By Sheer Willow Power
DO YOU get the sense I'm avoiding continuing talking about pain?
If I am, it's not conscious. I'm in pain right now. Sitting upright working on the computer for long hours puts a pressure on everything in the pelvic area. You can figure out where that leads. Pain here I come!
With endo, if it ain't one thing leading you down the path to pain it's another. So you have to build up as equally vast an arsenal against it. Right now, I want to give you something to put in your pain-fighting stockpile ... and in your teapot.
Reading Margaret Atwood's The Year of the Flood, I came across an herbalist character who used white willow against pain. I did a good bit of research before committing to give it a try myself.
I was tired of having to put painkillers into my system. I actually felt guilty, though I needed them. And I don't know if you've noticed, but some, despite their rep, just do not seem to work.
I used white willow as a tea. I did not have that groggy, dry-mouth feel as when I took some tablets, just a nice comfy mellow. It even worked fairly fast, though not suddenly; and without that washed-up comedown feeling after.
Where There's a Willow There's a Way
White willow was used way back in 400BCE, when the "father of modern medicine," Hippocrates, made patients chew on the bark to reduce fever and inflammation.
It contains salicin, similar to what's in aspirin, so allergic folk should steer clear.Willow can help with lower back pain, headaches, menstrual cramps, as well as with osteoarthritis and tendinitis.
It is slower to ease pain than aspirin, but may last longer. Willow is also antioxidant, antiseptic and boosts the immune system.
You are advised against use if you deal with diabetes, gout, gastritis, hemophilia and stomach ulcers or related issues.
Willow may have contrary interactions with certain other drugs. Feel free to do further comparative research or consult a professional nutritionist or herbalist.
Willowing and Able
In a covered pot, simmer 1 tbs willow bark in 16 ozs of slow boiling water for 2 minutes; remove from heat, keep covered, and steep for half hour. Drink half a warm cup when faced with mid-level pain and relax. You can use honey instead of sugar. The flavour is bitter but not bad, so you can big-girl try it without any sweetening.
In beauty may you walk
Photo by Lisa Fotios from Pexels
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