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Can I Use My Herbal Powders To Make Teas?

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Posted 10/23/2016 7:21 AM (GMT -5)
Mike,

I love reading your posts. I laugh from beginning to end. You are quite the comic writer. I was picturing you covered from head to toe with curdled milk, trying to make herbs - and then I was laughing even harder when Julymorning suggested your wife have her way with you. I just thought "Is he washing that milk smell off first?" Ok we clearly all need to laugh more. Thanks Mike!

I don't know how to make herbs. I used to get them for an Eastern doctor (before Lyme for something else) and I did have to boil for a long time and strain, then drink. However, they may have been in a different state to begin with. Is there a reason you switched from tincture to this new form?

Keep us posted and keep us laughing. We love you Mike.
Posted 10/23/2016 9:49 AM (GMT -5)
My husband also went through a stomach bleed due to use of anti-inflammatories and such, but ginger capsules help him when he's nauseous. Just something to think about and POSSIBLY try. Everyone is so different.

Aloe would be soothing to the entire digestive tract, so it would be a good option.
Posted 10/23/2016 10:41 AM (GMT -5)
It was almost 20 years ago, when my acid reflux started so not positive but THINK it was $20.00 for the entire gallon. I remember being afraid my wife would be mad at the cost but as usual, she was NOT at all upset, just wanted me to stop being so sick throwing up blood etc. It wasn't a juice at all either, more of a somewhat thin jell.

I looked at Amazon and it looks like what I used to buy might have been Lily of The Desert Organic Aloe Vera Juice, Whole Leaf, 128 Fluid Ounce?
/www.amazon.com/Lily-Desert-Organic-Juice-Whole/dp/B00014DGLU/ref=sr_1_17_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1477235820&sr=8-17&keywords=aloe%2Bdrink&th=1#customerReviews
Posted 10/23/2016 10:52 AM (GMT -5)
I didn't buy it in that quantity (before online shopping), but I think that's the brand I used to use.

And yes, it's more of a thin gel than an actual liquid such as water.
Posted 10/23/2016 1:17 PM (GMT -5)
I kept mine in the fridge at work and LOVED the feeling of that cold RELIEF I could literally feel all the way down to my stomach. Good to see pricing hasn't really changed much at all either. Odd thing in reading Amazon reviews for it. Found a reviewer singing the praises of medicinal Pharma Grade CBD for his/her parent with stage 4 cancer. They go on to state nobody died etc? HOW can you have stage 4 lung cancer and NOT die? He makes it sound like this and his CBD made this parent live which is insane but what captured MY attention was the idea of use for pain. I HATE my almost 3 years of extreme Opioid medication. I HATE it.

Anyway, for me it is the same thing as all these online antibiotic "stores". I assume I am throwing away my minimum $90-150 order to find out. Too bad because ex law enforcement or not I wish they would legalize ALL drugs and tax them and use whatever portion of that tax revenue to fund 100% FREE drug rehab for anyone that seeks it. Decriminalize it to STOP all the violence that drug use in this country induces with the smuggling, junkies doing burglaries and robberies to support the habit etc. ALL I see is the insanity of people looking to get high. I felt this way even before I came to understand that chronic pain DOES exist. I often wonder if my being disabled & crippled for life is some sadistic payback for my treating those suffering it like they were criminals. I honestly HATED it when I heard sob stories and just knew it was a bunch of losers looking to get high. Well the Gods showed ME I'll tell ya... Anyway, the beauty about this CBD is you can not get high which is exactly what I am longing for. So I could drive again and maybe have some kind of life back. Unlike some, I will not drive impaired and lace others at risk. So it has been almost 3 years since I even drove a car. If anyone knows anything at all about this stuff, let me know? I can't even remember a single day without so much pain I want to scream almost every minute of my life even WITH the strongest pain medication on this planet.
Posted 10/23/2016 1:26 PM (GMT -5)

Huddie said...
Mike,

I love reading your posts. I laugh from beginning to end. You are quite the comic writer. I was picturing you covered from head to toe with curdled milk, trying to make herbs - and then I was laughing even harder when Julymorning suggested your wife have her way with you. I just thought "Is he washing that milk smell off first?" Ok we clearly all need to laugh more. Thanks Mike!

I don't know how to make herbs. I used to get them for an Eastern doctor (before Lyme for something else) and I did have to boil for a long time and strain, then drink. However, they may have been in a different state to begin with. Is there a reason you switched from tincture to this new form?

Keep us posted and keep us laughing. We love you Mike.

Well I suspected and Sage Herbs confirmed, that Tinctures are the most expensive and powder is far cheaper. I wrongly "assumed" that I could just simply stir in a teaspoon of each herb into a few ounces of water or juice and chug like I do tinctures. NOT so. I end up with a glass of what looks like, well you do NOT want me to say it do you:-) With sand & dirt in the bottom of that brown water. I literally have to use a teaspoon and eat that "dirt" and then choke to death. I am simply too disabled to make capsules for ALL of these herbs! Plus I am having about a 10% failure rate where the capsules don't work properly. In other words, a portion of pills in each batch will fall apart etc so it is VERY time consuming and KILLS my back stooping over that machine assembling all these things. Just extending my arms in front of myself hurts BADLY. With so many spine/neck fusions, just moving hurts with failed back syndrome. They want to put in an implanted device to try to help with the pain but I have simply had ENOUGH of these surgeries. I will NEVER trust ANY doctor again ever. Period....
Posted 10/23/2016 1:31 PM (GMT -5)

Traveler said...
My husband also went through a stomach bleed due to use of anti-inflammatories and such, but ginger capsules help him when he's nauseous. Just something to think about and POSSIBLY try. Everyone is so different.

Aloe would be soothing to the entire digestive tract, so it would be a good option.

Yes on the ginger. I actually use about a 1 inch chunk of whole ginger in every 64 ounce smoothie Trish makes me. I drink it all in 4 large glasses throughout my days. Unlike herbs, I LIKE the tast and it can even help if like me, you get motion sickness. I am the only guy you ever saw out in the water surfing who used to be throwing up between waves from being seasick! Now that I look back, I guess I was ALWAYS "different". My poor parents.
Posted 10/23/2016 1:47 PM (GMT -5)
I used to always be the same with being car sick or sea sick. I was pregnant and on a Navy Sub-tender (ex-husband was Navy) and wow - that was one REALLY bad day! LOL!

I started using ginger only about 7 years ago, but now, with continued use, I can even read going down twisty & windy mountain roads most times without being car sick!!!

I agree with you on a lot of what you said about making CBD legal. Although I grew up with that kind of pain, so I knew just how real it got. I know that if used in a proper manner, it can be an amazing herb to heal all kinds of things, yes, even stage 4 cancer from the reports that I've seen.

On the capsules, what "machine" are you using? I use one of these: www.cap-m-quik.com/ I place it on my desk, or on a "T.V. tray" and sit and fill my caps. I prefer to use the size O capsules, as I have weighed my herbs and have been able to confirm that they hold 500 mgs of the herbs I stuff - makes for easy dosage calculations - if I pack them tightly. You could find a height that doesn't bother your neck too much and yet keep it close to your body so your arms are outstretched????

Otherwise, I would recommend that you buy premade capsules or try using a "thick" juice to help get them down the hatch!
Posted 10/23/2016 1:58 PM (GMT -5)
Mike - there have been some discussions on the CBD oil on this forum.

I tried it last spring - the CBD oil from hemp (food grade) is what you want since you don't want to get 'high'.
CBD oil from hemp is high cbd and low thc.

I am in Canada and I purchased mine from the Green Cross (in Vancouver, BC). I recently spoke to rep from Green Cross... about U.S. suppliers...and he said to buy it from CW Botanicals - from his experience it is the best place to get it from.

/www.cwhemp.com

Since it's not marijuana, but hemp without the psychoactive properties - it is legal in most (if not all) States.
Posted 10/23/2016 2:08 PM (GMT -5)

Traveler said...
I used to always be the same with being car sick or sea sick. I was pregnant and on a Navy Sub-tender (ex-husband was Navy) and wow - that was one REALLY bad day! LOL!

I started using ginger only about 7 years ago, but now, with continued use, I can even read going down twisty & windy mountain roads most times without being car sick!!!

I agree with you on a lot of what you said about making CBD legal. Although I grew up with that kind of pain, so I knew just how real it got. I know that if used in a proper manner, it can be an amazing herb to heal all kinds of things, yes, even stage 4 cancer from the reports that I've seen.

On the capsules, what "machine" are you using? I use one of these: www.cap-m-quik.com/ I place it on my desk, or on a "T.V. tray" and sit and fill my caps. I prefer to use the size O capsules, as I have weighed my herbs and have been able to confirm that they hold 500 mgs of the herbs I stuff - makes for easy dosage calculations - if I pack them tightly. You could find a height that doesn't bother your neck too much and yet keep it close to your body so your arms are outstretched????

Otherwise, I would recommend that you buy premade capsules or try using a "thick" juice to help get them down the hatch!

That was the model I had chosen but the store talked me into a different brand since he said it would be easier on me with a spring mechanism that automatically ejects the 24 capsules. I think yours is 54 pills each batch? Anyway, I DID also choose the size 0 myself. It is: /www.herbaffair.com/the-capsule-machine-complete-gelatin-kit/

It works very well but just holding my arms in front of me hurts and causes my neck AND pack to swell. Trish puts Salonpas patches all over me but the swelling won't stop. The pain either darn it. Before I lost use of my legs, when using my Trekking Poles to do my everyday 1 to 2 mile walks I built arm muscles so big Trish used to call the Popeye Muscles:-) I had to put so much weight on them I always thought I would break them but never did. But I bought very expensive all carbon fiber poles with cork handles from Black Diamond. Was SO crazy that one day out of NOWHERE, I fell down 3 times, but this time could NOT get back up, could not go on. I fell a lot but always got back up. This time I never again would....then I watched my leg muscles simply vanish in just a couple WEEKS. Scary times and I still wonder what is really going on?

But you and that mean old Girlie took away my 2 beers a day. NO problem. I'm tough. A battle harded USMC Combat Veteran NO problem (snif , snif-no them AIN'T tears)
Posted 10/23/2016 2:13 PM (GMT -5)
Mike - we must have been posting at the same time...You may not have seen my post that is above your last post about the CBD oil.


I may be mean...but I have a soft side...
Posted 10/23/2016 2:15 PM (GMT -5)

Girlie said...
Mike - there have been some discussions on the CBD oil on this forum.

I tried it last spring - the CBD oil from hemp (food grade) is what you want since you don't want to get 'high'.
CBD oil from hemp is high cbd and low thc.

I am in Canada and I purchased mine from the Green Cross (in Vancouver, BC). I recently spoke to rep from Green Cross... about U.S. suppliers...and he said to buy it from CW Botanicals - from his experience it is the best place to get it from.

/www.cwhemp.com

Since it's not marijuana, but hemp without the psychoactive properties - it is legal in most (if not all) States.

Thank you Girlie. I was actually there first then moved over to /www.highlandpharms.com/. Did you take it for physical pain and if so, did it help? If for something else and it is "private" I don't want to pry! I am just LONGING for pain relief and even the doctor who handles my pain management says he imagines pot might help since NOTHING except doses of Fentanyl that literally knock me OUT cold and cost over $6-8K per year help me. I just HAD to ask for something else after over 2 years and then with the new panic attacks I thought were caused by it. NOW of course I know I had been struck by Lyme and likely Bartonella, THAT explains everything. I wonder if you had any success with these "drops of oil" then?
Posted 10/23/2016 2:19 PM (GMT -5)
LOL! My Dad was USMC too. I sure miss him! He was a gentle giant - not that he was all that large of a man, but in his presence he sure was! And I saw him cry more than once - he just wouldn't admit to it in public. I finally married a man much like my Dad - only his is a big guy, lol! - but he's my gentle giant. And he cries at times of extreme joy and extreme sadness. I see that as an admirable quality. Tears are a natural function of the body!!

Anyway - back to things at hand. LOL! There's not much difference in the two models of capsule fillers, so if the one you have makes you hurt, then the one I use will likely make you hurt as well. =(

And, for a little bit of hope - Lyme causes muscle wasting - and it can happen pretty quickly. I was pretty surprised to watch it happen to me as well (I have a heavily muscled body for a woman), but once I healed the first time, it didn't take long for those muscles to return. So if it's due to having Lyme, hang in there! Those manly muscles should return and you can be Trish's Popeye again!!
Posted 10/23/2016 2:22 PM (GMT -5)
Well, I took the CBD oil for two reasons:
1) pain relief
2) possible treatment for lyme and co's.

Retired LLMD Dr. Murakami teamed up with Dr. Eva Sapi to do research on the cbd oil's effects on lyme in vitro.

There are some testimonies that is has helped people with lyme - not just pain relief, but other symptoms.

But, I didn't get any results - it was about 2 months that I took it...maybe I didn't give it a long enough time...but I think I even felt worse during that time period.
Maybe it was a herx....
I would consider trying it again.

A lot of people do get pain relief from the marijuana, though - and I can easily get it legally now where I live. But, in the U.S. I believe getting marijuana in most States is more difficult.

- CBD oil is available though in most U.S. States. - legally.
Posted 10/23/2016 2:24 PM (GMT -5)
- and mine wasn't a liquid oil...even though it's called CBD oil - it was like a sticky, thick tar substance.
It came in a syringe (without the needle) and you dispensed a minute amount (size of a grain of rice)
Posted 10/23/2016 2:43 PM (GMT -5)
Thank you (both of my "Girls"):-) The availble products I see now at CW is 2 eyedroppers twice per day so looks like IS liquid now? But at $275.00 for 3 ounces? YIKES. Being 6'2" and around 220 pounds now I may require more (per their numbers at the other website Highland Pharms. Funny play on words....HIGland PHARMS? I am SO suspicios from my years on assorted police depts...hard to shake my "attitude".
Posted 10/23/2016 2:47 PM (GMT -5)
Depending on where you purchase it from - it may be liquid...or the thick paste that I get.


When I was taking the CBD oil, I think it was costing me around $200 for 3 weeks worth.
My source might be cheaper than what you get in the U.S.
Posted 10/23/2016 5:27 PM (GMT -5)

Girlie said...
Depending on where you purchase it from - it may be liquid...or the thick paste that I get.


When I was taking the CBD oil, I think it was costing me around $200 for 3 weeks worth.
My source might be cheaper than what you get in the U.S.

Yeah, more for me due to my size. Just like alcohol, it's effectiveness is based upon you need more, the bigger you are.

Hey-I just found a quick & easy (but MESSY with my meaty hands) method for making pills! I made 100 in 45 minutes first time out. At 1 min 28 seconds in or so I do it this way, each by hand NO machine! Blew my mind as it actually works. Oh happy daze (spelled correctly for ME!).

/www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkdjovCPAZM
Posted 10/23/2016 5:43 PM (GMT -5)
How cool Mike!!
Posted 10/23/2016 8:29 PM (GMT -5)

lucynethel (OR Just Mike) said...

rowingmom said...
Yes. Making infusions is a very good way to extract different compounds from each herbal powder. Buhner recommends using hot water and then allowing it to cool to room temperature. Different compounds are extracted at different temperatures. Then when you ingest the infused powder there is an additional acid extraction (stomach acid).

We use both tinctures and infused powdered herbs. If my daughter could take that stuff at age 10, you can too! Try a pomegranate juice chaser. Makes it all worth while.

In hopes of NOT goofing this up, you are saying take my 1 teaspoon of each of the 5 herbs and place them in my drinking cup, pour HOT water in and let sit till it cools then drink? I only ask for clarification as when I try mixing any of these into col water, I simply get MUD. NOTHING "mixes" much at all.

So maybe the very hot water makes it all get dissolve like I was after then? Please let me know since I hate to wast any more of my herbs on my Frankenstein experiments gone wrong:-) And THANK you for this!

After the water has boiled I pour 1/2 cup of it into a small Pyrex measuring cup. Then I add the amount of herbs that I will be using for the whole day, stir and cover with plastic wrap. In this way the volatile compounds will not escape. I generally do this in the evening. I allow it to sit on the counter for a while and then put it in the fridge for the next day.

Next morning I stir and measure the amount I need into another glass, making sure to keep the solids suspended. If I am dosing 3x daily I measure 1 and 1/4 oz in a shot glass (3x daily) or if I am dosing 2x daily I measure 1/4 cup (2x daily). To this I add the tinctures I will be using for that dose and a bit more water. Then I stir and chug it all back making sure to get the suspended herbs as well.

The reason why herbalists make tinctures, infusions and decoctions is to extract specific helpful compounds from the plant material. Buhner says that the different temperatures the infusion goes through as it cools extracts different compounds, making them more available to the body. Drinking cooled infusions may be more helpful than drinking hot ones. Drinking the solid herbs along with the infusion will allow and additional extraction - stomach acid, which may make more helpful compounds biologically available.
Posted 10/23/2016 8:39 PM (GMT -5)

rowingmom said...

lucynethel (OR Just Mike) said...

rowingmom said...
Yes. Making infusions is a very good way to extract different compounds from each herbal powder. Buhner recommends using hot water and then allowing it to cool to room temperature. Different compounds are extracted at different temperatures. Then when you ingest the infused powder there is an additional acid extraction (stomach acid).

We use both tinctures and infused powdered herbs. If my daughter could take that stuff at age 10, you can too! Try a pomegranate juice chaser. Makes it all worth while.

In hopes of NOT goofing this up, you are saying take my 1 teaspoon of each of the 5 herbs and place them in my drinking cup, pour HOT water in and let sit till it cools then drink? I only ask for clarification as when I try mixing any of these into col water, I simply get MUD. NOTHING "mixes" much at all.

So maybe the very hot water makes it all get dissolve like I was after then? Please let me know since I hate to wast any more of my herbs on my Frankenstein experiments gone wrong:-) And THANK you for this!

After the water has boiled I pour 1/2 cup of it into a small Pyrex measuring cup. Then I add the amount of herbs that I will be using for the whole day, stir and cover with plastic wrap. In this way the volatile compounds will not escape. I generally do this in the evening. I allow it to sit on the counter for a while and then put it in the fridge for the next day.

Next morning I stir and measure the amount I need into another glass, making sure to keep the solids suspended. If I am dosing 3x daily I measure 1 and 1/4 oz in a shot glass (3x daily) or if I am dosing 2x daily I measure 1/4 cup (2x daily). To this I add the tinctures I will be using for that dose and a bit more water. Then I stir and chug it all back making sure to get the suspended herbs as well.

The reason why herbalists make tinctures, infusions and decoctions is to extract specific helpful compounds from the plant material. Buhner says that the different temperatures the infusion goes through as it cools extracts different compounds, making them more available to the body. Drinking cooled infusions may be more helpful than drinking hot ones. Drinking the solid herbs along with the infusion will allow and additional extraction - stomach acid, which may make more helpful compounds biologically available.

Thank you SO much. I am so embarrased to even ask such a dumb question, but can you clarify what exactly is : "making sure to keep the solids suspended" ? I have been dizzy and pretty non funtional since I added in full doses of Houttuynia without going slowly at all and when I asked my wife what you meant she just gave me her "leave me alone old man" look. I am unsure if the herb is now in layers of some sort, or in some "STATE" of suspension?

Sorry to be so dense. Wife says it is not really anything new but then she messes with me so???
Posted 10/23/2016 8:47 PM (GMT -5)
PS-I have also watched quite a few YouTube videos lately where they FRY assorted herbs in a dry frying pan then make Masala? I just ordered 5000 empty size 0 capsules but I will try this idea you have given me since maybe IT could kick something into gear for me since week # 7 still has ZERO benefit that I am aware of anyway. I know it all makes me dizzy beyond belief so maybe my Lyme buddies will all get DUI's and go away if nothing else....
Posted 10/24/2016 11:01 AM (GMT -5)

lucynethel (OR Just Mike) said...

rowingmom said...

lucynethel (OR Just Mike) said...

rowingmom said...
Yes. Making infusions is a very good way to extract different compounds from each herbal powder. Buhner recommends using hot water and then allowing it to cool to room temperature. Different compounds are extracted at different temperatures. Then when you ingest the infused powder there is an additional acid extraction (stomach acid).

We use both tinctures and infused powdered herbs. If my daughter could take that stuff at age 10, you can too! Try a pomegranate juice chaser. Makes it all worth while.

In hopes of NOT goofing this up, you are saying take my 1 teaspoon of each of the 5 herbs and place them in my drinking cup, pour HOT water in and let sit till it cools then drink? I only ask for clarification as when I try mixing any of these into col water, I simply get MUD. NOTHING "mixes" much at all.

So maybe the very hot water makes it all get dissolve like I was after then? Please let me know since I hate to wast any more of my herbs on my Frankenstein experiments gone wrong:-) And THANK you for this!

After the water has boiled I pour 1/2 cup of it into a small Pyrex measuring cup. Then I add the amount of herbs that I will be using for the whole day, stir and cover with plastic wrap. In this way the volatile compounds will not escape. I generally do this in the evening. I allow it to sit on the counter for a while and then put it in the fridge for the next day.

Next morning I stir and measure the amount I need into another glass, making sure to keep the solids suspended. If I am dosing 3x daily I measure 1 and 1/4 oz in a shot glass (3x daily) or if I am dosing 2x daily I measure 1/4 cup (2x daily). To this I add the tinctures I will be using for that dose and a bit more water. Then I stir and chug it all back making sure to get the suspended herbs as well.

The reason why herbalists make tinctures, infusions and decoctions is to extract specific helpful compounds from the plant material. Buhner says that the different temperatures the infusion goes through as it cools extracts different compounds, making them more available to the body. Drinking cooled infusions may be more helpful than drinking hot ones. Drinking the solid herbs along with the infusion will allow and additional extraction - stomach acid, which may make more helpful compounds biologically available.

Thank you SO much. I am so embarrased to even ask such a dumb question, but can you clarify what exactly is : "making sure to keep the solids suspended" ? I have been dizzy and pretty non funtional since I added in full doses of Houttuynia without going slowly at all and when I asked my wife what you meant she just gave me her "leave me alone old man" look. I am unsure if the herb is now in layers of some sort, or in some "STATE" of suspension?

Sorry to be so dense. Wife says it is not really anything new but then she messes with me so???

By "suspending the solids", I mean to give the cooled infusion a good stir to bring the herbs that have settled to the bottom of the glass back into suspension before measuring out your dose. This will keep the herb dosage consistent.

Please be careful of increasing dosages too quickly. Herxheimer reactions are extremely inflammatory and can be dangerous.
Posted 10/24/2016 12:53 PM (GMT -5)
Thank you so much rowingmom. And just came from my primary care doctor who is referring me to some infectious disease specialist to see if HE can help me. Also drew more blood at Labcorp to do smears this time looking for my little wiggling pals to help look for anything else that may help him have a better idea to help me. BIG new is he signed off on any and ALL herbs and OTC supplements for my wife to get reimbursed through her flex spending IRS fund of $2500 per year. So at least we get that much back. A very big deal for us and love that he is engaged and REALLY doing all he can to help. I told him I was really not expecting any help at all and he replied he would do all he was able and allowed to do and felt terrible how tied his hands were. He also said he retired soo as well so wasn't "really all that concerned" at this point. Just glad he at least cares.
Posted 10/24/2016 2:03 PM (GMT -5)
You are fortunate to have a supportive Dr. to help you.

I have the same and it gives me peace of mind. She can't 'treat' me, (and she admits I know a ton more about lyme than she does) - but it's certainly nice to have the support.
Not once has she ever mentioned...or even insinuated that I need a psychiatrist...lol.

And..also good news that Trish can get some cash back.
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