diseases 195
up the air sacs.f Use meadowsweet leaf on a daily basis to help establish suffi cient or
balanced amounts of hydrochloric acid and pepsin. Also use apple
cider vinegar.
f For the anxiety and tension preceding the spasms, which make breath-
ing diffi cult, take daily teas, capsules, or tinctures of chamo mile fl owers,
hop strobilus, skullcap leaf (in the long term, for excellent results),
lime tree (Tilia) fl ower (which must be fresh, as old stock is danger-
ous), vervain leaf and fl ower, wood betony leaf and fl ower, and laven-
der leaf and fl ower.
f A herbalist may wish to prescribe valerian root in the short term. It
helps to break the tension quickly and usually gives much-needed
sleep. But this herb does not actually feed the nervous system, as
other herbs do.
f Cayenne pepper capsules and raw chiles will increase circulation.
f Take Siberian ginseng root, Pfaffi a root, or pau d’arco inner bark, or a
combination, which will feed badly exhausted adrenals, giving long-
term support and, at the same time, will act like hydrocortisone, help-
ing to reduce any infl ammation.
f Immune herbs to help fi ght infection and bolster your immune sys-
tem include pau d’arco inner bark and echinacea root.
f General lung herbs include mullein leaf and fl ower, horehound leaf,
lobelia leaf, and eucalyptus root as tea or tinctures.
~ Cleansing programs will help, especially of the bowel.
~ Practice breathing exercises.
~ Exercise.
~ Useful essential oils for baths, inhaling, and massage are cubeb, euca-
lyptus, peppermint, and tea tree, which open up the bronchi and help
to rid them of any attendant infection.
~ Use chest poultices based on essential oils and mustard^ —^ these are
very warming. A drawing compress could be made from a base of two
parts bentonite clay and two parts slippery elm inner bark, with one
part each pokeweed root, mullein fl ower, garlic, and red clover fl ower.
Put all of the dried herb powders into a blender with warmed castor
oil and mix. Daub onto the chest and back. This will relieve the chest
from a buildup of mucus and, in some severe cases, blood clots from
bleeding lung tissue.
~ Hot and cold showers over the chest will open it up^ —^ especially
if they are combined with a few drops of lobelia leaf tincture before
and after.
195 The Complete Home Guide to Herbs, Natural Healing, and Nutrition