Lobelia

[Guest guest]

Julie-

 

Maybe I should have worded that more carefully. There were several

reports of cases where people *appeared* to die, not where death itself

resulted. It sounds similar to fugu poisoning where metabolic processes

may be depressed for several days, during which persons appear dead but

subsequently revive. (I've been told that Japanese law prohibits the

immediate burial of persons suspected to have died from eating fugu for

this reason.)

 

According to Matthew Wood the 19th century literature shows that Lobelia

both causes and cures a " suspended animation " type state in which the

breathing gets so shallow that people were literally declared dead by

doctors, before reviving. An excellent account of one such case is given

in J. H. Clark's Dictionary of Homeopathic Materia Medica, which is not

tied to the anti-Thompsonian propaganda. The young man was given one

dose of Lobelia by an herbalist. He entered a state of complete

relaxation and paralysis to the extent that he literally lay and listened

while the doctor declared him dead and his aunt wept in grief. He

revived subsequently. His respiratory condition was completely cured by

the one dose.

 

While Millspaugh charged Thompson with causing death by lobelia,

apparently no evidence was found to convict him. Virtually all the

accounts in the literature of actual death can be traced to Millspaugh's

vendetta against Thompson, as both Michael Tierra and Paul Bergner have

reported after their own searches. I speculate that Millspaugh either

heard of a suspended animation scenario without geting the sequel, or

exagerated the effects believing that it could happen.

 

Lobelia grasps the vagus in a manner that can innervate the diaphragm

with

extraordinary intensity. It apparently stimulates the vagus in small

amounts- thus its use by Thompson and his followers to revive drowning

victime- and it depresses the vagus and the entire voluntary nervous

system in large doses. The latter effect accounts for the " suspended

animation " .

 

This reaction is apparently rare, but can occur, even in smaller doses

than my friend induced. Matthew Wood related an incident from the 1920s

where a young Indian man appeared to have died after ingesting lobelia.

A medicine woman was called who proceeded to stick small bones down his

throat. Within an hour he started gagging and returned to consciousness.

Inducing a gag reflex by sticking something down the throat can revive

breathing because the involuntary nervous

system is not depressed.

 

My homeopath friend, who is also an experienced EMT, realized that she

was losing the desire to breathe or even move and forced herself to drink

capascium tea, which also counteracted the effect.

 

By itself, the herb can be capricious in action and can produce different

reactions from batch to batch or dose to dose. Even Samuel Thompson

wrote of the variability in strength from year to year. Lobelia in

formula is apparently less capricious. The American Indians used lobelia

inflata as an " activator " , a kind of intelligent medicine horse to

direct the other herbs where they are most needed. Others use its

sharpness like a " penetrant " in ayurvedic formulas. In both uses small

amounts are used. It really does improve the functioning of many

formulas.

 

But besides being antispasmodic it unblocks phlegm par excellance,

particularly in the parts of the upper and middle jiao areas served by

the vagus nerve.

 

Karen Vaughan

CreationsGarden

***************************************

Email advice is not a substitute for medical treatment.

" Research is the act of going up alleys to see if they are blind. " -

Plutarch

 

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[Guest guest]

What is the dosage for Doc's Lobelia to get rid of mucus crud in my chest?

Thanks

Kris

[Guest guest]

Kris,

Try one dropperful a couple of times a day.

Mary

 

Kris Davidson wrote:

 

 

 

What is the dosage for Doc's Lobelia

to get rid of mucus crud in my chest?

Thanks

Kris