Ground ivy tea
Has anyone tried ground ivy tea? I heard it’s good for respiratory problems and tinnitus.
Never heard of it. But I am skeptical of any tea that claims to heal respiratory problems. I have asthma and wish there was a tea that would help. No tea I have ever heard of is a substitute for corticosteroids.
Check these sites out. Pretty interesting.
Interesting but I would be wary of medical claims from a herb. They rarely have that kind of effect. I wouldn’t stop using my Breo just because the herbalist says ground Ivy will cure breathing problems. It might be worth mentioning that the Germans have a medical program about the effects of herbs medically. I don’t know how you access it though. The US doesn’t have any equivalent program.
I agree! The health store lady said that she cured every disease she had with herbs. I don’t know if I should believe that lol.
Herbs were used medically before we had modern medicine. Not because it was better, however. Because they didn’t have anything else. Certain herbs are undoubtedly good for you and have a minor medical effect like peppermint. You could always try this ground ivy. Just don’t get your hopes up that it cures breathing problems.
Actually, the US does have a program to study the efficacy of herbal remedies, but it isn’t terribly well-funded.
The root of western medicine is to treat ailments using synthetic versions of substances already found in nature. For instance, probably the most well-known pain reliever, aspirin, is found in many plants as salicylic acid. Another herbal remedy that is highly effective to treat an ailment would be butterbur, which has been proven to be as effective as OTC antihistamines.
This is a fantastic breakdown of herbal medicine:
“In the early 19th century, when chemical analysis first became available, scientists began to extract and modify the active ingredients from plants. Later, chemists began making their own version of plant compounds and, over time, the use of herbal medicines declined in favor of drugs. Almost one fourth of pharmaceutical drugs are derived from botanicals. Recently, the World Health Organization estimated that 80% of people worldwide rely on herbal medicines for some part of their primary health care. In Germany, about 600 to 700 plant based medicines are available and are prescribed by some 70% of German physicians. In the past 20 years in the United States, public dissatisfaction with the cost of prescription medications, combined with an interest in returning to natural or organic remedies, has led to an increase in herbal medicine use.”
via http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/treatment/herbal-medicine
Some other good reads:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/12/22/aspirin.history/
https://nccih.nih.gov/health/butterbur
Some people do believe that you can cure everything with herbs but don’t you think at least some doctors would be studying herbs if there was any truth to that. At best there are some beneficial herbs that can help you in a minor way. Some might even be used alongside medicine but rarely as medicine.
Ground ivy is known to be toxic and also contains the same abortifactant (in smaller amounts) as pennyroyal. Strangely enough one of the symptoms of ground ivy poisoning in horses is difficulty breathing…
This is my problem with herbal remedies. There are a whole lot of unknowns out there. Yes willow bark has salysilic acid (aspirin) but how much will depend on a hundred different factors such as the age of the tree, season, how it’s prepared ect, and after that you still ave the same risks of aspirin plus some additional ones from the other unstudied compound in or on the bark. And for every herbal remedy that is proven to work there is a lot of unregulated nonsense out there. People are still giving themselves cyanide poisoning by trying to treat their cancer with peach pits! And because the herbal supplement industry is so unregulated there is no guarantee any bottles you buy have what it says in it. Caveat emptor!
My advice if you are going to take any herbal remedies is to use moderate amounts and not to use them for serious ailments. Don’t buy unidentifiable bottles of pills and be careful collecting anything yourself if you aren’t used to plant identification since I believe there are at least two different species called “ground ivy” and it’s from the mint family which is notorious for hybridizing.
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