Anamu – aka Guinea hen weed

Anamu (Guinea Hen Weed) Anamu (Petiveria alliacea) is a herb that is indigenous to the Amazon rainforest and the tropical areas of the Caribbean, Central and South America and Africa. It is also known in Jamaica as guinea hen weed, guinea hen leaf, garlic weed or gully root. Anamu has been used for a wide variety of conditions, including arthritis, digestive disorders, infections, diabetes, cancer, for pain relief, and to induce abortion. Some of the compounds isolated from the plant have never been identified in any other plant – some were similar to compounds found in garlic, a plant known to have medicinal properties. Laboratory investigations show that anamu retards the growth of several strains of cancer and leukaemia cells. In a plant-screening programme performed at the University of Illinois at Chicago, over 1,400 plant extracts were evaluated for the prevention and treatment of cancer. Anamu was one of only 34 plants identified with active properties against cancer. One of its active chemicals is dibenzyl trisulphide (DTS) which is known to directly kill all cancer cell lines that it has been tried on (while not harming normal cells). “…DTS at concentration of 10 mM, a dose lethal to all cancer cells tested,…” West Indian Medical Journal, 2007 Jan; 56(1):17-21. Other substances in the herb boost the immune system, fight infections and relieve pain. On the negative side it is not advised for pregnant women (it induces abortion), for people on blood thinners (it is a blood thinner) or for hypoglaecemia. For further details read: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20070813/news/news7.html Dosage: One full tablespoonful of the whole powdered anamu plant – preferably organic – is diffused in one litre of hot water. The resulting tea is drunk preferably on an empty stomach. An average dosage is four ounces (about half a cup) twice daily. Available on the internet at a cost of about US$30 a lb. Supporting personal anecdotal evidence strongly suggests that this could be a powerful herbal weapon against cancer. For further details go to http://www.rain-tree.com/anamu.htm#.VD-QSsJ0zrc

Powerstrips and cancer and pain relief

Powerstrips – a Korean invention. Basically a plaster containing herbs, minerals etc which some people – and some lab evidence – suggests is not only good for pain relief but can inhibit cancer. For more info

http://www.powerstrips-tmegee.com/why-powerstrips/

Legal Cannabis tinctures

Cannabis tinctures that are compliant with drug laws are available at http://www.medithrive.com/tinctures1.html

also at

CBD tint cures: http://www.plantofrenown.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&view=productdetails&virtuemart_product_id=14&virtuemart_category_id=4&Itemid=235

CBD Industrial hemp oil – totally legal: http://www.plantofrenown.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&view=productdetails&virtuemart_product_id=2&virtuemart_category_id=5&Itemid=235

Dara O’Briain is wrong

For those of you who don’t know who Dara O’Briain is, he’s an Irish comic who appears a great deal on UK television. He’s a very funny and very likeable and very clever man. However, he has taken to including his heavily simplified version of ‘What is medicine?’ into his stage act and I am sure he is very influential in a derisive pub logic sort of way. And it is because celebrity-status provides a powerful platform in support of whatever opinion the celebrity in question wishes to put forward that we have to counter these arguments point by point. So here is why he is wrong.

His simplified version goes pretty much like this: “Medicine is better than herbs because it is just the stuff in herbs and plants that works that is extracted and purified.” Let us analyse this sentence so that we understand exactly why it is wrong.(note 1)

1. First of all, and this is probably the biggest error. Medicine is not ‘the stuff in plants that works’. The stuff in plants that works is natural. Medicines are man made. The inventors of this man made molecule may very well start with a natural molecule – but you can’t patent nature. So the molecule is tweaked in some way, not to make it more effective, but so as to be able to own it by patenting it. Once it is owned in this way it can be sold for big bucks. So the question is: does this matter? And of course it does. Life has evolved for billions of years alongside other life. The environment around us is what we have evolved to be adapted to, which is another way of saying to be healthy in. We have not evolved to get benefit from artificially tweaked molecules. Bio-chemical receptors in the body are so highly specific that even mirror image molecules cannot replace each other. So, on this level, medicines are not ‘the stuff in plants that works’ and so cannot be superior to herbs.(note 2)

2. ‘the stuff in plants that works’ is supposed to conjure up an image of a single molecule in a herb that is effective in some way surrounded by many different molecules that are just packaging. The molecule that ‘works’ is referred to as the active ingredient. So, this is a perception – not a description – of the facts. It is a theory. The theory can be described in this way: that because a herb works it contains an active ingredient. But why do we prefer this way of looking at the problem to other perceptions that might be equally or even more valid: for example, that the herb contains multiple molecules in interesting patterns and it is this community of molecules that is effective?

Scientists by and large are uncomfortable with complex narratives such as this one because their methodology is reductionist. Reductionism is a very powerful tool but it cannot deal with complex facts – and there is very powerful evidence that it is the complex relationship of molecules within a plant that makes it effective for healing and not the fact that it contains a single active ingredient.

3. Which brings me to the issue of ‘purification’. The idea of purification contains an ambiguity. On the one hand it means the isolation of a molecule so that it exists by itself without any other molecules being present. But it also means ‘to be made perfect’ in a moral sense. So when we hear the word purified we process both meanings at the same time so that we see the isolated molecule as being ‘good’. We also think of it as being ‘clean’ – unsullied by all that horrible dirty nature stuff.

But is it? Is an isolated molecule better than the natural molecule existing within its natural setting surrounded by other molecules in interesting arrangements? We know that cannabis is a powerful healing agent and that one of its effects can be to reduce nausea and pain. THC is ‘the active ingredient’ and one artificially created isomer of THC is called Drobinol. This is sold under the name Marinol.

Now, here’s the thing: there has never been a documented human fatality from overdosing on natural THC or cannabis in its natural form, but Marinol and other derivatives can be primary causes of death.(note 3)

Another example that is closer to home is the purified extract of the tobacco leaf otherwise known as nicotine. Purified nicotine is an extremely powerful poison and it does not take very much liquid nicotine dropped on to the skin to kill a person. But as we know tobacco leaves take a lot longer to kill a person – and it may not even be the nicotine that does the killing. (note 4)

So, if you think that a ‘purified’ extract that has been tweaked and can cause death is superior to a natural untweaked molecule existing within a context of other molecules that does not cause death then I have to question your sanity.

Over to You Mr O’Briain.

(c) Jonathan Chamberlain 2013

Notes:

1. Exact quote: “Oh, herbal medicine’s been around for thousands of years!” Indeed it has, and then we tested it all, and the stuff that worked became ‘medicine’. And the rest of it is just a nice bowl of soup and some potpourri, so knock yourselves out.” http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/557094-i-m-sorry-herbal-medicine-oh-herbal-medicine-s-been-around-for

2. http://www.chiro.org/nutrition/FULL/Natural_vs_Synthetic_Vitamin_E.shtml

3. http://www.oregon.gov/Pharmacy/Imports/Marijuana/Public/DeathsFromMarijuanaV17FDAdrugs.pdf

4. “Historically, nicotine has not been regarded as a carcinogen and the IARC has not evaluated nicotine in its standalone form or assigned it to an official carcinogen group. While no epidemiological evidence supports that nicotine alone acts as a carcinogen in the formation of human cancer, research over the last decade has identified nicotine’s carcinogenic potential in animal models and cell culture”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotine

Burns – how to deal with them

I used lavender essential oil for all burns and cuts. However this isn’t the only thing you can do. Here is an article with other suggestions:

From: newsletter@herballe gacy.com(Herbal Legacy  Newsletter)

Sponsored by The School of Natural Healing & Christopher Publications
June 25, 2008
 
We have a very important article to share with you today – it is titled
“Treating Burns” by Master Herbalist David Christopher.  If you follow
the steps in this article you can help save yourself and loved ones from
needless pain and disfigurement.  We encourage you to read this
article carefully, print it so you can refer to it when needed, and pass
it on to your friends and family.
  
“Treating Burns”
By David W. Christopher M.H., and founding member of A.H.G.
 
There are a lot of misconceptions in treating and caring for burns. 
Those that have been burned need not suffer pain and disfigurement nor
undergo expensive and questionable plastic surgery. 
 
The first myth that causes excruciating pain is the supposed necessity
of exposing the burn to air.  Adherence to this myth has caused
extreme pain and suffering.  Airing out burns is not necessary and is
counter productive.
 
The next myth that causes undo pain and scarring is that one should not
use oil on burns.  Olive oil based herbals prevent scarring and
alleviate pain.
 
The third myth is the necessity of debridement.  Clearly, leaking
fluids, decaying tissues, and bacteria need to be removed but not by the
present methods using wipes and brushes.  I can not think of anything
so tortuous.  In fact, nurses who care for burn patients take special
psychological training enabling them to continue their duties regardless
of the screams of their patients.  It is even more heartrending when
they change dressings for children who have been badly burned.
 
Herbal Protocol
 
First- submerge wound in very cold or ice water.  If clothing is
involved, submerge affected areas in ice water clothes and all, and then
carefully remove clothing from these areas.  This is to prevent
pulling off the skin.
 
Second-apply burn ointment (see Herbal legacy –
http://www.herballe gacy.com/ Burns_Sunburns. html Comfrey Paste) or simply
combine Dr. Christopher’ s BFC salve (now called Complete Tissue and Bone
ointment) with an equal amount of pure raw honey.  Mix well and apply
thickly (1/16 inch), then apply soft fresh leaves (plantain, dandelion,
even the soft parts of spinach or lettuce) then apply gauze to secure
the leaves, then cover with soft padding and secure with an ace
bandage.  (Caution: gauze applied directly over the ointment, when
removed, will pull off the new skin that the body is trying so hard to
make). Non stick pads will trap bacteria and fluids and worsen the
condition.  Leaves allow oxygen in the air to counter the bacteria but
still provide a comfortable barrier.  ; The dressing should be changed
2 to 3 times daily, depending on elimination.
 
Case History
 
Glory, age 5, was on the floor doing her homework when her brother
passed by carrying a load of books.  He tripped on the cord to the
crock pot, which spilled its contents of hot soup on Glory’s abdomen and
legs.  Panic ensued, resulting in running around with scalding hot
clothes.  Her Dad rushed in and immediately put her under a cold
shower.
They removed the clothes and rushed her to the hospital.  On the way
they applied the honey that they grabbed on their way out the door.
 
At the hospital the prospect was grim.  They applied Silvadene or some
such product and pain killers.  Needless to say, there was no progress
or relief for three days, yet they would not release the child to the
parents.  The mother called me on the second day and I taught her the
herbal protocol for burns.  Instead of releasing the child they
transferred her to Shriner’s Hospital in Galveston, Texas.  The family
followed.  At Shriner’s one of the top surgeons in the country
explained about shaving her head and removing the skin from her head to
graft into the legs and abdomen.  This was necessary because according
to modern medicine, “the damage was too great and could not heal without
horrible disfigurement. ” 
 
The parent’s pleaded for time at home for mental calming of the child,
good sleep and familiar food and surroundings.
 
A miracle ensued that they were able to take the child home. Here they
applied the protocol mentioned earlier.  They saw more progress in one
day than was evident in the hospital in 10 days.  Today she is doing
great and is mostly scar free.  If they hadn’t wasted time in hospital
care, she would have healed faster with little pain and no scarring. 
 
Glory’s mom has agreed to allow us to share the pictures of her burns
and recovery with you.  They are located on our website – however, we
want to warn you before you click on the link that the pictures are very
graphic due to the severity of the burns.  In order to show the burns
and the healing Glory is unclothed.
 
To see the pictures please click the following link:
 
http://www.herballe gacy.com/ Treating_ Burns.html.
 
For complete protocol on burns I suggest the excellent book “Comfort for
the burned and Wounded” by John Keim.  This can be purchased from
Christopher Publications for $14.95. To order please visit:
http://www.christop herpublications. com/Keim_ Comfort_Burned. html. 
 
Printable Version: http://www.herballe gacy.com/ Treating_ Burns.pdf
        
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