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RE: Wildcrafted Medicine: The Incredible Healing Properties of Comfrey
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.