Herbs and chemotherapy

Very tasty but don't eat the seeds inside the berry- poisonous.
Many people know that I have dealt with medical medicinal herbs and wild edibles for most of my life.

Now that I have cancer I get all kinds of recommendations on what herbs I should use. Much to my surprise I found that my chemotherapy drug is based on four  herbs: mayapple, periwinkle, yew, and Chinese happy tree. 

The yew tree that grows around here has a delicious berry but the seeds are very toxic. The problem is too often we so gladly give recommendations not understanding that the what part and how of a particular herb is very intricate and formulation is a very delicate balance.

For instance they have found that when the mayapple is chewed on by animals it produces more of the toxins that are needed to kill cancer. Leaves that haven't been chewed on have very little toxins so in order to get maximum value out of it the leaves need crushing. Unfortunately much of this knowledge has been lost in our past and is not available to us.

Mayapple plants growing in the woods.
The mayapple has been a very familiar plant in my life. I have large patches right now growing not far from my back door. When the may apple fruit is green it is poisonous and when it's yellow and ripe it's like a nice tropical fruit that the frontier people and Indians used to make jam out of. I have warned people many times to just eat the yellow ripe fruit.

People may wonder why I just don't go out and collect and use the leaves. But it's a little more complicated than that. The American Indians and other cultures used it for centuries to cure cancer and other diseases but they also used the resin in the root to commit suicide. It takes much experience over years of trials and experiments to find out what works, what dosage is a good, and what is too much. Thanks to the medical profession they are doing that research.

Too often we criticize the medical profession for holding information on natural remedies back because they wouldn't gain monetarily.  But even if I were totally altruistic, and sought the best way to use it, it could take a lot of time and possibly a few deaths.

So what's happening is the combination of these plants (or should I say the synthesized part of the plant) is poisoning my cells, both good and bad.  The race is on or should I say the battle. And the squelching of the bad cells and the rising of the good cells after all is said and done may help me to continue on for a while longer.

Comments

  1. Excellent article, bro! Love you bunches and bunches.~ MK

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