Nigeria’s war on Codeine and Tramadol is still raging like an inferno. Hundreds of defaulting pharmacies and patient medicine stores have been shut, contraband with triple digit millions of Naira have been seized at the ports, few arrests have been made, radio and television talkshows, like newspaper reports, are still right on the mark, and the drugs law enforcement agencies have promised to keep cracking the nuts in Lagos State.
The government has promised to build a rehabilitation centre for people who are to be weaned off drug abuse.
Three weeks ago, this column began to contribute its quota to the resolution of what appears like corruption and bad governance, to be tearing the society apart. The series, which will be concluded today, is examining options in Alternative Medicine and Traditional Medicine to Codeine and Tramadol.
The second feature ended in the exploration of natural cough recipes. The third continues from there.
We cannot assemble Alternative Medicine recipes for cough without providing a place of pride on the shelf for Bryophillum pinatum, which goes by interesting common names.
Among them are Air plant, Life plant, Miracle plant and Resurrection plant. This plant is called Air plant because it appears to draw its sustenance from the air.
If you place one of its leaves on a table, it would begin to sprout and grow within a few days. It does not matter if you place that leaf between two pages of a book and close the book. The leaf would grow. Besides, it would appear to be a long-living plant, which is why it may have been seen and called Everlasting plant or Life plant.
I had a whole flower bed of Air plant for more than 10 years when I lived at Awuse Estate in Opebi, Ikeja, Lagos. When I moved house to my present residence where I have lived for more than 10 years, I took them all along.
It doesn’t surprise me that they are all still doing well. Afterall, aren’t they Life plant or Everlasting plant?
In my early days at Opebi, I knew this plant more as an hypotensive plant, that is a plant which knocks down hypertension. And I approached it with caution lest an overdose of it knocks out a person like me who has a tendency to be hypotensive at a 110/70 blood pressure which, these days, even tend to plumet to 90 something over 60 something when I tend to overdo certain herbs. One day, I learned that these herbs could be good for asthma as well. One woman who was passing by my residence sighted it in the flower bed outside the house and sought my permission to pick a few. When I asked her what she wanted it for, I got this new insight. I was later to learn that this herb is well known in many villages.
In these villages, mothers use its juice to treat ear ache in infants and children. They find it useful, also in the treatment of umbilical cord pain. How is it used for these conditions? The leaf has a juice walled in on all sides by the leaf which thickens towards the exterior. The juice may be obtained by washing the leaves clean of dust and germs, usually in Saline (table salt) solution, rinsing them in clean plain water and, then, placing them on the cover of a pot on a lit stove or gas cooker. The indirect heat in no time softens the leaf like an ice cube in the scorching, tropical African sun. The juice is then easily pressed out into a container. In the village, it is mopped with cotton wool and, from this dispenses, pressed into the aching ear in small amounts or dropped in the troublesome navel and massaged into the skin. This has led me to suggest that adults who are challenged with umbilical hernia may try it as a recipe.
As a cough remedy, the juice may be mixed with honey or with lime or lemon or any other helpful juice, or even palm oil.
I may return to this later, meanwhile, I would like to say that I have not mentioned why Byophillum pinatum is called a Miracle plant. This was to prevent the overwhelming of its use as a cough remedy by its other beneficial uses which, in some herbal medicine literature, number more than 100. Yes, more than 100; one of these uses is the treatement of leukemia or cancer of the blood, in which Byophillium pinatum may go well with Bone Marrow Meal and Stinging Nettle, for example. Another beneficial use is in the treatment of kidney stones. Other conditions it may help include Vaginal Infections, Headaches, Hypertension, Boils, Urinary tract disorders, bleeding, diarhoria, white nails, liver challenges, ear ache, heart conditions, tooth ache, intestinal worms, diabetes, constipation, chest cold, shortness of breath, bronchitis, insect bites, skin bruises, ulcers, excess mucus and eye pain (when the juice is rubbed on and around the closed eyelids).
From the foregoing, this is, indeed, a Miracle plant, a Life plant, an Everlasting plant and Air plant, and a plant which goes by many more accolades. Although Euro-American historians of medicinal plants gives its origin to Madagasca, Nigerian villagers knew of this plant and used it long, long before they knew of the existence of Madagascar.
It is a pity that, in the general laziness which envelopes the nation today, and which Nigerians vehemently protect against when they are told that they are a lazy people, this country does not have larger agricultural medicine plantations of this plant, as we find them in Asia, Europe and the Americans.
From one leaf of this wonderful plant, it is possible to generate millions of its leaves in one year.These can be industrially processed into powder, tincture, tablets, capsules, water extracts (and what have you) to meet specifications of whatever treatment it is intended for.
Rather, we would, like mentally colonised persons, prefer to input Codeine and Tramadol which are now laying to monumental waste the brains and mind and health of our people, young and old.
Pain
Inflammation of tissue causes pain, and inflammation comes from irritation. Thus, in addressing pain, blocking or suppressing it is not the ideal therapy. The ideal approach is to remove causes of irritation and then to support the body’s anti-inflammatory process. Clearing irritation has to do with detoxification, a subject always addressed by this column, some agents of detoxification often mentioned include Chlorella, Cilantro, Wheatgrass, Chlorophyll, Chelated Zinc, distilled water, reverse Osmosis water, alkaline water, lime and lemon juices, Apple cider vinegar, detoxification diets, fasting etc. Anti-inflammatory support for detoxification of irritants in pain therapy benefits form. Omega -3 fatty acids in either fish oil, Flax seed oil, Udo’s oil or Hemp (not Indian hemp) oil. There are, besides them, anti-inflammatory herbs, such as Orange peel powder, Wheat grass, Chlorella, Alfalfa, Bromelain from Pineapple, and of course, Caspicum from red Pepper. This is not to mention the armoury of essential oils and cell or tissue salts.
We cannot forget dear, old Small flowered Willow herb, that anti-inflammatory and anti-pain plant which Europeans have taken for centuries to shrink enlarged prostate glands, a component of many proprietary blends, old and new, of prostate health formulas and, last but not the least, the source of modern -day anti-coagulant, anti pain Pharmaceutical drug, Aspirin.
In his book, YOU’RE NOT SICK, YOU’RE ONLY THIRSTY, Dr. Batmanghelidj provides the anchorage with the cheapest medicine … Water. YOUR BODY’S MANY CRIES FOR WATER tells us there is no bodily pain rehydration cannot resolve. They cover neck pain, digestive system pain (dyspepsia), lower back pain, false appendicitis pain etc. the process of the occurrence of each pain type is as well medically described as is the relevance of drinking water to resolve it.
Depression
Modern medical science accepts that depression is not madness, a case in which an earth-bound soul or spirit takes over part or the whole brain of a person to subject the victim to a dual personality occasionally or perpetually. An earth-bound spirit is a person who has left the earth through death but who, rather than continuing his or her life’s journey in another sphere of existence in the process of perfecting himself or herself, chooses to or is forced to remain on this earth, without a physical body to indulge in his or her propensities. Such a disembodied, earth-bound person then seeks to use another person’s body to manifest on earth. The opportunity for this is provided, sometimes by depression, or through weakened blood radiations of the victim.
Doctors help such people through sedation which makes the encroaching soul abandon his or her victims body as unusable in that period. But the encroachment may happen again if the circumstances become favourable, especially when radiations of the stars permit it.
Today, we speak of sickness in body, Soul and Spirit. Depression does have origin in all these spheres. If the body is not well nurtured, rested or protected from harmful environment, its chemistry may change and alter hormonal profiles in a way that may literally turn the brain upside down. I have seen cases of headaches and depression which clear up when an overload of Candida in the organs or in the bloodstream is cleared up. The same goes for massive yeast infection. According to some American doctors, it takes them about one year of detoxification to obtain good results as candida and other yeast forms, including fungi, are difficult to uproot. A tell-tale candida build-up may be persistent headaches or gray tongue called Oral thrush.Vaginal Candidiasis is another tell tale. So is systemic Candidiasis, when the Candida has taken root in many organs.
Some signs of depression are tiredness, lethargy, solitude, ingratitude, irritability, mental blankness, large or poor appetite, lovelessness, tendency for violence, soliloquing, (speaking to, or with oneself) fear or schizophrenia, hallucination, suicide thoughts and tendencies, among many others.
With regard to lethargy and indifference, I have experienced the cases of two women who did not care that they were menstruating, messed up their beds and settees in the newsroom, one was a lawyer who was jilted by her boyfriend. The other one was talked into abortion by her boyfriend when they were university undergraduates, and then jilted. The lawyer could gulp one big bottle of rum in 30 minutes, while you are talking with her. Happily she has picked up the pieces of her life and married. The other girl, too, has emerged from her stupor. I lost contact with the third woman whose father had to ensure no-one kept used engine oil around, because she liked to sniff and drink it. There was, also, a young man who was very close to his father. When the old man died and the remains were buried, the young man lost his mind. He would not agree to wear clothes. So, his mother and siblings organised for him to be locked up in a room in their house.
Talking about the relationship of bodily health and depression, Maria Treben says in the HELP THROUGH GOD’S PHARMACY that ”the great neurologist Dr. Wagner Jauregg said in his witting, all two-thirds of all mentally ill persons would not go to a mental home had they healthy kidneys”. She adds: … Up to now, I have been able to advise my unhappy people who, through kidney disorders, suffer from depression, delusions and fits of rage and would have ended up in a mental home but for Horsetail Sitz baths for this conditions, besides Yarrow and Stinging Nettle teas, a cup of Horsetail tea should be drunk mornings and evenings”. This is detoxification.What affected the kidney may affect any other organ of detoxification (the lungs, the liver, the intestine and the skin).
Toxins the kidneys couldn’t flush out in the urine may be disturbing the brain, causing pain and lowering energy output, for which narcotics are sought. What affects the kidneys may affect the adrenal glands situated on top of them. The adrenals help us to cope with stress. If they are stressed up or burnt out, the body and the brain would cave in.
We cannot address depression on a wider basis today. It is a whole subject, and even more, on its own. I would like to add, nonetheless that our doctors are doing a wonderful job in Psychiatric hospitals to help many affected people reclaim their health and sanity.
Many of them should suffer no relapse not only if they avoid those circumstances which did them in, but, also, if they support their mind, nerves, body and brain with the right nutrients. It is advisable that they give up bread, milk, refined sugar, fried and processed foods, and add organic fruits and vegetables to their diet. They need for their brains and nerves Vitamin A, Vitamin B, Complex, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Lecithin, Alpha Lipoid Acid, Lion’s Mane Mushroom, Magnesium, Omega – 3 oils. Regarding diet, complex carbohydrates are said to boost serotonin levels in the brain.
Kale boost Dopamine level in the brain. S-A denosyl methionine (SAME) helps production of brain chemicals which makes us happy and balance our mood.
Ginkgo biloba promotes blood circulation to and in the brain, apart from supporting the work of brain chemicals. So do B-Complex vitamins, especially B6, B12 and Folic acid.
Depression found its way into this concluding part of the series on Codeine and Tramadol because many of the people who abuse them eventually become depressed. As I stated earlier, depression is a huge subject which cannot be fully addressed in literature such as this. So, it will be explode again sooner than later.
