Herbal Remedies

List of some Ailments and the Plants Used in Their Treatment

In this list we have intentionally omitted serious illnesses: only a physician should treat them, using either natural or synthetic medicines that are very potent and that could not be used by the layman without danger. We have been able to indicate, with the necessary warnings, some of these illnesses in which medicinal plants may sustain the medical treatment.

Certain indispositions that seem trivial, such as gastro-intestinal catarrh, repeated headaches, stiff neck, etc. may be the first signs of more serious dis-eases; if the symptoms do not disappear rapidly one must not hesitate to call in the physician and to remember that an illness treated promptly is more easily cured than if allowed to develop.

For each ailment we have listed the plants that may help in its treatment; the most effective plants are listed first. The grouping is not based on any fundamental principles, for it can happen that plants considered as less effective may be found to be the best in certain cases.

The forms in which medicinal plants are administered are described in Preparing Medical Plants; here we shall deal only with some supplementary indications. It must always be remembered, especially when using mixtures of different drugs, that these should be in the appropriate degree of subdivision.

Anaemia:
This disease should be treated by a physician.
Plants rich in chlorophyll can complete the treatment: nettle as a salad or in powder form.
No plants are known for the relief of pernicious anaemia.

Appetite (lack of):
Lack of appetite may be an early symptom of more serious illness, or else the consequence of an illness from which the patient is recovering.
The drugs in use are mainly those containing bitters or volatile oils.
If lack of appetite accompanies a serious illness or infection, the medicinal plants used must be without therapeutic action on the infections.
Drugs for lack of appetite are taken as tisanes half an hour before meals: white mugwort, wormwood, gentian, calamus, masterwort, angelica, pepper;mint, spearmint, alpine mugwort, caraway, juniper, centaury, yarrow, hyssop, elecampane, rue, horehound, buckbean, holy thistle, mugwort.

Arteriosclerosis:
Cannot be cured by plants.
Those named have the principal effect of slightly lowering the blood pressure, which is almost always very high in arteriosclerosis, thus relieving some of the unpleasant symptoms of the disease; this hypotensive action is always weak: garlic, ramsons, quince (alone or in mixtures), valerian.

Asthma:
Has many different causes.
Medicinal plants cannot produce a cure, but they can alleviate the effects: henbane, stramonium (in the form of cigarettes), celandine, valerian, fennel (alone or in mixtures).

Bile:
Biliary calculi and inflammation of the biliary duct should be treated by the physician. For insufficiency of biliary secretion the following drugs may be used: spearmint, peppermint, polypody root, dandelion, marigold, horehound (alone or in mixtures).

Bladder (inflammation of):
Almost always caused by bacterial infection.
Today antibiotics and synthetic products that are of much greater effectiveness than those present in plants are used.
Vegetable drugs serve only as supportive therapy: bearberry, cowberry, birch, chamomile, couchgrass, lady's bedstraw, all being used alone or in mixtures to which alder buckthorn may be added.

Boils (and some ulcers):
The physician employs antibiotics for systemic treatment. Local support medication uses infusions of the plants listed below either as hot compresses or as baths; the pulped fresh plants may also be applied.
Boils may lead to blood poisoning; should they not heal rapidly, if they are associated with fever or with pain or even enlargement in the armpit or in the groin, then medical advice should be sought immediately.
Baths: mallow, marshmallow leaves, thyme, wild thyme, marjoram, sanicle.
Hot compresses:, linseed, fenugreek, mallow.
Application of pulps: sanicle, orpine, wall-pepper, ramsons, golden rod, cuckoopint.

Bronchitis:
See Coughs, Bronchitis, Catarrhs.

Burns:
Small burns may be treated with tannin-containing plants to relieve pain and to promote healing.
If the burns are more serious they should not be treated with tannin-containing drugs for this can result in the formation of an impermeable superficial layer in which microorganisms that produce toxic substances may develop.
It is essential that extensive burns are treated by a physician: oak bark, tormentilla, elm bark, avens.

Cardiac complaints:
Heart diseases must be treated by the physician.
Mild disturbances due to nerves may be treated with hawthorn or with mistletoe, preferably using pharmaceutically prepared medicines.

Chills:
Febrifuge and sudorific drugs are used: willow bark, meadowsweet, lime, elder, holly, aconite (homeopathic preparations), dwarf thistle, violet (alone or in mixtures).

Colds:
See Chills.
The following plants are recommended for inhalations: pepper;mint, thyme, wild thyme, marjoram.

Constipation:
Alder buckthorn, monk's rhubarb, buckthorn, linseed, seeds of alpine plantain, quince, fennel, liquorice.

Contusions:
See Haematoma.

Coughs, Bronchitis, Catarrhs:
Coughs are treated with demulcent, expectorant and suppressant drugs:
Expectorants: cowslip, soapwort, mullein, burnet saxifrage, pine buds, coltsfoot, thyme, wild thyme.
Suppressants: fennel, aniseed, wild thyme, drosera.

Diabetes:
Should be treated only under the direction of a physician who will employ specific medicaments e.g. insulin and synthetic antidiabelic drugs. Medicinal plants can provide some additional mild support to the medical treatment: kidney bean, goat's rue, bilberry leaves, nettle leaves, walnut leaves.

Diarrhoea:
Results from differ;ent causes including, amongst others, infections, nervous disturbance of the digestive system and food poisoning. If diarrhoea is accompanied by fever, the physician should be consulted.
Drugs containing tannins or volatile oils are used in treatment: tormentilla, oak bark, dried bilberries, bistort, elm bark, silverweed, five-leaf grass, herb robert, lady's mantle, alpine lady's mantle, wild thyme, marjoram, peppermint, spearmint, germander (alone or in mixtures).

Digestive disturbances:
See Appetite (lack of), also Stomach (ache, heaviness).

Dropsy:
Modern therapy employs drugs that are of much greater activity than the following medicinal plants which are available to the layman: juniper birch, rupturewort, heartsease lovage, parsley fruits, soapwort couch-grass.
Eruptions: Skin eruptions may often arise from internal disorders (constipation, various infections).
It follows that external treatment should be accompanied by internal treatment or, at least, by a purge.
Preparations of the following are used as compresses or as applications: chamomile, marjoram, thyme, heartsease, willow bark, soapwort, herb robert, chervil (alone or in mixtures).

Eyes (inflammation of):
Diseases of the eyes must be most carefully observed and immediate medical advice obtained.
Medicinal plant preparations are generally used in the form of eye lotions, applied by means of an eyebath: chamomile, fennel, rue, leaves of mallow and of marshmallow, eyebright (alone or in mixtures).
The infusions must be freshly prepared.

Fatigue:
Drugs containing vita min C (dog-rose) may be of use

Flatulence:
Caraway, fennel, peppermint, garlic, ramsons, yarrow, alpine mugwort, alone or in mixtures

Gout:
A number of drugs relieve the pain of gout, even though they do not completely cure it. The following medicinal plants may be used:
internally: colchicum (only homeopathic preparations may be used by the layman), hedgehyssop, birch, juniper.
Externally: black bryony, comfrey(especially the fresh roots).

Gums (inflammation of):
See Mouth

Haematoma:
May be treated locally by plants that aid the resorption of blood from the bruised tissues: arnica, black bryony, comfrey, St John's wort, linseed, fenugreek seeds, lime bark, cuckoopint. Crush the plants, mix with very hot water to form a paste and apply to the bruise.

Hypertension:
Practically all the following plants produce only a temporary lowering of the blood pressure; the treatment must be continued for a long time.
Extraction of tropical sopcies of Rauwollia and of white hellebore have yielded very active hypotensive drugs that should be taken only under medical supervision.
Amongst our indigenous plants may be named: garlic, ramsons, horsetail, mistletoe, hawthorn, either singly or in mixtures.

Influenza:
See Chills,

Insomnia:
The following plants, which may be obtained by the layman, are effective only in mild cases of insomnia: valerian, hops, fennel, aniseed.

Jaundice:
See Bile.

Menstruation, profuse:
May be helped only to a small extent by treatment with medicinal plants.
The physician employs far more effective means; bleeding other than normal periods must definitely be treated by the physician.
The following plants may be of some use: tormentilla, shepherd's purse, lady's mantle and alpine lady's mantle.

Meteorism:
See Flatulence.

Mouth (inflammation of):
Infusions of plants are used as mouth washes or as gargles: sage, thyme, tormentilla, oak bark, herb robert.

Nausea:
See Vomiting. Nerves: Velerian, hops. Oedema: See Dropsy.

Rheumatism:
For patients suffering from rheumatism it is specially important to ensure regular excretion of urine and of mineral salts. Thus laxative and diuretic plants are used along with those that relieve the pains:
Internally: juniper, birch, oak, parsley.
Externally: cuckoopint, white dead nettle, rosemary.

Stomach (ache):
If pains are repeated at short intervals, the physician should be consulted. The following plants give relief: wild chamomile, chamomile, peppermint, spearmint, caraway, celandine.

Stomach (heaviness of):
For very slow digestion ('heaviness'). the same plants are used as for lack of appetite.
Sunstroke: See Burns.

Tonsillitis:
Acute sore throat recurring with periodic frequency would indicate the need to seek medical advice. Medicinal plants are generally used in the form of tisanes and gargles; certain plants may also be chewed for some time so that the saliva moistens the back of the throat: sage, thyme, wild thyme, origanum, chamomile.

Varicose veins (bleeding):
Medical advice should be sought. Many of the plants listed under 'Wound Healing' also aid the healing of bleeding varicose veins, especially comfrey.

Vomiting:
Peppermint, spearmint, wormwood, centaury, the chamomiles, alone or mixed in equal parts.

Wind:
See Flatulence.

Wound Healing:
To aid the healing of wounds, medicinal plants may be used as lotions, applications or as pulps; plants containing volatile oils or tannins are most frequently employed: chamomile, thyme, marjoram, arnica, comfrey, sanicle, St John's wort, herb robert.