Here are links to information I thought the readers would find useful, and enjoy reading and learning about.
We all need to improve our medical skills, so here is some information that will hopefully help: Needle Decompression Location
More medical information, this is a very valuable skill to learn: How to apply tourniquet one handed
First aid kit: Is your first aid kit complete?
How to protect your family from a Influenza pandemic
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Click here for all your prepping/tactical needs: The Tactical Patriot Store
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Showing posts with label Medical. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Medical. Show all posts
Thursday, December 31, 2015
The High Price of Knowledge
The following is a good article about the increase in the medical field that we have gained from our recent conflicts:
The Laboratory Of War: How Military Trauma Care Advances Are Benefiting Soldiers And Civilians
By Eric Elster, Eric Schoomaker, and Charles Rice
Editor’s note: This morning, in Bethesda MD, the Executive Director of the American College of Surgeons, Dr. David Hoyt, presented the leadership of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center with a plaque recognizing its designation as an ACS-certified Level II Trauma Center. Walter Reed Bethesda is part of extraordinary chain of military health system facilities, providers, organizations, and techniques that have dramatically improved an injured service member’s odds of survival and recovery. As the authors of this post note, lessons learned during more than a decade of war are now being adopted into civilian care, to the benefit of children and adults in every corner of the United States and beyond. For more on emergency care, read the December Health Affairs issue, “The Future of Emergency Medicine: Challenges And Opportunities.“
Out of the ashes of 9-11 and the two wars that followed, a new paradigm has emerged that has benefited more than 50,000 injured warfighters and is transforming civilian trauma care. During the past decade of war, strategic investments in research and clinical care, coupled with contributions from world-class clinician-scientists, have produced the lowest case-fatality rate among combat casualties in the history of armed conflict.
At the beginning of Operations Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Iraqi Freedom (OIF), the combat injury case-fatality rate was approximately 18 percent. Over the subsequent decade, it steadily decreased to 5 percent despite an overall increase in injury severity. This remarkable achievement is grounded in advances in all aspects of trauma care, from the point of injury to optimum treatment in military rehabilitation centers.
As with all previous conflicts throughout history, clinical knowledge generated in the civilian setting was rapidly adapted in innovative ways to address challenges encountered on the battlefield. Now, it is coming full circle to improve the care and decrease the mortality of both injured warriors and civilian trauma victims. This reciprocal relationship between military and civilian medicine, recently highlighted in domestic terrorism attacks such as the Boston Marathon bombing and the mass shootings at Aurora and Tucson, is visible in daily practice in trauma centers throughout the country.
These improvements didn’t happen by accident; the military invested in relevant translational research and developed a flexible, evidence-based trauma system that rapidly developed, assessed, deployed, and refined new advances in trauma care and rehabilitation. In this post we highlight a number of these advances and the science behind them, and we offer a roadmap to ensure that these advances are not only preserved for use in future conflicts, but evolve to benefit all patients — military and civilian alike.
What Has Been Accomplished
Tactical combat casualty care. One of the first important advances was recognition, based on experience gained in the First Gulf War, that combatants themselves are the true “first responders” on the battlefield. Combatants are trained to recognize and promptly respond to life-threatening injuries, and medics and corpsmen are now trained in a realistic, scenario-based, and standardized fashion, based on the principles of tactical combat casualty care (TCCC). TCCC provides the training for the effective use of topical hemostatic agents (bandages with the ability to accelerate blood clotting) and, when necessary, tourniquets to control severe bleeding, along with other skills such as rapid assessment of injuries, airway control, treatment of traumatic pneumothorax (collapsed lung), and immediate pain control.
TCCC is divided into three phases that are relevant in both the combat and civilian mass casualty settings: care under fire, tactical field care, and tactical evacuation care. “Tactical” refers to individual and small unit activities, such as direct care rendered by a first responder at the point of injury, in contrast to “operational” and “strategic” activities, which involve larger units and broader geographic space. This coordinated approach achieved exceptional success; when adopted by elite units of the US military, it resulted in the near elimination of preventable deaths on the battlefield. Today, civilian emergency medical systems (EMS) are adopting the TCCC approach using a course offered by national organizations representing the EMS community.
Bleeding control. Early hemorrhage (bleeding) control, using tourniquets and topical hemostatic agents, are a prime example of how new or improved techniques on the battlefield can produce profound benefits at home. Previously tourniquets were not advocated for routine use for fear of limb loss. However, the need for tourniquets was quickly recognized as essential in modern warfare where severe extremity injuries are common and evacuation is often both timely and fast. Widespread adoption of tourniquets saved many lives in combat without secondary limb loss.4 As an adjunct, the use of topical hemostatics, was more than 90 percent effective. Over the course of the conflicts, these agents were modified several times. This allowed military doctors to optimize their effectiveness while minimizing side effects.
Both of these approaches to hemorrhage have quickly made their way to civilian settings, moving “from the sandbox to the street.” This was most clearly seen following the Boston Marathon bombings, where “without a doubt, tourniquets were a difference-maker and saved lives.”
Massive transfusion protocols. Advances in care did not end on the battlefield; they accelerated upon arrival at hospital settings. This began with new approaches to replacing blood loss from trauma. Prior to our experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, the most severely injured casualties were resuscitated in a step-wise fashion, first with saline solutions, followed by a gradual escalation to the use of blood products. Faced with less than ideal outcomes, military surgeons challenged this approach and looked for better ways to replace blood loss. Based upon solid lab research, these surgeons introduced the concept of “balanced resuscitation”, by immediately countering blood loss with key components of blood when the injured soldier or marine’s injury profile suggested the need for massive transfusion (unstable patients or those with severe injury patterns). This approach not only improved survival, it reduced the rate of complications in combat-wounded patients.
Adoption of “massive transfusion protocols” has become one of the most swiftly adopted changes in care coming from the battlefield. Today, a majority of Level I trauma centers in the US have shifted to this practice. This approach is also being adopted in surgical education, where trainees are taught to activate “massive transfusion protocols” to counter severe injuries.
“Damage control” surgery. The next major advance took place in the operating room where prompt surgical control of bleeding, closure of perforated bowel injuries, and early debridement of damaged tissue are key steps. Focusing on these priorities up front, leaving the abdomen “open” with temporary dressings, and deferring more complex definitive surgery for subsequent procedures has avoided the secondary insult of prolonged periods in the operating room. This led to a practice called “damage control surgery.” This concept was first introduced in the civilian trauma world (utilizing a term adopted from the military, where “damage control” refers to maneuvers to save a ship so it can continue to be effective). The technique caught on with military surgeons, many of whom who had trained in civilian trauma centers, and was swiftly refined under wartime conditions. As with the other advances discussed, the widespread application of damage control surgery has benefited military and civilian populations alike.
Neurocritical care. Patients with specific injuries, most notably penetrating head and extremity injuries, have also benefited from military medicine. In previous conflicts, many of these patients were assumed to have non-survivable injuries and were treated as “expectant” (i.e., only comfort care). Now, they are aggressively managed using techniques similar to those applied in damage control surgery.
For example, in cases of massive head trauma, a portion of the skull is temporarily removed to allow the brain to swell without creating a lethal rise in pressure that would stop blood flow to the brain. This is particularly important for patients faced with long medical evacuation times. Another technique involves preventing the spasm of major blood vessels that are necessary to support brain survival and function. Although this practice has not yet been widely adapted in civilian trauma, it may come to be widely used in future mass casualty events and conflicts.
Treatment of badly damaged limbs. Another advance that has seen widespread use is an integrated approach to early limb salvage versus amputation in patients suffering from massive extremity injuries with significant tissue loss and neurovascular damage. Military and civilian researchers have found that, for certain patients, early amputation results in better long-term functional outcome. For patients who remain good candidates for limb salvage, the innovations in soft tissue reconstruction have produced survivors who not only recovered, but in many instances returned to full duty and extremely active lifestyles.
Two key adjuncts to the successful treatment of severe extremity wounds are adequate pain control and aggressive, early rehabilitation. The adoption of regional pain control and integrated pain management teams has allowed rehabilitation to start while the patient is still in the hospital. All of these efforts come together in the treatment of the multi-limb amputees who face substantial challenges. Without these approaches, the amazing functional results that have been seen would not be achievable. Many of these techniques are now working their way into civilian practice, such as treatment of victims of the Boston Marathon bombings.
Rapid evacuation to tertiary care centers. Transporting injured personnel to centers capable of providing advanced levels of care required comparable innovations in tactical and strategic casualty evacuation. In conflict zones, tactical evacuation is largely accomplished by medical evacuation helicopters, while inter-theatre strategic evacuation over thousands of miles is achieved with large Air Force fixed wing aircraft outfitted with ICU pallets and staffed by specially trained Critical Care Air Transport Teams (CCATTs). This integrated approach has resulted in a reduced medical footprint in the conflict area as compared to previous conflicts. Equally important, improvements in hand-offs of care were devised to assure seamless transitions between the military, the U.S. Public Health Service, the Veterans Health Administration, and, ultimately, civilian trauma and rehabilitation facilities. The collective impacts of these advances in care are unprecedented in military history.
How It Was Done
Almost as remarkable as this progress is the manner in which it was done. Normally, progress in patient care is achieved through painstaking, incremental research, often tested and refined through large-scale randomized trials involving thousands of patients. It’s been written that the average time frame for research to reach the bedside and be widely adopted into care is measured in decades. The military health system didn’t have that sort of time. Lives depended on swift and sure decisions, backed by the best available evidence.
Much of the progress was made possible through creation of the Joint Trauma System (JTS), whose mission is to improve trauma care delivery across the continuum of care through careful data collection and analysis, to improve clinical outcomes in near real-time. This effort represents the largest combat registry ever created. In addition to monitoring the quality and outcomes of care, the JTS develops and implements clinical practice guidelines system-wide, and identifies the training and research needs for trauma care in the military.
The ability of the JTS to rapidly identify emerging injury patterns, develop best practices and research-based CPG’s, and subsequently disseminate and track such guidelines represents a paradigm shift away from costly, multi-year clinical studies to “focused empiricism” and continuous process improvement. Driven to address challenges identified by the JTS, the DoD continues to invest in mission-relevant research focused on biomarker-based care, regenerative medicine, and advanced approaches to hemorrhage control. While many civilian centers have adopted similar models with a degree of success, the widespread implementation of this approach could serve as a model for other large health care systems.
Early in what has proven to be the longest armed conflict fought by the U.S. to date, military medicine recognized that it needed to fundamentally change how it approached the care of wounded warriors. It did this by implementing data-driven decisions at every step in the continuum of care, from battlefields in two nations across 8000 miles and three continents to world-class hospitals and rehabilitation centers in Germany and the United States. Importantly, this work was done while the individuals involved were doing their utmost to provide the best possible care to every injured combatant and civilian they touched. As was true following the conflicts in Korea and Vietnam, lessons learned in the crucible of war are beginning to transform care in civilian hospitals in the U.S. and around the world.
The progress that has been made over the past decade is tenuous at best. Some of those who led these efforts have retired from the military, and others are struggling to contend with budget cuts, furloughs and funding constraints. It won’t be easy to maintain surgical skills honed over a decade of conflict. But this is essential to assure that military healthcare in any future conflict will be as good, and ideally better, than in the most recent ones. There is little doubt that thousands of service members and veterans are alive today thanks to the work of dedicated military and civilian health care professionals. Many of the insights they developed are beginning to transform care in the civilian world and millions will benefit.
The knowledge gained over a decade of war cannot be taken for granted. Continued work is needed to identify and manage challenges that are only faintly understood today. The progress that is made will not only help our warfighters in future conflicts, it will help save the lives of civilians as well.
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Click here for all your prepping/tactical needs: The Tactical Patriot Store
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The Laboratory Of War: How Military Trauma Care Advances Are Benefiting Soldiers And Civilians
By Eric Elster, Eric Schoomaker, and Charles Rice
Editor’s note: This morning, in Bethesda MD, the Executive Director of the American College of Surgeons, Dr. David Hoyt, presented the leadership of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center with a plaque recognizing its designation as an ACS-certified Level II Trauma Center. Walter Reed Bethesda is part of extraordinary chain of military health system facilities, providers, organizations, and techniques that have dramatically improved an injured service member’s odds of survival and recovery. As the authors of this post note, lessons learned during more than a decade of war are now being adopted into civilian care, to the benefit of children and adults in every corner of the United States and beyond. For more on emergency care, read the December Health Affairs issue, “The Future of Emergency Medicine: Challenges And Opportunities.“
Out of the ashes of 9-11 and the two wars that followed, a new paradigm has emerged that has benefited more than 50,000 injured warfighters and is transforming civilian trauma care. During the past decade of war, strategic investments in research and clinical care, coupled with contributions from world-class clinician-scientists, have produced the lowest case-fatality rate among combat casualties in the history of armed conflict.
At the beginning of Operations Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Iraqi Freedom (OIF), the combat injury case-fatality rate was approximately 18 percent. Over the subsequent decade, it steadily decreased to 5 percent despite an overall increase in injury severity. This remarkable achievement is grounded in advances in all aspects of trauma care, from the point of injury to optimum treatment in military rehabilitation centers.
As with all previous conflicts throughout history, clinical knowledge generated in the civilian setting was rapidly adapted in innovative ways to address challenges encountered on the battlefield. Now, it is coming full circle to improve the care and decrease the mortality of both injured warriors and civilian trauma victims. This reciprocal relationship between military and civilian medicine, recently highlighted in domestic terrorism attacks such as the Boston Marathon bombing and the mass shootings at Aurora and Tucson, is visible in daily practice in trauma centers throughout the country.
These improvements didn’t happen by accident; the military invested in relevant translational research and developed a flexible, evidence-based trauma system that rapidly developed, assessed, deployed, and refined new advances in trauma care and rehabilitation. In this post we highlight a number of these advances and the science behind them, and we offer a roadmap to ensure that these advances are not only preserved for use in future conflicts, but evolve to benefit all patients — military and civilian alike.
What Has Been Accomplished
Tactical combat casualty care. One of the first important advances was recognition, based on experience gained in the First Gulf War, that combatants themselves are the true “first responders” on the battlefield. Combatants are trained to recognize and promptly respond to life-threatening injuries, and medics and corpsmen are now trained in a realistic, scenario-based, and standardized fashion, based on the principles of tactical combat casualty care (TCCC). TCCC provides the training for the effective use of topical hemostatic agents (bandages with the ability to accelerate blood clotting) and, when necessary, tourniquets to control severe bleeding, along with other skills such as rapid assessment of injuries, airway control, treatment of traumatic pneumothorax (collapsed lung), and immediate pain control.
TCCC is divided into three phases that are relevant in both the combat and civilian mass casualty settings: care under fire, tactical field care, and tactical evacuation care. “Tactical” refers to individual and small unit activities, such as direct care rendered by a first responder at the point of injury, in contrast to “operational” and “strategic” activities, which involve larger units and broader geographic space. This coordinated approach achieved exceptional success; when adopted by elite units of the US military, it resulted in the near elimination of preventable deaths on the battlefield. Today, civilian emergency medical systems (EMS) are adopting the TCCC approach using a course offered by national organizations representing the EMS community.
Bleeding control. Early hemorrhage (bleeding) control, using tourniquets and topical hemostatic agents, are a prime example of how new or improved techniques on the battlefield can produce profound benefits at home. Previously tourniquets were not advocated for routine use for fear of limb loss. However, the need for tourniquets was quickly recognized as essential in modern warfare where severe extremity injuries are common and evacuation is often both timely and fast. Widespread adoption of tourniquets saved many lives in combat without secondary limb loss.4 As an adjunct, the use of topical hemostatics, was more than 90 percent effective. Over the course of the conflicts, these agents were modified several times. This allowed military doctors to optimize their effectiveness while minimizing side effects.
Both of these approaches to hemorrhage have quickly made their way to civilian settings, moving “from the sandbox to the street.” This was most clearly seen following the Boston Marathon bombings, where “without a doubt, tourniquets were a difference-maker and saved lives.”
Massive transfusion protocols. Advances in care did not end on the battlefield; they accelerated upon arrival at hospital settings. This began with new approaches to replacing blood loss from trauma. Prior to our experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, the most severely injured casualties were resuscitated in a step-wise fashion, first with saline solutions, followed by a gradual escalation to the use of blood products. Faced with less than ideal outcomes, military surgeons challenged this approach and looked for better ways to replace blood loss. Based upon solid lab research, these surgeons introduced the concept of “balanced resuscitation”, by immediately countering blood loss with key components of blood when the injured soldier or marine’s injury profile suggested the need for massive transfusion (unstable patients or those with severe injury patterns). This approach not only improved survival, it reduced the rate of complications in combat-wounded patients.
Adoption of “massive transfusion protocols” has become one of the most swiftly adopted changes in care coming from the battlefield. Today, a majority of Level I trauma centers in the US have shifted to this practice. This approach is also being adopted in surgical education, where trainees are taught to activate “massive transfusion protocols” to counter severe injuries.
“Damage control” surgery. The next major advance took place in the operating room where prompt surgical control of bleeding, closure of perforated bowel injuries, and early debridement of damaged tissue are key steps. Focusing on these priorities up front, leaving the abdomen “open” with temporary dressings, and deferring more complex definitive surgery for subsequent procedures has avoided the secondary insult of prolonged periods in the operating room. This led to a practice called “damage control surgery.” This concept was first introduced in the civilian trauma world (utilizing a term adopted from the military, where “damage control” refers to maneuvers to save a ship so it can continue to be effective). The technique caught on with military surgeons, many of whom who had trained in civilian trauma centers, and was swiftly refined under wartime conditions. As with the other advances discussed, the widespread application of damage control surgery has benefited military and civilian populations alike.
Neurocritical care. Patients with specific injuries, most notably penetrating head and extremity injuries, have also benefited from military medicine. In previous conflicts, many of these patients were assumed to have non-survivable injuries and were treated as “expectant” (i.e., only comfort care). Now, they are aggressively managed using techniques similar to those applied in damage control surgery.
For example, in cases of massive head trauma, a portion of the skull is temporarily removed to allow the brain to swell without creating a lethal rise in pressure that would stop blood flow to the brain. This is particularly important for patients faced with long medical evacuation times. Another technique involves preventing the spasm of major blood vessels that are necessary to support brain survival and function. Although this practice has not yet been widely adapted in civilian trauma, it may come to be widely used in future mass casualty events and conflicts.
Treatment of badly damaged limbs. Another advance that has seen widespread use is an integrated approach to early limb salvage versus amputation in patients suffering from massive extremity injuries with significant tissue loss and neurovascular damage. Military and civilian researchers have found that, for certain patients, early amputation results in better long-term functional outcome. For patients who remain good candidates for limb salvage, the innovations in soft tissue reconstruction have produced survivors who not only recovered, but in many instances returned to full duty and extremely active lifestyles.
Two key adjuncts to the successful treatment of severe extremity wounds are adequate pain control and aggressive, early rehabilitation. The adoption of regional pain control and integrated pain management teams has allowed rehabilitation to start while the patient is still in the hospital. All of these efforts come together in the treatment of the multi-limb amputees who face substantial challenges. Without these approaches, the amazing functional results that have been seen would not be achievable. Many of these techniques are now working their way into civilian practice, such as treatment of victims of the Boston Marathon bombings.
Rapid evacuation to tertiary care centers. Transporting injured personnel to centers capable of providing advanced levels of care required comparable innovations in tactical and strategic casualty evacuation. In conflict zones, tactical evacuation is largely accomplished by medical evacuation helicopters, while inter-theatre strategic evacuation over thousands of miles is achieved with large Air Force fixed wing aircraft outfitted with ICU pallets and staffed by specially trained Critical Care Air Transport Teams (CCATTs). This integrated approach has resulted in a reduced medical footprint in the conflict area as compared to previous conflicts. Equally important, improvements in hand-offs of care were devised to assure seamless transitions between the military, the U.S. Public Health Service, the Veterans Health Administration, and, ultimately, civilian trauma and rehabilitation facilities. The collective impacts of these advances in care are unprecedented in military history.
How It Was Done
Almost as remarkable as this progress is the manner in which it was done. Normally, progress in patient care is achieved through painstaking, incremental research, often tested and refined through large-scale randomized trials involving thousands of patients. It’s been written that the average time frame for research to reach the bedside and be widely adopted into care is measured in decades. The military health system didn’t have that sort of time. Lives depended on swift and sure decisions, backed by the best available evidence.
Much of the progress was made possible through creation of the Joint Trauma System (JTS), whose mission is to improve trauma care delivery across the continuum of care through careful data collection and analysis, to improve clinical outcomes in near real-time. This effort represents the largest combat registry ever created. In addition to monitoring the quality and outcomes of care, the JTS develops and implements clinical practice guidelines system-wide, and identifies the training and research needs for trauma care in the military.
The ability of the JTS to rapidly identify emerging injury patterns, develop best practices and research-based CPG’s, and subsequently disseminate and track such guidelines represents a paradigm shift away from costly, multi-year clinical studies to “focused empiricism” and continuous process improvement. Driven to address challenges identified by the JTS, the DoD continues to invest in mission-relevant research focused on biomarker-based care, regenerative medicine, and advanced approaches to hemorrhage control. While many civilian centers have adopted similar models with a degree of success, the widespread implementation of this approach could serve as a model for other large health care systems.
Early in what has proven to be the longest armed conflict fought by the U.S. to date, military medicine recognized that it needed to fundamentally change how it approached the care of wounded warriors. It did this by implementing data-driven decisions at every step in the continuum of care, from battlefields in two nations across 8000 miles and three continents to world-class hospitals and rehabilitation centers in Germany and the United States. Importantly, this work was done while the individuals involved were doing their utmost to provide the best possible care to every injured combatant and civilian they touched. As was true following the conflicts in Korea and Vietnam, lessons learned in the crucible of war are beginning to transform care in civilian hospitals in the U.S. and around the world.
The progress that has been made over the past decade is tenuous at best. Some of those who led these efforts have retired from the military, and others are struggling to contend with budget cuts, furloughs and funding constraints. It won’t be easy to maintain surgical skills honed over a decade of conflict. But this is essential to assure that military healthcare in any future conflict will be as good, and ideally better, than in the most recent ones. There is little doubt that thousands of service members and veterans are alive today thanks to the work of dedicated military and civilian health care professionals. Many of the insights they developed are beginning to transform care in the civilian world and millions will benefit.
The knowledge gained over a decade of war cannot be taken for granted. Continued work is needed to identify and manage challenges that are only faintly understood today. The progress that is made will not only help our warfighters in future conflicts, it will help save the lives of civilians as well.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click here for all your prepping/tactical needs: The Tactical Patriot Store
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, December 14, 2015
To be part of the solution
Fellow patriots; I hope that you are wanting to be part of the solution when things go bad (SHTF/WROL/TEOTWAKI). This means that we need to be prepared not only tactically, but also with our food/water/medical/sustainable items we have.
We need to ensure that we have adequate food storage for ourselves and our families (preferably 1 year, but at least 3-6 months) water storage (at least 1 gallon per person for at least a couple of months) medical gear that is adequate to stabilize all but the worst injuries, and last but not least Non-GMO/Organic/Heirloom seeds to maintain a sustainable living plan. I have not mentioned the topics I am usually concentrating on in this blog which is the tactical aspect of preparedness, due to that topic being covered by other posts. The main purpose with this post is to get people thinking of the other things it will take to keep them alive, and enable them to be part of the solution.
If we do not prepare well across the board then we may end up being part of the problem, which is when people start roving around and trying to take what they need from others. Also if you are not prepared and equipped you will not be able to be ready and available when you are needed to come to the aid of our nation during the restoration.
We really need to train on other topics of which the single most important thing we can train on other than tactics, is communications. We should all really be trying our hardest to get HAM radio licenses, and to own and practice with them. If we cannot communicate with the people around us, or with our group members, or with other groups, then we are severely inhibiting our ability to be the best we can be. Also we need to get other methods of communications such as CB/FRS/GMRS. If you have not checked out AmRRON yet, then you need to, this is the basis of a great communications network that would be a great aid to us in the patriot movement.
Click on AmRRON to go to the site: AmRRON
Gardening will be a great resource for us to be able to feed ourselves over what might become a long term period of turmoil in our nation and around the world. Here is a great system of gardening I have found and plan on using at my house, and at my retreat cabin.
Mittleider Gardening Method This is a great way of gardening that increases production, grows very nutritious food, and makes harvesting much easier.
I highly recommend taking some medical classes also. Take as many as you can, CERT is a good source of getting training such as this, as well as many other good topics that would be of use to us.
The point of this post is to get us all thinking of becoming well rounded if we are not already. We need to be ready for as much as we can. I know we do not have tons of disposable money, and we have lives to live also, and work to go to, but if we all do just a little more, then we will be that much better off. I hope this sinks in, and helps someone, if this only helps one person, then I will be very happy. The more people that are really prepared the more of a chance we will have to restore our great nation to it's former glory and to overcome the forces aligned against us.
For any gear you need check HERE
We need to ensure that we have adequate food storage for ourselves and our families (preferably 1 year, but at least 3-6 months) water storage (at least 1 gallon per person for at least a couple of months) medical gear that is adequate to stabilize all but the worst injuries, and last but not least Non-GMO/Organic/Heirloom seeds to maintain a sustainable living plan. I have not mentioned the topics I am usually concentrating on in this blog which is the tactical aspect of preparedness, due to that topic being covered by other posts. The main purpose with this post is to get people thinking of the other things it will take to keep them alive, and enable them to be part of the solution.
If we do not prepare well across the board then we may end up being part of the problem, which is when people start roving around and trying to take what they need from others. Also if you are not prepared and equipped you will not be able to be ready and available when you are needed to come to the aid of our nation during the restoration.
We really need to train on other topics of which the single most important thing we can train on other than tactics, is communications. We should all really be trying our hardest to get HAM radio licenses, and to own and practice with them. If we cannot communicate with the people around us, or with our group members, or with other groups, then we are severely inhibiting our ability to be the best we can be. Also we need to get other methods of communications such as CB/FRS/GMRS. If you have not checked out AmRRON yet, then you need to, this is the basis of a great communications network that would be a great aid to us in the patriot movement.
Click on AmRRON to go to the site: AmRRON
Gardening will be a great resource for us to be able to feed ourselves over what might become a long term period of turmoil in our nation and around the world. Here is a great system of gardening I have found and plan on using at my house, and at my retreat cabin.
Mittleider Gardening Method This is a great way of gardening that increases production, grows very nutritious food, and makes harvesting much easier.
I highly recommend taking some medical classes also. Take as many as you can, CERT is a good source of getting training such as this, as well as many other good topics that would be of use to us.
The point of this post is to get us all thinking of becoming well rounded if we are not already. We need to be ready for as much as we can. I know we do not have tons of disposable money, and we have lives to live also, and work to go to, but if we all do just a little more, then we will be that much better off. I hope this sinks in, and helps someone, if this only helps one person, then I will be very happy. The more people that are really prepared the more of a chance we will have to restore our great nation to it's former glory and to overcome the forces aligned against us.
For any gear you need check HERE
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Combat Casualties
Here is another article by Max Velocity, I just find his articles so good I have to put them up for you guys. I just bought his books by the way, I will read them and do book reviews here when I am done.
SHTF Combat Casualty - Considerations & Realities
On my CRCD class, I don't have time to do a full class on TC3 (Tactical Combat Casualty Care). However, what I do is give a few pointers as to how causalities will fit into the game in a real SHTF contact situation.
When I train people in patrol break contact drills, I explain that it is like practicing a fire emergency drill. The fire alarm goes off, we all head downstairs and rally in the parking lot. Simple. But in the reality of a fire, we may not all get out, it may be a smoke and flame filled confusion, and we may take casualties. It's the same for break contact drills.
So, we practice our choreographed drills and at the level of the CRCD class I don't even throw in casualties. The worst case reality of a break contact drill, facing a well sited enemy ambush, is that you may get out crawling down a creek bed dragging your wounded buddy. Or you may not get out at all. But that is worst case.
Break contact drills are 'Oh Shit' emergency drills and there are worst case scenarios. The other side of that is that with a well executed drill, even though you are doing the drill to ultimately get away, you may react and hit the enemy in such an effective way that you leave them reeling, wondering what happened as you "faded away into the woods."
In the immortal words of Captain Jack Sparrow of 'Pirates of the Caribbean' fame: "We will fight them, to run away."
The main point that I want to bring out today is firstly the effect of casualties on your drill, and secondly the effect that SHTF will have on your TC3 procedures.
Firstly, the hardest thing you will do is going to probably be evacuating a casualty under enemy fire. Moving a casualty is very hard. Initially, you will be dragging the casualty by his gear every bound back that you make. You will move, dragging the casualty, covered by the other buddy pair. Then, you will stop, take a fire position, and fire to cover the withdrawal of the other buddy pair. As you get further away from the contact, creating a breathing space, you can consider reorganizing slightly so that, depending on the size of your team, there is an element moving the casualty and an element fire and moving back to cover that. For a four man team with one casualty, that will mean one person moving the casualty, whether by dragging or the Hawes carry, and the other two bounding back to cover that move.
Once you rally up out of contact, you can reorganize, again your numbers will determine exactly how you do that (are you a team or a squad?), to create a litter carry party and a security party to cover the move out.
Secondly, let's look at the reality of TC3 in an SHTF situation:
There are three phases to TC3:
1) Care under fire
2) Tactical Field Care
3) Evacuation
In the Care under Fire phase, the primary thing you must concentrate on is fighting the battle. If you are breaking contact that means do that. Don't do anything that will cause more casualties, such as running out in the open to get that downed point man, unless you have first suppressed the enemy.
Th only intervention you, or the casualty, can do in the Care under Fire phase is to apply a hasty tourniquet 'high and tight' on a wounded limb to stop imminent death from extremity bleeding. As a team you will be going through your individual RTR drills, reacting to the contact, and then flowing into the break contact drill as appropriate. If you have a man down, you will simply have to grab him and drag him back on each bound you make back as part of your fire and movement.
Even in the care under fire phase, don't try and put a tourniquet on in an exposed position. Drag the guy into a semblance of cover, be practiced so you can whip it on and tighten it down quick either in the groin or armpit area, and then get on with firing and moving. If you kneel in the open to apply a tourniquet, you will be shot down.
If you are in some other contact situation where you are not actually moving and breaking contact, and you are engaged in a firefight with a casualty exposed in the open, then don't risk all to go to them. Concentrate on suppressing the enemy and winning the firefight. There are pretty much four things you can shout to them under TC3:
1) Can you return fire?
2) Can you apply self-aid? (i.e. hasty tourniquet high and tight)
3) Can you crawl to me?
4) Lay still! (so as not to draw more fire - don't tell them to "play dead", it's not good psychologically!)
But, dependent on the situation you find yourself in SHTF, there are some other considerations. You probably don't have back-up and there is no 'dust-off' medevac on the way. If the guy is obviously dead, grey matter on the ground or whatever, then look to the greater good of the team and fight out of there. SHTF will make you face some hard decisions. You may not be able to bring them all home. The other side of that is that wounds can be horrific and look a lot worse than they are. So long as the guy is breathing, even better screaming, then do your best to get him out of there, even though you may be repulsed and unsure how you could ever take care of such a nasty wound.
The next phase to look at is the Tactical Field Care phase. This is where training can diverge from the SHTF reality. In training, once you have suppressed the enemy and got the casualty to cover, then you can go into Tactical Field Care, which means taking care of H-ABC (now MARCH, same thing) and then the full assessment before packaging up the casualty (thermal blanket to prevent hypothermia, even in hot weather) and monitoring them for evacuation. This is where a whole bunch of interventions are possible. However, in SHTF I can't tell you who your enemy will be. Worst case, they are an aggressive force that will follow you up, potentially even a Regime style 'enemies foreign or domestic' hunter-killer force. If so, you will not be able to hang around in the rally point for longer than it takes to do a personnel check, tactical reloads, and maybe a quick intervention on the casualty. Other than that, if you hang around and they follow up into your hasty ambush established as part of the rally, you will be back in contact and will have to roll back into the break contact drills again, back to another rally point. Don't hang about after breaking contact.
In that sort of situation, you will have to do what you can for the casualty as you move back, creating further distance as you E&E away from the contact point. But here we hit another dilemma. You need to have equipment with you, and personnel, to carry the casualty. If you are using a litter, one casualty will take a squad to move - four on the litter at any one time, struggling, and the others pulling security as you move. You could use other methods, such as the ruck-style carry straps allowing one person to carry the casualty, but all this is going to be really hard work and make you slow.
Enter: more hard decisions: how badly wounded is the casualty? Do you have definitive care to get him back to? How hard are you being pursued? Can you take care of the pursuit with a hasty ambush, or are you in serious trouble? Can you move fast enough to get away while moving the casualty? Will the casualty survive the evacuation (which as non-medically trained personnel you may not even know)? If you leave the casualty, what will the enemy do to him? Maiming, torture, cannibals, interrogation? Is leaving the casualty a security risk to your teams operations and ultimate survival? Do you have a contingency plan for team members falling into enemy hands - can you move your FOB location faster than you expect him to break to interrogation?
No, I'm not advocating that you shoot your guy and leave him, or that he shoot himself. But this may be a time for a little volunteer heroics from the casualty, which always carries a risk of capture. It all just depends on the situation, and no doubt an SHTF or civil war/resistance type situation is going to throw up some really hard choices. Some of this ties in with comments that I have made before about dumping gear to get away, running off naked through the woods after having dumped all your gear to escape. The key here is to carry a load that you can move with, and shuffle-run out with if necessary, so you never have to dump all your weapons, ammo and gear even if you dump your patrol pack. If you are being closely pursued, whether you have a casualty or not, then you may face a choice of dumping everything and running, or you may turn and fight, hasty ambush, get close to the enemy negating indirect fire weapons, and maybe survive in the chaos, in the gaps. That is your choice and largely depends on what you are about i.e. what you see as your mission.
There is a time to live, a time to fight, and a time to die. All that really matters is how much it's going to hurt, right? If you are going to go out like a fighting bear, go out like a grizzly.
This leads us on to the last part, which is evacuation. The whole point, in a nutshell, of the TC3 protocols is basically to stabilize the casualty and keep them alive so that they can be evacuated back to definitive care, in military terms at the CASH (Combat Hospital). But in SHTF you will only have whatever medical care you have. Whether that is a medically trained person, or yourself having read up and taken some courses.
The interventions that you do under TC3 protocols rely on further definitive interventions back at the hospital to take care of the problem. You have to take that tourniquet off some time right? Are you going to clamp that artery? Do you have the equipment? You have to get a chest tube in to take care of the sucking chest wound and tension pneumothorax (collapsed lung), right? Can you get over your own feelings of revulsion at the gore and blood in order to be effective in helping your buddy or family member?
So ultimately, keeping the guy alive until you can get him out will then rely on being able to keep him further alive by definitive interventions. You may be back to an 1860's level of medicine, giving him a bottle of whisky to drink while you do what you can. So, you need to be able to clean, debride and suture wounds. You need to consider antibiotics, because back in the day infection was the major killer of those who initially survived their wounds. Think about use of betadine/sugar poultices and similar, as used by vets on horses.
So, ultimately what is my point? Like all military style doctrine, it has to be assessed and looked at from the perspective of an SHTF situation. TC3 is no different. It is really useful to train as a combat lifesaver or combat medic and to learn to do TC3. But make sure you have assessed the use of it in a non-military SHTF environment and consider the potential absence of definitive care as well as the need for people in your group to step into those gaps with useful skills.
Live Hard, Die Free.
MV
http://maxvelocitytactical.blogspot.com/2013/09/shtf-combat-casualty-considerations.html
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Click here for all your prepping/tactical needs: The Tactical Patriot Store
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SHTF Combat Casualty - Considerations & Realities
On my CRCD class, I don't have time to do a full class on TC3 (Tactical Combat Casualty Care). However, what I do is give a few pointers as to how causalities will fit into the game in a real SHTF contact situation.
When I train people in patrol break contact drills, I explain that it is like practicing a fire emergency drill. The fire alarm goes off, we all head downstairs and rally in the parking lot. Simple. But in the reality of a fire, we may not all get out, it may be a smoke and flame filled confusion, and we may take casualties. It's the same for break contact drills.
So, we practice our choreographed drills and at the level of the CRCD class I don't even throw in casualties. The worst case reality of a break contact drill, facing a well sited enemy ambush, is that you may get out crawling down a creek bed dragging your wounded buddy. Or you may not get out at all. But that is worst case.
Break contact drills are 'Oh Shit' emergency drills and there are worst case scenarios. The other side of that is that with a well executed drill, even though you are doing the drill to ultimately get away, you may react and hit the enemy in such an effective way that you leave them reeling, wondering what happened as you "faded away into the woods."
In the immortal words of Captain Jack Sparrow of 'Pirates of the Caribbean' fame: "We will fight them, to run away."
The main point that I want to bring out today is firstly the effect of casualties on your drill, and secondly the effect that SHTF will have on your TC3 procedures.
Firstly, the hardest thing you will do is going to probably be evacuating a casualty under enemy fire. Moving a casualty is very hard. Initially, you will be dragging the casualty by his gear every bound back that you make. You will move, dragging the casualty, covered by the other buddy pair. Then, you will stop, take a fire position, and fire to cover the withdrawal of the other buddy pair. As you get further away from the contact, creating a breathing space, you can consider reorganizing slightly so that, depending on the size of your team, there is an element moving the casualty and an element fire and moving back to cover that. For a four man team with one casualty, that will mean one person moving the casualty, whether by dragging or the Hawes carry, and the other two bounding back to cover that move.
Once you rally up out of contact, you can reorganize, again your numbers will determine exactly how you do that (are you a team or a squad?), to create a litter carry party and a security party to cover the move out.
Secondly, let's look at the reality of TC3 in an SHTF situation:
There are three phases to TC3:
1) Care under fire
2) Tactical Field Care
3) Evacuation
In the Care under Fire phase, the primary thing you must concentrate on is fighting the battle. If you are breaking contact that means do that. Don't do anything that will cause more casualties, such as running out in the open to get that downed point man, unless you have first suppressed the enemy.
Th only intervention you, or the casualty, can do in the Care under Fire phase is to apply a hasty tourniquet 'high and tight' on a wounded limb to stop imminent death from extremity bleeding. As a team you will be going through your individual RTR drills, reacting to the contact, and then flowing into the break contact drill as appropriate. If you have a man down, you will simply have to grab him and drag him back on each bound you make back as part of your fire and movement.
Even in the care under fire phase, don't try and put a tourniquet on in an exposed position. Drag the guy into a semblance of cover, be practiced so you can whip it on and tighten it down quick either in the groin or armpit area, and then get on with firing and moving. If you kneel in the open to apply a tourniquet, you will be shot down.
If you are in some other contact situation where you are not actually moving and breaking contact, and you are engaged in a firefight with a casualty exposed in the open, then don't risk all to go to them. Concentrate on suppressing the enemy and winning the firefight. There are pretty much four things you can shout to them under TC3:
1) Can you return fire?
2) Can you apply self-aid? (i.e. hasty tourniquet high and tight)
3) Can you crawl to me?
4) Lay still! (so as not to draw more fire - don't tell them to "play dead", it's not good psychologically!)
But, dependent on the situation you find yourself in SHTF, there are some other considerations. You probably don't have back-up and there is no 'dust-off' medevac on the way. If the guy is obviously dead, grey matter on the ground or whatever, then look to the greater good of the team and fight out of there. SHTF will make you face some hard decisions. You may not be able to bring them all home. The other side of that is that wounds can be horrific and look a lot worse than they are. So long as the guy is breathing, even better screaming, then do your best to get him out of there, even though you may be repulsed and unsure how you could ever take care of such a nasty wound.
The next phase to look at is the Tactical Field Care phase. This is where training can diverge from the SHTF reality. In training, once you have suppressed the enemy and got the casualty to cover, then you can go into Tactical Field Care, which means taking care of H-ABC (now MARCH, same thing) and then the full assessment before packaging up the casualty (thermal blanket to prevent hypothermia, even in hot weather) and monitoring them for evacuation. This is where a whole bunch of interventions are possible. However, in SHTF I can't tell you who your enemy will be. Worst case, they are an aggressive force that will follow you up, potentially even a Regime style 'enemies foreign or domestic' hunter-killer force. If so, you will not be able to hang around in the rally point for longer than it takes to do a personnel check, tactical reloads, and maybe a quick intervention on the casualty. Other than that, if you hang around and they follow up into your hasty ambush established as part of the rally, you will be back in contact and will have to roll back into the break contact drills again, back to another rally point. Don't hang about after breaking contact.
In that sort of situation, you will have to do what you can for the casualty as you move back, creating further distance as you E&E away from the contact point. But here we hit another dilemma. You need to have equipment with you, and personnel, to carry the casualty. If you are using a litter, one casualty will take a squad to move - four on the litter at any one time, struggling, and the others pulling security as you move. You could use other methods, such as the ruck-style carry straps allowing one person to carry the casualty, but all this is going to be really hard work and make you slow.
Enter: more hard decisions: how badly wounded is the casualty? Do you have definitive care to get him back to? How hard are you being pursued? Can you take care of the pursuit with a hasty ambush, or are you in serious trouble? Can you move fast enough to get away while moving the casualty? Will the casualty survive the evacuation (which as non-medically trained personnel you may not even know)? If you leave the casualty, what will the enemy do to him? Maiming, torture, cannibals, interrogation? Is leaving the casualty a security risk to your teams operations and ultimate survival? Do you have a contingency plan for team members falling into enemy hands - can you move your FOB location faster than you expect him to break to interrogation?
No, I'm not advocating that you shoot your guy and leave him, or that he shoot himself. But this may be a time for a little volunteer heroics from the casualty, which always carries a risk of capture. It all just depends on the situation, and no doubt an SHTF or civil war/resistance type situation is going to throw up some really hard choices. Some of this ties in with comments that I have made before about dumping gear to get away, running off naked through the woods after having dumped all your gear to escape. The key here is to carry a load that you can move with, and shuffle-run out with if necessary, so you never have to dump all your weapons, ammo and gear even if you dump your patrol pack. If you are being closely pursued, whether you have a casualty or not, then you may face a choice of dumping everything and running, or you may turn and fight, hasty ambush, get close to the enemy negating indirect fire weapons, and maybe survive in the chaos, in the gaps. That is your choice and largely depends on what you are about i.e. what you see as your mission.
There is a time to live, a time to fight, and a time to die. All that really matters is how much it's going to hurt, right? If you are going to go out like a fighting bear, go out like a grizzly.
This leads us on to the last part, which is evacuation. The whole point, in a nutshell, of the TC3 protocols is basically to stabilize the casualty and keep them alive so that they can be evacuated back to definitive care, in military terms at the CASH (Combat Hospital). But in SHTF you will only have whatever medical care you have. Whether that is a medically trained person, or yourself having read up and taken some courses.
The interventions that you do under TC3 protocols rely on further definitive interventions back at the hospital to take care of the problem. You have to take that tourniquet off some time right? Are you going to clamp that artery? Do you have the equipment? You have to get a chest tube in to take care of the sucking chest wound and tension pneumothorax (collapsed lung), right? Can you get over your own feelings of revulsion at the gore and blood in order to be effective in helping your buddy or family member?
So ultimately, keeping the guy alive until you can get him out will then rely on being able to keep him further alive by definitive interventions. You may be back to an 1860's level of medicine, giving him a bottle of whisky to drink while you do what you can. So, you need to be able to clean, debride and suture wounds. You need to consider antibiotics, because back in the day infection was the major killer of those who initially survived their wounds. Think about use of betadine/sugar poultices and similar, as used by vets on horses.
So, ultimately what is my point? Like all military style doctrine, it has to be assessed and looked at from the perspective of an SHTF situation. TC3 is no different. It is really useful to train as a combat lifesaver or combat medic and to learn to do TC3. But make sure you have assessed the use of it in a non-military SHTF environment and consider the potential absence of definitive care as well as the need for people in your group to step into those gaps with useful skills.
Live Hard, Die Free.
MV
http://maxvelocitytactical.blogspot.com/2013/09/shtf-combat-casualty-considerations.html
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Click here for all your prepping/tactical needs: The Tactical Patriot Store
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, October 22, 2012
Herbs and their medicinal uses
This post is long, but well worth the read. It is a little off of the norm for this blog, but I feel that in an extended SHTF/WROL/TEOTWAWKI scenario, there will not be many forms of traditional medicines. We will have to resort to herbalism to remedy ourselves. Normally I would have said this is some hippie tree hugger stuff, but it is for real, and will be our only way we have of healing ourselves and our loved ones. I feel this information is worth the read. I did not write this myself, and I have given my reference at the bottom of the article, I just felt that I owed it to my readers to post this up and maybe open their eyes to this concept.
Enjoy...
USING MEDICINAL HERBS
Using medicinal herbs should be educational, fun and why not magic. You can treat some of your minor conditions as well as your families, but remember safety comes first.
All you need is a teapot, and a couple of pots or sauce pans, herbal tinctures can be purchased in a herbal store or you can make some with vodka.
Herbal medicine was born at home out of necessity, to treat conditions many thousands of years ago and is as old as humans. It is the medicine of the people, for the people, by the people, available to all anywhere and has evolved from an empirical art into a scientific art. As a trained medical herbalist I use traditional family knowledge, historical information as well as modern scientific information to work with my clients.
Even though most the herbs are safe most of the time, there are some with potential toxicity and it is advisable to consult with a trained medical/clinical herbalist when in doubt, remember that self diagnosis and self medication with herbs is not recommended. If you have a condition that you would normally treat with over the counter medication and would not go to the doctor with, probably can be treated at home with herbs. Any conditions that are aggravated or persistent required professional help.
INTERACTIONS - remember that there are certain risks associated with the combination ofherbal remedies and prescription drugs, normally anybody taking a prescription drugs should consult a qualified herbalist before taking herbal remedies, and please never stop taking prescribed drugs without discussing the particulars with the prescribing physician.
The following are some of the conditions that can be treated safely at home.
Indigestion, constipation, colds and flu, mouth ulcers sore throats , lack of energy, yeast infections, bladder infections, scratches, minor skin infections, boils and pimples, insomnia, anxiety, fatigue, stress, menstrual cramps, aching muscles, stiff joints, tension headaches.
Some conditions which required professional assistance are:
Severe pain in the abdomen and chest
Severe pain in the limbs
Severe headaches
Blood in urine or stool
Coughing of blood
Fainting
Shortness of breath without cause
Injuries caused by accidents
Persistent diarrhea
Persistent weakness
Persistent coughs
Eye injuries
HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT HERBS
Some type of selection criteria is a must to choose the right herb for the specific herbal remedy required. There are over half a million plants that can be used in healing remedies, medical herbalist usually use about 350 different herbs in their practice. Some set of guidelines has to be used to whittle down from half a million herbs to a more realistic number, but how?
HERBAL CLASSIFICATIONS
Medicinal herbs can be classified in different ways according to needs. They can be listed by:
Alphabetical order - Marigold, Chamomile, Echinacea, etc.
Botanical family (Taxonomic) - Compositae, Rosaceae, Rubiaceae, Laminaceae, etc.
Constituents (Biochemical)- alkaloids, tannins, coumarins, iridoids etc.
Plant parts (Morphological) - whole plant, seeds, root, flowers etc.
Therapeutic effects - tonics, astringents, diaphoretics, diuretics etc.
Geographical - American, Asian, European, etc.
When choosing your herbs for medicinal purposes, the constituents and therapeutic effects are the most important.
ACTION BASED - it is the easiest way for anyone to begin using herbs. All the herbs have biochemical action/s and specific effects in the body. Knowing these actions and the specific pathology will help you decide which actions are required and then which herbs will deliver these actions.
Some of the most used actions are:
Alteratives
Herbs that will slowly restore the proper function of the body increasing health and vitality. This may sound unclear, but their value is certain. They act by altering the metabolic body's processes so tissues can be dealt with a range of processes from nutrition to elimination. E.g.. Echinacea (Echinacea angustifolia), Blood root (Sanguinaria canadensis), Golden seal (hydrastis canadensis).
Anti-microbials
Anti-microbial herbs can help the body to destroy or resist pathogenic micro-organisms, topically as in skin infections and internally for systemic infections. E.g. Garlic (Allium sativum), Thyme (Thymus vulgaris), Sage (Salvia officinalis).
Anti-inflammatory
Herbs/constituents that aid the body to fight inflammation in different areas. E.g. Devil’s claw (Harpagophytum procumbens), Turmeric (Curcuma longa) White willow (Salix alba), Wild yam (Dioscorea villosa), Marigold (Calendula officinalis).
Astringents
Remedies that contain constituents that have a binding action on mucous membranes, skin and other exposed tissue. They contract blood vessels and some body tissues (mucous membranes) with the effect of reducing secretion and excretions. Astringents are sometimes used to stop external or internal bleeding. E.g. Yarrow (Achillea millefolium), Couchgrass (Agropyron repens), Tormentil (Potentilla tormentilla), Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana)
Bitters
Very important to the digestive system, these are remedies that have a bitter taste which triggers a sensory response in the mouth that is directed by the nerves to the central nervous system. From there a message goes to the stomach increasing the digestive hormone gastrin, leading to a great range of ramifications of value to the digestive process and general body health. E.g. Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium), Gentian (Gentiana lutea), Centaury (Erythraea centaurium).
Anti-Spasmodic
Anti-spasmodics help by preventing or easing spasms or cramps in the muscles, they also reduce tension in the body, and many of them are also nervines, sometimes they will also ease psychological tension. E.g. Passion Flower (Passiflora incarnata), Valerian (Valeriana officinalis), Cramp bark (Viburnum opulus), Lobelia (Lobelia inflata), Black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa)
Carminatives
Carminatives are herbal remedies that have a high content of volatile oils, they are used to stimulate the digestive system to work properly. They are very effective to expel gas and easing griping pains from the stomach and the intestines, they also tone the mucous surfaces and increase peristaltic action (esophagus, stomach and intestine movement, which propels its contents onward).
They are also used with other herbs to make formulations more palatable, carminatives are also known as aromatics. E.g. Aniseed (Pimpinella anisum), Caraway (Carum carvi), Chamomile (Matricaria recutita), Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), Ginger (Zingiber officinale), Peppermint (Mentha piperita).
Demulcents
Demulcent are herbs rich in mucilage which can soothe and protect irritated or inflamed internal tissues (mucous surfaces). If they are used on the skin, demulcents are called emollients, which have a protective and soothing action upon the surface of the body. E.g. Corn Silk (Zea mays), Liquorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra), Marshmallow root (Althaea officinalis), Slippery Elm (Ulmus fulva), Mullein (Verbascum thapsus)
Diuretics
Diuretics are herbs that increase the flow of urine from the kidneys, excreting excess fluid from the body, they will not cause potassium depletion or stress the kidneys. As these are herbs which offer some beneficial action in the urinary system, they can also include urinary demulcents and anti-inflammatory herbs. E.g. Dandelion leaf (Taraxacum off. folia), Celery (Apium graveolens), Corn silk (Zea mays), Couchgrass (Agropyron repens), Yarrow (Achillea millefolium).
Expectorants
Expectorants are herbs that aid the body to remove excess mucous from the lungs by stimulating the cleansing activities of the lungs. E.g. Thyme (Thymus vulgaris), Licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra), Elecampane (Inula helenium), Marshmallow (Althea officinalis), Pleurisy Root (Asclepias tuberosa), Wild Cherry (Prunus serotina).
Nervines
Nervines are plant remedies that have a beneficial effect/s in the nervous system, some of the different types of nervines are: tonics, relaxing, stimulating, antispasmodics, antidepressant, analgesic.
Nervine tonics - Oats (Avena sativa), St. Johns Wort (hypericum perforatum), Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora).
Nervine relaxants - Vervain (Verbene officinalis), Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata), Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia).
Antispasmodics - Valerian (valeriana officinalis), Viburnum (Viburnum opulus).
Anti-depressants - Rosemary (rosmarinus officinalis), Oats (Avena sativa), Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)
Analgesics - Jamaican Dogwood (Piscidia erythrina), Wild lettuce (Lactuca virosa), Wild Yam (Dioscorea villosa).
Energy enhancers
Energy enhancers are herbs that strengthen, and tonic herbs which support the adrenal glands, thyroid and nervous tissue. E.g.. Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera), Siberian ginseng (Eleutherococcus senticosus), Gotu kola (Centella asiatica), Kelp (Fucus vesiculosis), Ginseng (Panax ginseng).
Circulatory stimulants
Herbal remedies which dilate the blood vessels, strengthen the heart and enhance circulation. They can direct the action to a specific area of the body, limbs or central organs, these herbs could be warming in nature. E.g. Ginger (Zingiber officinalis), Prickly ash (Zanthoxylum spp.), Rosemary (rosmarinus officinalis), Cayenne (Capsicum minimum).
Uterine tonic
Herbs that strengthen and tonify the uterine muscle and lining, some will improve the circulation to these organs, useful to restore normal menses. E.g.. Black Haw (Viburnum prunifolium), Partridge Berry (Mitchella repens), Yarrow (Achillea millefolium), Ladies Mantle (Alchemilla vulgaris)
BUILDING YOUR FORMULA
Building formulas is educational and fun. Normally we use more than one herb, as the synergy of the herbs will be stronger acting for the condition, at the same time don't use too many herbs in a formula as it is more effective to give more quantity of a few herbs than very small amounts of many herbs.
In most cases you will find that between 4 or 6 herbs will accomplish the objective, and will give you the herbal actions required for most cases.
The first step would be to find the herbal actions required for the condition, remember don't treat the symptoms, try to find the causes of the problem. If you want to treat the symptoms they can be treated parallel to the cause ( with a second formula), specially if you need to take care of some relief, while the main formula works.
Once you have identified the actions required, make a list of the herbs that you know have these actions, if you see herbs that appear in more than one category those will be ones to use. There will be other herbs that are more specific to the condition or body area required, these specific herbs are also good candidates to be used in the formula.
Traditionally a herbal formulation should contain:
All you need is some practice and interest and you will see how the formulations can be made without too much problem. Remember you can have fun while doing it.
EXAMPLE OF FORMULA BUILDING
Your brother will be going through final exams soon at the university, he has anxiety, is tired, and is lacking concentration, he also has stomach acidity from the tension, and needs help to be at his best for the approaching exams.
DOSAGES There are important factors to take in consideration when trying to establish the dosage for a herbal medicine.
Usually the best time to take herbal medicines is half hour before meals, to maximize absorption. Remember that dosages may vary from herb to herb.
TEAS: usually 3 cups a day of tea will be a normal dosage. For preparation use 1 teaspoon of total herb/s per each cup of tea to be prepared. Try to prepare the tea daily, rather than a big batch to last for several days, as teas tend to get mouldy very quick.
TINCTURES: the strength of the tincture is important here, normal therapeutic strength for medicinal herbs is 1:3 to 1:5, if so use i tsp. (5 ml) three times a day.
CREAMS/SALVES/INFUSED OILS: these can be applied often during the day, unless the area to be applied is painful.
CHILDREN DOSAGES:
Babies 1 to 5 years old, 1 to 5 teaspoons for a tea.
Children 5 to 12 years old, one quarter to half adult dose, after 12 year old they usually get adult dosages.
The above dosages are suggestions for normal conditions, please read the instructions of the herbal medicines to be given to children and provide the dosages recommended, when in doubt consult a qualified Medical/clinical herbalist. Also consult the children section in this site for more detailed information about herbal tincture dosages for children.
HERB'S QUALITY
In order to have an effective herbal medicine, the quality of the product is of the upmost importance, whether dried, tincture, salve, cream, or infused oil, if the herbs are not of excellent quality the medicine is not going to be as effective as expected.
The herbs should be organic if possible, sometimes it is very hard to find all the herbs required organic, so do your best to find them. If not available, non-organic herbs have to have the proper characteristics of the herb, such as:
The color of the dried herb should be the same as when the herb was fresh, brown herbs may denote improper drying process and may be oxidized. The smell of the herb should have the same characteristics of the smell of the fresh herb. Herbs should look clean and free of debris. If processed (powder, cut) the herb should look clean and properly processed.
Buy your herbs from reputable stores that have a quick inventory rotation to make sure that the herbs have not being sitting in the store forever, when in doubt question the store staff as to origin and quality of the herbs to be purchased. Prepacked herbs may have been in a bag too long, buy bulk herbs when possible.
The same goes for other medicinal products like tinctures, salves, creams, and oils, buy from reputable companies, check for the expiry dates before purchasing, if in doubt ask questions about quality and products ingredients.
Tinctures should always be marked on the label for strength (ratios of herb to alcohol) as well as alcohol content, which is the alcohol % that is the best to extract the active constituents of the herb, so it should look something like this on the label (example):
Marigold
(Calendula officinalis)
1:5 (strength) 90% (alcohol) In tinctures the strength is very important as it will determine the effectiveness of the product for medicinal use as well as the dosage, therefore always follow the label instruction for dosages or the advice of your medical/clinical herbalist.
HERBAL REMEDY'S STORAGE
DRIED HERBS
All dried herbs are sensitive to heat, light, oxygen and water. Herbs have to be stored in airtight glass containers to retain their freshness, to stop humidity (molding), and to stop the dissipation of the herb's constituents into the air.
Amber glass jars are excellent to store herbs, if you can not find any, store your herbs in any glass jar, paper bags or plastic bags that are not airtight as plastic fumes will contaminate your herbs. As soon as you place your herbs in a glass container put a sticker with the name of the herb and the date.
I don't like my herbs to touch metal during storage or while making a tea, as they may react with the metals and oxidize, thus I don't recommend tin cans to store them. Regardless of the way that you store your herbs, they will slowly lose their potency and ultimately become worthless, don't use any herbs that are more than 8 months to a year old.
TINCTURES
Normally tinctures are purchased in dark glass bottles, so store them away from the sun light in a dark cool place, as they contain alcohol they do not need refrigeration, if your tincture is not made with alcohol, follow the recommendation on the label.
Alcohol tinctures last 4 to 5 years if stored correctly, but refer to the expiry date on the label to be sure.
SALVES, CREAMS AND INFUSED OILS
These types of herbal remedies are more prompt to loose their properties or become rancid or spoiled, be sure to refer to the labels expiry date, if there is no expiry date use your sense of smell and look at the product to see if there is any separation of the ingredients.
If unsure do not use it and buy a new one, the following is a basic time table for normal expiration time of well made products. Remember ultimately, the ingredients, quality and the manufacturing process of the product determines the shelf life.
SALVES - 2 years
CREAMS - 2 years
INFUSED OILS - 1 year
HERBAL REMEDIES USAGE
There are many ways to use herbal remedies and they vary in strength and ease of use, also the condition to be treated and the purpose of the herbal medicine may dictate which type of remedy should be used.
There are internal and external herbal remedies, the strongest and fastest way to get herbal remedies into your systems is by using tinctures, teas are generally not as strong as tinctures but occasionally are necessary as we shall see.
INTERNAL REMEDIES
There are many ways of making internal remedies, but as with all of them, it is very important how you make them so you can end up with a high quality herbal medicine.
Types of internal medicines:
1. Tincture preparations
2. Water-based preparations
3. Syrups, lozenges, elixirs and other liquid formulations
4. Fresh or dried herbs
TINCTURES
Medical/Clinical herbalists use this type of medicine more often, as it is stronger than water extractions, easier to take, and they have a long shelf life, if store correctly they can last up to 4 years.
They are made by macerating (soaking) a dried or fresh herb in a mix of water and alcohol for 2 weeks, it is shaken daily for those 2 weeks and then is strained and placed in a dark bottle. Normally tinctures are made with alcohol but occasionally glycerin or vinegar can be used.
Tinctures are made according to descriptions in a Pharmacopoeia, different plants have different requirements for the alcohol strength required to extract the active constituents of the plant, most of the herbs use 25% (e.g. Dandelion), some need 45% (e.g. Echinacea), 60% (e.g. Boldo) or up to 90% (e.g. Myrrh, Marigold).
In Canada, due to taxation, alcohol is very expensive so Vodka can be use to make tinctures, vodka’s alcohol content is 45% so most of the tinctures can use it.
Tinctures may also be made with vinegar as the acetic acid in the vinegar will act as a preservative and solvent similar to alcohol.
Glycerin based tinctures have several advantages, are child friendly, can be taken by people that can not take alcohol, and are easy on the digestive tract. There are a few disadvantages: resins or oily materials don’t dissolve as good as in alcohol, and the strength of the tincture is not as good as in alcohol based one.
The standard strength of a tincture is 1:5, (one part of died herb to 5 parts of the water alcohol mix), other tinctures are made at a ratio of 1:2 or 1:3, or a weaker 1:10. I prefer a tincture that is, 1:3 or 1:4 as this is the best therapeutic strength for most herbal medicines (except for restricted herbs).
A herbal prescription is usually made with 4 to 6 herbs, which synergistic-ally work better than a single tincture. A normal dosage of a herbal formulation is 5 ml taken 3 times a day (depending on the herbs used).
WATER BASED PREPARATIONS
INFUSIONS
If you know how to make tea you can make an infusion, it is the easiest way to prepare a herbal medicine at home. You use this method to prepare leaves, flowers and any soft part of a plant
Place 1 teaspoon of the dried herb or 3 three teaspoons of the fresh herb in a cup, and pour over 1 cup of freshly boiled water. Steep it 10 min. then strain off and drink. Lemon and honey may be added but don't use milk.
Take 3 cups of the tea a day, the cooled infusion can also be used as a skin wash, for skin infections or inflammations, or as a mouth wash and gargle for sore throats, mouth ulcers and oral infections.
If you are combining 2 or more herbs to make your infusion you would generally use equal parts of each herb to give a total of 1 teaspoon to 1 cup of water, unless otherwise indicated.
DECOCTIONS
When the herbs to be used are hard such as, roots, seeds, barks, stems and particularly thick or tough leaves, it is better to make a decoction as the cell walls are very strong and they required a stronger method to extract the active constituents.
The proportions are the same as for the infusion (1 teaspoon to 1 cup) but the herb is placed in a glass, enamel or stainless steel pan, covered with the cold water and brought to a boil. Keeping the pan tightly covered allow it to simmer for 5 to 15 min then strain off and drink.
You can use a decoction and infusions in the same way, and dosages are usually the same. If you are making a mixture of soft and hard herbs, make a decoction of the hard herbs first, then use the decoction to pour over the soft part to make an infusion.
USAGES OF INFUSIONS/DECOCTIONS
As a tea taken internally.
As a skin wash for inflammations, infections or blisters.
As a douche or enema.
As a hair rinse for scalp conditions.
As a mouth wash or gargle for sore throats or mouth infections.
As a hand or foot bath.
JUICES
This is one of the most effective ways to take herbs internally, as you are getting absolutely all the goodness from the plant. Juices are made from fresh plants, and a good juicer is essential (and they are not cheap): I recommend the Champion. The main drawback with juices is that they start oxidizing as soon as you make them and lose their potency. They can be preserved in the fridge for a few hours but the best way to preserve them for longer periods is to combine the juice with an equal part of glycerin (available from the health food store). This will give them a shelf life of around 6 months.
Dosages of juice required will vary according to the herbs used, a general guideline is one 5 ml. teaspoon 2 - 3 times a day for the juice and glycerin mixture, or proportionately less for children.
CAPSULES
If you don’t like to be bother with making teas, or if the tea taste is not very good, you can make capsules. They are very easy to make by grinding the herbs to a fine powder (a mortar or a coffee grinder works well). This guarantees that the cell walls are largely broken down, and helps in the digestion and absorption of the herb, then use the powder to fill empty vegetable or gelatin capsules.
The size of capsules should be “00”, holds about 0.5 grams, they are available in health food stores, normally you can take 2 to 3 of these capsules a day.
Capsules should not be used for children, nor where the action of the herbs is to promote and enhance digestion, many of the digestive herbs are bitters and work by reflex responses to their bitter taste.
How to make a capsule:
Place the powdered herbs in a small flat dish and take the halves of the capsule apart.
Move the halves of the capsules through the powder, filling them in the process.
Push the halves together and close them.
EXTERNAL REMEDIES
The skin is the largest organ of the body, and one of the great abilities of this organ is absorption, several methods of herbal medicine have been developed to take advantage of this fact.
There are creams, salves, baths, liniments, oils, compress and poultices. These remedies are very effective and versatile to treat innumerable conditions, as a sole remedy or combination of internal and external therapy.
CREAMS
You have to start with a good cream base, preferably unscented and able to accept the herbs in liquid form without loosing its consistency, then you can add up to 10 or 15% (total amount) of tincture, essential oils or infused oils desired, a little at a time while stirring the mix well and then store in jars.
SALVES /OINTMENTS
Semisolid preparations, which can be applied to the skin. There are many ways of making salves depending on the final use intended, they may vary in texture, from very thick and greasy to softer more cream like texture.
Any herb can be used for making ointments, the following are only some examples of great value for external use.
Marigold (Calendula officinalis)
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Marshmallow (Althaea officinalis)
Arnica (Arnica montana)
Plantain (Plantago major)
Chickweed (Stellaria media)
Thyme (Thymus vulgaris)
Slippery elm (Ulmus fulva)
The easiest way to make a salve is by using Vaseline or a similar petroleum jelly as a base. This easy method has a disadvantage of being an inorganic base, but the advantage is that it is very easy to handle and available anytime, so it can be made very quickly.
The simple method to make a salve with Vaseline is to simmer 2 tablespoons of the desired herb/s in 200 grams of Vaseline for about 15 minutes stirring well, sift it through a cheese cloth or fine gauze, pour the liquid into a jar and seal it after it has cooled.
To make a more professional salve, use 500 ml of an herb/s infused oil, place in a stainless steel pan and gently warm the infused oil, add aprox. 60 g. of bees wax (grated), once it is melted place in jars, if you have time this is the preferred method to make a salve properly.
BATHS
Any herb that can be used internally can also be used in a bath. Herbal baths are very effective for babies as well as adults. Baths are very relaxing, healing and soothing, you can prepare an infusion and poured it into the bath water, or you can place the herbs in cheese cloth and place it in the hot water, usually 30 grams (total) of herb/s is enough. You can also use Essential oils in your baths.
Bath suggestions
To aid your sleep - Hops (Humulus lupulus), Linden flowers (Tilia europea), Lavender (Lavandula off.), Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis).
General tonic - Thyme (Thymus vulgaris), Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis).
Hyperactive children - Chamomile (Matricaria recutita) , Catnip (Nepeta cataria)
Rheumatic joints - Mustard, (Brassica nigra) (2 teaspoons)
For a relaxing and exquisitely scented bath, infusions can be made of:
Linden (Tilia europea), Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis), Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)
Other ideas are :
Relaxing bath – Lavender (Lavandula off.), German Chamomile (Matricaria recutita), Linden (Tilia europea)
Children relaxing bath - Roman Chamomile (Matricaria recutita), Linden (Tilia europea), Red Clover (Trifolium pratense)
INFUSED OILS
Infused oils can be used directly on the skin, as a massage blend, or to make salves or creams, they are very versatile and easy to make.
Use a clean dry glass jar, pack the herbs to be used loosely inside of the jar, if using fresh herbs make sure that they have being picked when there is no dew or rain on them, they have to be dry. Fill the jar to the brim with a carrier oil such as almond oil or olive oil, tightly close the jar, and leave it to stand on a window sill (facing the daily sun) for about 2 weeks, shake it and turn it daily.
At the end of this period strain the oil and store it in a tightly closed bottle/jar and placed it in a cool dry place (don't forget to put on a sticker with the herb/s name and the date).
Use these oils to treat skin afflictions, by using different herbs you can make oils useful to treat conditions such as shingles, arthritis, psoriasis, eczema, scars, etc.
POULTICE FOMENTATIONS AND COMPRESSES
Very useful when you have to apply herbs directly onto the skin, to treat a skin condition, to soften tissue, to alleviate pain or inflammation. Specially effective in treating joint problems such as arthritis, as they will increase the blood supply to the joints which sometimes can not be reached by internal medicines.
They can be made from a piece of cloth, compresses can be applied hot or cold, poultices are always applied hot.
Compresses are made using an infusion or decoction of the herb/s, in which you soak a piece of flannel or towel, you can bandage it around the area to be treated, normally a compress is refreshed every 15/20 minutes, the application can last from 1 to 4 hours. Herbs commonly used for compresses are : Chickweed, Comfrey, Marigold, Mullein, Plantain, Slippery Elm, Chamomile.
Poultices are made by packing fresh or died herbs in a muslin bag or folded flannel soaked in boiling water, then bandage it in place (make sure that it is hot but not burning), as poultices have to remain in place for 1 to 4 hours, keep it warm by using a water bottle or heating pad. Herbs commonly used for poultices are:
Comfrey (fractures ulcers), Chamomile and Hops (muscle pains and neuralgias).
Article from: http://www.infoherb.com/Using_herbs.html
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USING MEDICINAL HERBS
Using medicinal herbs should be educational, fun and why not magic. You can treat some of your minor conditions as well as your families, but remember safety comes first.
All you need is a teapot, and a couple of pots or sauce pans, herbal tinctures can be purchased in a herbal store or you can make some with vodka.
Even though most the herbs are safe most of the time, there are some with potential toxicity and it is advisable to consult with a trained medical/clinical herbalist when in doubt, remember that self diagnosis and self medication with herbs is not recommended. If you have a condition that you would normally treat with over the counter medication and would not go to the doctor with, probably can be treated at home with herbs. Any conditions that are aggravated or persistent required professional help.
INTERACTIONS - remember that there are certain risks associated with the combination of
Some conditions which required professional assistance are:
Severe pain in the abdomen and chest
Severe pain in the limbs
Severe headaches
Blood in urine or stool
Coughing of blood
Fainting
Shortness of breath without cause
Injuries caused by accidents
Persistent diarrhea
Persistent weakness
Persistent coughs
Eye injuries
HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT HERBS
HERBAL CLASSIFICATIONS
Medicinal herbs can be classified in different ways according to needs. They can be listed by:
Alphabetical order - Marigold, Chamomile, Echinacea, etc.
Botanical family (Taxonomic) - Compositae, Rosaceae, Rubiaceae, Laminaceae, etc.
Constituents (Biochemical)- alkaloids, tannins, coumarins, iridoids etc.
Plant parts (Morphological) - whole plant, seeds, root, flowers etc.
Therapeutic effects - tonics, astringents, diaphoretics, diuretics etc.
Geographical - American, Asian, European, etc.
When choosing your herbs for medicinal purposes, the constituents and therapeutic effects are the most important.
ACTION BASED - it is the easiest way for anyone to begin using herbs. All the herbs have biochemical action/s and specific effects in the body. Knowing these actions and the specific pathology will help you decide which actions are required and then which herbs will deliver these actions.
Some of the most used actions are:
Alteratives
Herbs that will slowly restore the proper function of the body increasing health and vitality. This may sound unclear, but their value is certain. They act by altering the metabolic body's processes so tissues can be dealt with a range of processes from nutrition to elimination. E.g.. Echinacea (Echinacea angustifolia), Blood root (Sanguinaria canadensis), Golden seal (hydrastis canadensis).
Anti-microbials
Anti-microbial herbs can help the body to destroy or resist pathogenic micro-organisms, topically as in skin infections and internally for systemic infections. E.g. Garlic (Allium sativum), Thyme (Thymus vulgaris), Sage (Salvia officinalis).
Anti-inflammatory
Herbs/constituents that aid the body to fight inflammation in different areas. E.g. Devil’s claw (Harpagophytum procumbens), Turmeric (Curcuma longa) White willow (Salix alba), Wild yam (Dioscorea villosa), Marigold (Calendula officinalis).
Astringents
Remedies that contain constituents that have a binding action on mucous membranes, skin and other exposed tissue. They contract blood vessels and some body tissues (mucous membranes) with the effect of reducing secretion and excretions. Astringents are sometimes used to stop external or internal bleeding. E.g. Yarrow (Achillea millefolium), Couchgrass (Agropyron repens), Tormentil (Potentilla tormentilla), Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana)
Bitters
Very important to the digestive system, these are remedies that have a bitter taste which triggers a sensory response in the mouth that is directed by the nerves to the central nervous system. From there a message goes to the stomach increasing the digestive hormone gastrin, leading to a great range of ramifications of value to the digestive process and general body health. E.g. Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium), Gentian (Gentiana lutea), Centaury (Erythraea centaurium).
Anti-Spasmodic
Anti-spasmodics help by preventing or easing spasms or cramps in the muscles, they also reduce tension in the body, and many of them are also nervines, sometimes they will also ease psychological tension. E.g. Passion Flower (Passiflora incarnata), Valerian (Valeriana officinalis), Cramp bark (Viburnum opulus), Lobelia (Lobelia inflata), Black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa)
Carminatives
Carminatives are herbal remedies that have a high content of volatile oils, they are used to stimulate the digestive system to work properly. They are very effective to expel gas and easing griping pains from the stomach and the intestines, they also tone the mucous surfaces and increase peristaltic action (esophagus, stomach and intestine movement, which propels its contents onward).
They are also used with other herbs to make formulations more palatable, carminatives are also known as aromatics. E.g. Aniseed (Pimpinella anisum), Caraway (Carum carvi), Chamomile (Matricaria recutita), Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), Ginger (Zingiber officinale), Peppermint (Mentha piperita).
Demulcents
Demulcent are herbs rich in mucilage which can soothe and protect irritated or inflamed internal tissues (mucous surfaces). If they are used on the skin, demulcents are called emollients, which have a protective and soothing action upon the surface of the body. E.g. Corn Silk (Zea mays), Liquorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra), Marshmallow root (Althaea officinalis), Slippery Elm (Ulmus fulva), Mullein (Verbascum thapsus)
Diuretics
Diuretics are herbs that increase the flow of urine from the kidneys, excreting excess fluid from the body, they will not cause potassium depletion or stress the kidneys. As these are herbs which offer some beneficial action in the urinary system, they can also include urinary demulcents and anti-inflammatory herbs. E.g. Dandelion leaf (Taraxacum off. folia), Celery (Apium graveolens), Corn silk (Zea mays), Couchgrass (Agropyron repens), Yarrow (Achillea millefolium).
Expectorants
Expectorants are herbs that aid the body to remove excess mucous from the lungs by stimulating the cleansing activities of the lungs. E.g. Thyme (Thymus vulgaris), Licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra), Elecampane (Inula helenium), Marshmallow (Althea officinalis), Pleurisy Root (Asclepias tuberosa), Wild Cherry (Prunus serotina).
Nervines
Nervines are plant remedies that have a beneficial effect/s in the nervous system, some of the different types of nervines are: tonics, relaxing, stimulating, antispasmodics, antidepressant, analgesic.
Nervine tonics - Oats (Avena sativa), St. Johns Wort (hypericum perforatum), Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora).
Nervine relaxants - Vervain (Verbene officinalis), Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata), Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia).
Antispasmodics - Valerian (valeriana officinalis), Viburnum (Viburnum opulus).
Anti-depressants - Rosemary (rosmarinus officinalis), Oats (Avena sativa), Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)
Analgesics - Jamaican Dogwood (Piscidia erythrina), Wild lettuce (Lactuca virosa), Wild Yam (Dioscorea villosa).
Energy enhancers
Energy enhancers are herbs that strengthen, and tonic herbs which support the adrenal glands, thyroid and nervous tissue. E.g.. Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera), Siberian ginseng (Eleutherococcus senticosus), Gotu kola (Centella asiatica), Kelp (Fucus vesiculosis), Ginseng (Panax ginseng).
Circulatory stimulants
Herbal remedies which dilate the blood vessels, strengthen the heart and enhance circulation. They can direct the action to a specific area of the body, limbs or central organs, these herbs could be warming in nature. E.g. Ginger (Zingiber officinalis), Prickly ash (Zanthoxylum spp.), Rosemary (rosmarinus officinalis), Cayenne (Capsicum minimum).
Uterine tonic
Herbs that strengthen and tonify the uterine muscle and lining, some will improve the circulation to these organs, useful to restore normal menses. E.g.. Black Haw (Viburnum prunifolium), Partridge Berry (Mitchella repens), Yarrow (Achillea millefolium), Ladies Mantle (Alchemilla vulgaris)
BUILDING YOUR FORMULA
In most cases you will find that between 4 or 6 herbs will accomplish the objective, and will give you the herbal actions required for most cases.
The first step would be to find the herbal actions required for the condition, remember don't treat the symptoms, try to find the causes of the problem. If you want to treat the symptoms they can be treated parallel to the cause ( with a second formula), specially if you need to take care of some relief, while the main formula works.
Once you have identified the actions required, make a list of the herbs that you know have these actions, if you see herbs that appear in more than one category those will be ones to use. There will be other herbs that are more specific to the condition or body area required, these specific herbs are also good candidates to be used in the formula.
Traditionally a herbal formulation should contain:
- 2 to 3 parts of specific herbs particular for the condition
- 1 part of herbs which are relaxing/soothing for the affected area or to the nerves in general
- 1 part of herbs which are tonic & strengthening to the affected area or system.
- 1 part of herbs which will aid the eliminative/alternative/depurative areas concerned.
All you need is some practice and interest and you will see how the formulations can be made without too much problem. Remember you can have fun while doing it.
EXAMPLE OF FORMULA BUILDING
Your brother will be going through final exams soon at the university, he has anxiety, is tired, and is lacking concentration, he also has stomach acidity from the tension, and needs help to be at his best for the approaching exams.
| You could use the following actions: Energy enhancers - Gotu kola (Centella asiatica) Nervine relaxants - Vervain (Verbene officinalis) Nervine tonics - Oats (Avena sativa) Circulatory stimulants - Rosemary (rosmarinus officinalis) Demulcents - Liquorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) | Formula Amounts 20% 25% 20% 15% 20% |
DOSAGES
- The first factor is: Type of herbs used in formula , potency, toxic levels if any?
- Type of condition, is acute?, severe?, normally the worse or acute the condition the more medicine you will give.
- Body size, weight, height, we will not give the same dosage to a football player weighing 250 pounds, as we would give to a frail older person.
- Absorption, distribution, elimination, are very important, an older person will required less dosage than a 30 year old, as age slows the absorption, distribution and elimination. Also the digestive condition will affect the dosage, constipation and sluggishness will require lower dosages as herbs will remain longer in the system just like with older people.
- Diarrhea will require larger dosages as herbs will not remain long in the system therefore absorption may be limited. HI metabolic rates and fevers may require also higher dosages.
Usually the best time to take herbal medicines is half hour before meals, to maximize absorption. Remember that dosages may vary from herb to herb.
TEAS: usually 3 cups a day of tea will be a normal dosage. For preparation use 1 teaspoon of total herb/s per each cup of tea to be prepared. Try to prepare the tea daily, rather than a big batch to last for several days, as teas tend to get mouldy very quick.
TINCTURES: the strength of the tincture is important here, normal therapeutic strength for medicinal herbs is 1:3 to 1:5, if so use i tsp. (5 ml) three times a day.
CREAMS/SALVES/INFUSED OILS: these can be applied often during the day, unless the area to be applied is painful.
CHILDREN DOSAGES:
Babies 1 to 5 years old, 1 to 5 teaspoons for a tea.
Children 5 to 12 years old, one quarter to half adult dose, after 12 year old they usually get adult dosages.
The above dosages are suggestions for normal conditions, please read the instructions of the herbal medicines to be given to children and provide the dosages recommended, when in doubt consult a qualified Medical/clinical herbalist. Also consult the children section in this site for more detailed information about herbal tincture dosages for children.
HERB'S QUALITY
The herbs should be organic if possible, sometimes it is very hard to find all the herbs required organic, so do your best to find them. If not available, non-organic herbs have to have the proper characteristics of the herb, such as:
The color of the dried herb should be the same as when the herb was fresh, brown herbs may denote improper drying process and may be oxidized. The smell of the herb should have the same characteristics of the smell of the fresh herb. Herbs should look clean and free of debris. If processed (powder, cut) the herb should look clean and properly processed.
Buy your herbs from reputable stores that have a quick inventory rotation to make sure that the herbs have not being sitting in the store forever, when in doubt question the store staff as to origin and quality of the herbs to be purchased. Prepacked herbs may have been in a bag too long, buy bulk herbs when possible.
The same goes for other medicinal products like tinctures, salves, creams, and oils, buy from reputable companies, check for the expiry dates before purchasing, if in doubt ask questions about quality and products ingredients.
Tinctures should always be marked on the label for strength (ratios of herb to alcohol) as well as alcohol content, which is the alcohol % that is the best to extract the active constituents of the herb, so it should look something like this on the label (example):
(Calendula officinalis)
1:5 (strength) 90% (alcohol)
All dried herbs are sensitive to heat, light, oxygen and water. Herbs have to be stored in airtight glass containers to retain their freshness, to stop humidity (molding), and to stop the dissipation of the herb's constituents into the air.
Amber glass jars are excellent to store herbs, if you can not find any, store your herbs in any glass jar, paper bags or plastic bags that are not airtight as plastic fumes will contaminate your herbs. As soon as you place your herbs in a glass container put a sticker with the name of the herb and the date.
I don't like my herbs to touch metal during storage or while making a tea, as they may react with the metals and oxidize, thus I don't recommend tin cans to store them. Regardless of the way that you store your herbs, they will slowly lose their potency and ultimately become worthless, don't use any herbs that are more than 8 months to a year old.
TINCTURES
Normally tinctures are purchased in dark glass bottles, so store them away from the sun light in a dark cool place, as they contain alcohol they do not need refrigeration, if your tincture is not made with alcohol, follow the recommendation on the label.
Alcohol tinctures last 4 to 5 years if stored correctly, but refer to the expiry date on the label to be sure.
SALVES, CREAMS AND INFUSED OILS
These types of herbal remedies are more prompt to loose their properties or become rancid or spoiled, be sure to refer to the labels expiry date, if there is no expiry date use your sense of smell and look at the product to see if there is any separation of the ingredients.
If unsure do not use it and buy a new one, the following is a basic time table for normal expiration time of well made products. Remember ultimately, the ingredients, quality and the manufacturing process of the product determines the shelf life.
SALVES - 2 years
CREAMS - 2 years
INFUSED OILS - 1 year
There are internal and external herbal remedies, the strongest and fastest way to get herbal remedies into your systems is by using tinctures, teas are generally not as strong as tinctures but occasionally are necessary as we shall see.
INTERNAL REMEDIES
Types of internal medicines:
1. Tincture preparations
2. Water-based preparations
3. Syrups, lozenges, elixirs and other liquid formulations
4. Fresh or dried herbs
TINCTURES
Medical/Clinical herbalists use this type of medicine more often, as it is stronger than water extractions, easier to take, and they have a long shelf life, if store correctly they can last up to 4 years.
They are made by macerating (soaking) a dried or fresh herb in a mix of water and alcohol for 2 weeks, it is shaken daily for those 2 weeks and then is strained and placed in a dark bottle. Normally tinctures are made with alcohol but occasionally glycerin or vinegar can be used.
Tinctures are made according to descriptions in a Pharmacopoeia, different plants have different requirements for the alcohol strength required to extract the active constituents of the plant, most of the herbs use 25% (e.g. Dandelion), some need 45% (e.g. Echinacea), 60% (e.g. Boldo) or up to 90% (e.g. Myrrh, Marigold).
In Canada, due to taxation, alcohol is very expensive so Vodka can be use to make tinctures, vodka’s alcohol content is 45% so most of the tinctures can use it.
Tinctures may also be made with vinegar as the acetic acid in the vinegar will act as a preservative and solvent similar to alcohol.
Glycerin based tinctures have several advantages, are child friendly, can be taken by people that can not take alcohol, and are easy on the digestive tract. There are a few disadvantages: resins or oily materials don’t dissolve as good as in alcohol, and the strength of the tincture is not as good as in alcohol based one.
The standard strength of a tincture is 1:5, (one part of died herb to 5 parts of the water alcohol mix), other tinctures are made at a ratio of 1:2 or 1:3, or a weaker 1:10. I prefer a tincture that is, 1:3 or 1:4 as this is the best therapeutic strength for most herbal medicines (except for restricted herbs).
A herbal prescription is usually made with 4 to 6 herbs, which synergistic-ally work better than a single tincture. A normal dosage of a herbal formulation is 5 ml taken 3 times a day (depending on the herbs used).
If you know how to make tea you can make an infusion, it is the easiest way to prepare a herbal medicine at home. You use this method to prepare leaves, flowers and any soft part of a plant
Place 1 teaspoon of the dried herb or 3 three teaspoons of the fresh herb in a cup, and pour over 1 cup of freshly boiled water. Steep it 10 min. then strain off and drink. Lemon and honey may be added but don't use milk.
Take 3 cups of the tea a day, the cooled infusion can also be used as a skin wash, for skin infections or inflammations, or as a mouth wash and gargle for sore throats, mouth ulcers and oral infections.
If you are combining 2 or more herbs to make your infusion you would generally use equal parts of each herb to give a total of 1 teaspoon to 1 cup of water, unless otherwise indicated.
DECOCTIONS
When the herbs to be used are hard such as, roots, seeds, barks, stems and particularly thick or tough leaves, it is better to make a decoction as the cell walls are very strong and they required a stronger method to extract the active constituents.
The proportions are the same as for the infusion (1 teaspoon to 1 cup) but the herb is placed in a glass, enamel or stainless steel pan, covered with the cold water and brought to a boil. Keeping the pan tightly covered allow it to simmer for 5 to 15 min then strain off and drink.
You can use a decoction and infusions in the same way, and dosages are usually the same. If you are making a mixture of soft and hard herbs, make a decoction of the hard herbs first, then use the decoction to pour over the soft part to make an infusion.
USAGES OF INFUSIONS/DECOCTIONS
As a tea taken internally.
As a skin wash for inflammations, infections or blisters.
As a douche or enema.
As a hair rinse for scalp conditions.
As a mouth wash or gargle for sore throats or mouth infections.
As a hand or foot bath.
JUICES
This is one of the most effective ways to take herbs internally, as you are getting absolutely all the goodness from the plant. Juices are made from fresh plants, and a good juicer is essential (and they are not cheap): I recommend the Champion. The main drawback with juices is that they start oxidizing as soon as you make them and lose their potency. They can be preserved in the fridge for a few hours but the best way to preserve them for longer periods is to combine the juice with an equal part of glycerin (available from the health food store). This will give them a shelf life of around 6 months.
Dosages of juice required will vary according to the herbs used, a general guideline is one 5 ml. teaspoon 2 - 3 times a day for the juice and glycerin mixture, or proportionately less for children.
CAPSULES
If you don’t like to be bother with making teas, or if the tea taste is not very good, you can make capsules. They are very easy to make by grinding the herbs to a fine powder (a mortar or a coffee grinder works well). This guarantees that the cell walls are largely broken down, and helps in the digestion and absorption of the herb, then use the powder to fill empty vegetable or gelatin capsules.
The size of capsules should be “00”, holds about 0.5 grams, they are available in health food stores, normally you can take 2 to 3 of these capsules a day.
Capsules should not be used for children, nor where the action of the herbs is to promote and enhance digestion, many of the digestive herbs are bitters and work by reflex responses to their bitter taste.
How to make a capsule:
Place the powdered herbs in a small flat dish and take the halves of the capsule apart.
Move the halves of the capsules through the powder, filling them in the process.
Push the halves together and close them.
EXTERNAL REMEDIES
There are creams, salves, baths, liniments, oils, compress and poultices. These remedies are very effective and versatile to treat innumerable conditions, as a sole remedy or combination of internal and external therapy.
CREAMS
You have to start with a good cream base, preferably unscented and able to accept the herbs in liquid form without loosing its consistency, then you can add up to 10 or 15% (total amount) of tincture, essential oils or infused oils desired, a little at a time while stirring the mix well and then store in jars.
SALVES /OINTMENTS
Semisolid preparations, which can be applied to the skin. There are many ways of making salves depending on the final use intended, they may vary in texture, from very thick and greasy to softer more cream like texture.
Any herb can be used for making ointments, the following are only some examples of great value for external use.
Marigold (Calendula officinalis)
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Marshmallow (Althaea officinalis)
Arnica (Arnica montana)
Plantain (Plantago major)
Chickweed (Stellaria media)
Thyme (Thymus vulgaris)
Slippery elm (Ulmus fulva)
The easiest way to make a salve is by using Vaseline or a similar petroleum jelly as a base. This easy method has a disadvantage of being an inorganic base, but the advantage is that it is very easy to handle and available anytime, so it can be made very quickly.
The simple method to make a salve with Vaseline is to simmer 2 tablespoons of the desired herb/s in 200 grams of Vaseline for about 15 minutes stirring well, sift it through a cheese cloth or fine gauze, pour the liquid into a jar and seal it after it has cooled.
To make a more professional salve, use 500 ml of an herb/s infused oil, place in a stainless steel pan and gently warm the infused oil, add aprox. 60 g. of bees wax (grated), once it is melted place in jars, if you have time this is the preferred method to make a salve properly.
BATHS
Any herb that can be used internally can also be used in a bath. Herbal baths are very effective for babies as well as adults. Baths are very relaxing, healing and soothing, you can prepare an infusion and poured it into the bath water, or you can place the herbs in cheese cloth and place it in the hot water, usually 30 grams (total) of herb/s is enough. You can also use Essential oils in your baths.
Bath suggestions
To aid your sleep - Hops (Humulus lupulus), Linden flowers (Tilia europea), Lavender (Lavandula off.), Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis).
General tonic - Thyme (Thymus vulgaris), Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis).
Hyperactive children - Chamomile (Matricaria recutita) , Catnip (Nepeta cataria)
Rheumatic joints - Mustard, (Brassica nigra) (2 teaspoons)
For a relaxing and exquisitely scented bath, infusions can be made of:
Linden (Tilia europea), Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis), Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)
Other ideas are :
Relaxing bath – Lavender (Lavandula off.), German Chamomile (Matricaria recutita), Linden (Tilia europea)
Children relaxing bath - Roman Chamomile (Matricaria recutita), Linden (Tilia europea), Red Clover (Trifolium pratense)
INFUSED OILS
Infused oils can be used directly on the skin, as a massage blend, or to make salves or creams, they are very versatile and easy to make.
Use a clean dry glass jar, pack the herbs to be used loosely inside of the jar, if using fresh herbs make sure that they have being picked when there is no dew or rain on them, they have to be dry. Fill the jar to the brim with a carrier oil such as almond oil or olive oil, tightly close the jar, and leave it to stand on a window sill (facing the daily sun) for about 2 weeks, shake it and turn it daily.
At the end of this period strain the oil and store it in a tightly closed bottle/jar and placed it in a cool dry place (don't forget to put on a sticker with the herb/s name and the date).
Use these oils to treat skin afflictions, by using different herbs you can make oils useful to treat conditions such as shingles, arthritis, psoriasis, eczema, scars, etc.
POULTICE FOMENTATIONS AND COMPRESSES
Very useful when you have to apply herbs directly onto the skin, to treat a skin condition, to soften tissue, to alleviate pain or inflammation. Specially effective in treating joint problems such as arthritis, as they will increase the blood supply to the joints which sometimes can not be reached by internal medicines.
They can be made from a piece of cloth, compresses can be applied hot or cold, poultices are always applied hot.
Compresses are made using an infusion or decoction of the herb/s, in which you soak a piece of flannel or towel, you can bandage it around the area to be treated, normally a compress is refreshed every 15/20 minutes, the application can last from 1 to 4 hours. Herbs commonly used for compresses are : Chickweed, Comfrey, Marigold, Mullein, Plantain, Slippery Elm, Chamomile.
Poultices are made by packing fresh or died herbs in a muslin bag or folded flannel soaked in boiling water, then bandage it in place (make sure that it is hot but not burning), as poultices have to remain in place for 1 to 4 hours, keep it warm by using a water bottle or heating pad. Herbs commonly used for poultices are:
Comfrey (fractures ulcers), Chamomile and Hops (muscle pains and neuralgias).
Article from: http://www.infoherb.com/Using_herbs.html
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