Slippery Elm

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Post subject: PERSONALITY PROFILE - SLIPPERY

ELM

 

Post subject: PERSONALITY PROFILE - SLIPPERY ELM

 

JoAnn Guest

Sep 26, 2005 16:45 PDT

Slippery Elm - Ulmus fulva

http://eatmoreherbs.com/zine/14_slippery_elm.html

 

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.

And besides, it tastes good too. Most people enjoy

the taste, finding

it somewhat nutty.

 

 

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.)

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

The Slippery Elm Slider mixed with juice just last

week,

For bowels too loose, or colitis relief.

He can soothe, be nutritional, build strength, what a

guy!

Skin troubles? Inflammation? He'll spit in their eye!

 

from 10 Essential Herbs Copyright 1992 Lalitha Thomas,

Published by

Hohm

Press, used by permission.

_______________

 

 

JoAnn Guest

mrsjo-

www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest/Diets

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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