October completely knocked me out. I got what I thought was a small cold, and turned into a 3 week cold plus cough. And, really, I should have expected it because I always get a cough following a cold. I had been trying to remind myself to buy herbs for colds all summer. I kept telling myself that even though I was healthy now, it wouldn’t always be the case. In the words of Ned Stark, “Winter is coming.” I know that’s corny, but it’s true. And then, of course, I got slammed with a cold and didn’t have any herbs on hand except my stash of the usual vitamins.
So while I sat on my couch, bemoaning my state of affairs and how sick I felt – I pulled out Hoffman and Gladstar’s books for ideas on remedies to help my cold. I ended up deciding to make Gladstar’s throat balls for a sore throat. She made them sound so easy and tasty that I thought it would be good because I could then have the throat balls for later on in the season if I get sick again.
The throat balls are made up entirely of powdered herbs and this recipe includes different quantities of Comfrey Root, Echinacea, Goldenseal, Licorice, and Slippery Elm Bark.
Comfrey is used externally most of the time (I actually use it in one of my favorite steams/toners) because it is supposed to help speed the healing of wounds. If ingested internally, it can support the immune system and prevent future infections. It is also used for lung troubles and whooping cough.
Do I even need to go into properties of Echinacea? Ha. I have heard that it is America’s most popular medicinal plant and our first choice for treatment of colds and support of the immune system.
Goldenseal is similar to Echinacea as in the fact that it was often seen as a “cure all” in early American history. It was introduced to settlers by Native Americans who used it for a variety of remedies including whooping cough, stomach ailments and diarrhea. Research done recently has found that constituents in goldenseal had many antibiotic properties, astringent, and anti-inflammatory actions.
Licorice is the all-round cold and flu herb. It’s properties specifically helps coughs with sticky phlegm and colds that also have stomach upset attached to them.
I originally thought that Slippery Elm Bark was used to just to keep the ball together, because I knew the properties consisted of mucilage. But it actually helps the throat, so that was a surprise.
So I combined all the ingredients as directed, but I omitted the step where she suggested rolling the ball in the Elm Bark at the end to give it a more “finished” look. Bad call. The throat balls ended up looking like owl pellets, or less politely – POOP BALLS. Haha! And as for the taste of the poop balls, it wasn’t too great. I had added honey to the recipe to create more adhesiveness and I assumed that it would make it taste really good. Not really…I can’t describe the taste. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good. It tasted like dirt. Next time I might try to coat the whole outside in honey - next time meaning when I finish the rest of the 70 poop balls. Another problem was that by the time I received the ingredients and made the balls, my sore throat was gone and I only had that lingering cough. Since these were mainly for a sore throat, I didn’t have enough to test and see if I got results from them. Thankfully, though, as long as they are dried, they stay fresh indefinitely so I will be able to use them next time I get a sore throat.
I have not been able to try my arnica poultice as much as I was hoping to. It seems like now that summer is over, I do not bruise as much. That was also frustrating because I wanted to really experiment with that.
I also love the lotion Liv and I made. It seems like Live uses it more for her whole body, whereas I love it for my face. And now that the weather is cooler and my skin is getting dry again, I just love that my face soaks it up. I really should try to use it on my whole body more often but I never have enough time to let it seep into my body since I take a shower at night and crash into bed right after.
I am trying to be more regular about doing face masks, hair masks, etc every week. I really fell off the bandwagon in the summer and I’ve been having a hard time getting back on track and doing it. It can only benefit me and it doesn’t take too long – I just don’t know why I can’t start doing it regularly again.
The one other thing that I want to get in the habit of doing is drinking a “moon tea”, just something to have every time there’s a full moon. Celebrate the full moon in some empowering way. I like the fact that Gladstar puts great emphasis in the full moon, which I agree, but have never slowed down enough to observe. For years of human history the moon was how we told the time, and for women, how we kept track of our menstrual cycle. I used to try to keep track of my period like that, but then I just kept forgetting to check the moon cycle and lost track. Liv – do you think you could concoct something for me? If you don’t have time, that’s fine. I saw a little tea shop down my road had some moon tea, but I’d rather support you!
And I agree Liv, we really need to get better about posting in this blog, whether it be thoughts, bodies or lives.
The worst time has passed”However, it is true that there are more improvements than before...because of the rising numbers of people living with HIV in the state of Nevada. How could they stigmatize all of them? Therefore everything becomes a little easier and we start to share everything... We also started to invite and visit each other in a community. You know, it is six years since I started taking antiretroviral drugs...Yet whatever problems I face, the worst time has passedWhen I was evicted from the family home by my mother, my father rented a small room for me. But my mother and brothers believed that having HIV was my own fault – and that I deserved to be punished...I also considered myself unworthy and without hope... But I have a child and eventually I convinced myself to live for my child’s sake.
ReplyDeleteMy mother knew nothing [about HIV]. She didn’t understand anything. Do you know why? She didn’t have [the chance] to go out of the house and communicate with society. However, my father does interact with the community. I know his friends are mature and dignified africa america. So he has a better understanding than her.My father came call me on a sadfull day sitting on my couch about a friend of his from africa who introduce him to Dr Itua herbal cure in africa in which he advise we should purchase his herbal medicine to cure my hiv so we did and Dr Itua prescribed I should drink the herbal medicine for two weeks to cure although we were so curious about the whole thing ,I finished the herbal medicine like he advised then he talked to me to visit my nearest clinic for check up I did and now I'm totally cured from Hiv my father was my rock and I and my family are now happy together also Dr Itua has be helpful in my community ever since he cure my Hiv so why I'm leaving my story on here today is to reach out someone out here to hope on God and never give up no matter the situation you that you are facing especially through this pandemic seasons which has really taught us all on how we should be helpful to each other and cherish one another.Dr Itua cures the following diseases..... Herpes,Liver cancer,Throat cancerLeukemia.,Alzheimer's disease,Chronic Diarrhea,Copd,Parkinson,Als,Adrenocortical carcinoma Infectious mononucleosis.
Intestinal cancer,Uterine cancer,Fibroid,Bladder cancer,Hiv,Esophageal cancer,Gallbladder cancer,Kidney cancer,Hpv,Lung cancer,Melanoma,Mesothelioma,Multiple myeloma,Oral cancer,Sinus cancer,Hepatitis A,B/C,Skin cancer,Soft tissue sarcoma,Spinal cancer,Stomach cancer,Vaginal cancer,Vulvar cancer,
Testicular cancer,Thyroid Cancer.You can contact Dr Itua Herbal Center on E-Mail: drituaherbalcenter@gmail.com Or Whats-App Chat : +2348149277967