Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Blessed Thistle

Cnicus benedictus
  Earlier this year our youngest child (2 years old) got a hold of some Tylenol PM after sneaking out of bed. The medicine had been transferred to a non-childproof container after the original had been broken. Because of recurrent migraines my husband has it is one of the few pharmaceuticals we do have in the house.
  After immediately calling poison control we took her into the ER*. By the time I got back to her after filling out paperwork at the desk, my husband had to help hold her down while they inhabated and catheterized her because she was throwing fits and hallucinating. She was sedated for a while till after she was transferred to a larger children's PICU about 30 minutes away.
  As soon as she was awake on her own and they were able to un-rig her from all the tubes, I began giving her some drops of Poke Root tincture I made. This was to immediately start working on cleaning out and restoring her liver. The doctors didn't know about it and were surprised that her blood work showed such significant improvement in such a short time. My initial choice was Poke Root, as nothing less than a very strong blood cleanser and liver stimulant would do for the threat of liver failure.
  As of lately Ive needed some help with my liver as well since suffering with boils and decided the both of us could use a little liver cleanse and some support to make sure things were working smoothly.
  Blessed thistle was my first choice and I'm sorta kicking myself for not thinking of it earlier in the year when suffering with so many boils. Usually I'd go with the Poke Root for myself again, but such a strong herb isn't reccomended when you're expecting and the babies organs cannot handle that level of cleansing and functioning when they are forming. It is quite an awful lot for a 2.5 year old for normal support as well. 
  The School of natural healing says this:
Blessed thistle is wonderful for nursing mothers, stimulating the production of mothers milk. It is very useful in purifying the blood, aiding circulation, and for all liver problems. As a tonic it strengthens the brain, heart, and stomach.
My Peanut
Blessed thistle is gentle and helps with liver congestion and toning it so it can perform at peak. It's also a great tonic for the whole digestive track, but positively tones every organ to some degree and thus produces an increase in energy. I don't think a 2.5 year old really NEEDS MORE energy, but Im glad that I can giver her something safe that has no negative side effects or complications.
  As for myself, I'm glad to see immediate results in the amount of pregnancy / hormone related acne and boils in just two days of taking it.
  As always do your research, check with your health care provider before using any herb, especially in extracted, and or mega doses. The natural form of the whole plant is always better and more useful (as well as safer) than some scientifically rigged product.

* N.B.
I and my husband both believe we could have avoided the hospital completely by inducing vomiting. We caught her just as she had eaten the "candy" (another good reason to avoid pharmaceuticals!) and had available herbs (lobelia, and ipecac) to accomplish this. This would have prevented the capsules from even dissolving to begin with. However, the Poison Control Center told us NOT to induce vomiting for fear she might asphyxiate on the vomit, should her breathing reflexes become unresponsive. I would agree with them if the case had been that we had found her some time after she had consumed them, however this was not the case. I feel if we had followed our instincts, our daughter could have been spared a lot of trauma and the possibility of organ damage.

7 comments:

  1. Very interesting post. I had really bad acne when I was pregnant (1st trimester mainly) with my child last year. I will try this herb next time!

    P.S. I am so glad your daughter is doing well!

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  2. Start now with blessed thistle, as everything will respond better. There are several things, Red raspberry being my favorite, that help with acne. Both are safe for pregnancy, but the optimum time to cleanse is after breastfeeding and before conception, so keep that in mind.

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  3. So I can take them both when nursing? (I will be nursing at least another 5 months from now). Good to know about the "optimum time to cleanse".

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  4. Is blessed thistle and milk thistle the same thing?

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  5. Jaime-
    Yes both of them are excellent for nursing mothers as well. You will find that taking BT will increase your milk and make it enriched, while giving the baby the gentle benefits that you receive from it. I'd take the BT in a capsule form, because it is quite bitter. Red raspberry can be taken as a tea with some honey if you need it, though, as I stated, my Red Raspberry post, my children will drink it without any sweetening.

    Jamie- look for the botanical name Cnicus benedictus on the bottle or from the supplier. Milk Thistle is Silybum marianum, however the name is often used for Blessed Thistle. It can also go by Holy Thistle. Milk thistle has some of the same properties.

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  6. interesting..I am just learning about blessed thistle, but Milk Thistle has similar qualities & is the herb we have used for years (about 9) when my daughter who at the time was 5 having had a fever for three days, I had been giving her benadryl cough or some sort cannot remember what we used, but it damaged daughters liver. We know this because toward the end of the fever she was crying in pain & I was in a panic being home alone with her it being midnight. She complained of pain in her belly & all I thought was gallbladder. We still used this one last drug store option but had mostly switched to homeopathics & herbs by this time but I was needing something now & did what I regret. However, it was the final straw for our reliance on these over the counter nightmares. Three blood works later, and 9 month's, her liver was healed, & the only herb we used was Silymarin (Milk Thistle) which is used by race horse owners for their horses. Simply put, it works to heal the liver.

    Any time you take even one aspirin or the like, you have damage to your liver. If you do rely on these sources, you must take Milk Thistle or Blessed Thistle to keep your liver functioning properly. Long term Milk Thistle is safe for the rest of your life. Daily intake. If you avoid these harmful drugs, you will be that much more ahead of the crowd. There are safe alternatives.

    Arnica is one of the homeopathics for headaches, Calcarea Carbonica is another for migraines, http://abchomeopathy.com there is feverfew & the pill form is Mygrafew. Lots of safe alternatives, you just need to decide you want to do better than just grabbing the tylenol.

    By the way, if a child gets hold of a homeopathic, there will be no harmful results. That's the one blessing of homeopathy. If you are reading this in time, tomorrow night at 7 p.m. central time April 10th, 2012, Joette Calabrese is doing a live webinar (free) "The 5 Most Common Mistakes Parents Make in Their Children's Health" http://www.homeopathyworks.net/ sing up here.

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  7. Breastfeeding Aid and Support Supplement-Best Milk Boosting Lactation Formula Capsules for Nursing-Herbal Mother's Select Vitamins to Increase Milk Supply and Production-With Fenugreek seed, blessed thistle, and nursing supplement Breastfeeding Support!: Health & Personal Care.

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