Bring4th

This information is strictly anecdotal...I just want to share a particular treatment that has worked for both my mom and myself.

A while ago my mom poked herself in the finger with a syringe full of livestock medication. Within a few hours, her finger was swollen and stiff. She took some antihistamine which had no effect. A day later it had gotten worse and was throbbing, so she considered going to a doctor to get a steroid shot to take care of it. She didn't particularly like that idea, and her health insurance wouldn't cover it, so she decided to consult her herbalist friend before she finally went in. She recommended crushing some plantain (a weed/herb, not the fruit) and wrapping it on the finger. The stuff is everywhere; she didn't even have to step off of our front porch step to pick some. She wrapped it around her finger and secured it with a bandage. She said that within moments she could feel a reaction, the discomfort seemed to be leaving with the throbbing. Within the hour she said she hardly felt a thing, but as soon as she took the bandage off it began itching and throbbing again. She kept the bandage on for 3 or 4 days before the swelling disappeared completely.

A few days ago I woke up in the middle of the night with a really nasty spider bite on my toe. It was incredibly swollen and itched probably worse than anything I've ever felt before. I treated it with a comfrey herbal rub through the night so I could sleep, which only relieved the itching. I woke up to find the swelling spreading to my foot, so I went to pick a couple plantain leafs, crushed them and wrapped them around my toe. Just like my mom I felt instant relief, the heat seemed to be leaving and the throbbing and itching disappeared within 5 minutes. I left the first wrap on for about 8 hours before changing it. As soon as I took it off the itching and throbbing started again. I left a wrap on it throughout the night, and the next day the swelling had reduced a significant amount though the itching was still there. Another day of wrapping it in plantain and the swelling and itching is completely gone.

Like I said, this bite itched worse than anything I've experienced before. Without this treatment I would have been incredibly uncomfortable for who knows how long. It allowed me to move about the farm and get work done.

It's an incredibly common weed and is found all over the world. It's possible you have some right around your home. Supposedly, to activate the medicinal effects, you have to crush it a bit...just enough to bruise the leafs. After that just apply it to the affected area and secure it somehow. My mom's herbalist friend uses it for a wide variety of thing, but most commonly for bug bites or any type of swelling.

Is that picture from your yard? Awesome information, Austin. Thanks for sharing it!

Yeah that's awesome!

(08-29-2012, 06:05 PM)Ruth Wrote: [ -> ]Is that picture from your yard?

No, I pulled that one from Wikipedia. This one is from my yard:




This one shows the stem-like buds which are a great identifying factor.

Oh, I remember those from my childhood! I would pull the stem and zip those seeds right off of there into a kleenex. Then when they were dry, I'd use them like confetti all over the place!

Nice to know a good use for the plant. I'm going to go look for some in my yard. I wonder if they would still work if you harvested some and dried them to make a poultice.

You can also use this one, another plantain (latin name Plantago lanceolata):

[attachment=1005]

it contains the same active ingredients.
Ruth, the dried herb makes a good tea for cough or colds. Add a little honey to it and it tastes even better
Here we usually use the plantago lanceolata for tea.
The one that Austin posted, people also used to put it into their shoes, if they had to walk for miles and miles. It is supposed to make the hiking easier and be good for your feet
(this information might not be so important to you guys in the US, who usually travel by car, or so I heard )

(08-30-2012, 11:14 AM)Meerie Wrote: [ -> ]...
The one that Austin posted, people also used to put it into their shoes, if they had to walk for miles and miles. It is supposed to make the hiking easier and be good for your feet
(this information might not be so important to you guys in the US, who usually travel by car, or so I heard )

Excellent to know since I'm planning on doing the Compostela hike at some point.

I had a spider bit right next to my eye and it swelled up to a huge welt and I was concerned because of being so close to the eye. Even an herbalist friend said "go to the ER immediately!" but I packed on plantain instead. I just mashed it up and put a big gob on it. Took a few days but the swelling all disappeared and no problems. Powerful stuff!

Your plantain has really wide leaves compared to the thin-leaved plants in Texas. I consider it very very valuable, right up there with dandelion, purslane and nettles.

Oh and here's the really cool part: Just a couple of days before the spider bite, I noticed just a couple of plantain plants down the street one day when out for a walk. I had intended to gather some seeds and sprinkle them in my yard, but hadn't done so yet. The day I got bitten by the spider, there were miraculously several plantain plants in my front yard that I could swear weren't there before! No way could they have grown that large in just 2 days.

(08-30-2012, 12:37 PM)Bring4th_Monica Wrote: [ -> ]Your plantain has really wide leaves compared to the thin-leaved plants in Texas. I consider it very very valuable, right up there with dandelion, purslane and nettles.

Monica there are two types of plantain, one with wide leaves and the other with thin leaves, that I posted a photo of in my post

(08-30-2012, 12:59 PM)Meerie Wrote: [ -> ]Monica there are two types of plantain, one with wide leaves and the other with thin leaves, that I posted a photo of in my post

Yes, and even more variations beyond that. The same varieties of herbs can also vary quite a lot, according to terrain, soil, rainfall, etc. We have scrawny plants here, that look nothing like either of the pictures posted.

But they still work! I wish we had the more lush type because the young leaves are edible, too.

Thanks Austin! I know a local herbalist and I will ask her where to find plantain here--in the desert. I want to make sure I have it on hand, as I do aloe vera plants.

Hah a blast from the past, when I was a lot younger than now we used to put those on our wounds as kids. Now it has been totally forgotten, well by me at least till now. I don't know where we learned about it, maybe from our grand parents.
A lot of "childhood" was spent with them. I remember not at this moment how well it worked, but we did it. Just took a clean leaf and held it on a bloody spot.
Thank you for this informative post and waking the memory!