INTERESTING TIMES

I was registered and attempted to attend some of it. I have never been to this event before, and it was free for me because I work for the University that hosted it. The keynote talk was Friday night, and the speaker was intriguing and beautiful, but it was held in Radelet Hall which holds about 200 people, but has air exchange sufficient for about 20. When I went in the room was very warm already, and the talk was just beginning. The O2 content had to be low, because I immediately felt sleeply. Perhaps all those young brains can withstand a high CO2 environment for 2 hours to get the wisdom, but I cannot. The University should improve the ventilation systems for that space, as it has no windows to open and doors only on one side.  It is stuffy even with a small crowd.

I hung out near the back door long enough to hear the theme of Ola Obasi's talk which was Deconstructing Reductionism. The theme continued to resonate from the entire gathering. I went to Paul Bergner's talk because his was a name that I have long heard in herbalist circles. I had no conscious expectation, but his appearance surprised me. Most famous herbalists are gaunt and woodsy looking, and he had a pot belly on a stocky frame and a collared shirt that made him look like a gas station attendant. Bergner was perhaps a little surprised at the turnout, for he was in a room that held 40 and there were 60 of us in there. I was stationed near the door because that is my rule when inside the academic building which is an old masonry structure that is likely to crumble in a quake. They're planning to replace it but that's years out.

Bergner talked a bit about how science is applied to herbal medicine. "A scientific trial is like a serial killer" he said, "because it kills the complexity of the herb." He said that all botanical science falls into one of two groups, 1. pharmaceutical companies prospecting for useful constituents, and 2. supplement manufacturers shoring up the plausibility of their formulations. In other words, the profit motive is always at hand. When Big Pharma finds a useful constituent, they extract or synthesize it and sell it as a drug. They are always looking for another blockbuster drug. When supplement companies conduct their own studies, they are usually trying to prove that one of their products works for a particular condition. In both groups the tendency is to bury negative results and exaggerate positive ones in order to generate sales and profits. It is no wonder that herbalists in general have a bad attitude about science when it is said to be reductionistic and corrupt.

What I hope that the herbalists will integrate is the fact that each one of those studies that does give us a result--this plant has that constituent which has such and such an effect--gives us an evidence base upon which we can build a case for herbal medicine. Sure, the studies are not done for our benefit. But we can learn from that and build upon it, even while keeping close the traditional knowledge upon which the studies are built. If we know from all that corrupt research that Scutellaria baicalensis lowers inflammation in the liver and the brain, awesome! We can use it for those purposes, and extrapolate that it might help with inflammation systemically. We can also remember all the indications for that herb in ancient Chinese and western eclectic traditions, and extrapolate beyond what the science says as to what the herb in its fullness (and not just one constituent) might do.

We need both. We need the subjective and the objective. Science does not have to be reductionistic. I suppose there are scientists that will say that everything is reducible to chemistry and physics. But there are just as many scientists who will tell you that we just don't know everything that is out there, and there could be surprises. The fact that we just don't know is not a rational reason to believe in nonsense, but it is a reason to stay humble and reject reductionism. Everything is more complex than we know. When we find out one detail about something through the scientific process, we know one tiny piece in a very big puzzle. Nobody knows how complicated things are better than scientists.

Berner's talk was officially about herbal pairings (and triplets). To him this means pairs of herbs with complimentary actions which he can see no contraindications for giving together, and no situations in which he would want one and not the other. One of the pairs he mentioned was dandelion and Oregon grape, aka taraxacum and mahonia. In general his pairings have a function so that he can grab that mixture off the shelf and add it to a more complex formulation, saving time in the formulation process.

I tried to go to a couple of other lectures but ended up walking out. One speaker's voice was practically sedating--though I imagine some in his audience might have been hypnotized. Social justice is a major theme for this group, and there was a lot of talk about finding our roots so that we could extract ourselves from the white supremacy paradigm.  I imagine the goal would be to begin to operate as a conglomeration of cooperative and complimentary minorities; a modern civil society. I appreciate this message, and I do not need to sit through another 2 hour lecture in which someone recites their entire lineage and teaches us their family traditions. I am fully aware that there is great variety in human life. And I have been quite educted enough about the advantages I have in this society because of my pale skin tone and heterosexuality. Berate me no more, instead go out into the world and be awesome. Run for office and help us bring nuance back to government. Model your own kind of success.

After I left the lectures I went home and processed my own herbs. I learn more from handling the plants than I do from lay-level herbal lectures. It makes me appreciate the difference between CE and not.  At least continuing education classes allow for the possibility that we might actually talk about how to treat a condition, because we have licenses that allow us to practice medicine. I believe I need to offer an herbal class, and I'm sorting out a topic.  Probably herbs for the mind, perhaps herbs for the aging mind.  The kiddos won't be interested yet but I'm interested.

In the course of the winter's passing my sweetie has been snookered twice by the tricky naming of teas.  The brand that I prefer is Traditional Medicinals.  I send him to the store with tea on the list and he comes home with Yogi brand tea because the names are similar and because the Yogi teas are cheaper.

Traditional Medicinals has IMO the best blends with the most potent herbs in them.  Some of my favorites are Throat Coat, Breathe Easy, Herb Tussin and Gypsy Cold Care.  I discovered Throat Coat back when I was a raft guide and used to shout myself hoarse trying to get people down the river.  These teas have been made for years and they are excellent.

There's this other brand, called Yogi Tea, which makes some decent teas.  They have however been trying to steal the marketshare of Traditional Medicinals by naming their teas in parallel ways to confuse the consumer.  Instead of Breathe Easy theirs is Breathe Deep, instead of Throat Coat it's Throat Comfort, right down the product line.  It has worked twice on my boyfriend so I have had to drink boxes of Yogi tea, repeatedly testing my perceptions.  While their blends are OK, they are nowhere near as good as the Traditional Medicinals herbal teas.

Frankly, even though I used to buy some Yogi Tea I have stopped entirely because I do not like their marketing approach, and the ones I did buy from them were not all that good.  It seems normal for tea companies to start out making really good teas, then get bought out by some mega-corporation who starts cheapening the ingredients in a cost cutting exercise.  This results in reduced quality.  It happens in every industry, and I do not know how Traditional Medicinals has avoided it, but it appears that so far they have.  I thank them for their quality.  I stopped buying Celestial Seasonings a LONG time ago, when their quality took a dive.  We used to joke that they were bagging up floor sweepings.  If I end up with Bigelow or Stash brand tea in my tea box, it just sits there until I have a guest that chooses them.  Tazo is middle of the road in my view.  Trader Joe's is about as good as really cheap tea can be.  There's a lot of "tea" out there that gives tea a bad name.

Much tea is bad just because it is old: herbs don't stay potent forever.  If that box of tea bags in your cabinet has been open for years and collecting dust, the tea inside is not going to be good.  Not liking this does not constitute not liking tea.

Full disclosure: I have no ties to any commercial tea manufacturers, other than I work part-time in a medicinary where we compound our own blends.  Nobody is paying me to issue an opinion, but I have one, just like everybody.  I think that most people who say "I don't like tea" have never had a really good cup of herbal tea suited to the season and their constitution.  I am educated about the medicinal uses of herbs and have created some of my own blends for specific purposes.

Just ran across a nice southern article about eating the leaves as salad, and painting the skin with the toxic berry juice. I have been taught to use an alcohol extract of the root as a "lymphogogue" meaning it is supposed to stimulate lymph movement, or at least a strong immune response. Far as I know there is no science to support this use. The juices of the root are very strong and caustic, and it should not be handled with bare hands.

sponsored by the Aesthetic Medicine club
one year old at NCNM, Aimee Bonneval is new president
tonight's speakers from doTERRA
water with lemon and fennel EO: yummy
their cough drops: spicey and good
sharing wild orange and recommending putting drops in palms and rubbing together

RESOURCES
BOOK: Modern Essentials
www.myoilbuisness.com
www.aromatools.com
www.builddoterra.com
www.everthingessential.me
doTERRAPDX (facebook page)
( mostly unsubstantiated assertions about the indications of EOs but tap this for black book ideas )

Newly Emerging and Resistant Infections--Can Plan Antimicrobials and Probiotics Help?
greatest threat to human health: acquisition of resistance by micro-organisms
now there's a strain of Neisseria gonorrhea which is resistance to all antibiotics

less than 100 years ago we didn't have abx
average RX of Abx in US: 1/person/year
( notes )

Pretty interesting overview of the newest attack here on Natural News: FDA's scheme to outlaw nearly all nutritional supplements created after 1994 would destroy millions of jobs and devastate economy. In the new proposed rules synthetic nutrients are exempted. The target of administrative control appears to be animal and plant-derived supplements. Botanicals. There are many health practitioners who prefer to use natural products as opposed to chemically synthesized ones. But the FDA wants to put us under. It's too dangerous to eat plants and animals; the content is not standardizable. We don't really know what's in there.

More here. You can make noise there too by signing the petition if you care.

And I did not know this, but the FDA has already banned the P5P form of vitamin B6---which some people cannot manufacture on their own and must get from their diet. They're basically trying to trap us into purchasing pharmaceuticals when relatively inexpensive natural alternatives exist. Because some people need to take top quality B6 for life (because of inherited metabolic handicaps), they see a market, just like any drug they can get you to buy for life. It's much more profitable for pharmaceutical corporations to make drugs that you need forever more.

It's time to start gardening, folks. They can't keep us from eating the weeds that grow by our house.

Francis Brinker ND
1981 NCNM grad, prof at SCNM and U of Az College of Med
Botanical Pharmacokinetic Interactions with Drugs and Botanical Adjuncts
with NSAIDS & Analgesics for Arthritis
Useful Website: http://medicine.iupui.edu/clinpharm/DDIs/table.aspx
**print interaction summary page from moodle
consumer info: http://WWW.DRUGDIGEST.ORG/WPS/PORTAL/DDIGEST
arthritis part of talk at the very end, first part of talk all about drug interactions
interactions with St John's Wort, Ginkgo, Ginseng, Garlic, Peppermint, and as usual Grapefruit
( notes )

Test will be case based multiple choice and matching.
The test will be for 30% of your grade. Lecture will start at 9:10 on GI health.
( original from KP, revision in process, goldmine here, dig for conditions )