Herbs & Herbal Remedies @ Green Papaya

Takes the Sting out of Gout

Family: Urticaceae; (includes other Nettles)

Genus and Species: Urtica Dioica

Also known as: Stinging Nettle, Common Nettle, Greater Nettle

Parts used: Leaves and stems

Everyone agrees nettle stings hurt, but controversy surrounds the herb’s use in Healing. One modern herbalist calls nettle “one of the most widely applicable plants we have.” Many scientists, however, say the herb “has no pharmacologic value when administered orally.”

Nettle is no wonder herb, but externally it may help treat the pain of gout, and internally it may relieve hay fever symptoms and help treat high blood pressure.

Strong as Canvas

Nettle was used in weaving before it became popular in herbal Healing. Archeologists have discovered nettle-fabric burial shrouds at Bronze Age sites in Denmark. In Les Miserables, one of Victor Hugo’s characters calls nettle fabric as strong as canvas. And during World War I, when cotton was in short supply in Germany, nettle cloth was substituted.

Its use in Healing also harkens back to the ancient world.

Around the 3rd century B.C., Hippocrates’ Greek conternporaries prescribed nettle juice externally to treat snakebites and scorpion stings and internally as an antidote to such plant poisons as hemlock and henbane.

Roman soldiers flailed themselves with nettles in cold climates because the herb’s sting warmed their skin. This practice, called urtication, evolved into a treatment still used today for the joint stiffness of arthritis and the intense joint pains of gout.

From Nosebleeds to Mother’s Milk

Early European herbalists touted nettle tea to treat cough and tuberculosis, and strange as this sounds today, the herb was smoked to treat asthma. Herbalists also prescribed nettle to treat scurvy and stop bleeding, particularly nosebleeds. Somewhere along the way, nettle juice gained a reputation as a hair-growth stimulant, and it remained an ingredient in hair-growth nostrums well into the 19th century.

Seventeenth-century English herbalist Nicholas Culpeper endorsed all the nettle prescriptions which preceded him, and added some of his own: “The decoction of the leaves in wine is singularly good to provoke women’s courses [menstruation].”

American Indian women believed drinking nettle tea during pregnancy strengthened the fetus and eased delivery. They also used it to stop uterine bleeding after childbirth. Early settlers adopted this use, and nursing mothers also used nettle to increase their milk production.

The 19th-century Eclectics recommended nettle primarily as a diuretic to treat urinary, bladder, and kidney problems. But King’s American Dispensatory also called it “an excellent styptic” (blood stopper) and treatment for infant diarrhea, hemorrhoids, and eczema.

Contemporary herbalists recommend nettle as a tonic “to strengthen and support the whole body.” Many reiterate all the herb’s traditional uses, from milk promotion to hair restoration.

Nettle won’t grow hair, boost milk production, or guarantee easy childbirth, but science lends some support to a few of its age-old uses.

Gout - Some German researchers have shown nettle juice and infusion help relieve the pain of gout. According to German medical herbalist Rudolph Fritz Weiss, M.D., the effect “is not very powerful, but long-term use may give definite clinical results.”

Gout sufferer james Duke, ph.D., an authority on herbal Healing for the u.S. Department of Agriculture, agrees nettle helps gout but prefers urtication: “Recently after a painful week, the pills my doctor prescribed had improved but not terminated the gout pain in my elbow. I stung the elbow with nettle. The sting caused momentary forgetfulness of the gout, and be it an effective remedy or coincidence, my gout subsided by nightfall. As a matter of fact, I walked and ran several miles that afternoon with no pain at all.”

High Blood Pressure - Nettle also has some diuretic action. In Germany, where herbal medicine is more mainstream than it is in the United States, physicians prescribe nettle in the treatment of high blood pressure. Dr. Weiss writes: “Nettle juice is definitely useful lin] diuretic therapy. It has the advantage of being well tolerated and safe, as distinct from the [pharmaceutical] thiazides [now] so widely used.”

High blood pressure is a serious condition requiring professional care. If you’d like to include nettle in your overall treatment plan, do so only with the supervision of your physician.

Nettle may be safer than thiazides, but diuretics deplete the body of potassium, an essential nutrient. If you use nettle frequently, be sure to eat foods high in potassium, such as bananas and fresh vegetables.

Pregnant and nursing women should avoid diuretics. Congestive Heart Failure. Physicians often prescribe diuretics to combat the fluid accumulation involved in this condition. Heart failure demands professional care. If you’d like to include nettle in your overall treatment plan, do so only with approval from and supervision by your physician.

Hay Fever - A study at the National College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland indicated that two 300-milligram capsules of freeze-dried stinging nettle provide significant relief from the symptoms of hay fever. These capsules are not available outside research facilities, but you might try an infusion and see if it works for you.

Premenstrual Syndrome - Diuretics help relieve the bloated feeling caused by premenstrual fluid buildup. Women bothered by PMS might want to try some nettle during their premenstrual days.

Scurvy - Nettle is high in vitamin C, which supports its traditional use in treating scurvy.

Intriguing Possibility - One German study suggests stinging nettle juice might relieve symptoms of non-cancerous prostate enlargement (benign prostatic hypertrophy).

Rx for Nettle

For juice used to help treat the pain of gout and possibly help with prostate enlargement, process fresh plant Material in a juicer.

For a pleasantly warming infusion for possible help in the treatment of high blood pressure, congestive heart failure, and hay fever, use 1 to 2 teaspoons of dried herb per cup of boiling water. Steep 10 minutes. Drink up to 2 cups a day.

In a tincture, use ¼ to I teaspoon up to twice a day. Nettle should not be given to children under age 2. For older children and people over 65, start with low-strength preparations and increase strength if necessary.

This herb’s sting is its major problem. If you harvest it, wear strong gloves, a long-sleeved shirt, and long pants.

Herbal folklore is filled with remedies for nettle stings. An age-old recommendation is to rub the affected area with nettle juice. Rubbing with other herbs-rosemary, sage, or mint-also reputedly helps. But the most famous nettle remedy is dock, immortalized in this old British rhyme: “Nettle in, dock out/Dock rub, nettle out.” Nonherbal treatments for nettle stings include washing with soap and water, topical hydrocortisone creams (Cort-Aid). and oral antihistamines.

Large doses of nettle tea may cause stomach irritation, burning skin, and urinary suppression.

Some diet programs tout diuretics to eliminate water weight. But weight-control authorities discourage diuretics. Weight lost using diuretics almost invariably returns. The key to permanent weight control is a low-fat, high-fiber diet and regular aerobic exercise.

Nettle stimulates uterine contractions in rabbits. Pregnant women should not use it internally.

Other Cautions

The Food and Drug Administration considers nettle an herb of “undefined safety” For otherwise healthy non-pregnant, non-nursing adults who are not taking other diuretics, nettle is considered relatively safe in amounts typically recommended.

Nettle should be used in medicinal amounts only in consultation with your doctor. If nettle causes minor discomforts, such as stomach upset or diarrhea, use less or stop using it. Let your doctor know if you experience unpleasant effects or if the symptoms for which the herb is being used do not improve significantly in two weeks.

Plants That Burn

Stinging nettle is only one of 500 species of Urtica, a name derived from the Latin uro, to burn. And burn they do. Just be thankful the Javanese species, U. urentissima, doesn’t grow in North America. Its burn is reputed to last a year.

Nettle’s erect stem grows from a creeping underground rhizome. It has opposite, serrated, dark green, heart-shaped leaves, and male and female flowers grow on separate plants (dioecious). The hairs that give this herb a downy appearance are actually hollow needles attached to sacs filled with irritant chemicals. Brushing against the plant bends the hairs, squeezing the irritants onto the skin of the hapless passerby.

Nettles grow very easily from seeds or root divisions in just about any soil. Plant seeds in spring. Take root divisions in autumn after the leaves have died back.

Harvest the leaves (wearing gloves and protective clothing) before the plants flower in late spring or early summer Young leaves may be boiled or steamed like spinach and eaten as a vegetable. Boiling or drying eliminates the sting. The fresh tender shoots do not sting and may be used in salads.

Nettles have a reputation for increasing the aromatic oil content of angelica, marjoram, oregano, peppermint, sage, valerian, and other fragrant herbs. Nettles also reputedly help decomposition in compost.