Wildcrafted Medicine: The Incredible Healing Properties of Comfrey
COMFREY is an incredible plant that you can use to heal wounds!
This beauty has been respected throughout history and indigenous traditions for its almost magical healing powers.
If you find yourself with bruises, wounds, contusions, sprains, or broken bones, try putting some comfrey on it to speed healing:
Nature crafts medicine for all of man's ailments. We seek to reconnect you to these roots, because you are empowered to take responsibility for your own wellness when you know your options. Using plants is sustainable and inexpensive assistance towards optimal health.
Every aspect of life is better when you are thriving!
www.intothegardenofeden.com
Hi @gardenofeden, thank you for sharing this! 2 years ago I broke a bone when I was living in Guatemala :/ I was so scared and didn't want to get an infection but I am also not the biggest fan of prescription medication. I was in a lot of pain and luckily, working on a permaculture farm where the local healers would come and perform ceremonies for us in order to teach us more about the ancient culture. One day, they boiled me some comfrey and placed it on my swollen bones and I was amazing at how quickly the recovery sped up! I'll never forget that because everyone was trying to give me aspirin and in the end comfrey and turmeric were the heros in my recovery! Since I have been learning and sharing this kind of information in whatever way I can. I love surrounding myself with people that share the same, and look forward to learning more from you! All the best, happy to have found you here!
XO
Great to hear another comfrey bone-healing success story. Good for you for trying something different, and natural :)
Yes great to hear!
Awesome!
Yes herbs and all of nature really is quite powerful and has a solution for almost all problems. Knowledge is power and with it we can improve our lives.
What a wonderful story! Thanks for sharing your experience, @heart-to-heart! It's great to hear more success stories with this miracle plant. We're really stoked to share the incredible healing powers of plants so everyone knows their options!
Well I fully support you in that endeavor, I hope to do the same on my end :)
Knowledge is power, plants have so much to offer us that most of us will never know, I really appreciate this being shared, thank you again!
Have a wonderful day!
XO
Comfrey has super effects on compost as well. Perfect carbon to nitro ratio, tons of micro minerals. Perfect compost addition.
It is also considered a "dynamic accumulator" a great candidate for chop-and-drop mulching.
I keep a few comfrey and lions tail growing around my compost pile, perfect additions to the pile as well as a great "catch" for any nutrients that find their way under ground under the compost pile
Great addition to this post!
Thanks for bringing bonus value to this valuable knowledge article.
SteemON!
Excellent point @cryptohustlin, not only is it amazing for the human body, but it also provides fantastic support for the ecosystem!
Thank you very much, now I am going on a walk about in search of comfrey. ;-)
Enjoy! It's a really beautiful and powerful plant, would love to know how your soap turns out @sunscape!
Some day I will have to get some and make a post. I am on the Comfrey hunt.
good choice..does it grow in your area?
I am going to research and find out if and where I can find Comfrey. I would love to incorporate it into one of my soaps.
yeah...once you do update me
Do you use turmeric?
That is funny you should ask my son @hilarski told me to start putting it in my morning coffee. Truthfully it is not bad tasting either. I also had my husband by it for me yesterday in capsule form. So now I will be taking it everyday.
great
tumeric is also great mixing in cream or rich skin...
i shall soon start blogging on alternative natural remedies...which i know will benefit you
follow me so you do not miss anything....check out my few blog poss...few because am still testing the system and gathering followers...
do show me support and comment also
thanks
Good for you, everyone will benefit from alternatives for healthy living. I look forward to seeing them all. Followed you and wish you well on Steemit
Yes everyone can benefit from holistic and alternative possibilities!
thanks ma'am...i appreciate a lot..
Oh wow! @sunscape
I just now realized your @hilarski mom! So cool! Great to have your contributions to this thread!
Oh yeah, he's all mine! He encourages me all the time and is always helping and supporting whatever I do. He is an awesome son.
hahahahaha awesome!
Great to connect with you! Hope to interact with you more in the future. Are you going to SteemFest this year?
I would be cautious of using comfrey for cooking. It is a powerful herb and used when needed. I will check my herbarium when I get home and post the cantra indications. Unfortunately it is something most herbals leave out. This leaves the impression that all herbs are safe in any amount or usage. Arnica is a good example externally in salves or oils is safe in almost any dose. Internaly it is a cardiac stimulate. Unless you have the dose right it can kill. A skilled practioner is needed for it's use.
Great choice!
It's important to know that comfrey heals wounds FAST, so always ensure the wound is thoroughly cleaned out before using any form of comfrey on it, or you will heal-over the nasties :) I used my salve on my wife's cut finger today and she said it was instantly pain-free. Comfrey is awesome, but just make sure the wound is clean first :)
Amazing how a simple wild herb used properly can be SO effective!
Yes it's sometimes surprising how quickly this little miracle gets to work. Thanks for sharing another good tip, @drumcrazy!
I've found comfrey poultice method very helpful for strains and sprains, speeds healing big time.
I would be careful about suggesting to take comfrey as a tea. I remember in my research, it is toxic to take internally. Do you know otherwise?
Hi Jared. I think you'll find if you look further you'll find that the comfrey-is-toxic meme is based on the LD50 test they used on mice; to prove it's toxic. Basically LD50 determines how much of something needs to be administered to an animal control group, to kill 50% of them. If you give any living being too much of something, including fresh water, sunshine or hugs, you'll kill it. Especially if you want to "prove" a natural substance is deadly toxic and scare people away from it :) (Think big pharma). Generally the advice is, if you're taking comfrey internally as either a tea infusion or in capsules, to use it 6 days and skip the 7th day, just to give your liver a break. I'd happily repeat this process for up to 1 month at a time, if I had broken bones, ligament/tendon/arthritis/muscle damage that I wanted to fix. I was afraid to take comfrey internally for a long time, before I spoke with an Herbalist at the Chelsea Flower Show in London in 2015, who told me it was safe to ingest. I did some further research on his advice, and found (to my mind) that I'm entirely comfortable ingesting it, and gave it to my daughter when she broke both wrists last year, in both tea form and capsules from home-grown comfrey. She played the full rugby leaguefootball season again this year (in school-girls team and local league team) with no problems :) Comfrey is a wonder medicine. The fact that you are cautious enough to ask questions about it, suggests that you will do what is safe for you, and that you will research all arguments for and against, before adding comfrey to any health care system you use :) Very best of luck learning more about this very helpful herb, both for health and for compost-starting and as chop and drop soil builder. And bees love the flowers too ;)
It is sort of toxic as it does contain some alkaloids which in longer term may cause serious liver damage. Basically if you use it once in a while then no problem, but prolonged use may end with permanent liver damage. Mind you, there are some individuals who can ingest this sort of stuff with no harm coming to them - depends on your genes or enzymatic setup of your liver to be precise. Same applies to certain mushrooms - toxic for some while others eat them with total impunity.
@pibyk
Agreed @pibyk
Thanks for more explanation, @pibyk. So important to treat the whole person, not just the symptom, as advised by herbalist practitioners.
I'd agree with that pibyk, thank you. I'd only use it to fix a specific issue and then cease use again. My main point was that I'm not afraid to use it for specific cases, but I wouldn't drink it every day. Some people do though, like you say. Funny how we must all find what herbs/foods work for us as medicine, but an enjoyable experience just the same :)
Awesome Reply @drumcrazy! very accurate and reasonable advise. Great to have your contributions to this post. Hope to see you around!
SteemON!
Thanks for the thorough response, @drumcrazy!! Great to see community involvement in the comments of valuable posts. We really have little to add to your reply.
We've taken it internally as a diluted tea with great success and know many who have similar results, but it's worth repeating to be aware of dose/concentration.
Yep you're absolutely right. Very important re: dose/concentration. I once made a mixed herbal tea, drove my kid to town, came home and drank the tea (by now way over-steeped)....puked all night. I over-medicated badly, on tea :)
Thanks for such a thorough response, @drumcrazy !
Just so you know, the sources I've heard advocate essentially "do not take any comfrey tea internally" are not from big pharma propaganda, they are from books on herbalism written by herbalists, botanists, biologists, etc.
Yes it could definitely be a meme repeated by people copying the same 'research' you are saying is being used to propagate a misleading conclusion.
I appreciate your skepticism and after reading your comments and the story about your daughter and your personal experience, I would reconsider using comfrey internally if I had a severe injury and would now know to research more deeply at that point. Thanks for that! Blessings!
Very welcome friend. Also sorry if I come across as arrogant and presumptuous Re: pharma etc. I'm sure many very clever people have opposing views and beliefs about all herbs. That's why we need to follow our hearts and brains and personal experience when using anything to heal. what works for one may not work for another. We're all unique :)
No worries, I wasn't offended at all; I think that argument about big pharma applies to a lot of "medicine" and is valuable to know & keep in mind for health decisions. Just shared more context on my side so folks could have full picture of where my comment was coming from. Totally agree concerning individualized health, and cultivating the awareness to listen to your own body about what works best for it :)
You make a good point here, so do many of the comments. The primary reason comfrey was brought to North America was not it's great medical value but it's value as animal forage and to a point soil building. It was found that if you fed comfrey to cow that never had it in their diet many would develop liver disorders and die. Cows that have had a % in the diet as calves have developed a tolerance. This is referred to in replies to your question.
Herbs and there dosages are highly personal. Muscle testing is a great way to learn if you are sensitive and /or in need that herb.
How do you do that muscle testing to see if you're sensitive to a particular herb?
The simplest is a two person setup person being tested will hold arm out at shoulder hight. tester will push down gently on the out stretched arm. have the person resist that pressure. note the resistance.
now place the item to be tested in the aura of the person being tested. most hold it ing than near the heart.Test again and note the resistance. if stronger it is good for you bad and it will weaken you.
The more you do this the easer it gets to get accurate results. There are many was other than this to test. some don't require a helper.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=muscle+testing&t=canonical&ia=web
returns lots of sites with more detailss.
I think it being considered toxic internally is influenced by the dosage, as well as frequency of consumption.
I've been looking to add comfrey to my medicinal garden for a while, just haven't splurged and bought a few plants yet. I was kinda waiting until i can guild it with some apple trees or some other kind of fruit tree.
Do it!
SteemON!
Comfrey is a seriously valuable addition to the garden as soon as you can get it!
Comfrey is right up there with chamomile as a standard cure-all. Makes a great habitat for beneficial insects, too! Should not be taken internally in stronger than essence form, however. It contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids that are toxic to the liver.
Yes!
Look at the bigger picture, its good for all sorts of remedies but also the whole of the thriving eco system as a whole!
A few of our Eden Knights definitely consider comfrey a favorite plant. As far as taking it internally goes, @drumcrazy made a very thorough reply about that on this post.
Comfrey is amazing! Great info! Resteeming and Upvote!
Agreed!
We're big fans of comfrey!! Thanks for your support, @egregorian!
good info. thanks.,, followed n upvoted
Agreed!
Thanks for the support!
you're welcome
Great writing! Thanks for all the info on comfrey. I did not know if comfrey has those effects. Thanks for sharing.
Yes, there are some known side effects: comfrey contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids which sre known to be harmful to liver, lungs, and also cancerous. It is also not advisable for pregnant women to take it as it can cause birth defects.
Dont apply comfrey to broken skin in order not to expose it to high concentration of the harmful chemicals.
And it unsafe for people with liver issue to take.
However, i think that its benefits outweighs its cons. So use it with precaution. Grt article though
U can use it on open wounds as long as your not using excessive amounts for extended days without breaks. So yes it can be somewhat toxic and thus should be used properly but it is only with extended and consistent use.