mugwort, ai ye

May 5, 2008 at 9:57 pm (allergies)
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One afternoon last year, my mom developed a serious skin allergy while gardening in the backyard.  To this day, we haven’t determined whether it was poison ivy or something else, but it lasted several days – with no relief from select ointments.  She went to see a doctor who prescribed her with some anti-allergic drugs, to be taken regularly, in 24-hour intervals.  The doctor said it looked like poison ivy and would last as long as six to eight weeks.

The first time my mom took the prescribed medication, the itchiness abated for 20 hours; the second time she took it, the pill lasted for 12 hours.  After that, my mom – who prefers a natural fix over a pill any day – recalled the healing properties of a certain Artemisia vulgaris, or Mugwort.

Years ago, an older family friend had bouts of bad allergic skin reactions – with a wide stretch of rash in the same place from his waist to his thigh – whenever he came upon obscure grasses and plant growth in his yard.  My parents brought him some mugwort, which, soon after, relieved him of all symptoms.  He further strengthened his immune system with mugwort so that he was and is no longer super-allergic to various plant growth.

So my mom decided to try a mugwort bath that evening.  By this time, she had had rashes over her back for several days, and it was exacerbated by her inability to sleep peacefully.  Boiling a big pot of mugwort, she added this to a small bathing tub of water and soaked in the tub for less than half an hour, then dried off and went to bed.  By morning, the itchiness and redness was gone, although remnants of the rashes were still visible upon her skin.  As mentioned before, my mom is big believer of teas – so she decided to make mugwort tea the next evening, after doing some research on the side effects from intake.  Boiling a pot of fresh mugwort, she poured out a cup to drink and used the rest to mix into her bath water.  After just two to three days of drinking the tea and bathing in mugwort-steeped water, her allergic symptoms were all gone, and her skin was on its way to healing.  Thanks to the mugwort, my mom didn’t have to try her patience and pop pills for five to six more weeks.

To make Mugwort tea and bath (in that order, please!): Bring a pot of water with five tiny sprigs of mugworts to boil.  Let it boil for 15 more minutes, with the lid on or off.  Turn off heat and keep lid on for another 15 minutes.  Pour the liquid into a cup and drink.  Use remaining liquid to make bath:  Using a strainer, pour remaining tea or liquid into a bath tub – the smaller, the better – and add lukewarm-to-hot water.  Scalding water usually exacerbates rashes and itches, no matter how good it feels at the time!  Soak in tub for as long as you can stand it – at least 15 to 20 minutes.

Where to find it: In the United States, mugwort grows as a weed almost everywhere, among waste and alongside roadways.  It is probably due to the fact that the plant is commonly found along roadways that the mugwort was/is believed throughout history to protect the traveler from evil spirits and/or hungry animals in the wild.  Chances are, you can encounter mugwort in your yard or while driving more easily than you can find it in a grocery store – so that’s my suggestion.  Consult photos here and here before you make any herbal expeditions and come back with more skin rashes than remedy.

What else: The mugwort is also used as a digestive bitter and for treatment of liver disorders.  Unlike chrysanthemum and perilla tea, mugwort should not be taken internally for extended periods of time due to its high thujone (a toxin) levels.  Though thujone reportedly stimulates the immune system, too much of it can interfere with the brain and nervous system functions.  In addition, pregnant women should avoid taking too much mugwort due to its affect on menstruation maintenance and other reproductive system functions.

Who’s done the research:

  • In traditional medicine, Artemisia vulgaris (mugwort) is widely used for the treatment of diabetes, and extracts of the whole plant are used for epilepsy and in combination for psychoneurosis, depression, irritability, insomnia, anxiety, and stress.  - Walter HL, et al. Medical Botany, 2nd ed., p.345. John Wiley and Sons, New Jersey (2003)
  • Infusion of mugwort leaves is given as a vermifuge, and it is also commonly used in traditional European medicine as a choleretic and for amenorrhea and dysmenorrhea.  - Teixeira da Silva, J.A., et al. Mining the essential oils of the Anthemideae. Afr. J. Biotechnol. 3:706-720, 2004
  • In herbal medicine, aerial parts of the mugwort are being used as an anthelminthic, an antiseptic, an antispasmodic, and a tonic for vital organs and for various disorders including hepatosis.  - Duke, J.A., et al. Handbook of medicinal herbs, 2nd ed. CRC Press, Washington, D.C. (2002)
  • In various studies, the mugwort showed antibacterial activity.  - Cardini, F. and Weixin, H. Moxibustion for correction of breech presentation: a randomized controlled trial. J. Am. Med. Assoc. 280:1580-84, 1998
  • The mugwort’s crude extract has been used as an antimalarial agent for thousands of years, and it was found that artemisinin extracted from the plant had antitumor activity. – Sun, W.C., et al. Antitumor activites of 4 derivatives of artemisic acid and artemisinin B in vitro. Acta. Pharmacol. Sin. 13: 541-43, 1992
  • A paste or powder of the leaves is applied over skin diseases.  – Teixeira da Silva JA. Mining the essential oils of the Anthemideae. Afr. J. Biotechnol. 3:706-720, 2004

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chrysanthemums

May 4, 2008 at 6:21 pm (allergies)
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Chrysanthemums. A bouquet of these makes the most seasonally allergic person look askew. However, did you know a tea steeped from these very flowers can treat the allergic symptoms they help to create, including itchy eyes and stuffy sinuses? Nobody can attest to this better than my unfortunately-sensitive brother and dad. As early as February, those beautiful red, maple trees – among others – start sending love notes to each other, and guess who gets caught in the middle? Yes, you, you and maybe you, though you’ve yet to analyze your symptoms and pinpoint the culprit.

My brother and dad didn’t always have pollen allergies. My dad developed allergies to trees and grasses in his late forties, and my brother, his twenties. Prior to that, they had no excuses for not doing yard work, including mowing the lawn, raking the leaves, and pulling out the weeds. When the allergies finally hit though, they were often sniffly and sobby – their eyes turned into red, swollen, and wrinkly pairs. To alleviate their symptoms, the two of them traded allergy medication, knowing well that their bodies would soon grow immune – one brand of medication after another – and they’d have to find another brand to try.

For three or four seasons of watching them irritably and researching her sources – including newspapers, giant reference books both old and new, and hearsay – my mom finally came up with a hypothesis: Chrysanthemums. My dad tried it first. And the effect was almost instantaneous! Of course, my brother tried quickly thereafter and was subjected to clear eyes and sinuses soon after. They were both doubtful – due to their experience with the quick pill fix – but after taking the tea regularly, they found that their symptoms did not return when the pollen count was low. And when it was high – as it often is in the South – they drank the chrysanthemum tea a bit more heavily and exhibited a noticeable lessening of allergic symptoms.

Once it was proven to work, my mom was quick to dispense this information to her friends. One friend, who always wore a mask over his nose and mouth during allergy seasons, got on the chrysanthemum fix and was soon mask-free. To these tried-and-true, converted test subjects, the effects were miraculous. To Mom and me, we were just glad we didn’t have to watch my brother and dad in misery anymore. And they were, once again, excuse-free when it came to working outdoors.

To make Chrysanthemum tea: Bring a pot of water to boil. Toss in dried chrysanthemum flowers. The flowers will float, so you just need to put in as many flowers as will loosely fill the area within the pot’s circumference. The water will continue boiling – let it boil for one, two, three seconds (here, my mom says, “a flash”) then, with a strainer, pour the tea into a cup and add honey, and toss the flowers after one use. The tea should be a very thin yellow. Cheers!

Where to find it: You can definitely find chrysanthemums in floral shops or in the garden. Sometimes, chrysanthemum tea will also be served in Chinese restaurants or tea houses. The doses are very, very light, so it is best if you make it yourself.  Chrysanthemums can be found in paper- or plastic-wrapped packages in Chinese grocery stores. I don’t recommend picking the roadside varieties because the ones used for tea appear to be slightly different than the ones I’ve seen in the wild. The packages you can buy at the grocery store contain small white or yellow flowers, with yellow or beige centers, respectively. Chrysanthemums are also sold as tea bags and in pill-supplement form – but as my mom says, it’s better to take it from the source.

What else: My mom read of a story in the Chinese news recently about a small village in China where old people grow to be centenarians and remain healthy, to most standards. Inquirers found out that the people in this small village use as their water source a river which – perhaps miles away – was lined with wild chrysanthemums along its embankment, and the flowers fell into the river as it passed. Whether or not stories like this are true, the Chinese culture retain countless and ageless stories – with morals like, “and this is why x, y, and z is good for you.” Throughout Chinese history, chrysanthemums have also been used as an herbal remedy to strengthen lungs, in general, and get rid of head congestion and other lung-related ailments. Chrysanthemums have also been known to treat eye fatigue, blurred vision, or night blindness. Furthermore, whether for their beauty or their healing properties, chrysanthemums have also been prized by Chinese and Japanese Emperors, who valued these flowers more than gold.

Yes, I have tested chrysanthemum tea – after having developed allergies recently and wondering why my eyes were itchy for awhile – and yes, I have been and am relieved.

Who’s done the research:

  • The flowering heads of Chrysanthemum morifolium are used as an herbal tea in Chinese traditional medicine and folklore. They are also used as an insecticide, parasiticide, in Parkinsonism, and nervous ailments such as headaches, tinnitus, and night blindness.  - Teixeira da Silva, J.A., et al. Mining the essential oils of the Anthemideae. Afr. J. Biotechnol. 3(12):706-720, 2004
  • Chrysanthemum also has antiallergic, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antispirochetal, anti-inflammatory, anticarcinogenic or tumor-inhibition, lens aldose reductase inhibition and antioxidant activities. Contrarily, though, airborne and contact dermatitis results from coming into contact with various parts of the plant.  - Teixeira da Silva, J.A., et al. Mining the essential oils of the Anthemideae. Afr. J. Biotechnol. 3(12):706-720, 2004
  • Chrysanthemum flowers—Chinese name ju hua—contain triterpene diols and triols.  Arnidiol exhibited cytotoxicity in vitro against 58 of the 60 human cancer cell lines developed by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Developmental Therapeutics Program.  - Ukiya M, et al.  Constituents of Compositae plants III. Anti-tumor promoting effects and cytotoxic activity against human cancer cell lines of triterpene diols and triols from edible chrysanthemum flowers.  Cancer Lett 177 (1):7-12, 2002

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