The Healing Power of Poultices

As many of you know if you’ve been reading this blog, back in 2011 I achieved clinical remission from rheumatoid arthritis using cannabis concentrates. I wrote about it in my first book, Confessions of a Back Porch Herbalist in which my basic premise was that I had everything I needed to heal growing around me.

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Of course, the cannabis at that time was growing in a bedroom turned into a grow room which increased to two bedrooms with the second one serving as a staging area for clones and new plants. But you get the idea. The prescribed medications had never moved me out of the severe range but after 2 1/2 months on cannabis concentrates, I was in remission and on my way to being completely prescription-free.

But after I was doing well, it was clear that I still had damaged areas that needed treatment. My feet had been continuously swollen for more than thirteen years and had become partially numb. Doctors were clueless as to the reason and I ultimately decided that the numbness was due to the pressure on the nerves in my feet from the swelling.

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I met a woman online who recommended a tens-like unit that her father was using. He had circulation issues and she found a product for him called Revitive and it was believed to increase circulation. She didn’t know if it would help in my situation, but she told me about it and I purchased one. After using it daily for a short time, most of the feeling had returned in my feet and I could now intentionally wiggle my toes. I was thrilled, to say the least.

My left elbow and knee, however, are still having issues. I fell years ago while my RA was severe and tore the inner meniscus of my left knee. Films showed a small tear on the outside meniscus as well, likely from teaching karate. FYI: knee checks can be brutal. My left elbow, on the other hand, is a mystery. I evidently stressed it to the point that my immune system attacked it and the damage is still there. So, today, I’m going to address both with a comfrey and self-heal poultice.

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Poultices and compresses have been used for centuries to heal any number of conditions from drawing out foreign bodies and poisons to mending broken bones. A poultice can be made in a variety of ways using chopped up herbs, either used fresh or after they’ve simmered in some water on the stove.

Items needed to make poultices include:

• old white t-shirts – sleeves work well for a knee poultice; white tube socks – the stretchy end works well for the elbow
• cheesecloth or a gauze pad
• elastic bandage
• herbs
• pan with lid

Or, you can chew up a couple of plantain leaves, and spit them out onto the area in question. Plantain and witch spittle…it works.

Today, I’m simmering a couple of large comfrey leaves with a handful of self-heal. When it’s simmered for around twenty minutes (I want the comfrey to soften a bit), I’ll spoon the herb into a bowl and let it cool just to the point that I can stand it next to my skin. Although in this case, I’ll spoon some of it onto a piece of cheesecloth and wrap it so that it stays put. The finished result will look like a large pouch containing herbs.

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Comfrey, Symphytum officinale, is soothing, healing, and demulcent and contains mucilage which heals wounds and reportedly broken bones. It’s my go-to option along with plantain for instant bee-sting relief. The gel is cooling and between that and plantain’s drawing power, I’m able to reduce my healing time to a couple of days instead of weeks.

Self-heal, Prunella vulgaris, is also used for wound healing and I’m using it to add additional healing power to the poultice. Typically I use self-heal internally as a tea, mouthwash, or gargle but since it looked so nice out in the bed where I have it growing, I thought I’d add it to the comfrey poultice as well.

After gathering the herbs, I chopped them up and added them to the pan, covering the herbs with enough warm water to create a soupy mixture. I simmered the comfrey and self-heal for around twenty minutes, spooned it out into a bowl and let it cool just enough so that I could stand it on my knee and elbow.

While the herbal mixture was cooling a bit, I gathered up the rest of my supplies and cut two pieces of cheesecloth to hold the poultice material against my knee and elbow. I spooned some herbs onto one half of each piece and folded the other half over to create a pouch.

From there, I soaked the t-shirt sleeve I would use to keep the poultice in place on my knee in the remaining herbal water in the pan and sat down to place the poultice on my knee. The advantage of using the t-shirt sleeve as a compress is that the medicinal effect of the herbs can treat the entire knee area as well as the injured area itself. I then wrapped the whole thing with an elastic bandage and secured it with the bandage clips.

I repeated the same process with my elbow without using a t-shirt or sock end to secure it. Instead, I used a small elastic bandage to keep it in place. I’ll leave both on for an hour or so and then follow both up with some Solomon’s Seal liniment to assist in rebuilding both areas. I’ve been using it on a middle knuckle that a man damaged when crushing my hand while shaking it with some success although it’s early yet so I don’t know how much I can correct at this point. But we’ll see.

I used a comfrey poultice on my husband’s knee a while back with great success so I’m excited to use this today. My intention is to repeat this daily for the next few days to see if I have any improvement. There is clearly damage in both areas and I would love to see any amount of improvement. But if my husband’s knee is any indication, at least some healing is assured.

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Until next time…

Herbal Blessings to all!

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Disclaimer

The information above is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose any condition or prescribe any treatment. Please consult your medical/herbal professional for further advice regarding the use of herbs, particularly if you’re taking prescribed medications to avoid any unnecessary harmful interactions. Please seek treatment from a medical professional should symptoms occur that do not quickly resolve on their own. If you’re pregnant, please consult your medical/herbal professional before using herbal remedies.

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