Read 48 times since Thursday, February 04, 2010
Apparently it worked because of the antihistamines and anti-inflammatories in the leaf that were beaten into the body.
Aren't you glad you can gain the benefits of nettle without beating yourself with it?
Stinging nettle is a perennial. It grows from 2 to 7 feet high and the leaves are serrated and pointed.
The small, greenish flowers appear in clusters starting in July.
Nettle contains many helpful ingredients: chlorophyll, vitamin C and vitamin A, bio-available minerals, including calcium, silicon, and potassium chloride, protein, and dietary fiber.
The antihistamines in nettle make it an excellent treatment for hay fever. Nettle is also used to loosen congestion and open the bronchial airways in people with asthma or allergies. In addition it is used to treat inflammatory skin conditions.
Nettle helps people with arthritis by reducing the dosage of drugs and thus their side effects.
Nettle also contains large amounts of silicon and boron that ease symptoms of bursitis, arthritis, and tendonitis.
Nettle is able to treat urinary tract infections and increase the production of urine.
It is a mild laxative, and can increase the efficiency of kidney and liver function. As a bitter herb, nettle purifies the blood and is thus used to treat ulcers, asthma, bronchitis, hemorrhoids, jaundice, nephritis, and spasmodic dysmenorrhea.
Nettle's use makes quite an impressive list: dysentery, diarrhea, hemorrhages, gravel, febrile affections, chronic diseases of the colon, nephritic complaints, eczematous affections, eczema of the face, neck and ears, and chronic cystitis.
Externally it has been effective in treating burns, scalds, bleeding wounds, nettle rash (yes, you can use nettle to treat nettle pain), nosebleed, and urticaria.
Nettle is well known for its ability to ease discomfort in men with BPH in which the prostate becomes enlarged and causes men to develop problems with urination.
Nettle helps men to urinate more in the day and thus less at night. Nettle works by keeping the body from converting testosterone into 5-alpha-reductase, an enzyme that causes the prostate gland to begin growing again after 40.
Nettle does not, however, decrease enlargement of the prostate. Taking nettle in combination with either pygeum bark extract or saw palmetto may be as effective as the drug finasteride. It is also used in hair tonics because supposedly it can stimulate hair growth.
Nettle is also a natural diuretic. It helps the body eliminate uric acid and bacteria that cause urinary tract infections and kidney stones.
The diuretic action of nettle may also help lower blood pressure and relieve premenstrual bloating. Much controversy surrounds the advice that pregnant or nursing women should not take nettle. The one side says it might cause uterine contractions.
The other says this is not a danger when taken moderately. Perhaps it is related to when the nettle is harvested. If it is harvested before flowers appear, it seems to be safer.
Nettle can be grown yourself, or purchased as a dried leaf to make into tea, or as capsules, tablets, and tinctures. Dried root products, often combined with saw palmetto, are also available for prostate treatment.
Some just like to sprinkle the powder on their food. If you store the leaves, do so in a dark, dry, and cool place. Sumanta Mandal has expertise in content writing.
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