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Slippery
Elm
PERSONALITY
PROFILE - SLIPPERY
ELM
Have you ever
been through a period where the
stress level is so high that
your intestines give up trying
to make any sense of
things
and go to one extreme or
the other - becoming too loose
or way too tight? Taking a
heaping teaspoon of Slippery
Elm powder every two to five
hours can soothe the worst
digestive inflammation of
nervous diarrhea. Slippery Elm
can re-establish harmony in
inflamed intestines within the
day, and I have personally seen
it do even more marvelous and
seemingly miraculous things
than that. These are some of
the reasons, among many others,
that I have included Slippery
Elm among my Ten Essentials.
And besides, it tastes good
too. Most people enjoy the
taste, finding it somewhat
nutty.
TASOLE:
Hilary, a
fifteen-year-old girl, came to
see me on the advice of her
mother.
The girl had battled such
severe intestinal difficulties
since birth that between
malformations of the colon and
chronic intestinal
inflammations, she had finally
ended up having surgery in
which several inches of her
colon were removed. Her doctors
had explained to her that she
should never expect to have
normal bowel movements again
and indeed she dealt with
fairly constant diarrhea. As
you can imagine, this was a big
drawback to her social life and
she felt extremely discouraged
in having to look forward to a
lifetime of
embarrassment.
I had used
Slippery Elm
before
in cases involving
rejuvenation after digestive
surgery-including intestinal
surgery for colitis and
hemorrhoids. But I had never
encountered these problems in
anyone so young.
I suggested
to Hilary that she start using
Slippery Elm
powder,
drinking 1 tsp. in juice
or tea, four or five times a
day. l suggested using the
powder without capsules
whenever possible since
capsules cause some people
digestive trouble, which slows
down the body's use of the
herb. As often happens, Hilary
thought my idea was too simple
to have any real effect on her
overwhelming and long-term
difficulty, yet she said she
"would probably try it". Her
hopelessness affected me too.
It seemed unrealistic to hope
for much relief in her case
even though my other similar
stories had happy
endings.
One month
later I received a call from
Hilary's
mother
to say that her daughter
had begun at first, to
tentatively try the herb in
small amounts each day. When
she discovered that the taste
of Slippery Elm was not going
to be an additional torture,
she started the suggested
dosage. Within three days of
doing that, she had a "normal"
bowel movement of soft yet
"formed" consistency for the
first time in many years. (She
literally could not remember
any bowel movement experience
that was unstressful.) The
results had continued. At the
time of the call, Hilary had
often been having unstressful
bowel movements of average
consistency for three weeks.
Several months later I learned
that the progress was still
excellent. Hilary was able to
decrease the dosage to three or
less times a day except during
times of extreme "teenage
stress" where she needed more
to balance things
out.
The
bottom-line is that her
self-confidence soared and her
social life began to
shine.
After my
experience with Hilary I had
other
opportunities
over the years to assist
people recovering from similar
surgeries. The Slippery Elm
always had some, and often
dramatic, effect. After a while
I sometimes suggested mixing I
part Cornfrey root powder with
2 or 3 parts Slippery Elm to
speed new tissue growth and
enhance the anti-inflammatory
action. This is a wonderful
partnership of herbs, although
not as tasty as the plain
Slippery Elm.
Slippery Elm
is a mucilaginous herb with
many properties similar to
Comfey
root
yet enough differences
that I include it with no worry
about repeating herbal actions
unnecessarily. Mucilaginous
means that a plant contains
significant amounts of
mucilage, a slippery, sticky
and soothing substance, often
of high nutritional value (as
is the case with Slippery Elm)
that coats, protects, and
rejuvenates an area from
infection, inflammation and
other irritants. At the same
time it acts as a further
deterrent to many toxic
substances through its ability
to absorb and help them pass
harmlessly out of the body.
This mucilaginous property is
especially useful in any case
of inflammation or congestion,
such as inflamed mucous
membranes of the lungs,
digestive tract, or urinary
tract including kidneys, and in
any ulcerous situation either
internal or external. Mucilage
is soothing to burns, colitis,
lungs, stomach, and skin rashes
of all sorts. It helps
counter-balance either diarrhea
or constipation. Slippery Elm
soothes the inflammations
associated with diarrhea and
protects the intestinal linings
from further inflammation, and
the fiber it provides helps
soften fecal matter and move it
easily out of the
body.
Whenever you
are dealing with what I call an
"itis"
situation,
the mucilaginous and
nutritional action of Slippery
Elm comes more into play.
"itis" conditions include:
arthritis, tendonitis
prostatitis, bronchitis,
colitis, conjunctivitis, etc.
The "itis" means that the area
or organ is inflamed and
irritated. The mucilaginous and
anti-inflammatory attributes of
Slippery Elm definitely come
into play here.
Mucilage does
not break down or disappear
quickly when put to
use,
which means that you can
usually get continuous results
from one dosage to the next.
Take 1 tsp. Slippery Elm powder
with a glass of water or juice
(lukewarm liquid makes it work
fastest), and it will stir up
and start activating the
mucilage immediately. This
"slippery help" will extend
itself to the bowels so that
subsequent bowel movements show
effects of the mucilaginous
quality of Slippery
Elm.
There is one
note of
caution
about this mucilaginous
action of Slippery Elm. If you
find it necessary to use this
herb daily for a period of
three weeks or more, it would
be wise to take a day off from
its use once a week. This herb
does its job so well that a
prolonged use of 2 tsp. or more
per day of the plain root
powder (herbal mixtures which
include Slippery Elm are
exempt) could, in especially
sluggish systems, overcoat the
digestive tract and temporarily
lessen assimilation of some
nutrients. If it is helping
you, and you want to keep using
it for longer periods, simply
take a day off once a week or
mix it with another herb such
as Ginger. In cases of severe
colitis or intestinal surgery
(as in the TASOLE above),
however, the benefits of using
it may far outweigh the small
benefits of being without it
for a day, and in these cases
you may continue as usual
without a "day-off"
break.
I mentioned
that Ginger is a good herb to
mix with Slippery
Elm
to insure against an
unusual overcoating of the
intestines. In fact, Ginger is
a good addition anytime because
it significantly increases the
focus and action of Slippery
Elm in every way. I would mix
1/4 to 1/2 part Ginger for each
one part Slippery Elm. Most
often the powdered form works
best for these mixtures, yet
chunks of each herb, simmered
together, make a potent tea or
decoction.
Another word
associated with Slippery Elm is
"demulcent,"
which, describes the
soothing, softening, buffering
and (for this herb) poison-
drawing qualities that Slippery
Elm brings to any herbal
formulation. It is often mixed
with herbs that otherwise have
potent volatile oils or
attributes that may act harshly
in the system. These include
Chaparral, Cloves, Peppermint,
Garlic and Ginger. Slippery Elm
buffers these strong herbs,
binds them together and adds
the healing qualities unique to
itself.
You may
remember that I called Cayenne
and Ginger "carrier
herbs."
Their special function is
to help carry the herbal
effects of a formula deeply
into the body tissues and
organs. Slippery Elm, then,
could be called a
"buffer/binder" herb. By
analogy, if we were speaking of
a group of people, Slippery Elm
would be the diplomat,
interperting even the harshest
statements in a tactful and
usable fashion so the most
aggressive elements in the
group could work smoothly
together without irritating
each other or innocent
bystanders.
Slippery Elm
also has strong nutritional
value
(see Nutrition
application) and can be used as
an addition to oatmeal to
increase its protein and give a
pudding-like consistency to the
cereal while lending its light
nutty flavor. When used for
making cough syrup, cough
lozenges or sore-throat
lozenges it is so soothing and
tasty that children and other
finicky eaters usually like
using them. (See Cough
application below and Lozenge
instruction p. 17.)
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This is brought to
you by Lalitha
Thomas and is from
her book 10
Essential
Herbs.
Lalitha
Thomas is an
educator and
consultant who
began her practice
with herbs as a
child, caring for
sick and wounded
animals. For over
thirty years she
has studied and
tested her
applications with
clients and
friends, and
trained hundreds of
students in her
herbal
"magic." |
COUGH
SYRUP:
Slippery Elm
makes great cough syrup used
either alone or as a base for
additional herbs. Since it
helps to collect and expel
mucus, acts against
inflammation, and serves to
soothe and nourish, Slippery
Elm really shines as a cough
syrup. Here are a few recipes
which can be cooked up when
needed and/or stored fairly
well in the refrigerator for a
few weeks. After a few weeks,
to insure potency, it is best
to start with a fresh batch
when another need arises. An
older syrup often still tastes
OK and usually wouldn't hurt,
however.
RECIPE
#1:
In a
saucepan, mix 1/4 cup (4 Tbsp.)
Slippery Elm powder or Slippery
Elm small chunks with 1 cup raw
honey or light unsulphured
molasses. Simmer and stir
gently for 20 minutes. That's
it! If you want it thinner,
feel free to add a little
water. If you started with
powder it will be a thicker
brew as you do not (cannot)
strain it out. If you started
with the herbal chunks, you
will get a juicier brew as the
chunks are strained out after
simmering. Some people really
like having the herb powder
left in for extra potency,
while others don't like the
texture and so prefer to strain
the herb out. It's your choice.
This recipe is meant as a basic
starting place. I encourage you
to experiment freely with
proportions to suit your
needs.
RECIPE
#2:
Use basic
Recipe #1 but substitute an
additional herb such as chopped
raw Onion (yummy), Comfrey,
Ginger, Clove or another herb
of your choosing for part of
the Slippery Elm. If you are
flexible about the flavor, you
can really have fun
experimenting with your
mixtures.
RECIPE
#3:
To any
finished syrup add a few drops
of an essential oil to
supplement healing action and
taste. Peppermint oil is
refreshing when added to Recipe
#1. Clove oil would be a fine
choice for its antiseptic and
pain-numbing
qualities.
DOSAGE:
For children up to about
six years, most syrups should
be taken 1 tsp. at a time every
two hours or as needed. For
older children or adults, up to
1 Tbsp. per dose is not
uncommon. Take as
needed.
How to
make Slippery Elm Cough
Lozenges
from 10
Essential Herbs
Copyright 1992 Lalitha Thomas,
Published by Hohm Press, used
by
permission.
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