Busy day ahead!  I got a couple of bills paid and ordered some new lab supplies for school.  I broke one of my funnels, for example and needed more bottles.  I also need to find some books that talk about oregano.  I have dozens of books and it's not really discussed.  I find it really odd.  I ordered Rosemary Gladstone's book.  Hope it's worth the hype.  Everyone worships her.  My understanding is she went to the same school so I think it will at least be useful.  We have had breakfast already. I need to get the kids dressed so we can get out and get the errands run.  I need to buy some stuff for the ants and get some groceries.  For class, I still  have 2 essays and a test.  I need to get some reading done to do the essays so this is going to be fun. 

After reviewing what I've already discussed, there are only 6 more Actions to discuss today.  Due to wanting to get my errands done, I will do 3 today and 3 tomorrow. 

Laxatives are something everyone should be familiar with, it helps pass bowel movements. Mild ones are best because they are usable by more people.  If you have problems in this area, you don't want a hard treatment, for example.

Astringents: These are great for swollen tonsils and hemorrhoids but they also dry up the mucous discharge. These treat the symptom, not the cause of the symptom.

Cholagogues promote the flow of bile and stimulate appetite.  

That's it for today.  Below is what remains for yellow dock.  Have a great day!

Therapeutic Actions:  demulcent, hepatic, tonic.

Constituents: anthraquinone glycosides (chrysophanol, emodin, nepodin, physcion, frangulin, and chrysophanein); tannins and oxalates.

I have won the battle of the kitchen table! For now...  I'll post pics at the end of this if I think of it.  I'm working on breakfast as I type so I will take breaks.  LOL How our parents survived our children without zip ties, I have NO idea. Now if I could just zip-tie the laundry room door closed somehow since she has defeated every attempt I have made...  I had her not interested in going in there for a few days but I weeded the herb bed the other day (not very well) and I accidentally broke off a piece of Rosie (my rosemary bush, yes she deserves to be named) and my peppermint plant.  The laundry room is the only room I can grow plants so I have these cuttings in there trying to root them.  She saw them now she keeps trying to go in and play with the "pretty flowers".  It doesn't help that they both smell really good....  LOL  Nothing like having to run to protect your plants!  LOL  I'm very glad she likes them.  When we go outside she needs to pick a flower and eat some blackberries.  It's going to break her heart when they are out of season...  I don't take my son out much yet.  She is a handful by herself so we go out when he's napping.  He takes really good naps.  This morning, I strained my chamomile tincture.  I have noticed the mixtures that are really thick tend to hold the alcohol smell longer so I'm thinking I need to stir them more to determine if they are done or not. Lesson learned.  I have not gone into the classroom yet to see what's due this week but I know at least 2 essays, 2 discussion boards and 2 tests.  Fun times!  LOL It have gone back and forth on which herb to discuss today.  I want to stick with the ones I have fixed the herbarium on so I'm thinking yellow dock right now then buchu and it will give me time to fix some of the others.  Buchu comes from Africa and I found it very interesting. If I recall correctly, yellow dock is everywhere. Below is the important information and, as always, over the next few days, I will explain the actions and constituents.

Constituents: Mills and Bones (2010) state there are moderate levels of anthraquinone glycosides (chrysophanol, emodin, frangulin, and chrysophanein).  Hoffman, 2003, says anthraquinone glycosides (nepodin, physcion, emodin); tannins and oxalates (p. 578).

Therapeutic Actions: mild laxative, cholagogue, depurative. Clark (2011) also states yellow dock is an astringent, good for diarrhea (65).Clark (2011) suggests using it as a decoction or tincture to treat digestive problems such as constipation and indigestion and skin problems (demulcent) such as eczema and psoriasis (58). Hoffman, 2003, says Alterative, laxative, hepatic, cholagogue, tonic.

Indications: Used on skin conditions to include psoriasis, jaundice and constipation (mild action).

Safety, Precautions and Contraindications: There is potential for intestinal obstruction. Do not use when pregnant or lactating.  Ulbricht (2010) also states there is potential for allergies; especially if there is a ragweed allergy already present. Clark (2011) mentions there may be issues with oxalates and not to consume this herb while suffer from kidney stones. Hoffman (2003) says this may cause vomiting and it may potentiate other laxatives (p. 579).

Last day of the class week. it is NOT going to be a good day.  My daughter took a late nap last night and woke up at 9 not wanting to sleep any more.  She threw a temper tantrum because her brother was sleeping and ended that one...  I got her to go to sleep at 3am.  He went to sleep a tad later. We got up at 7:30, 8.  I got about 3 hours of sleep.  She slept in the chair most of the time because I fell asleep putting my son to sleep. I woke up when the sun was too bright and put her to bed then went back to bed, hoping for more sleep.  Nope.  When he woke up, he sat on her head. The morning has been filled with screaming and general dysfunction but breakfast helped.  There will be naps today. LOL I had to take a break from typing because children were upset.  Lunch has now been had by the little ones and my son is sleeping.  My daughter is quietly playing on the dining room table. I decided to investigate that quiet...  She decided to push the table against the bookshelves...  And get out a cookbook...  And a pen...  *sigh*  One day she will open those books and ask "who did this?" I will simply point her direction. 

For now, I will continue with the constituents of red clover.  After I go attend my child with the table...  I can see this is going to be a fight...  She needs a nap... 

Kaempferol is responsible for eliminating free radicals in plants caused by UV radiation of the sun.

That was all that was in Ganora....  I looked through my other books and they are not there either.  Tomorrow I will discuss a new herb.  Have a great day!

Things not broken out for red clover: Isoflavones (Saidzein, pratensein, trifoside); flavonoids (pectolinarin); volatile oil (furfural); clovamides (L-dopa-caffeic acid conjugates); coumarins (medicagol); a galactomannan.

My son didn't want to stay in bed last night and thought keeping us awake was a good idea.  Between him and my cat, I'm TIRED today.  I have gotten breakfast done, dishes done, I checked my coltsfoot (still not done) and and now enjoying the kids playing and NOT fighting over a toy.  It will never cease to amaze me how kids have dozens of toys and they always want to play with the one the other child has. I got no reading done yesterday.  The kids actually napped at the same time so I weeded my herb bed (no way near done), cleaned the litter box, picked some more berries and got a shower. By myself.  It was magical.  LOL  I also added all my completed tinctures to the virtual herbariums both posted here and not posted here.  Not all the ones posted have a completed tincture, either but the notes I have are added in.  I just need to remember to add the ones I do after now to those in progress. 

Now to continue with Red Clover.  I have posted all the therapeutic actions so today I will begin working on the constituents. As a reminder, there is not much funding on research into herbal meidicine so there are a lot of constituents we don't know the function of.  Some are just to help the plant, others help the plant and people, others just help people (and animals). Each list I post may remain incomplete but I have them highlighted in my master list so if i see them broken out somewhere in other research, I know to share that data.  I'll do t he easy ones first.

Vitamins: This just means the plant/herb is a good source of at least one vitamin.  Common vitamins are A, B, C, D, and K.

Minerals: This just means the plant/herb is a good source of at least one mineral.  Common minerals are iron, phosphorus, calcium, and magnesium.

Isoflavones, depending on which ones, are only found in the Papilionoideae subfamily of the Fabaceae family.

Genistein, Biochan A, Coumestrol, and Formononetin: These are noted for estrogenic properties.

Flavonoid simply describes the structure of constituent. In this case, it's polyphenolic plant pigment that is C6-C3-C6. The constituents that fall under this category are further broken out.  These are generally classified as immunomodulatory.

Volatile oil is what is used to make essential oils.

Coumarins inhibit aggression but are considered weak.

Coumarin is hepatoxic is rats and dogs but not humans.

Resins are not water-soluble and need either alcohol or oil to extract the constituents.  The older the sample, the harder it is to extract.

Phytoalexins are formed by the plant in response to infection or infestation.

These are all the things I found in Hoffman this morning.  I will look in Ganora tomorrow and my current textbooks after that. I don't know how flanonoids got highlighted below.  I still don't fully understand the font thing for this platform.  It drives me crazy!  Have a great day!

Isoflavones (Saidzein, pratensein, trifoside); flavonoids (pectolinarin, kaempferol); volatile oil (furfural); clovamides (L-dopa-caffeic acid conjugates); coumarins (medicagol); a galactomannan.

Today is Memorial Day.  Please take a moment today to thank the fallen.  No matter the reason they fell, they did so in the service of our country. This sacrifice deserves thanks and appreciation.

We have had breakfast already and I already have a load of diapers going in the wash. The children are much happier now. My son, especially, hates that time it takes to cook the meal no matter the time of the day.  I got one chapter read in my chemistry book yesterday and have started on the second.  With luck, I'll finish the reading today and I can do some of the homeopathy reading tomorrow.  One can hope.  I did update the herbariums for yellow dock and buchu yesterday but I realized this morning I didn't put my tincture experience in there so I will need to update them again but the actions, constituents, and formulas are added.  They get better each semester.  That is the important thing.

There are only 5 more therapeutic actions for red clover left to discuss.  I'll start with the easy one.

Phytoestrogenic is a plant-based estrogen. This is why it's recommended for menopausal treatments. As always, some plants are more effective than others.

Antineoplastic  can also be called anti-tumor as it inhibits or stops neoplasm which creates tumors.

Deobstruent helps with blockages in natural ducts.

Detergent: I can't find this in my books and that means it could mean many things.  It could mean the root word of deter or it could mean it's a detoxifier in that the normal use of the word is a cleaner which traps dirt within itself and washes it away.

Depuratives act as a detoxifier. They remove toxins, not just from the blood but from the body.

Personally, I don't think terms should be used without being defined but that's just me. I'll get those herbariums fixed when I can and get these terms updated on my herbal list page.  The clock is ticking away!  LOL Have a great day!

 I did my test for Herbs yesterday.  This really makes me feel like I'm going to fail the class.  At least I know my herbarium will get good marks and I'm doing well in the rest of the areas.  I'm going to start cooking breakfast here in a sec. The kids are playing. I didn't get my elder flower tincture started yesterday but I will today.  I also got my red clover herbarium entry posted.  I took a break and got breakfast done and my tincture started.  The nest one to check will be coltsfoot on Tuesday.  The kids are being good now but we had an explosion before breakfast.  Something about my refusal to allow them to use my dining room chairs to reach things they are not allowed to touch. Poor things. Their mom wants to keep them safe. Get out the crocodile tears!  LOL  I got some reading in chemistry done yesterday.  There are 3 chapters this module but they are short so I might be able to get them all done. We shall see.

Since it's been a while since I did my focus on herbs, as a reminder, I go in depth in the therapeutic actions first. I'll leave the remainder of them at the end of the post so the next day I know which ones are left and I can copy-paste. I try to do 2 or 3 a day but if they are short, I may do more. Eventually they will all be broken out.  The list of constituents is FAR longer but some of those are duplicates among herbs as well. Again, my primary sources for these are Hoffman and Griffin.

Alteratives are blood cleaners. This means if you are having problems with absorbing nutrients these can help.  They also eliminate metabolic waste which can make the body feel sluggish and low in energy.

Antispasmodics help with muscle cramps and spasms. Coughing is also a result of this spasm activity so a lot of these herbs are used to relieve cough. Hoffman likes to remind people that just because the cough is relieved doesn't mean the cause of the cough is gone. We should strive to fix the cause, not just the symptom.  Often, the cough should be allowed to happen because the body clearly doesn't want something in there. 

Expectorant is self explanatory but I'll explain it anyway.  The body generates mucus as part of its function but there are times when excess mucous is produced.  This action helps break up that excess mucous.

Diuretics help the urinary system.  I say it that way because it's the kidneys and the bladder. These organs are responsible for the elimination of toxins so if you eat a bad diet, chances are, these organs are stressed.  This action helps.

Galactagogue is something all pending mothers should be interested in.  This is the action that stimulates the production of breast milk.  If you have a baby coming, I did a paper on the benefits of breast milk with the baby's gut. If you can't breastfeed, I addressed that in my paper as well but this would be a great option if you are afraid of poor milk supply.

Nutritive is also self-explanatory. These herbs supply vitamins and minerals the body needs for optimal health.  Many prefer to take the vitamin they buy in the store but what else is in there?  This would be the better option if it's available to you.

Sedative is also self-explanatory. It helps you relax, perhaps even sleep. These are great when you are stressed.  Some can be abused so it's better to find an activity that enhances this feeling but the herbs are available if needed.

I went longer than I wanted to but some of these I've discussed before.  Below is what is left for this herb. Those will be finished in the coming days.  Have a great day!

Therapeutic Actions: Antineoplastic, detergent, deobstruent, depurative, phytoestrogenic.

I got great sleep last night!  Shocking, I know.  I have started a eucalyptus tincture this morning.  I'll start an elder one a bit later.  I'm glad I read on this one before doing it.  The tincture should only be done with the elder flowers (which I have), though the leaves and berries are also medicinal.  These 2 are labs for this semester so we'll discuss them more next semester. I have the children eating their breakfast. I have a day where I don't have to do laundry!  LOL I do have to take out the trash and go to the store and buy a few things.  Hubby once again didn't make enough money to get a paycheck this week so no money to pay the rest of the bills on Monday but I do have a few bucks left to buy a few food items to get us through the next week.  With world-wide crop failures, trucking is getting more competitive on loads. Less things to ship. We talked about food-growing and time and the sprinkler system have been my issue. It looks like I'll be putting in raised beds to work around the issue of the sprinkler.  This way I can til the soil without having to worry about the sprinkler system. Now I just need to finish school so I have time. I think I can start with a winter crop in December, though. I don't think I'll have 3 classes that last semester in January so I should be okay. Grow some garlic and things like that.

Since I'm going back to square 1, I'm going to start with red clover since I don't have a virtual herbarium posted on it yet. I'll be writing one while I do these posts over the next few days. I didn't save the link to my class lesson so I can't properly cite it in my herbarium but I'll do the best I can.  For those new here, you'll see the list of things below I break out over a period of a few days explaining each item as I learn about them. Once I have explained them here, I then put the same information on my Herbal Lists page so you don't have to go digging when the same terms come up later to refresh your memory.  That same page also has my books listed in proper citation.  Once I get the red clover herbarium entry done, I'll post it on the herbarium page. In the process of going back over the previously discussed herbs, I'll also update those herbariums.  So, for today, here is your introduction to red clover.

Constituents: Isoflavones (biochanin A, Saidzein, formononetin, genistein, pratensein, trifoside); flavonoids (pectolinarin, kaempferol); volatile oil (furfural); clovamides (L-dopa-caffeic acid conjugates); coumarins (coumestrol, medicagol, coumarin); Miscellaneous: a galactomannan, resins, minerals (iron, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, copper, molybdenum), vitamins (A and B), phytoalexins. (Hoffman, p. 590) (Mineral and vitamin data comes from the class monograph but I didn’t save the link)

Therapeutic Actions: Alterative, antineoplastic, antispasmodic, detergent, deobstruent, depurative, diuretic, expectorant, galactagogue, nutritive, phytoestrogenic, and sedative (Class lesson Herb 502). Hoffman just lists alterative, expectorant, and antispasmodic (p. 590).

Indications: Remedy for children with skin problems such as eczema and psoriasis. Useful for coughs, especially whooping cough. Great for sore throats and swollen glands (Hoffman, p. 590).

My daughter took a late nap again last night.  I tried to get her to eat before going to bed so we we went to bed late but she didn't eat much. i got her to eat some chocolate covered raisins and gave er some peanut butter on a spoon.  She ate some then I looked over and the peanut butte was running down the spoon.  I asked her if she wanted to sleep and she practically cried it so I cleaned her up and off to bed we went. She is going to be HUNGRY when she wakes up! I already have 2 discussion boards and 2 quizzes done for this week.  Remaining are a discussion post and a test for Herbs.  Herbs has a test literally every week.  There is no pausing it. There is no retaking it. Which means, if the kids need me in the middle of the test, and I have to pause in taking it, I'm screwed. It's like having a final exam every week. I wish the kids would nap at the same time so I could do them without issue.  It's the 3rd week and my grade is already down to a 92 because of these things and I've only done one so far.  I do think they will let me get the reading done for this class. There isn't much.  They seem to want to read my thicker books. Today I get to check skullcap and ginger. I was going over my list yesterday and I know I had decided NOT to redo the herbs I had talked about previously which is those from first semester but I realized my herbarium entries for first semester are not as good as for last semester.  One herb from first semester didn't make it into an herbarium. Therefore, I'm going to start over on my herbs, starting tomorrow. I will also update my herbariums with the information. Just to be clear, the REQUIREMENTS for the therapeutic actions, constituents and indications is to just pick between one and 3. I'll add the rest. My entries for this semester have all of them since I put that stuff in before the semester started. The first 2 semesters don't. I also plan to eventually write up an herbarium entry for all of the herbs in my lab kits. For first semester, it is simply adding red clover which is useful for menopause though the science goes both ways. I think it deserves a bit of attention. I leave you with the last discussion post before we get back into herbs. This one is on reflexes. Have a great day!

This week you will learn about reflex pathways.  One classic example is the patellar tendon reflex.  Please, describe the pathway of this reflex.  Also, since the brain (CNS) is not directly involved in the reflex pathway, how is the intensity of the response will be affected? Feel free to share the reflex pathway of any other reflex of your choice. Have fun with it 😊
 
I found this reading QUITE interesting.  When I was going through my physicals to retire from the Air Force, the Army doc tried hitting my knee to get the appropriate response. He didn’t get it. He got out his hammer and got a little bit of a response.  According to out text book, page 523, I have “inhibitory signals bombard(ing) the lower motor neurons” (marieb and Hoehn, 2019). Now I’m wondering how to fix that…  LOL If the signals are working correctly, the doctor will need to stand to the side or risk getting kicked…  The doctor should also be able to just hit the knee with his fingers instead of having to get out the rubber hammer.

I decided to explore this a bit more because reflexes are important, especially with little ones around! Ginnaneschi et al. stated “although the knee jerk reflex is mediated by the L3 and L4 nerve roots, evidence exists that altered knee jerk expression may occur with exclusively L5 radiculopathy”. I find that quite interesting…  I decided to let my fingers do some walking on over to page 218 in our text book to make sure I remembered correctly.  These are the last 3 vertebrae in the lumbar section of the spine. This is the section where I suffered years of back pain (then it was even worse when a certain female carried 2 babies in the womb). Ginnaneschi et al. inferred “an impairment of the proprioceptive drive from the pretibial muscles to spinal premotor excitatory interneurons contacting quadriceps motor neurons is the main causative factor responsible for reducing knee jerk expression”. Interesting, right?

I’m actually still looking for anything that can be done to fix this naturally but I’m willing to bet a good chiropractor can fix it right up!  If I find anything interesting, I’ll add to the post.
 
Ginanneschi, F., Mondelli, M., Piu, P., & Rossi, A. (2015). Pathology of knee jerk reflex abnormalities in L5 root injury. Functional Neurology. 30(3):187-191.
Marieb, E. N. & Hoehn, K. (2019). Human Anatomy & Physiology 11th Edition. Hoboken, New Jersey. Pearson Education, Inc.

My daughter fell asleep with her water bottle last night.  I ended up getting crowded out because of it.  I would love a nap right now.  My homepathy teacher graded my essay fast yesterday and I got a 100.  My daughter just asked me for chocolate...  It's 7:30 in the morning...  WOW.  I'll work on breakfast in a minute.  I have no tinctures to check today but ginger and skullcap may be ready tomorrow.  That skullcap has been going almost 2 months now. I still have to see what I have due this week.  I have saved the lessons and assignments for 2 classes. I need to go back and watch the lectures and there is a slide show for each module in Homeopathy I need to get saved. I like having all this still on my hard drive because our internet goes out with the weather so I can still access it even if the internet is out. I need to get breakfast cooked for the little ones so I'm keeping this short today. I leave you with the endocrine system. Have a great day!  


Hello Class! These next two weeks we will be learning about, perhaps one of the most comprehensive systems in the body, the endocrine system! We could possibly spend the whole semester on this system (sigh…). There are lots of important components of the endocrine system. I would like to challenge you to pick one (thyroid, anterior pituitary, posterior pituitary, pineal, hypothalamus, parathyroid, etc) and write something you enjoyed learning about it. Hope you have fun researching it!
 
I apologize up front. I wanted to do a different topic for this discussion but we had no power for 3 days and I'm running out of time to meet this week's deadlines. Therefore, I'm going to discuss the thyroid.

The thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland in the anterior of the next that can swell in a condition called goiter which makes a client feel as though there is a lump in their throat. This is the body's largest gland and is vital for metabolism. If this gland is not functioning properly, the body could gain weight or lose weight for seemingly no reason. If the client gains this would be hypothyroidism and loss is hyperthyroidism. There are MANY symptoms related to each condition as we learned in this module's lesson. I think my favorite part was reading the hyperthyroidism part of the lesson, to be honest.  I suffer from hypothyroidism and it was rather interesting to see how the other side experiences their thyroid not functioning properly. That was, in fact, what my paper was on last week. Between the two issues, one said eat goiterous foods cooked, the other said raw (respectively).  While I understand eating them raw might reduce the hyperactivity of the thyroid, I thought it odd that they would suggest eating foods that disrupt the thyroid while the thyroid was disrupted.  I would suggest not eating them at all. I also didn't know those foods impacted the thyroid and I really like to eat raw broccoli so I have been forced, thanks to this lesson, to not eat one of my favorite foods.  I got rid of my goiter with iodine and really don't want it returning! Something else I recently discovered, and I'm still trying to find any studies on it (I was hoping to use that as a source for this assignment because I think this is cool), liposomal glutathione helps with the thyroid in some people.  I had watched a video of someone who tried it and she felt great after using it so I decided I didn't have much to lose to I ordered a bottle. I chose the small one because I didn't want to spend a lot on something that may not help. After taking the bottle as directed, my prescription went down one notch which has never happened. This highlights that we still have a LOT to learn on what causes thyroid issues because this supplement is used to detox the system. 
 
Since I couldn't find any studies on the relationship between glutathione and the thyroid, I looked up goiter to see if I could find anything of interest there. I found this study by Rodrigues et al (2017) disturbing because it says the standard treatment is surgery...  I think surgery should be the LAST option. Not the first. I did find a study by Ritchie et al (2014) that said glutothione supplementation does increase glutothione in the system which I think is a bit of a redundant thing but maybe a precursor to what this supplementation can do to help the body heal. This study was on a specific brand.

 
Rodrigues, M. G., Furtado de Araujo Filho, V. J., Luongo de Matos, L., Hojaij, F. C., Simões, C. A., Ramos, D. M., Mahmoud, R. L., Mosca, L. M., Manta, G. B., Volpi, E. M., Brandao, L. G., and Cernea C. R. (2017) Substernal goiter and laryngopharyngeal reflux. Arch. Endocrinol. Metab.Vol.6, no.4.  Retrieved from http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2359-39972017005004102&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en
 
Richie J.P. Jr, Nichenametla S., Neidig W., Calcagnotto A., Haley J.S., Schell T.D., and Muscat J. E. (2014) Milestone Study Shows Oral Supplement Setria(R) Glutathione Effectively Enhances Body's Most Important Protective Antioxidant: Long-Term Human Clinical Trial Data Now Available. PR Newswire; New York [New York. Retrieved from https://proxy.lirn.net/MuseProxyID=mp01/MuseSessionID=0006ws8/MuseProtocol=https/MuseHost=search.proquest.com/MusePath/abidateline/docview/1531974273/fulltext/C41F69958BAE43D1PQ/1?accountid=158302