Herbal Medicine

violaine · 06-16-2010, 09:02 PM

exotic pets, such as cavies/guinea pigs, are super drug-sensitive, and cannot be treated with many medications used for people, cats, or dogs. i'm caring for a little guinea pig who was quite a while at the shelter. since i've already posted some of his background in the animal rescue thread, so i won't go into all of it here, but i will share some links, please, on neem oil, and essentials not only for humans, but our animal-family members.

here is how i'm treating the pig, toffee- for parasites- even if he is clean because it cannot harm him:

http://www.oginet.com/pgurney/skinp.htm

[sometimes, these sites do not list exactly how much of a vitamin- like i think here on this one, peter does not write the amount of B vitamin for a guinea pig [like toffee!] who is dealing with impaction issues, and that info can be found in the following link].

http://www.guinealynx.info/nutritional_supplements.html

[be sure for guinea pigs to get the capsule B vitamin and open it up- one B complex will provide four servings, and the capsule type does not contain calcium, which can be a serious problem if a pig gets too much in his diet].

i am not fond of breeding pigs, as there are enough who are awaiting homes in fosters/rescues/shelters, but some good info here on natural / holistic care for dogs also:

http://www.broadstoneguineapigs.co.uk/blog/?cat=5

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15261960
[i love pubmed!]

great thread. thank you! ox

Passionaria · 06-22-2010, 01:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by violaine

exotic pets, such as cavies/guinea pigs, are super drug-sensitive, and cannot be treated with many medications used for people, cats, or dogs. i'm caring for a little guinea pig who was quite a while at the shelter. since i've already posted some of his background in the animal rescue thread, so i won't go into all of it here, but i will share some links, please, on neem oil, and essentials not only for humans, but our animal-family members.
ox

Violaine! This is fascinating, I really appreciate you sharing it here. I love the ability for people not only to be able to diagnose some basic conditions and then treat their own pets, but also to do so naturally, is just exciting. A friend of mine who is an herbalist treats her dog with herbs, and actually saved the dogs life when western medicine could not find a way. I think it is powerful for people to know how to treat at home. Brava, you Critter Diva

I have Himalayan cats, Amorcita's eyes are prone to mild infection, so I will put some colloidal silver in the water, and that seems to help. Do you have any tips for that????

Andrew, Jr. · 06-22-2010, 04:14 PM

I always rely on Violaine for her knowledge. She is my contact in case Dino or one of my animals get sick. She is brilliant! I am grateful to have her.

Drew

Passionaria · 06-22-2010, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew, Jr.

I always rely on Violaine for her knowledge. She is my contact in case Dino or one of my animals get sick. She is brilliant! I am grateful to have her.

Drew

I second that Andrew, Violaine is FABULOUS!!!!

Pashi

Nat · 11-24-2010, 09:52 AM

Gracefully Entering the Winter Season notes from Herbs for Life by Amanda from Lion's Tooth Herbals
http://www.lionstoothherbals.com/home.html

- Drink more water
- Humidifiers - especially if you are the type to get a dry throat in the middle of the night

Use of Essential Oils
(Anti-viral essential oils: tea tree oil, eucalyptis, lavender, rosemary, thyme - can be combined with other essential oils as well)

- Essential oils can be used in a non-plastic humidifier or put in boiling water on the stove to act as a diffuser
- Room spray - half water, half alcohol then add essential oil (15 drops per ounce) - spray as needed

Diet:
- *Increase intake of dark leafy greens - supports liver - spinach, kale, collards, dandelion greens, arugula, romaine
- Also this time of year, you want to start cooking your vegetables. no more salads. you need things that are warming and nourishing to your body like casseroles and soups.
- Soups are a great way to hide all those medicinal herbs (rooty vegetables like dandelion root, burdock root, yellowdock, red clover, astragulus) that don't taste so great - you can put them in a muslin bag and use them in soup stock - and when you add in all of your delicious vegetables and grains and spices, you won't be able to taste them. *You can also add seaweeds to your soup stock and then pull it out when you're done if you don't want to actually eat it.
- Elderberry extract or elderberry syrup - can be used at the onset of feeling ill (which is the only time to take echinacea), during your illness and for at least a week after you start to get better.

To Nourish Hair, Skin and Nails

- If your skin tends to be not super-dry, you can buy a skin brush and brush toward your heart just before the shower and it helps stimulate circulation and moves toxins out and is generally invigorating.

- If your skin is dry, sesame oil is fantastic. you can also use virgin coconut oil or sunflower oil. You want to use unrefined oils because those will have more minerals and vitamins. *You should warm it up like you would a baby bottle and massage it into your skin, let it soak in for a couple minutes before you hop in the hot shower. *The hot steam will open your pours so your skin can suck in the moisture more easily. *As the moisture is sucked in, dirt is pulled out because oil is a cleanser. You can add your favorite essential oils.

Add color to your life

- Bring bright, vibrant summer colors indoors (like cut flowers) or you can wear them can help counteract winter blues
- You might want to buy full-spectrum bulbs to simulate sunny energy indoors

Exercise - move your body every day preferably 45 minutes a day but even a little helps

Nat · 11-24-2010, 10:07 AM

Notes from listening to Herbs for Life w/ Amanda at Lion's Tooth Herbals

For Depression and Anxiety

The first thing she recommends is to listen to / acknowledge / experience your emotions and give them the time and space they need and to let them guide you. *She recommends taking a moment to really feel the emotion and let it sit and be and just witness it - and this will make it easier to accept it and let it go. *If you are still having negative emotions, it may be an indication that something needs to shift in your life.

She also mentions breath is important - if you aren't breathing - if you hold your breath or breathe shallowly - make a conscious effort to take 5 deep and slow breaths. *This will cause your body to relax more.

Journaling also helps - just purge everything you can - everything that's bothering you. *She recommends reviewing these on the full moon and consciously releasing them.

Also she says it's good to imagine leaving the gunk of your day outside when you walk in the door of your home. Sometimes people leave a pot or other container outside their door and mentally put the bad stuff in it before walking in the door.

Herbs

Dill - Helps with erratic compulsive thinking that can turn into thoughtlessness, argumentative, rigid or spiteful behavior. Brings focus to attention and thoughts, calms a person's mind and helps them to digest the issues they are dealing with. Dill can be taken as an essence or carried around and smelled.

Teas or extracts/tinctures: Teas are gentler, you can drink them all day long and tinctures are more abrupt and immediate. She recommends teas when possible. She says these can all be blended together.

Nettle - one of the most powerful nervous system herbs available - feeds and serves the entire nervous system.

Lemon balm - calms, warms, settles you down. Also a helpful anti-viral.

Oats - oat straw or oat tops - great for nervous system - soothes, supports, lifts, regenerates nervous system

Rose - good for emotional imbalance, depression and anxiety - makes you feel loved, soothing, healing. she recommends rose glycerite which is rose extract in vegetable glycerine and a little alcohol.

Chamomile - don't steep too long or it will get bitter - great when you just can't stop yourself from whining, helps you let go, look for things to appreciate, give yourself a break. *

Basil - especially holy basil - adaptogenic herb, powerful, knows what your body needs, very warming and soothing to the body, brings gentleness to the body, sooths, regenerates - similar to nettle and oat straw but super-potent for feeding your adrenals, liver, kidneys, hair, skin and nails.

Lavender, Rose and Lemonbalm tea - lavender is soothing, relaxing, great for anxiety. rose makes you feel loved. lemonbalm calms and warms you. *the combo helps make you feel better.

Mimosa bark (not tea - just extract) - funny taste but it helps with depression - feeds your soul, feeds your heart, gives you a boost, elevates and shifts thought patterns, helps release stuff that doesn't serve you. *works well in combo with rose and/or lemonbalm

Flower Essences -

Agrimony - great for the kinds of people who are like, "no i'm fine, everything's great" while inside they are not happy. basically, the stuffers, people who hide behind a happy face.

Rescue Remedy from Bach is good for anybody who just needs to regroup and get their feet back into the earth and just breathe.

Larch is good when you're feeling really down and out about yourself, low self-esteem, boosts confidence

Rock Rose is great for fear, just deep-seated fear even if you don't know where it's coming from but you need to break free of it.

Foxglove - getting back to childlike enthusiasm of enjoying life, just being excited

Star of Bethlehem - good for dealing with shock or trauma

girl_dee · 11-24-2010, 12:42 PM

I find the list overwhelming at times..

I've recently been dealing with getting old toxins out of my system and replacing them with natural healing ingredients.. my lungs are a concern so a hot cleansing bath helps a great deal..its great for the soul too.

A spirit /body cleansing bath:

Cup a little sugar/sea salt in the palm of your hand, moisten it with essential oil of your choosing.. give yourself a light scrub imagining all of the pores opening and allowing toxins to be released, along with any negative vibes you could be holding on to...focus on breathing in... all of the good stuff and exhaling all of the stuff that needs to be released.. as you are done focus on the water going down the drain..watch it spiral down... this represents all of the icky stuff you just released .. all gone.

06-16-2010, 09:02 PM	#1
violaine Timed Out How Do You Identify?: atypical Preferred Pronoun?: plague words and phrases Relationship Status: love wise guys of the avian world Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: wekiva springs basin Posts: 3,236 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 9,934 Thanked 3,293 Times in 1,301 Posts Rep Power: 0	{{{ dear pashi }}} exotic pets, such as cavies/guinea pigs, are super drug-sensitive, and cannot be treated with many medications used for people, cats, or dogs. i'm caring for a little guinea pig who was quite a while at the shelter. since i've already posted some of his background in the animal rescue thread, so i won't go into all of it here, but i will share some links, please, on neem oil, and essentials not only for humans, but our animal-family members. here is how i'm treating the pig, toffee- for parasites- even if he is clean because it cannot harm him: http://www.oginet.com/pgurney/skinp.htm [sometimes, these sites do not list exactly how much of a vitamin- like i think here on this one, peter does not write the amount of B vitamin for a guinea pig [like toffee!] who is dealing with impaction issues, and that info can be found in the following link]. http://www.guinealynx.info/nutritional_supplements.html [be sure for guinea pigs to get the capsule B vitamin and open it up- one B complex will provide four servings, and the capsule type does not contain calcium, which can be a serious problem if a pig gets too much in his diet]. i am not fond of breeding pigs, as there are enough who are awaiting homes in fosters/rescues/shelters, but some good info here on natural / holistic care for dogs also: http://www.broadstoneguineapigs.co.uk/blog/?cat=5 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15261960 [i love pubmed!] great thread. thank you! ox Last edited by violaine; 06-16-2010 at 09:11 PM.

11-24-2010, 09:52 AM	#5
Nat Senior Member How Do You Identify?: bigender (DID System) Preferred Pronoun?: he/him or alter-specific Relationship Status: Unavailable Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Central TX Posts: 3,537 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 11,047 Thanked 13,968 Times in 2,589 Posts Rep Power: 21474855	Gracefully Entering the Winter Season notes from Herbs for Life by Amanda from Lion's Tooth Herbals http://www.lionstoothherbals.com/home.html - Drink more water - Humidifiers - especially if you are the type to get a dry throat in the middle of the night Use of Essential Oils (Anti-viral essential oils: tea tree oil, eucalyptis, lavender, rosemary, thyme - can be combined with other essential oils as well) - Essential oils can be used in a non-plastic humidifier or put in boiling water on the stove to act as a diffuser - Room spray - half water, half alcohol then add essential oil (15 drops per ounce) - spray as needed Diet: - Increase intake of dark leafy greens - supports liver - spinach, kale, collards, dandelion greens, arugula, romaine - Also this time of year, you want to start cooking your vegetables. no more salads. you need things that are warming and nourishing to your body like casseroles and soups. - Soups are a great way to hide all those medicinal herbs (rooty vegetables like dandelion root, burdock root, yellowdock, red clover, astragulus) that don't taste so great - you can put them in a muslin bag and use them in soup stock - and when you add in all of your delicious vegetables and grains and spices, you won't be able to taste them. You can also add seaweeds to your soup stock and then pull it out when you're done if you don't want to actually eat it. - Elderberry extract or elderberry syrup - can be used at the onset of feeling ill (which is the only time to take echinacea), during your illness and for at least a week after you start to get better. To Nourish Hair, Skin and Nails - If your skin tends to be not super-dry, you can buy a skin brush and brush toward your heart just before the shower and it helps stimulate circulation and moves toxins out and is generally invigorating. - If your skin is dry, sesame oil is fantastic. you can also use virgin coconut oil or sunflower oil. You want to use unrefined oils because those will have more minerals and vitamins. You should warm it up like you would a baby bottle and massage it into your skin, let it soak in for a couple minutes before you hop in the hot shower. The hot steam will open your pours so your skin can suck in the moisture more easily. As the moisture is sucked in, dirt is pulled out because oil is a cleanser. You can add your favorite essential oils. Add color to your life - Bring bright, vibrant summer colors indoors (like cut flowers) or you can wear them can help counteract winter blues - You might want to buy full-spectrum bulbs to simulate sunny energy indoors Exercise - move your body every day preferably 45 minutes a day but even a little helps __________________ I'm a fountain of blood. In the shape of a girl.* - Bjork What is to give light must endure burning. -Viktor Frankl

11-24-2010, 10:07 AM	#6
Nat Senior Member How Do You Identify?: bigender (DID System) Preferred Pronoun?: he/him or alter-specific Relationship Status: Unavailable Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Central TX Posts: 3,537 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 11,047 Thanked 13,968 Times in 2,589 Posts Rep Power: 21474855	Notes from listening to Herbs for Life w/ Amanda at Lion's Tooth Herbals For Depression and Anxiety The first thing she recommends is to listen to / acknowledge / experience your emotions and give them the time and space they need and to let them guide you. She recommends taking a moment to really feel the emotion and let it sit and be and just witness it - and this will make it easier to accept it and let it go. If you are still having negative emotions, it may be an indication that something needs to shift in your life. She also mentions breath is important - if you aren't breathing - if you hold your breath or breathe shallowly - make a conscious effort to take 5 deep and slow breaths. This will cause your body to relax more. Journaling also helps - just purge everything you can - everything that's bothering you. She recommends reviewing these on the full moon and consciously releasing them. Also she says it's good to imagine leaving the gunk of your day outside when you walk in the door of your home. Sometimes people leave a pot or other container outside their door and mentally put the bad stuff in it before walking in the door. Herbs Dill - Helps with erratic compulsive thinking that can turn into thoughtlessness, argumentative, rigid or spiteful behavior. Brings focus to attention and thoughts, calms a person's mind and helps them to digest the issues they are dealing with. Dill can be taken as an essence or carried around and smelled. Teas or extracts/tinctures: Teas are gentler, you can drink them all day long and tinctures are more abrupt and immediate. She recommends teas when possible. She says these can all be blended together. Nettle - one of the most powerful nervous system herbs available - feeds and serves the entire nervous system. Lemon balm - calms, warms, settles you down. Also a helpful anti-viral. Oats - oat straw or oat tops - great for nervous system - soothes, supports, lifts, regenerates nervous system Rose - good for emotional imbalance, depression and anxiety - makes you feel loved, soothing, healing. she recommends rose glycerite which is rose extract in vegetable glycerine and a little alcohol. Chamomile - don't steep too long or it will get bitter - great when you just can't stop yourself from whining, helps you let go, look for things to appreciate, give yourself a break. * Basil - especially holy basil - adaptogenic herb, powerful, knows what your body needs, very warming and soothing to the body, brings gentleness to the body, sooths, regenerates - similar to nettle and oat straw but super-potent for feeding your adrenals, liver, kidneys, hair, skin and nails. Lavender, Rose and Lemonbalm tea - lavender is soothing, relaxing, great for anxiety. rose makes you feel loved. lemonbalm calms and warms you. the combo helps make you feel better. Mimosa bark (not tea - just extract) - funny taste but it helps with depression - feeds your soul, feeds your heart, gives you a boost, elevates and shifts thought patterns, helps release stuff that doesn't serve you. works well in combo with rose and/or lemonbalm Flower Essences - Agrimony - great for the kinds of people who are like, "no i'm fine, everything's great" while inside they are not happy. basically, the stuffers, people who hide behind a happy face. Rescue Remedy from Bach is good for anybody who just needs to regroup and get their feet back into the earth and just breathe. Larch is good when you're feeling really down and out about yourself, low self-esteem, boosts confidence Rock Rose is great for fear, just deep-seated fear even if you don't know where it's coming from but you need to break free of it. Foxglove - getting back to childlike enthusiasm of enjoying life, just being excited Star of Bethlehem - good for dealing with shock or trauma __________________ I'm a fountain of blood. In the shape of a girl. - Bjork What is to give light must endure burning. -Viktor Frankl

06-22-2010, 04:14 PM	#3
Andrew, Jr. Timed Out How Do You Identify?: Me Preferred Pronoun?: He Relationship Status: Unavailable Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Over the Rainbow in a House Posts: 5,072 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 16,004 Thanked 5,249 Times in 2,216 Posts Rep Power: 0	I always rely on Violaine for her knowledge. She is my contact in case Dino or one of my animals get sick. She is brilliant! I am grateful to have her. Drew

11-24-2010, 12:42 PM	#7
girl_dee Practically Lives Here How Do You Identify?: Femme Preferred Pronoun?: dee Relationship Status: Hitched up Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Livin’ the Dream Posts: 24,079 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 30,560 Thanked 54,829 Times in 13,908 Posts Rep Power: 21474873	I find the list overwhelming at times.. I've recently been dealing with getting old toxins out of my system and replacing them with natural healing ingredients.. my lungs are a concern so a hot cleansing bath helps a great deal..its great for the soul too. A spirit /body cleansing bath: Cup a little sugar/sea salt in the palm of your hand, moisten it with essential oil of your choosing.. give yourself a light scrub imagining all of the pores opening and allowing toxins to be released, along with any negative vibes you could be holding on to...focus on breathing in... all of the good stuff and exhaling all of the stuff that needs to be released.. as you are done focus on the water going down the drain..watch it spiral down... this represents all of the icky stuff you just released .. all gone.