Devil's Claw

[Alf]

Darned if I can find it after a search, but in a thread somewhere a couple of weeks ago, Gill mentioned that His Lordship (IIRC) found some stuff called Devil's Claw effective for reducing inflammation. I'm not one for herbal stuff as a rule, but as blog readers will know, I've been having trouble with my thumbs while chair-making and when a person's desperate enough... Well all I can say is "wow". This stuff has really seemed to help (I don't think it's all in the mind...) and I can even use a card scraper again where before a spokeshave did for me. So the forum advice network strikes again; thank you, Gill. =D>

Cheers, Alf

 

[Adam]

What I really need on this forum is to be able to add topics to a personal "favourites" thread so that it remember things I've found particularly useful/interesting. Little things like that, and other things people say which you soon loose in the depths of time....

Adam

 

[dedee]

Alf,
IIRC the post by Gill was in a thread started by me that has probably been removed as it contained some WIP comp images.

Andy

 

[Gill]

I'm pleased you've found it beneficial, Alf . It's certainly more effective for His Lordship's arthritis than Ibuprofen or any of the other conventional medicines.

I first encountered Devil's Claw in a BBC2 television programme earlier this year about alternative medicine. It was part of a series presented by Prof Kathy Sykes - her programmes are always worth watching and noting. This episode focussed on herbs and reported an apparently miraculous one called 'Sutherlandia' in South Africa which appeared to be effective against AIDS! One hospice reported a 50% recovery rate amongst patients who had been sent there to die, although the evidence was anecdotal.

The programme discussed another herb, ginko, which appears to be highly effective in treating Alzheimer's, although the evidence for this is also (at present) mostly anecdotal.

Prof Sykes then looked at herbs that had undergone rigorous medical tests and found that the vast majority of them are ineffective. However, there were 10 herbs (known as 'Super Herbs') which were exceptions. I can't remember all of them, but I do know that St John's Wort proved to be more effective for treating depression than any other proprietory drug currently available. Devil's Claw was another of these 'Super Herbs' and so was garlic, which improves the circulatory system.

The programme finished by considering the complex nature of herbs. Herb extracts contain hundreds of complex compounds which often complement each other. She looked at one herb and found that a flavinoid which would normally be too large to penetrate the membrane of a damaged cell could do so because the herb also had a compound with detergent properties which made the membrane more malleable. She contrasted this quality with modern medications which normally only have one complex compound. However, the programme also warned that not all the properites of herbs were benign and some could be toxic, so care has to be taken in using them.

Curiously enough, I was just watching a recording of the programme last night.

Gill

 

[wizer]

i'm going to try this, thanks Gill

 

[Alf]

IIRC the post by Gill was in a thread started by me that has probably been removed as it contained some WIP comp images.

Ahhhh, that'll be it. Thought I was going nuts.

<Snippage of interesting info>

Curiously enough, I was just watching a recording of the programme last night.

Coo, for a moment there I thought it was an example of total recall - I was going to ask you which herb did that! :lol:

Cheers, Alf

 

[Gill]

I've just noticed that the television series about alternative medicine is being repeated in the small hours tonight (1:25 am) on BBC1's "Sign Zone". The first programme is about acupuncture, the second (broadcast at the same time next week) will be about faith healing, and the final programme (broadcast the week after next, presumably) will be about herbs.

If only Kathy Sykes had come up with a cure for deafness :twisted: .

Gill