Spring Break Day 12

I actually got up before the kids today though it didn't last long, maybe 5 minutes.  They were both in a good mood which is GREAT! My daughter even shared her water this morning with my son. This was a problem yesterday and caused an hours-long temper tantrum. I was hoping she would just take a nap but she cheered up after dinner and a bath. I let them watch "Stitch" after that.  I was tried to get my son to sleep for about an hour but he kept dancing to the music.  Even in my lap, he was shaking his butt to the rhythm.  I think we have another Elvis fan in the family. LOL While he was napping yesterday we went outside in picked the ripe blackberries.  I'd like to collect enough to make a nice jam. I don't think it will be a problem.  We have them growing on 3 sides of the house. I do need to get some trellis and teach them to up that instead of the house, though. I thought I saw something on them in one of my text books so I came inside and did some quick research. The leaves make a nice tea for diabetes and a few other things. I think come fall, the one in the front of the house is going to lose all its leaves and if I can find the root, I'm going to dig that up too. The others I will just trim some of the leaves and dehydrate them and store them properly. I like having medicine growing just outside my door.   I need more dandelion as well.  I found where I can buy seeds, just need money.  I need to find raspberry seeds too. I Learned another thing.  There are about 400 berry plants that have little nodules like these 2 do.  Pretty cool! I failed to get that e-mail printed yesterday so today I have to figure it out. I got it to print but the house printer is out of ink. It refused to see my husband's work printer (he took it out of his truck because he was turning it in) but he showed me how to get it to print the instructions for me. I should get that all done today and get the grant forms filled out tomorrow. I also still need to scan all his receipts that he finally left me and get those sent in. The stack is over 2 inches high. Wow this is long!  LOL The next part is even longer. The last discussion post for Herbs 503 is below. I'll probably do Nat 502 next since there are maybe 3 posts. I'll go back to doing herbs once all the pertinent posts from my previous classes are posted. I'm hoping to learn more on the constituents in the next classes to be able to fill out more information on them here. The text book for phytotherapy is HUGE. LOL Anyway, I need to get the kids dressed and such. Have a great day!

Option 3: Research Review: Valerian and PMS
Okay, I need to write this as I read because holy cow…  I understand PMS can be different for different people. My sister used to get cramps so bad she had to stay home from school and keep a heating pad on her all day. I do know conflicts with the spouse can result but child abuse and criminal behavior?  Do people really go to court and say “sorry your honor, I didn’t mean to steal that chocolate bar or kill the check-out clerk or stab my husband but I was on PMS that day”?  Does that defense WORK?  Asking for a friend…  LOL  I do agree that some women do need a “chill pill” during this time of month. This sounds excessive. 

I’m quite fascinated that Hippocrates wrote about Valerian.  I need to look that up further.

Is it just me or is anyone else “tripping” over the way this report was written? That’s how I describe it when I have to read multiple times because words are in the wrong place or the wrong words were used. I think whoever translated it had English as a second language because it was really hard to read.

I don’t know if I can source her, but a friend is a psychiatrist and she said, yes, there are women who get so bad on their PMS that they can commit crimes.  She couldn’t summon the psychological term from memory but it is a real illness.  Wow.  For those people, valerian and St. John’s Wort are perfect! This study did mention SJW at the end in conjunction with valerian to help with the symptoms. I actually am fascinated with how valerian works. Oh, for those who have never taken it, it can give you gas because of how it works on your digestive system.

I know Danielle wrote about this topic as well and don’t want to state the same things but some data needs to be repeated in a proper analysis of the study so Danielle can skip reading this paragraph.  I love the fact this is a double-blind, placebo-based study.  100 women participated and they were grouped by whether they drew a card with an A or a B on it. The study went for 3 months and the women who took the valerian had a significant difference in menstrual pain. Valerian relaxes those muscles so it’s no surprise this was the result.

Petersen (2018) mentions this herb is antispasmodic and a nervine (227). The good thing, in my opinion, is the fact it is non-habit forming so it can be used for chronic things like insomnia and menstrual pain. While using as directed is safe, remember this is a nervine and must be used ONLY as directed.

Hoffman (2003) has an important note on this herb.  Sometimes, though rarely, a person can have the opposite reaction to this herb (592). This resonates with me because massages make me more tense.

References
Hoffman, David. (2003). Medical Herbalism: The Science and Practice of Herbal Medicine. Rochester, VT: Healing Arts Press.
Moghadam, Z, V., Rezaei, E., Gholami, R. S., Kheirkhah, M., and Haghani, H. (2016). The effect of Valerian root extract on the severity of pre menstrual syndrome symptoms. J Tradit Complement Med. 2016 Jul; 6(3): 309–315. doi: 10.1016/j.jtcme.2015.09.001. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4936757/
Petersen, D. (2018). Herb 503: Advanced Herbal Materica Medica II. American College of Healthcare Sciences.