THE BENEFITS OF THE USE OF COMFREY
IN HERBAL PREPARATIONS
COMFREY - PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
IN HERBAL PREPARATIONS
COMFREY - PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
COMFREY
by Sabrina G. Seitz, RN
by Sabrina G. Seitz, RN
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"Natural Healing with Herbs for a Healthier You"
My journey with herbs began in earnest about five years ago and one of the first things I did was start an herb garden. My sister-in-law’s mother had comfrey growing in her yard and she gave me a small piece of root to plant. I was totally unfamiliar with comfrey and not very good at starting plants, but I stuck it in the ground and waited. To my amazement the root sprouted and before long I had a vigorous and healthy crop of comfrey. My only trouble now is keeping it from spreading everywhere. But since then, I have come to truly appreciate the wonderfully healing properties of comfrey.
One of the first formulas I tried was the comfrey burn paste. Believing that the healing properties of the paste were not just for burns I made some for my father. He is diabetic and had progressive problems with lower circulation. He complained to me that he had a fungul infection on his feet and lower extremities and after scratching it so much, he now had open sores. I made up some burn paste and instructed him on how to apply it. The open sores were healed within 36 hours. I then gave him some black walnut tea for the fungul infection. I have since made the burn paste for a few people with equally impressive results.
My next experience with comfrey again involved my father. He has multiple health problems and one is a propensity for upper respiratory complications from a simple cold or sinus infection. One formula that has worked time and again is Dr. Christopher’s Bronchitis formula which includes comfrey root, horehound, boneset, coltsfoot, elecampane root, ginger and acid tincture of lobelia. I make a strong decoction and add honey or glycerin because it tastes very nasty. With this formula he has overcome the long-lasting residual cough and sinus drainage after over-coming the worst of the respiratory condition. Many of Dr. Christopher’s lung formulas contain comfrey, because it has a special affinity for lung problems.
I have used Dr. Christopher’s BF&C ointment on many different wounds, cuts and bruises, but the most dramatic use involved my son. In 2007, during his senior year in high school, he played baseball. He came home one day complaining of his left leg hurting in the thigh area. When I questioned him, he admitted that he and a couple of other boys were playing a game, called “Flinch”, where they would hit each other in a large muscle area to see if you would flinch. If they did flinch, then they got hit twice. I scolded him and said his leg was probably bruised. He came home about a week later with a slight limp saying that the same boy kept hitting him in the leg in the same spot. I looked at it and there was no obvious bruising but a little swelling. Later that night, he came upstairs in excruciating pain. His left leg was locked in spasm from the hip down. My son is 6’2” and weighs 150lbs; he is no weakling and handles pain well. He was almost screaming with pain. His entire left thigh area was swollen. I massaged it with cayenne ointment to bring more circulation and attempt at releasing the cramp. It was partially successful, the pain and spasm decreased some.
About 2 hours later, the spasm again locked up his leg and I took him to the emergency room. When the doctor walked in, he diagnosed it as a deep hematoma. He said that the entire muscle was involved and that there had probably been a slow oozing of blood into the tissues over the last week or so and it was draining down his leg. He said that my son’s baseball season was over and that it would take at least 9-12 months for this to heal and that infection was very high probability.
I took him home and made a strong decoction from cut BF&C with comfrey formula, applied a fomentation and wrapped the leg in plastic. I measured his thigh and it was 3 inches bigger than the other one. Within an hour the pain was greatly improved. I reapplied this three times before going to bed. Then I repeated the fomentation every night for almost a week. The most obvious improvement was in the pain. I started giving my son the Super Immune formula to prevent infection and BF&C with comfrey capsules daily for further healing. I continued the capsules for several weeks. The leg was totally healed within 4-6 weeks without any sign of infection. He has had no problems with it since.
It goes without saying, that comfrey will remain a permanent part of my herbal medicine chest. Its uses are much too valuable to neglect and the historical evidence of its safety means far more to me than a few poorly conducted studies by an obviously biased scientific community.
One of the first formulas I tried was the comfrey burn paste. Believing that the healing properties of the paste were not just for burns I made some for my father. He is diabetic and had progressive problems with lower circulation. He complained to me that he had a fungul infection on his feet and lower extremities and after scratching it so much, he now had open sores. I made up some burn paste and instructed him on how to apply it. The open sores were healed within 36 hours. I then gave him some black walnut tea for the fungul infection. I have since made the burn paste for a few people with equally impressive results.
My next experience with comfrey again involved my father. He has multiple health problems and one is a propensity for upper respiratory complications from a simple cold or sinus infection. One formula that has worked time and again is Dr. Christopher’s Bronchitis formula which includes comfrey root, horehound, boneset, coltsfoot, elecampane root, ginger and acid tincture of lobelia. I make a strong decoction and add honey or glycerin because it tastes very nasty. With this formula he has overcome the long-lasting residual cough and sinus drainage after over-coming the worst of the respiratory condition. Many of Dr. Christopher’s lung formulas contain comfrey, because it has a special affinity for lung problems.
I have used Dr. Christopher’s BF&C ointment on many different wounds, cuts and bruises, but the most dramatic use involved my son. In 2007, during his senior year in high school, he played baseball. He came home one day complaining of his left leg hurting in the thigh area. When I questioned him, he admitted that he and a couple of other boys were playing a game, called “Flinch”, where they would hit each other in a large muscle area to see if you would flinch. If they did flinch, then they got hit twice. I scolded him and said his leg was probably bruised. He came home about a week later with a slight limp saying that the same boy kept hitting him in the leg in the same spot. I looked at it and there was no obvious bruising but a little swelling. Later that night, he came upstairs in excruciating pain. His left leg was locked in spasm from the hip down. My son is 6’2” and weighs 150lbs; he is no weakling and handles pain well. He was almost screaming with pain. His entire left thigh area was swollen. I massaged it with cayenne ointment to bring more circulation and attempt at releasing the cramp. It was partially successful, the pain and spasm decreased some.
About 2 hours later, the spasm again locked up his leg and I took him to the emergency room. When the doctor walked in, he diagnosed it as a deep hematoma. He said that the entire muscle was involved and that there had probably been a slow oozing of blood into the tissues over the last week or so and it was draining down his leg. He said that my son’s baseball season was over and that it would take at least 9-12 months for this to heal and that infection was very high probability.
I took him home and made a strong decoction from cut BF&C with comfrey formula, applied a fomentation and wrapped the leg in plastic. I measured his thigh and it was 3 inches bigger than the other one. Within an hour the pain was greatly improved. I reapplied this three times before going to bed. Then I repeated the fomentation every night for almost a week. The most obvious improvement was in the pain. I started giving my son the Super Immune formula to prevent infection and BF&C with comfrey capsules daily for further healing. I continued the capsules for several weeks. The leg was totally healed within 4-6 weeks without any sign of infection. He has had no problems with it since.
It goes without saying, that comfrey will remain a permanent part of my herbal medicine chest. Its uses are much too valuable to neglect and the historical evidence of its safety means far more to me than a few poorly conducted studies by an obviously biased scientific community.