Luvly Lavender

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Searching for the truth about herbal medicine.

 

http://www.planetbotanic.ca/fact_sheets/lavender_fs.htm

Cha Wang Tea Co.

Lavender

 

Scientific Name: Lavandula officinalis

 

Part Used: Flower

In a word: Tension remover

 

Uses: Stress related symptoms including headache,

muscle cramp, nervousness, anxiety, insomnia

 

Americans spent nearly 3 billion dollars on headache

medication last year. As each bottle of aspirin only

costs a few dollars but contains about 200 pills, we

are talking about a lot of headaches and muscle

cramps. From the numbers, it would seem that most

Americans go through life with a headache.

 

Headaches, which my copy of Dorland’s Medical

Dictionary helpfully defines as " pain in the head, "

are caused by muscular tension in the neck and head,

vascular tension, food allergies, chemical poisoning,

brain tumors, and trapped nerves, among other things.

As usual, the stress factor rears its ugly head. A day

on the highway and at the job results in your tensing

up. As you clench the muscles of the face and neck,

nerves get pinched, and you end up with a headache.

However, head pain is only one possible symptom of

stress. Whether the symptom of stress is headache,

insomnia, or anxiety, lavender can be of great help.

 

Let’s start at the beginning. Though lavender can be

found growing all over the world, the best lavender is

still produced in its real home, the Mediterranean

region. French lavender is famous and can be found in

sachets in women’s underwear drawers just about

everywhere. In a day when people are familiar with

very few herbs, lavender is one herb most can

identify. Sadly, we know it only as a quaint room

freshener – its wonderful actions as a drug have been

all but forgotten.

 

As far as plants go, lavender is almost a small bush.

Left to its own devices in the right environment, it

will become woody and rather tall. The plant has

attractive silver leaves that emit the characteristic

lavender scent when bruised. Lavender belongs to the

Labiatae family, more commonly known as the mint

family. The entire family, including mint, oregano,

thyme, sage, and rosemary, is quite fragrant due to

the volatile oils they contain.

 

The volatile oil in lavender is made up of linalyl

acetate, linalool, lanvandulyl acetate, borneol,

camphor, limonene, cadinene, caryophyllene, and some

other rather long-named ingredients. Volatile oils,

like volatile people, are not stable. If you put a

drop of volatile oil on a piece of brown paper and

left the paper on the kitchen counter overnight, you

would discover in the morning that the oil had

evaporated. Nonvolatile oils, like sunflower or olive

oil, don’t evaporate as you well know; once they or on

a shirt or bit of fabric, they are always there. The

plant also contains coumarins including umbelliferone,

herniarin, and dihydrocoumarin. Other chemicals in

lavender include triterpenes and flavonoids.

 

The ancient Greeks knew of lavender and its powerful

fragrance. They called it nardus because at that time

the best lavender came from a Syrian city called

Narda. The Greeks imported the flower heads in

quantity to scent rooms and to be used in medicine.

The Romans were a little apprehensive when it came to

lavender as they were convinced that a poisonous

snake, the asp, liked to live among the lavender

bushes. This didn’t stop them from buying the dried

flowers once someone else had risked his life picking

lavender in the countryside. However, it made dried

lavender one of the more expensive medicinal items at

the market. From its first appearance in the written

record, lavender was used for scent. The ancient

Libyans made a perfume of it, and the Romans used it

for bathing. Its scientific name, Lavandula, comes

from the Latin lavare, " to wash. " Lavender made its

way to northern Europe well before the Middle Ages and

was used for both medicine and scent.

 

As soon as lavender appears in the medical literature,

we see it in use for the brain and all its connecting

parts and for the illnesses that affect them. In 1995,

smelling salts, which are used to rouse a person who

has fainted, are still made of the essential oil of

lavender blossoms. Lavender’s medicinal actions stop

short of raising the dead, but its traditional use in

smelling salts hints at its considerable powers.

 

Gerard cited lavender’s use in the treatment of

headaches, " light migrams " as he put it, and a lot of

other head problems, the most serious being the

swimming of the brains:

 

The distilled water of lavender smelt unto, or the

temples and forehand bathed, therewith is refreshing

to them that have the catlapsie, a light migram, and

to them that have the falling sickness, and for them

that swoune to muche. It doth helpe the panting and

passion of the heart, prevaileth against giddiness,

turning, or swimming of the braine, and members

subject to palsey. Conserve made of the flowers with

sugar, profiteth much against the diseases aforesaid,

if the quantitie of a beane be taken thereof in the

morning fasting.

 

Gerard’s notion of making a conserve out of lavender

flowers to be used when headache set it was not an

original thought, rather a long-held European

tradition. I like to think of this as marmalade for

the head in distress. Parkinson, another English

herbalist, wrote in 1629: " Lavender is almost wholly

spent with us, for to perfume linnen, apparel, gloves,

and leather and the dryed flowers to comfort and dry

up the moisture of a cold braine [italics mine].

Lavender is of special good use for all griefes and

pains of the head and braine. "

 

In the 1930s, Maude Grieve wrote one of the best

encyclopedias of herbal medicine ever compiled. The

book lists how medicinal plants are to be grown,

harvested, and manufactured into medicine. If you are

interested in learning more about herbalism, her

two-part book, available from Dover Press, is a great

place to start. Ms. Grieve went on and on about

lavender. Here is a sample of what she had to say:

 

The essential oil or a spirit of lavender made from

it, proves admirably restorative and tonic against

faintness, palpitations of a nervous sort, weak

giddiness, spasms, and colic. It is agreeable in taste

and smell, provokes appetite, raises the spirits and

dispels flatulence… outwardly applied it relieves

tooth ache, neuralgia, sprains, and rheumatism. In

hysteria, palsy, and similar disorders of debility and

lack of nerve power, lavender will act as a powerful

stimulant… In some cases of mental depression and

delusions, oil of lavender proves a real service, and

a few drops rubbed on the temple will cure nervous

headache… A tea brewed from lavender tops, made in

moderate strength, is excellent to relieve headache

from fatigue and exhaustion.

 

I would say that just about covers it all; when it

comes to problems from the neck up, the plant of

choice seems to be lavender. I think the line " raises

the spirits and dispels flatulence " is an interesting

coupling of medicinal actions, although I’m not sure

that the two are related.

 

Every country has its own official book of remedies.

In the United States it is called the U.S.

Pharmacopoeia, and in Britain, it is called the

British National Pharmacopoeia. Today such books are

filled with lists of drugs produced by drug

manufacturers; in the past, they were filled with

lists of medicinal plants. The British National

Pharmacopoeia includes the following information on

lavender, citing its use: " Against the falling

sickness and all cold distempers of the head, womb,

stomach, and nerves; against apoplexy, palsy,

convulsions, megrim, vertigo, loss of memory, dimness

of sight, melancholy, swooning fits. " It’s amazing

that a plant so well known and respected for its

ability to treat headaches and nervous disorders

should have been forgotten. Mr. Bayer and his

descendants are quite rich by now, and poor lavender

has been relegated to the panties drawer. Not for

long, though.

 

So, it seems lavender can be used to remedy a

stress-tension victim, regardless of how they are

manifesting their stress! The most common symptom,

headache will be helped, but, other problems like

anxiety attacks, insomnia, and general nervousness are

equally improved with its use.

 

Practitioners’ Advice

 

Stress does all kinds of weird things to the nervous

system. When the nervous system is under great stress

eyes twitch, sleep becomes poor, headaches thunder,

necks go into cramps, and anxiety attacks occur. The

real solution is to do what you can to reduce your

stress. Life simplification will go a long way to take

the burden off the nervous system! Do what you can to

reduce your stress and chances are your headaches or

insomnia will go away. Lavender can be used as a part

of a stress reduction program and indeed will add

incredibly to such a program.

 

When it comes to using lavender, you have two options.

The first is to use the tincture of lavender, a fluid

extract made from the flowers. This is taken

internally three times a day and will keep a person

relaxed and keep the symptoms of stress under control.

Additionally, one can use lavender essential oil,

either applied directly to the skin or added to a hot

bath, to resolve the symptoms of stress.

 

 

 

QUICK REVIEW

 

History: Ancient anti-agitation medication

 

Science: Contains powerful relaxant oils

 

Practitioners opinion: An excellent and mild remedy

safe for adults and children

 

Directions: Tincture (1:5, 45% alcohol): 2.5ml 3 times

a day

 

Essential Oil: Used externally, a few drops applied to

the temple area or neck area as required