Herbs are not simple spice* and should be treated with exceptional wisdom and respect. Medicinal herbal cures and treatments are as old as the first amateur botanist who most likely discovered the effects of plants quite by accident. A respectable percentage of modem drugs are made from plants, or were made from plants, before they were artificially reproduced. Penicillin and belladonna are two such drugs; Valium, the tranquilizer, may have had its roots in valerian, an herb known for its identical effect. How safe, then, arc herbs for the woman with endometriosis?
Abigail Rist, a registered nurse and registered acupuncturist with a specialty of herbalism, who has worked with midwives and treated many women with menstrual disorders, believes that sufferers of endometriosis may gain some benefits from a number of herbal remedies. She follows the Chinese school of thought, viewing disease as imbalances of female (yin) and male (yang) energies, heat and cold, expansion and contraction. The herbal teas or tinctures she recommends arc based on these evaluations.
Since this system of medicine does not specify the disease precisely, “endometriosis is diagnosed and treated by its more irritating symptoms,” Ms. Rist told me. “In this sense, endometriosis is a tightening and over cooling of what is called ‘the lower burner,’ or urogenital area. For this area, we prepare an herbal remedy to replenish heat (or yang) and reestablish a balance, in another example, it’s as if you have a fever or sore throat, accompanied by thirst. The remedy prescribed will bring down body heat, soothe the rawness of the throat, and help quench thirst. Dandelion tea, for example, induces these qualities. The same will be done for endometriosis.”
Using this reasoning, the overcooling effects of endometriosis would need to be treated or counteracted with warmth. The herbs used would tonify the blood, stimulate and warm the organs. “In traditional Chinese medicine,” Ms. Rise continued, “doctors attribute the function and regulation of some aspects of the blood to the liver and spleen. If a woman has dark clots during menstruation, it is attributed to an imbalance of the liver. If a woman has lighter red blood but profuse bleeding, this would be related to an imbalance of the spleen. The herbs prescribed would be “tissue specific,’ that is. herbs with some affinity to each organ which can, if possible, influence and regulate its function.”
There are teas and tinctures that Ms. Rist recommends. The white peony has specific liver action, so it will actually decrease abdominal tightness and pain. The peony, which may be either dry-roasted or cured, depending on what the herbalist decides for each case, is often one of four other herbs blended in a concoction and prepared to be taken as tea. “Its nature is to be cooling,” says Ms. Rist, “so when it enters the spleen and liver channels, it can tonify the blood. The herbs can also help stop pain by relaxing the tendons and tissues.”
Another popularly used herb is dong quai, considered a “female” root plant, the way that ginseng it assigned male properties. Dong quai is found in many “female trouble” herb blends that are commercially made and distributed to hearth food stores. It is a cured root that, says Ms. Rist, “is thought to help establish an endocrine balance, increasing tissue sensitivity to estrogen and helps with ending menstrual cramps and pelvic congestion.”
Another tea suggested by this herbalist is raspberry tea, handed down as a remedy from grandmother’s rime to its use by present-day midwives. It is reputed to help relax muscles and dilate the cervix. Other teas that are toning or can help reduce inflammation or relieve pain arc rosemary tea, licorice tea, chamomile, and witch hazel tea.
*61\43\4*
