The Earthwise Herbal Repertory

by Matthew Wood

  Fever, Systemic: • Achillea (Weiss) • Baptisia (sepsis) • Echinacea (sepsis) • Polemonium.

  Fever, Eruptive: See “Skin.”

  Rash (to bring out): • Carthamus (tea or tincture of the flower tops; even cooking oil will do) • Cimicifuga • Pulsatilla.

  Post-Febrile Symptoms: • Achillea (exhausting, long-term fever, post-febrile weakness) • Agropyron repens (heavy urine during and after fever; cold infusion with lemon) • Amygdalus (reddish, irritable skin, heat) • Arctium (dry skin) • Arnica (shock; choppy pulse) • Baptisia • Bupleurum (“diseases that tend to begin externally as an acute syndrome and linger for a prolonged period”—Tierra) • Carthamus (shock) • Cichorium (long, lingering, intermittent) • Cinchona (bitter astringent for exhaustion, indigestion, lack of appetite) • Echinacea (builds white blood cells; keeps the system clean) • Eupatorium perfoliatum (edema after scarlet fever) • Galium (dark urine) • Gentiana (lack of appetite after prolonged fever) • Geum (post-influenza) • Lactuca • Leonurus (heart palpitations and nervousness) • Lycopus (exhaustion; rapid, very irregular pulse) • Melissa (nervousness) • Monarda fistulosa (clammy skin from pores not closing) • Ocimum (recovery from debilitating chills that wear out nervous system and gall-bladder reflex) • Panax quinquefolius (restores dried-out fluids) • Prunus serotina (reddish, irritable skin; rapid, irregular pulse) • Rosmarinus (exhaustion following hepatitis, influenza, low-grade fevers—Weiss) • Salvia (trembling) • Solidago (kidneys can’t handle waste products; dark, heavy or light, thin urine) • Tilia (nervousness following colds) • Ulmus (emaciation after long fever) • Verbena (convulsions) • Veratrum viride (heart overstimulated, exhausted by strong pulse; homeopathic dose).

  Agents Acting on the Sebaceous Glands (Oily Sweat, Excessive or Deficient): • ARCTIUM (seed and root) • Celastrus • Helianthus (seed).

  Note: Above information derived from William Cook (1869).

  Chickenpox: • CARTHAMUS • CIMICIFUGA • Echinacea • PULSATILLA.

  Delirium: • Belladonna (homeopathic; as if possessed by a violent animal) • Hyoscyamus (homeopathic; as if possessed by an evil spirit).

  Hectic Fever: • Lycium (night sweats) • Panax quinquefolius • Prunus serotina • Pulsatilla.

  Note: Hectic fever occurs in exhausted febrile states, where the fluids are driven off by heat and there is weakness and lack of resistance; TCM calls this “yin-deficiency fever.” The cheeks are often red with a “hectic flush” in the afternoon, with night sweats at night.

  Lyme Disease: • ANDROGRAPHIS (chills and fever, chronic and acute) • Cimicifuga (muscular pain) • DIPSACUS (chills and fever, brain fog, many symptoms; at onset and chronic) • Quercus (with Dipsacus—Krekow) • Polygonum japonica • Sida acuta (co-infection) • Smilax • VERBENA (co-infection with stiff, painful neck).

  Malaria: • Andrographis • ARTEMISIA ANNUA (specific) • Ceanothus (swollen spleen) • Cinchona (debilitated states after the main fever has passed—Scudder) • Dipsacus • Euonymus • Eupatorium perfoliatum.

  Note: All the remedies under the “Intermittent” heading may have some application here as well.

  Measles: • Asclepias tuberosa (catarrhal manifestation; high fever; brings out eruptions) • Borago • Carthamus (brings out eruptions) • Drosera • Echinacea • Eupatorium perfoliatum • Euphrasia (with eye complications) • Trifolium.

  Meningitis, Encephalitis, Brain Fever: • CIMICIFUGA (meningitis; never well since, or during) • Echinacea (with underlying sepsis; profound prostration) • Leonurus (tick-borne—Rogers) • SALVIA (fever with unconsciousness, trembling) • Scutellaria (spinal) • Verbena.

  Mononucleosis, Glandular Fever: • Astragalus • BAPTISIA • Calendula • Ceanothus (spleen complications) • Codonopsis • Commiphora myrrha • Echinacea • HELIANTHEMUM (often available only in homeopathic form as Cistus canadensis) • Iris • Isatis • Phytolacca • Scrophularia.

  Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: This is so often due to lingering effects of mononucleosis—“never been well since mono”—that one should strongly consider using the above mononucleosis remedies.

  Mumps: • Asclepias tuberosa • Phytolacca • Trifolium.

  Bacterial (antibacterial remedies): • Achillea (full, nonresistant, rapid pulse) • Baptisia (typhoid fever) • Berberis (hard, rapid pulse) • Echinacea (septic, exhaustive fever) • Lomatium.

  Note: Use large doses of Capsicum, Armoracia, Angelica, Ligusticum, and Myrica (“Fire Cider”-type formulae) to bring blood to the head and expel microbes.

  Virus (antiviral remedies): • Astragalus • Baptisia (exhaustion) • Calendula • GNAPHALIUM • HELICHRYSUM (essential oil) • Hypericum • SAMBUCUS (flower or berry) • Urtica (tea).

  Viruses have a sedative or depressing effect on the organism, so they produce chills, while bacteria have a stimulating effect and produce heat.

  FORMULARY

  Cinchona—with Achillea, Mentha piperita, Asclepias tuberosa (influenza). BHP 1983, 67.

  Eupatorium perfoliatum—with Achillea, Sambucus, Asclepias, Angelica, and Capsicum or Zingiberis (influenza).

  Liriodendron—with Cornus florida, Prunus serotina (malaria, influenza, intermittent fever). This Cherokee malaria remedy became famous during the Civil War, when quinine was difficult to get in the Confederacy, due to the blockades. It is from Richard Foreman, quoted by Porcher.

  Hyssopus—with Calendula, Arctium, Hypericum (fever with dry skin). Expanded from BHP 1983, 117.

  Hyssopus—with Verbena, Rubus canadensis, Centaurium erythraea, and a pinch of Capsicum (fever with dry skin, dark urine). Les Moore 2002, 17.

  Sambucus flower—Achillea flower, Mentha piperita (influenza). Traditional.

  Sambucus flower—with Mentha piperita, Tilia europaea, Verbascum spp. (rhinitis, influenza, throat, ear). Les Moore 2002, 10.

  Sambucus—with Fumaria and Borago (diaphoretic in fever). “But none are equal to the elder, fumitory, and borage”—Tilke.

  Agni, the Inner Fire

  Ayurvedic medicine has gifted the world with a beautiful metaphor for describing the inner fire of the body. The inner digestive/metabolic fire is located in the center of the body, in the pyloric sphincter of the stomach. It is called the agni in Sanskrit, a word related to our terms “igneous” and “ignition.”

  From there the agni radiates outward in all directions, to the periphery of the organism, keeping everything warm and cozy. With it the agni brings water and nutrition—as in Chinese medicine, fire is associated with transformation, transportation, spreading, and movement. The agni is blocked by ama, which has the properties of unhealthy dampness, stickiness, thickness, impurity, coldness, and sluggishness. It is likened to a phlegm that covers, dampness, and suppress the fire anywhere from the center to the periphery.

  We have similar traditions in the West; we speak of “fire in the belly,” now meaning just a psychological quality—the gumption to keep going, no matter what. However, in traditional Western herbalism we have a very close analog in the teachings of Samuel Thomson. This self-taught farmer-cum-herbalist, who popularized herbalism in the early nineteenth century, taught that the stomach was like a stove: all that was needed to maintain health was to clean out the ashes (oops, I think my wood stove needs some of that attention!) and keep the fire stoked with fuel. The fire can then radiate outwards to the periphery and keep the organism warm, moist, and nourished.

  The enemy of this fire is, first of all, cold. When external cold enters, it closes the pores in the periphery and keeps the heat from its natural movement outwards onto the surface of the skin. On the other hand, if the fire in the center dies down, the fire cannot radiate to the surface, and cold can flow in from outside. The ash blocking the stove was likened by Thomson to phlegm or “canker,” as he called it, adhering to the walls of the stomach and impeding outward flow. The properties of canker are basically the same as those of ama.

  Thomson likened the fire in the stomach to a fountain: if it
is dammed up around the periphery, the water becomes still, and stillness is the attribute of death, not life. On the other hand, if the fountain itself dies down, it becomes a stagnant little puddle, also still. The flow of the fountain is the flow of life.

  While it might be most appropriate to put this discussion under the stomach and small intestine, where it is often placed in Ayurveda, it equally belongs under the discussion of fever. Thomson himself saw the inner fire as requiring attention at the center, to remove canker; in the circulation, to move warmth, water, and food to the periphery; and in the pores of the skin, to keep them open. His follower, Dr. Cook (1869) therefore separated the diaphoretics for opening the skin and releasing the hear of the fever, or the chill of cold, into two categories: the relaxing diaphoretics that open the pores and release chill, and the warming diaphoretics that warm the center and open the pores from increased internal heat.

  Injuries, First Aid

  Very often we see first-aid salves and ointments that simply combine the top vulneraries (calendula, plantain, St. John’s wort, comfrey, etc.) without a thought as to the nature of the wound. These products are fine for first aid, but deny us the opportunity to treat more expertly by combining for broad-spectrum effects rather than specific wound qualities. Formulas work well in first aid, and we should try to identify a specific formula that matches the specific wound in every case. To this end, I have included in my discussion of injuries and first aid a section on tissue states and the skin surface.

  Heat/Excitation: The surface overreacts to injury, resulting in histaminic activity; carmine-red color; use cooling herbs: Amygdalus, Hypericum, Prunus serotina, Rosa, Tilia. Some cooling power is also to be had from demulcents: Althaea, Chondrus, Lilium candidum (petal; much-used in France in the past) or L. longiflorum, Ulmus. Most carrier oils are warming and stimulating, so for cooling we prefer a lotion or coconut oil. Hemorrhages are bright-red, and difficult to stop; use Achillea.

  Cold/Depression: This is a common condition when a poison or bacteria has gotten into a wound, or there is poor peripheral circulation and the body cannot defend itself, which invites bacteria to invade. This requires the healing stimulants, warming remedies, and antiseptics. Warming and stimulating remedies include: Angelica, Arnica, Calendula, Capsella, Capsicum, Commiphora myrrha, Hydrastis, Hypericum, Inula, Ruta, Sassafras, Solidago, Stachys palustris, Trillium, Urtica, Zanthoxylum. Warming oils to combine with these include peanut (warm) and olive (mildly warming). Antiseptics include: Arnica, Baptisia, Capsicum, Inula, Isatis, and the conifers used by the American Indian people, including Pinus, Thuja, Tsuga, and Abies. Snakebite and venom remedies include: Achillea (spider), Cimicifuga, Echinacea, Eryngium, Eupatorium rugosum, Goodyeara, Lavandula, Plantago, Polygala senega.

  Dry/Atrophy: If the wounded area is poorly nourished, dry, wasted, etc., we should think of demulcents and nutritives: Calendula, Chondrus, Lilium candidum, Lilium longiflorum, Polygonatum, Symphytum, Trigonella, Ulmus. Stimulants also help by getting nutrition to the area: Hydrastis is both nutritive and stimulating. To stimulate tissue regrowth: Arctium (leaf), Centella, Symphytum (leaf), externally.

  Damp/Stagnation: This tissue state occurs when the matrix in the area of the wound is not clean, and there is a need for both local and systemic cleansing. Drawing agents (usually astringents) are needed, and possibly systemic alteratives, as well as local cleansing. Use: Centella, Helianthemum, Plantago, Scrophularia, Stellaria.

  Tension: This is a factor when the nerves are involved. Pain causes a person to hold the injured part tense, or hold the breath. Holding the breath releases endorphins (the body’s natural opiates), which reduce the pain. Agrimony is specific for pain that causes one to hold the breath. Add these agents for relieving tension to other remedies used for the wound itself: Agrimonia (stoic), Chamomilla (very sensitive and tender; whines and complains), Hypericum (severe pain), Potentilla (holds the breath), Verbascum, Withania (compensatory tension in nearby muscles), Zanthoxylum (tortured feeling).

  Relaxation: The more free the bleeding, the more we think of an astringent to help close the lips of the wound and staunch the blood (astringents are contraindicated if the wound is not bleeding): Achillea, Ajuga, Alchemilla, Rubus, Rumex crispus, Sanguisorba, Symphytum (may cause tissue overgrowth). Astringents also act as drawing agents to draw out splinters, infected material, pus. Drawing agents: Allium sativa (infected wounds), Plantago (open, infected wounds), Pinus (pine sap keeps the wound clean while drawing out metal, bullets, etc.—Navajo; confirmed), Symphytum (wounded cartilage).

  Abrasions, Cuts, Wounds: • ACHILLEA (active bleeding, bruises with bleeding, painful cuts; internal bleeding and blood blisters) • Ajuga • Alchemilla (torn skin, passive hemorrhage; rinse after dental surgery) • ALLIUM CEPA (cut a red onion in half, place over wound to draw; very old folk remedy with many confirmations) • ALLIUM SATIVA (local dressing) • ALTHAEA (external) • Amygdalus (histaminic irritation; red around wound) • Angelica • Arctium (gaping wounds, missing tissue; fill the wound with fresh root or leaf—LeSassier; confirmed) • CALENDULA (red, sore, infected cuts, cat scratches, cuts that are worse from exposure to water; purulent, infected) • CAPSELLA (oozing, passive hemorrhage; fresh plant or tincture best) • CAPSICUM (to stop bleeding; external) • Ceanothus (delayed coagulation; old bruises and contusions; external) • Centella • Chamomilla (complains about the pain) • Commiphora myrrha (abrasion) • Cnicus (indolent, infected) • Equisetum (especially for weak connective tissue, slow-healing wounds) • Geum (stimulating astringent) • Hydrastis (excessive bleeding, clean cuts; contraindicated for dirty, infected wounds because it will seal in dirt and pus) • HYPERICUM (cuts with nerve damage, inflammation and pain, loss of parts; heals slowly and closes the flesh from the inside; believed to reconnect nerves) • Ledum (puncture wounds; surface mottled pale and blue, poor oxidation, spasm from wound; prevents tetanus, according to homeopathy) • LILIUM CANDIDUM (drawing agent; flowers preserved in oil; place on cut, bruise, pus, splinter—French folk remedy) • Lycopus (bleeding) • PLANTAGO (drawing agent; dirty, infected cuts, puncture wounds without much bleeding) • Prunella (draws out heat of infection) • Prunus serotina (histaminic irritation) • Rubia (bleeding from a fresh, green wound) • Rubus canadensis (mild bleeding; external) • Rumex crispus (cuts and wounds; poultice) • Salvia (infected cut) • SANGUISORBA (all types of bleeding) • Sanicula • SOLIDAGO (bruises, old wounds) • STACHYS PALUSTRIS (“woundwort”; severe lacerations and bleeding; severed tissues) • Stellaria (external) • Symphytum (old wounds that are slow to heal; gaping wounds; generates flesh from the outside inwards; can cause overgrowth of tissue; external, combines well with Calendula) • Trillium (bleeding) • Ulmus • VINCA MINOR (bleeding from nose, mouth, after tooth extraction).

  Bruises: • ACHILLEA (red and blue; bruise with bleeding; blood blister; works better than Arnica when the origin of the bruise is violent) • ANGELICA (blue, green, gray, yellow color) • ARNICA (red and blue; without bleeding; strain, sprain) • Bellis perennis (bruises to deep tissues; obstetric injury) • CALENDULA (general remedy; compress for blow to the eye) • Carbo vegetabilis (homeopathic or powder of charcoal; blue and yellow color of bruise, old stagnant bruises) • CARTHAMUS (red and blue color; toxic undertone) • CHELIDONIUM (beat-up feeling; “thought by some to be superior to Arnica”—French; external) • Collinsonia (leaf poultice) • Hamamelis (subconjunctival hemorrhage) • Heracleum (compress) • Humulus • Hypericum (areas rich in nerves) • POLYGONATUM • Polygonum multiflorum (prepared root; external) • RUTA (nerve, bone, tendon; with swelling) • Sambucus (blue and swollen ankles, wrists) • SASSAFRAS (black and blue; in older persons; external) • SOLIDAGO (bruises, cuts, sores; especially good for spine, back; external) • Stellaria (external) • Symphytum (black eye) • Thymus (compress, pillow).

  Burns: • Abies balsamea (fir sap, from bubbles on the bark; external—Keewaydinoquay) • Achillea (deep burns) • AGRIMONIA (holding breath due to pain; �
�this is my favorite burn medicine”—Wood) • ALOE VERA (fresh gel) • Arctium (crushed leaf, with egg white; old Amish remedy) • ASTRAGALUS (increases circulation, nutrition to surface; removes heat and toxins) • CALENDULA (chemical burns to eyes; ulcerative burns; immediate dressing can prevent blisters) • CENTELLA (lessens scar tissue, prevents ulceration, speeds recovery; external, internal) • Chamomilla (external) • HAMAMELIS (pain, scalds, burnt lips, tongue, mouth, eyes, cornea; external) • HYPERICUM (sunburn, radiation burns, pain; oil, externally) • Iris versicolor (scalds, sunburn) • LAVANDULA (reduces pain, prevents infection, increases circulation, supports blood-vessel recovery; oil, externally—old folk remedy; often confirmed) • Linum (flaxseed oil) • Lycopodium (spores; not commercially available) • Melaleuca (prevents infection) • Mentha piperita (pain, burning; lessens hypersensitivity) • MONARDA FISTULOSA (with cold sweat; lessens scar tissue—Crow; confirmed) • Passiflora (recent burns; external) • Plantago (herpes, shingles, blisters, burns; external) • Polygonatum (external) • POTENTILLA (analogous to Agrimonia) • Prunella (external) • Sambucus • Symphytum (indolent burns, slow recovery; “do not use where there is redness, puffiness or oozing”—Hershoff and Rotelli) • Ulmus (paste to protect and heal burns) • Urtica (burning, stinging pain; kidney congestion from burn’s waste products) • Zingiberis (fresh juice of rhizome on first- and second-degree burns; lessens inflammation and pain).