From: lwebb@sscvx1.ssc.gov (Lynn Webb [Auntie Lynn, to you])
Subject: Re: Cold and Flu treatment- questions
Summary: family recipe -- herbal
Keywords: herb echinacea cold flu allergy congestion
Organization: Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 15:47:48 GMT

In article <29DEC199212044458@wccf.mit.edu>, buzz@wccf.mit.edu (Sheila Gay Buzzee) writes:
>   Hello all.  I am new to the conference, and if I have missed discussion of 
> remedies for colds and flu please send responses to me, not the net, since I 
> don't want to create repeditive postings.
> 
>   That said, what seems to work for colds and/or the flu?  I have a cold now, 
> and this is the first one in years and I can't remember what made them go away 
> in the past.  I have the standard head congestion, sneezing, sore throat, and 
> cough.  So far using a vaporizer at night and drinking herbal tea has provided 
> slight relief, but I'd really like to stop sneezing and blowing my nose before 
> I don't have any skin left!
>    
>     Buzz@wccf.mit.edu
>     617-235-8096
-- 
I mixed up some tea for my son night before last (at the first sign of a sore
throat/cold -- good advice from another....) -- but as with all herbals -- this
is context dependent.  You know how your body responds to different things, so
consider all suggestions with that in mind.  I mixed this up the other night
in front of my grandmother and named off each ingredient as I put it in the cup
-- and she recalled someone from her childhood who had used almost every one in
similar ways.  --I thought I was getting into something "new" when my sister
and I started studying this -- turns out it just skipped a couple of
generations in our family.

I use:

2 parts white willow bark 	(pain reliever)
2 parts mullien	leaf            (for resp. system)
2 parts echinacea		(for resp and infection)
1 part marshmallow leaf&stem	(for resp. system -- mostly cough)
1 part goldenseal leaf		(mild anti-biotic)
1 part red clover leaf		(for resp system)				
1 part pennyroyal leaf          (for resp system, but also for flavor...
				it takes a lot to hide the goldenseal)
1 part licorice root		(to blend both effects and flavors)
1 part cherry bark		(for resp system)

I pour boiling water over these and let it steep for 10 minutes, then add honey
and vitimin C powder (usually 1 gram per cup) and chase it with 12 ounces of
cranberry juice.   I usually do that 2-3 times at the first sign of a cold or
allergy related congestion.  My son has trouble with the flavor, so I usually
hide his in either "red zinger" or "mamma bear's cold care".

Awfully complicated for many.  And the herbs could be secondary to the C and
the increased amount of liquid -- that's what the traditionals would say.  But
just C and extra fluid never worked for me....

Besides.  I like the jigsaw puzzle nature of putting herbs together in the
right combinations for a particular set of symptoms.  Maybe it just keeps me so
busy I don't have time to finish getting sick.  

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
+ Lynn Webb          		         \ Auntie Lynn                         =
= Technical Document Specialist          / Creator of Fairy Tales              +
+ Physics Research Division     	 \ Alive and well in Poetry, Texas     =
= Decnet: sscvx1::lwebb                  /  ...just a small problem            +
+ Internet: lwebb@sscvx1.ssc.gov   	 \     with Cartesian duality ....     =
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
best disclaimer:
if these opinions were somebody else's -- I'd say they were crazy.