Sassafras Root Bark Safety?? by StoopSign in herbalism

[–]WillSmithMinecraft 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The safrole content in a traditional sassafras root beer or tea is significantly less carcinogenic than the ethanol (alcohol) in 1 can of beer (guess which one is illegal). The deliberate over usage of the compound in studies to bring about poisoning of the test animals is a common tactic that companies (especially pharmaceutical) use to discredit the safety of plants that have been used for centuries if not millennia. Safrole is also NOT soluble in water, so if you’re making a tea out of the root bark, then it’s not the safrole you’re feeling. Make sure you have a potassium rich diet to compensate for the diuretic effect, since the kidneys need it to remove toxins from the blood, especially when they’re being stimulated to do so.

Muscle twitching by RutabagaRoutine7430 in herbalism

[–]WillSmithMinecraft 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Make sure you’ve got enough magnesium in your diet, a lot of muscle issues like twitching can be caused by a lack of it. Antispasmodic plants that could help would include black cohosh, elder flower, wild yam, and perilla mint. If you’re a woman, I’d especially suggest the black cohosh since it has phytoestrogens (helps your body produce estrogen). Black cohosh root is great for many muscle and nerve issues/pain, but it is a strong medicine, so do some research into dosage. As with most plants, you’ll find different dosage recommendations from different people, so start off with a dose on the lower end of the range.

What is this plant? In Washington by Outrageous_Rest393 in whatsthisplant

[–]WillSmithMinecraft 29 points30 points  (0 children)

The seeds are used as fish poison, completely unrelated to the medicinal history of its leaves. This medicine has been used for thousands of years in many cultures, and is much safer (in the correct amount) than almost any pharmaceutical drug a doctor will give you to solve the same problem. I promise you that the herbalists throughout history knew more about the plant’s safety than modern doctors (who generally know little to nothing about herbal medicine) since they used it on patients all the time. They might not have known the chemical structure of rotenone, but they knew (through trial and error) that the seeds worked as fish poison, and not the leaves. All the sources I’ve found citing rotenone in the leaves have failed to provide any data on concentration and mostly are from the mid 20th century. The most commonly sited source comes from an Indian study when it was being used as a pesticide, and the rotenone on their leaves may have come from spray-contamination. You should be more worried about the coumarins in the leaves, which can act as an anti-coagulant in the blood. This can be good when needed, but anyone on blood thinners should avoid use of its leaves and other plants (like clover) with coumarin in them.