shout out to the valerian root tincture i optimistically made several months ago for when i was ready to ease off gabapentinoids for pain. solved the jitters/adrenaline feeling really well.
(valerian is strong and has contraindications– don’t take it without talking someone knowledgeable)
I make bean-less zines pretty regularly but I rarely post them here. Should I start? Let’s try it.
This zine has instructions for making the herbal pain-relief salve I use for endometriosis and ovarian cyst pain, and that I have been sharing with friends and fam since December. It provides strong and immediate but not very long-lasting pain relief for when you need a break. Salve testers found strong relief from pain due to: frozen shoulder, tendonitis, headaches, arthritis, and more. It’s strong!
If you try it out, I would love to hear how it works or doesn’t for you. (Beep me on Mastodon?) If you’re in pain, I hope it eases one way or another <3
Free pain salve zine:
P.S., if you want to try this out before committing to the multi-week process of making a salve from scratch, I should mention that a tincture works too. More people have those around, or an herb shop might have a sample of hops tincture and let you try a drop or two to see what it does for you. The blend is stronger, but hops is the main player. If you know me in person, just ask and I will give you some salve.
I am on a heating pad while a fireplace video plays on the tv, and I cannot convince my brain that the fire is fake
At a chronic pain seminar tonight, the OT said, “one thing we often hear is, ‘oh i wish you could just put me in a coma until my current neurons would die and be replaced with new ones that aren’t so highly reactive’, but unfortunately that isn’t how the nervous system works.”
Firstly, lol at “unfortunately”. Love this ally who wants to make coma therapy wishes come true.
Secondly, wanting a temporary coma really is a common fantasy across quite a few chronic conditions. I have personally heard it from people with pain, anxiety, depression, ME/CFS, and also just sleep-deprivation (parents).
I mean
I am thinking about how often patients are correct in a general or metaphorical way– folks with ME who say they feel like their batteries don’t work and then research turns up mitochondrial dysfunction.
Makes me wonder what version of coma therapy will turn out to work for us all.
I remember herbalist Kelly McCarthy suggesting that good herbs for perimenopause are the ones you already have a long relationship with. To just find ways to incorporate your plant friends into your life a little more, as a starting place, whether that is a digestive bitter, calming tea, moisturizer, good-smelling garden plant, or whatever.
That seems like a good approach for general times of stress or illness too, to start by turning up your existing support.
This random herb thought was brought to you by me running a pain management bath at 4am, and deciding to add rose water and make a rose tea. Rose is not an herb for pain, and yet it is nice to be with my plant friend when I am sore.
Spoonie lifehack: if you have one of those instant read thermometers for cooking, use it to figure out your optimal bath temperature and then flawlessly achieve it forever.
Many people suggest around 105F/40.5C but I aim for 110F/43C when I have joint pain.