CRAMPS AND MUSCLE SPASMS

Arnica Use arnica lotion or ointment on a cramp or muscle spasm.

Peppermint Add a scant 1/2 cup of boiling water to a handful of peppermint leaves to make wet mash and to release the volatile oil. Apply this as a poultice directly to the area of muscle spasms.

Eucalyptus Oil Apply it to the muscle spasm. olbas Oil or Lotion This prepared combination of various herbal oils is very effective for massage, sports induced cramps, and muscle spasms.

Vinegar Apply compresses of apple cider vinegar to the body on the area of the cramp, spasm, or tension. Use several cups of vinegar in the bathwater.

Vinegar and Honey Use equal amounts of vinegar and honey (1 tablespoon each to a cup of water) for a drink. This may also work for arthritic deposits; it is presumed that it works by distributing locked in calcium through the entire bloodstream, which lessens chronic cramp. Calcium tablets and vitamin C tablets together are often used by dancers to overcome some nightly cramps.

Water If the cramps are induced by running, it helps to take long, warm sedative baths immediately after jogging, or tennis, or other sport. At night, before bedtime, "walk" in cold water. This often alleviates the frequency of the sports related nighttime cramp. However, the cramp might be related to posture or to the shoe and the need for a lift in one shoe.

History is studded with fascinating plant discoveries from primitive cultures, and some of these discoveries have even changed history and medicine. Ipecac, now used in the home as an emetic to disgorge poisons, once helped to control the savage dysentery that prevaded Europe.

Quinine, from the tropics, saved the world from the ravages of malaria. Curare arrow poison, another tropical discovery, is now used to control breathing during some surgery.

My favorite plant story concerns a little old "herb lady" and William Withering, a curious and careful English country doctor, working during the eighteenth century. Dr. Withering was constantly aware of the limitations of his medical knowledge, and unceasing in his efforts to be a better doctor. Sadly he often sent his badly damaged heart patients home to die. "There is nothing more I can do for you." To his astonishment he would sometimes meet these same patients at local fairs. They were not only still alive, but hale and hearty. He finally asked some of them how they had achieved this miracle of life.

To a man they had quaffed the bitter remedies of. a plant lady, a strange, old woman who had the cure for dropsy, the fluid accumulation from heart, liver and kidney malfunction. Withering sought her out and she showed him her plant concoctions. Withering, an amateur botanist, instantly comprehended that the strongest of her plants was foxglove. He toiled ten years to isolate the active ingredient in this plant, and discovered digitalis, a substance still used in today's heart saving medicine.

For centuries tribal doctors in Africa, and non Western physicians in India, used preparations of the rauwolfia root to cure "moon madness." But this use for mental illness was ignored by all Western investigators until a certain incident occured in London. A young Nigerian prince, a student at a great English university, had a mental breakdown, and like Humpty Dumpty, none of the King's officers or men could put him back together again. Since no one could alleviate his distress, his fellow Nigerian students sent for a tribal doctor. He arrived with a batch of rauwolfia, and soon the young student was functioning in a normal way. The amazed British physicians instituted a major laboratory investigation of this root. The result the first synthetic tranquilizer: reserpine, a breakthrough in working with the mentally ill. Reserpine is the base of about a dozen anti hypertensive drugs which also sedate and tranquilize.

There are hundreds of such stories and many anecdotes of profound cures from either herbal simples (one vegetable substance) or herbal combinations. Many of these stories are lost forever, but only recently, as I discussed the rare virtues of the ginger root with my class at a local college, my student, Shirley Holmes, recalled that she had been saved from infant death by this plant.

Shirley had been born prematurely and was so small she couldn't be fed, and the doctor felt she couldn't live. Her Scottish grandmother asked if she could take the baby home as she was determined to give her ginger tea to survive. But the baby wouldn't drink the tea. The grandmother then hit on the marvelous notion of making a tea out of ginger snap cookies. The baby liked this ginger tasting tea, and in three months, all was well.

Plants are effective medicine, but they aren't the only answer to good health. I urge you to a full investigation of these varied herbal simples; and combinations, as part of your approach to holistic health practices' , You should be striving to rebalance the body, to restore your native energy level so that the body can cure itself. Sometimes plants can achieve this rebalancing and internal cleansing of the body. Often a com ' bination of water therapy and plants and nutrition is effective. Other times you might need pressure or manipulation techniques. With plants, and with water, you will have a considerable personal and natural home medicine chest for preventive health measures, first aid, and normal everyday health needs.

Many of the herbs presented in this website are foods that are in your refrigerator, or on your kitchen shelf. Some are also slightly more esoteric flowers, plants, leaves, barks, berries or roots. Many of these plants can be grown by you in your own backyards, and some will respond to window sill gardening.