Bronchitis - need some advice

[hendu]

I think I might have Bronchitis (it appears to be going around) and I would welcome any suggestions on how to get rid of it. I've had it for a few weeks now. It only bothers me before I go to bed, but my chest feels tighter now. I don't want to go to a doctor.

Thanks.

[JeffS]

[rustyh]

JeffS, gday buddy.

I have never heard of mullein before. Thanks for the info.
Can you smoke it to get high? or does it just decongest you?

Does it grow in Australia?

[JeffS]

Hi rustyh

OK, so maybe I should have issued the usual admonition about medicinal use of wild herbs - use sparingly and with caution, preferably with education, and, if you're into it "consult your physician" (if they have a clue (':roll:'). I also want to point out I'm a bit of a novice (but an 'egg') in the medicinal herbal realms, pretty much self-taught - it just resonates well with me - the thought that mother nature provides for us, each in our own region, just the right plants to fulfill all our needs.

As far as I know, mullein won't get you high in the usual sense but using too much in the wrong way may have adverse affects, even, potentially, an allergic type reaction.

It appears mullein grows widely in Australia, as an "introduced" plant. It may be considered an invasive type plant since, according to Victoria's Department of Primary Industries, its considered a "Regionally Prohibited or Controlled Weed" in designated areas. 'course my first knee-jerk reaction to the "prohibited" part was big pharma influence (which, for me would suggest it's great healing value), but maybe I've become too inclined to the BFN mindset...

Anyway, take a look at http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/dpi/nreninf.nsf/LinkView/D2FE171D9ECA1CC9CA256BCF000AD563ECC844336D72F0634A256DEA00293F8A for more info and some decent pix of the plant in Australia. Google around for more.

My introduction to mullein was from Tom Brown's book "Field Guide - Wild Edible and Medicinal Plants", page 147, et seq, from which I'll quote liberally below, without "permission"... as seems "permissible" on BFN

Background: Tom Brown, at a young age, was taken under the tutelage of a native american "Grandfather" who gave him his fetchin' up in wilderness ways. Interestingly, in his book, each plant description includes a section on the plant's "Personality" wherein he relates his personal experience with the plant. The following is from this "personality" section

" Our lessons with the mullein people were hardly over. In the weeks that followed, colds, and flu began to run wild in our schools. Both Rick and I became afflicted with the usual cough and congestion, and felt utterly miserable. As our colds began to clear up, we went back to camping in the woods but with the usual discomfort of runny noses and congestion that seems to ling on and on. Grandfather took some dried mullein leaves from a small bag in his shelter and packed it into his personal pipe. We smoked the mixture, inhaling only a few times, as he instructed. He told us that mullein was a powerful medicine and that smoking the partially dried leaves would help clear up our congestion quickly.

The medication worked, the sniffles stopped, and we began to breathe much more freely. He told us that our medication was not finished, and we had to follow up treatment with more mullein, taken in a different manner. We followed him to the field nor far from the camp. He looked around the area at all the mullein skeletons that were sticking through the light cover of snow. It was as if he were looking for one in particular, and certainly he was. We were amazed when he brushed back the snow from a small south-facing slope, revealing a winter rosette of mullein leaves. We gathered only a few of the tiniest leaves from the center of their rosette then headed back to camp.

He boiled a small amount of water and added to it the broken mullein leaves. He covered the container, and we waited for a while until the top began to bounce around atop the pot. He then instructed us to deeply breathe the vapors, filling our lungs. At first, our noses were stuffed and we could only pull the vapor through our mouths, but finally, all our air passages opened. Our persistent coughing also stopped, and we began to feel as if were never had colds. For the next two days we repeated the procedure twice a day and that was the last of our cold symptoms.

Unfortunately, too much of a good thing can be very dangerous and have a long-range effect on one's system. I began to abuse mullein whenever I had a cold, cough, or congestion. I used it sometimes when I didn't really have to. Sometimes I would use mullein so much that I would dangerously dry out all my nasal passages to an uncomfortable state. Because of all this abuse, I have developed an allergy of sorts to mullein. If I ever smoke or smell the vapors of the mullein plan, my nose begins to run and I get all the symptoms of a full-blown allergy. It no longer clears my head and opens my airways, but rather closes them up miserably. Needless to say, I learned my lesson that, like anything else, mullein should be used in moderation.

At certain times of the late summer we would go about the sacred business of gathering mullein for use as a tobacco additive. We would locate the small rosettes that had just taken hold. The rosette had to be perfect in shape, creating within itself a perfect sacred circle. From this, only the medium-sized leaves were gathered, a few from each plant, and they had to be absolutely perfectly shaped and unblemished. We then would dry the leaves in the late afternoon sun and bring them in every night and hang them upside-down in our shelter. For four days, we dried our sacred leaves for one hour of sun-drying a day, in just the right combination of sun and humidity. We finally hung them for the last time from the rafters of our shelters, fluffing them frequently for a week for even dryness.

The dried dull, dull green leaves were then carefully broken and placed in a large wooden bowl where they were kept for a few more days, stirred frequently again for even dryness. This mullein stash would be later mixed with tobacco and other herbs as needed. Sometimes the tobacco-mullein mix was kept already mixed, but most of the time it was mixed as needed. It was always important to remember that mullein had medicinal properties, so very little was used in any tobacco mixture and no mixture was ever fully inhaled."

I seem to recall, from another of Tom Brown's writings, wherein he related his first(?) experience with smoking mullein for his congestion, where he and his friend Rick both ended up becoming very sleepy, sleeping well into the next day. So, "...before driving or operating big machinery, make sure you know how (Rx) will affect you..."

[truthseeker]

[rustyh]

JeffS. Top stuff mate,thanks heaps.

Great info.
Interesting reading.

[Fintan]

Avoiding Bronchitis:

Top four 'No' in order of importance...

No dairy.
No wheat.
No sugar.
No pharma cold/flu remedies.

Top 'Yes'.

Yes, Sun.

Don't know if that helps.
Just general observations.

[truthseeker]

[hendu]

Thank you gentlemen.

Hey JeffS, that suggestion "one tablespoon lukewarm honey with 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder" is not bad. It seems to help. Cheers for that.

I'm moving away from dairy, wheat, sugar, and I avoid pharma's cocktails like the plague. I'll be honest though, I like goat’s cheese and the odd piece of chocolate. I rarely eat bread, but I do give into temptation sometimes. However, it's good to be reminded.

Not easy get Sun during the day because of work. I love the Sun and always found that ould star a shining friend when feeling under the weather. What to do...? Become one with the shining star within, maybe?

Anyway, good health to you all.

[JeffS]

[Toto]

Try: zinc, NAC (helps boost the immune system and respitory function).

[Janama]

go and get a GOOD massage paying careful attention to your middle spine where coughing may have glitched your structure

[Toto]

Any advice for chronic Bronchitis?

[cliff]

I suffered from it until I was about 10 years old. The doctors pumped me full of penicillin, which was the thing to do in the 60s.

However, don't go down that line, it wrecks your teeth for starters.

Lie in a horizontal position chest down, with the head lower than your feet. Have someone tap on your back with their fingers or fist starting at the base of your lungs working up towards the neck. Learn how to give small coughs, in order to catch phlegm and spit out (you'll need a bucket). Sounds horrible, but it does get rid of the gunk in your lungs. Avoid mucus forming foods—do your own research on this as there is at lot of conflicting advice—your body knows best. And exercise your lungs—don't become bed bound, walk around.

[Toto]

Right now I am seeing a native healer and he has me on a herbal tea mixture. I have had this for over 7 months now. Thanks for your support cliff.