A Project: Mullein, Part I

[kellan_the_tabby]

Thanks to a suggestion from questrix I am embarking on a Project. So I'm gonna chronicle it here, partly for your edification but partly because this way I'll know when I started the stuff.

Here's what I have to start with. So at the event this weekend, there was a lot of mullein about; I picked a bunch. No more than two leaves from each plant and maybe only one from the small ones, because I don't want to overpick. Carefully picked only the good ones, no bugs or dirt of stuff. Put them in a plastic bag and drove home.

That was Sunday. Sunday night I was too exhausted to do much anything else so they didn't get processed until yesterday -- I soaked them in water overnight so they wouldn't wilt, which seemed to work fine. Monday I bought an entire gallon of apple cider vinegar and started processing.

No soft brush so I just used fingers and a lot of water to clean them. No pickle jar so I used a big plastic tub. Let them drain a bit to get the worst of the water off, wedged them in the tub, poured in the vinegar. And in the closet it goes for six weeks.

In the meantime, I've some dried mullein about; I made tea with it last night and will have a cup every day until the tincture is done. It tastes like poo but I breathed a little easier afterwards. I can deal with poo-tasting for breathing, and getting an effect after only one mug is brilliant.

questrix, how often do you take that one ounce of tincture? I figure a half-gallon of tincture isn't going to last me a year, so I'm going to get another batch started soon, but if you could give me a vague idea of how much you need to last a year, I'd appreciate it...

And thank you! I'll keep y'all updated.

Comments

[kellan_the_tabby]

Yay triggers! :P

So you might be around where I am, then -- hard to say. Right now I _should_ be taking Advair morning and night -- I take it morning only and rely on my rescue inhaler at night, to save money. No insurance and the stuff is _expensive_. I sometimes have to use my rescue inhaler during the day, sometimes not; I know I should be on more daily medication than I am.

If I don't take the daily medication, I do need my rescue inhaler to get through the day. I don't know if it's a case of triggers for me so much as I simply can't breathe without the meds. It rarely gets worse, in any case.

...dunno.

[questrix.livejournal.com]

I understand completely about no insurance.

If I was to take what my respirologist has ordered, I would be taking Alvesco inhaler, 2 puffs x2/day, Symbicort inhaler 2 puffs X2/day + rescue from trigger, and Singulair x1/day. Also along with that are sinus rinses with Pulmocort x3/day. Sinus rinses are yucky.

I hate taking drugs, so I use the mullein and try to avoid using them. Asthma sucks. My biggest triggers are cigarette/cigar smoke and perfume. They cause instantaneous reactions with exposure of less than 5 seconds. There are others like molds and spores, but that usually only happens in spring and fall when its damp.

The thing I hate the most though, is once the attack is subsiding, I have a tendency to vomit which just complicates matters.

Hopefully the mullein works well for you as it has for me. I thank my friend everytime I see her/talk to her for giving me this information.

Q

[kellan_the_tabby]

Euw, sinus rinses.

And talk about completely different arrangement of the symptoms! I react to mold too, but usually it's only a slight worsening of symptoms that are already there -- I'll need to hit the rescue but it's not a huge difference. And I certainly never got nauseated; my sympathy on that!

So far the tea is definitely making a noticable difference. I think I'm gonna try two mugs a day and see how that does. The poo-taste is becoming bearable and truly as well as it's working already I can deal with it. I'll just make faces and whine, and I whine anyway so likely nobody will notice a difference.

You? Rock. :)

[questrix.livejournal.com]

Thanks... You rock too....

q