A New Adventure in Learning
Today, I begin a new adventure in exploring, learning and
sharing. Since my journey with the black beast began, I have received life
saving (at least I hope so) medications and treatments and surgeries to make
the beast retreat and hopefully never return. However, I live in the real world
and know he can show his ugly face at anytime.
During these last 2 years my body has been filled with the
most offensive toxic sludge that a body could absorb without dying from the
treatment. I refused, at every new curve in the road to recovery, to give in to
the black beast or to let him define me. Even though I felt like death itself,
I got up, I got dressed and I got on with life, only missing once month of work
while receiving daily doses of IV Interferon.
As is true for all conventional medicine, they are all toxic
to the body. That said, they have beneficial side effects to warrant their use.
For example, HCTZ (Hydrochlorothiazide) rids the body of fluid. It is, however,
not selective in this action. So along with the fluid, essential electrolytes
that the body cannot live without are also eliminated. All of this action, just
by what it does, lowers blood pressure and helps control edema (swelling). The
beneficial side effects of this drug, for some patients, can warrant the risk
of their use. Education is essential to every patient to know the risks, the
benefits and how to minimize the depletion of these life saving electrolytes.
This is but one example of the multitude to toxic side effects that conventional
medication can produce. Have you ever listened to a TV commercial about the drug
of the month and decided after hearing all of the possible side effects, that
maybe you would think twice about using it…. I know I have.
I live between two very separate and very valid thought
processes. As most of you know, I am a member of the established conventional
healthcare industry. I believe in it with my heart and soul, being the first to
suggest a medication to a patient that I think might be beneficial. But, after
becoming a patient during a life altering, life threatening disease and
subsequent treatment, I have opened my mind to the possibility that maybe there
exists a path that would make conventional medicine more tolerable. My interest
in herbal remedies was piqued many years ago while reading a Nursing
publication that spoke about studies of the use of the spice Tumeric as an
herbal relief for arthritic pain and the pain and fatigue associated with EBV
(Epstein Barr Virus) also considered by many as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. This
little tidbit of information was stored in the recesses of my mind and surfaced
from time to time when new information regarding this herb and many more
started to flood the media.
I do not embark on this new path lightly. I have studied the
alternatives that are available, for the last 6 months. This new investigation
began as a last ditch effort for my own healing purposes. After 11 surgeries
consisting of 5 wide lesion excision, all at least 6 inches long, and 6 deep
cryosurgical procedures (deep freezing after anesthesia), my body’s healing
abilities were non-existent. During this
search, at a time when I had open, oozing wounds, an opportunity arose to try
an herbal mixture with a base of shea butter to aide in healing. The herb that was infused in the shea butter
was cannabis. After just 7 days, a wound that resisted healing for 8 weeks was
now on it’s way to a full healing.
The above pictures are the day of surgery, 8 weeks after
surgery, 5 days after starting cannabis cream and finally, 2 weeks after
beginning cannabis cream and totally healed.
During this time, my Dermatologist noticed 5 areas on my face
that were highly suspicious for being BCC (basal cell carcinoma).
Unfortunately, the treatment for the black beast opens the door and turns on
the light switch for BCC and SCC (squamous cell carcinoma) to flourish. And
I’ve had them all. My Doctor wanted me to use a highly toxic cream to remove
them from my face. Now, again, those of you that already know me, know that I
work in a very busy medical practice, tending to hundreds of patients a week.
And I am also sure that most of you have seen the vivid horrible results of
using this cream. Recently, a picture of a girl who used it went viral on
social media to raise awareness of the dangers of the sun. My resounding response to this suggested
treatment was NO WAY. The resulting
appearance devastation was one factor in my negative response, cemented by the
possibility of local lesion infection. Being highly analytical, I thought that
maybe, if the Shea butter herbal mixture could perform so spectacularly on an
open wound, maybe it could help heal the lesions on my face. I shared this thought with my Doctor and she
agreed to postpone intervention until we could analyze the result of using this
cream for a period of time. As previously stated, I have 5 areas on my face
ranging from pea sized to quarter sized lesions. The most problematic being the
quarter sized lesion on my right cheek. It was very red, very tender to touch
and down right ugly. So, I started using this Shea butter cream on my face once
a day. After application I would
vigorously massage the cream into the lesion. As I sit here writing this
journal, I am now 5 months into using the cream. It has not cured these areas
or made them disappear, however, the quarter- sized area on my right cheek has
decreased in size. It is now half the size of a dime and no longer red and
angry.
I use this as an example of my own isolated experience, as
my own reality. I am not suggesting that conventional treatment is out of the
question. But if I can postpone invasive surgical procedures for as long as
possible, I feel I have achieved my goal.
It is with this lone experience and it’s surprising result
that initiated my quest for learning more about what herbs, the gifts of the
earth, could offer. After purchasing at least 10 books by different authors to
see if there was a common knowledge base and common thought process, I started
to identify similar stories and similar techniques by all of the renowned
herbalists that I studied. To be sure, as is true in any quest for knowledge,
there are central facts that hold fast and then there are fringe ideas that to
most would make a conventional thinker shake her head. Even the fringe ideas
can merit examination in the full spectrum of investigation. Although foreign
to most of our conventional educational base, the powers of earth’s gifts in
theory and in essence must be considered.
At this point, definitions of the available herbal
preparations would be helpful to the reader.
A tincture is an alcohol based liquid derived from steeping herbs in the
alcohol for an extended period of time. There are many different ratios for
this formula. Most however are made with 100 proof vodka. These combinations
are achieved mathematically via W/V (weight by volume) calculations. Dried
herbs are made with a 1:4 W/V and fresh herbs are made with a 1:2 W/V.
To the lay -person this might seem like an insurmountable
task. It just so happens though that I have been actively working with W/V
formulas for the last 35 years. All of the allergy medications that I make for
my patients and use to test my patients are achieved using the W/V methodology. So this portion of my investigation was
actually a relief and relatively easy to achieve. Herbal oil is achieved by
steeping herbs in organic oils for a set period of time. The oils used can be
olive oil, almond oil or coconut oil.
This is usually a 1:1 W/V meaning equal amounts of herbs and oil. Each herb
used in oil will treat a very specific symptom. Herbal remedies do not strive
to cure a disease but instead treat the symptoms caused by a disease to allow
the body to heal itself. As with oils, creams can also be infused with herbs
and applied to the skin for surface treatment.
After investing a substantial amount of money on books and
after careful reading and note taking, I decided to enter the next level of
investigation. I happened on what felt like a vivid sign that maybe my
investigation was meant to be. While vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard, as we do
often while enjoying the beauty of the island, we were also enjoying the goods
and crafts at a local farmers market. It was a gorgeous day and happily we
tried foods and bought flowers and hand made goods by the local artisans. A
lovely woman from the island manned the last display I visited. She was selling
herbal tinctures, oils and selling books. I quickly scooped up the books as she
was closing her booth for the day. When I turned the books over to read about
the nationally renowned author, I realized that the lovely woman was the author
of the books and the maker of the tinctures and oils. She graciously signed the
books and I departed without buying any of the tinctures or oils as she had already
packed them in anticipation of her departure.
This happened on the first day of a week long vacation which
gave me 7 days to study in depth the contents of her books and her knowledge of
the plants that she harvests on the Vineyard.
After leaving the island, I was wishing that I had purchased some of her
tinctures and oils and luckily noticed that she had a website.
Again, for those of you who don’t know me, I am a realist at
heart and somewhat of a doubting Thomas. I need things to be proven to me
before I will throw myself head first into an endeavor. That said, I strongly felt that this was
something that I wanted and yes, needed to explore. If by any stretch of the
imagination it could provide the knowledge and information useful in alleviating
just one side effect of the toxins still residing in my body, I would invest my
time and resources to take it to the next level of investigation. So, I purchased 2 dropper vials of tincture,
one to aid in better sleep and one for the reduction of stress. I also ordered
a tin of herbal tea to be used at night as a calmative. Each dropper vial contained 2 ounces of
tincture and the container of tea was a combination of herbs and dried flowers
that weighed 1.75 ounces. The cost of these three products was $92.00. I
include the cost to give one piece of evidence that helped me to decide to
produce these products myself.
2 weeks after placing my Internet order for the tinctures
and tea it arrived safe and sound. To say that I was anxious to try it is a huge
understatement. So after dinner and the cleanup were completed I made a cup of
tea with the herbal mixture and followed the directions on the bottle of
tincture for more restful sleep. As any
other post menopausal woman, from time to time I suffer from insomnia and to me
this would be the easiest symptom to be able to evaluate the efficacy of the
nighttime tincture. Again, I had no pre-conceived conclusions regarding the
strength and efficacy of this tincture.
I continued to read as I do most evenings until about a half
hour after I had taken the tincture in a small amount of water, when my eyes
started to be very heavy. I thought to myself that it was all in my head. Well,
it was not in my head. I was very drowsy and knew that I needed to go to bed. I
slept through the night and awoke well rested. Thinking that this was either a
placebo effect or just my force of will, I tried it again the next night. Yep,
that’s right, 30 minutes after taking the tincture I needed to go to bed. I
have only taken this tincture a few times since, when I felt I needed it, but
each and every time it worked the exact same way. The tea mixture is delicious and also works
well as a calmative after a busy day.
After having the exact same response to the tincture with
each use, I thought that this might be a viable remedy and a basis for further
study. I started to research herbs and their actions and indications and
developed a list of the most beneficial products for the symptoms I was
studying, narrowing the list down to 23 herbs.
I placed an order for these herbs from Mountain Rose Herbal website
where all of their products are certified organic. This was a substantial
expense but I knew that if I wanted to grow in my herbal journey that it was
necessary. To give you a rough idea of the cost, it is as follows: herbs were
approximately $300.00, the ball jars were $22.00 and the vodka was $16.99 per
bottle, I purchased 10 bottles. So approximately $500.00 paid for all the
supplies and herbs etc. So, ok…. let’s play with math for a moment. Keep in
mind that the 2 bottles of tincture and the loose tea cost $92.00.
To make the tincture with the price of the herb and the
price of the alcohol using the most expensive herb and the least expensive herb
I came to the average price per half ounce, which is usually the amount, used
in herbal mixtures. The average cost per half ounce is $0.87. When you compare the price of a 2ounce vial of
tincture, which averages $30.00, the effort to make your own is well worth the
time taken. Not to mention, I have a great need to control the ingredients and
the process of production. In doing it myself I know that the jars have been
sterilized, that the alcohol is 100 proof and that aseptic technique has been
maintained throughout the preparation at every step. It took approximately 6 hours to make the
herbal mixtures, this included clean up time. These 23 herbal tinctures will be combined
depending on their specific actions to treat a whole host of symptoms from
headaches to muscle soreness, fatigue, insomnia, arthritic pain and focus of
thought. Again, this will be done slowly and the dose will be started very low
and increased in very small amounts until the effective dose is achieved. I
have purchased these individual herbs with the health and wellness of my family
in mind. I have taken meticulous notes and have written a journal that
chronicles the supplies, suppliers, the herb’s name both scientific and popular
name. I have noted each herb’s use and conditions it could benefit. I have also
been very selective as to what I would delve into. Having a very good sense of
what I am comfortable doing and uncomfortable with, I will not cross my
internal line. So I have stayed away from anything that affects the heart or
blood pressure. I still believe that conventional medications must be used for
these.
While being introspective, I find that I regret that I am
now 63. Not because I miss my youth because I don’t. The advancing years brings to reality the
finite time left to learn and expand my knowledge base. If I long for youth, it
is merely to have the opportunity and the time necessary to examine the
miracles of the body and the bounty of Mother Earth.
I will keep you posted on the tinctures completion, which
will be approximately around Halloween. And will report the efficacy of this
endeavor. This is undertaken with the hope that if it is worthwhile for the
family, that with my notes, this art will endure after I have left this earth.
