Slippery Elm - Ulmus fulva: Re-establish harmony in inflamed intestines

[Guest guest]

Slippery Elm - Ulmus fulva: Re-establish harmony in inflamed intestines JoAnn

Guest Mar 12, 2005 18:25 PST

Slippery Elm - Ulmus fulva

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

 

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 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 organic 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-

DietaryTi-

www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest/Genes

 

 

 

 

AIM Barleygreen

" Wisdom of the Past, Food of the Future "

 

http://www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest/Diets.html