I was done masking the pain. I wanted to cure it — naturally, intuitively, and straight at the source.
I knew that a whole medicine cabinet full of ancient herbs, tonics, rituals, and secrets existed in nature thousands of years before modern medicine came along. I also knew that while my thoughts had a huge hand in my depression, pain, and anxiety, so did what I was putting in my body.
I decided to come off my 12-a-day dosage of prescription medication cold turkey (not a method I’d ever recommend to anyone). I replaced it with a more natural approach to healing, one that used food not just as a fuel but as a powerful medicine.
I thought that if I could tap into the healing properties of food and use them to propel my health, everything would shift.
My research was simple, but it changed my life.
Here are four healing herbal remedies that I’ve found can curb pain and promote relaxation. Bonus: most of them are probably already in your kitchen.
I was done masking the pain. I wanted to cure it.
Chamomile has been globally promoted as a relaxation herb for thousands of years. It has anxiolytic properties, meaning that it naturally inhibits anxiety. Chamomile extract is also a powerful pain reliever that can soothe aches at the source by lubricating joints and inhibiting bone loss. It’s also been shown to help ease menstrual cramps.
Plus, you can find chamomile practically everywhere. Speaking as someone who’s sensitive to caffeine, I can attest that it’s the most common caffeine-free tea available today!
Ginger was one of the first herbs I discovered in my healing journey, and luckily I already loved it! Ginger has quite the history of pain relief. It has been commonly used since the dawn of Ayurvedic history and was described as “the beverage of the holiest spirits” by the Ancient Koreans. Today, medical journals have found that a few tablespoons of ginger a day helps ease muscle pain caused by exercise.
Ginger works on a cellular level because it contains anti-inflammatory, anti-ulcer, and antioxidant agents as well as analgesic (inflammation-fighting) properties. Ginger has been shown to reduce cytokines — inflammation-causing substances that are often linked to pain — by breaking down existing inflammation in the joints (naturally)!
I used ginger for the excruciating daily pain of my arthritis and scoliosis. I started by buying raw ginger and putting pieces into a tea catcher, boiling hot water, and drinking it as a tea. You can also buy premade ginger tea or supplemental ginger vitamins.
Used for more than 4,000 years, turmeric boosts more than just your circulation. A member of the ginger family, it’s an effective anti-inflammatory that can help with joint problems and arthritis. It’s been used to treat rheumatoid and osteoarthritis pain straight at the source.
It’s also one of the easiest herbs to incorporate into your daily routine. My joints felt more fluid after just a week of incorporating turmeric into my diet, and it’s now replaced many of the drugs I took for pain and inflammation.
Egyptians worshipped it. Entire literary genres have been written about it. It was even used as currency in previous centuries! While these may not be your very first thoughts about garlic, this powerful plant contains naturally occurring antioxidants that are amazing for fighting discomfort, arthritis, cancer, and heart disease. It’s great for healthy joints and pain management. Simply toss a few cloves of garlic into your tea catcher, boil water, and drink with some honey. You can also put garlic cloves in your bath as aromatherapy.
by Tara Mackey | Blogroll, DIY, Health, My Organic Life, Recipes
As much as I love me some good tea companies (Yogi, you saved my life for years!), I have great (and cost-effective) fun experimenting with my own herbal remedies. In an era when responsibilities and obligations far outnumber hours in the day, it’s no wonder so many diseases are linked to stress. If you haven’t gotten around to establishing a peaceful power meditation or mantra throughout your day, the next best thing is to put something in your body to help you relax that has no adverse side effects. This is where miracle herbs like chamomile & valerian come in!
Chilled or hot, tea has the potential to soothe the mind, body and soul, and taking a “tea break” to reduce stress can have tremendous health benefits.
Tea contains naturally occurring antioxidants, called flavonoids. These antioxidants help the body combat stress and contribute to tea’s long list of health benefits.
I drink tea absolutely all day long to detox and cleanse my body. I love experimenting with different herbs to see what affects that they have on my wellness! It’s remarkable that you can make a tea to cure a headache, or to clear your sinuses, or to put you to sleep when nothing else will! Here is my recipe for a fast, home made, herbal DIY tea to help you relax! My suggestion is to try this one before bed time first, to see how it affects you. Most herbal teas that I’ve seen only have about a quarter of these ingredients, but I pretty much go big or go home. 🙂
Herbal Ingredients:
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Elderflower: Elderflower is an overall anti-inflammatory, working not only on the muscles, but on the sinuses, reducing risk of cold & bronchitis.
Boldo Leaves: Boldo leaves are used to treat bladder and urinary tract infections, gallbladder discomfort, gallstones, heartburn and indigestion, and stomach cramps. The herb works by encouraging the release of bile and dissolving fats and also by increasing intestinal transit time, giving the digestive tract more time to digest food. The ascaridole in boldo attacks intestinal worms.
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Chamomile: Chamomile’s popularity grew throughout the Middle Ages, when people turned to it as a remedy for numerous medical complaints including asthma, colic, fevers, inflammations, nausea, nervous complaints, children’s ailments, skin diseases and cancer. As a popular remedy, it may be thought of as the European counterpart of ginseng. Chamomile has been used for centuries in teas as a mild, relaxing sleep aid, treatment for fevers, colds, stomach ailments, and as an anti-inflammatory, to name only a few therapeutic uses. Extensive scientific research over the past 20 years has confirmed many of the traditional uses for the plant and established pharmacological mechanisms for the plant’s therapeutic activity, including antipeptic, antispasmodic, antipyretic, antibacterial, antifungal, and antiallergenic activity.
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Passionflower: Passionflower has been used to treat anxiety for decades, and recently scientists have used it to help treat narcotic withdrawal. An extract of passion flower and hawthorn shows potential for treating shortness of breath and difficulty exercising in people with congestive heart failure.
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Anise: I happen to personally love the taste of Anise, and put it in a good deal of my teas. Anise is used for upset stomach, intestinal gas, “runny nose,” and as an expectorant to increase productive cough, as a diuretic to increase urine flow, and as an appetite stimulant. Women use anise to increase milk flow when nursing, start menstruation, treat menstrual discomfort or pain, ease childbirth, and increase sex drive. Men use anise to treat symptoms of “male menopause.” Other uses include treatment of seizures, nicotine dependence, trouble sleeping (insomnia), asthma, and constipation.
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Valerian: I have a whole post dedicated to Valerian here, but it’s my go-to herb for relaxation!
(Home Grown) Lavender: Lavender is one of my favorite things I have in the garden! I can’t get enough of the smell and I could drink Lavender tea all day long (and often do!) Lavender has been proven to help insomnia, anxiety, to ease stress, & uplift spirits. It’s used to treat depression, headaches, & upset stomach.
^^Scoop it all into a tea strainer.^^
^^Let it seep for 10 minutes while you find a good book. ^^
^^Enjoy yourself! ^^
Happy relaxing, everyone!
If you liked this post, you may also enjoy…
DIY Valerian
Herbs to Cure Your Life
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