At the Roots: Natural Healing for Cystic Fibrosis
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Herbal Support for Coronavirus

3/12/2020

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PictureEleutherococcus senticosus
Ok, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) is here, it's pandemic, and it's scary. We take take steps to prevent its spread, boost our immune systems, and help us recover from it if we do catch it. As a CFer I am part of a high-risk population, which means I'm taking this very seriously. Here are some things that I am personally doing. (Disclaimer: this is not medical advice).

1) Social distancing. This means avoiding public places and events whenever possible. Keep 6 feet away from people. Do not interact with people who have traveled in places with outbreaks (including domestic outbreaks). Remember that someone can be carrying the virus for up to 2 weeks and have no idea they are doing so. Avoid non-essential travel. Make your health decisions not just for yourself but also for the highest-risk population. I bought a month's worth of groceries yesterday and am planning to be a hermit for the next several weeks. Yeah, I'm serious.


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Bloating, Gas, and Indigestion

2/15/2019

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PictureBitters: a classic cure for indigestion (dyspepsia)
When we have CF or any other condition with significant digestive involvement, bloating and indigestion are common nuisances. Fortunately, digestive complaints are nothing new to the human species, therefore the world's many herbal healing traditions have a huge amount of knowledge to contribute to this issue. Interestingly, digestion is one of the things that I feel conventional medicine has the hardest time understanding and helping with, especially for chronic digestive issues. So in this article I'd like to briefly mention a few herbs and techniques to use to address bloating and indigestion. There are so many herbs that help with digestive issues of all sorts and I couldn't possibly discuss all of them in one article, but I'll touch on a few that I use frequently for myself and my clients. 


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Antiviral Herbs for Cold and Flu Season

10/30/2018

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Now that the colder weather has come upon us in the northern hemisphere, it's time for viruses to make their rounds! Colds and flus can be pretty problematic for people with CF and other respiratory diseases as they can tax our immune systems and cause excessive mucus production, which can then lead to increased vulnerability to bacterial infections and exacerbations.

​Although there are very few tools that conventional technomedicine has for fighting viruses like colds and flus, there are many, many medicinal herbs that have antiviral activity and many more that stimulate the immune system to fight the infections ourselves. In this article, I will discuss medicinal herbs and foods that can help us prevent viral infections and hasten our recovery when they do come. 


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Herbal Monograph: Reishi Mushroom

10/17/2018

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This post is a continuation of my series focusing on individual herbs. In herbalism, we call in-depth documentation of individual herbs "monographs", and we call a compendium of monographs a "materia medica". My personal materia medica is over 300 pages long by now, so I'd like to provide some of the information I've gleaned about specific herbs that I think the CF community will greatly benefit from. So far we've covered astragalus and elecampane. Today I'd like to discuss one of the most revered medicinal herbs in Chinese Medicine: reishi mushroom. 


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Herbal and Dietary Support for CF Children and Adults

10/2/2018

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In this article, originally published in AromaCulture Magazine in July, I discuss herbal and dietary support for CF children and adults. I discuss digestion, respiratory disease, liver support, and modulation of CFTR sodium chloride channels by natural means. 

Cystic fibrosis is an autosomal recessive genetic disease that leads to the malfunctioning of several organ systems but most especially impacts the lungs, sinuses, and digestion. It is the most common autosomal recessive genetic disorder (meaning that each parent must be a carrier of the genetic mutation) in people of Western European decent. There are approximately 30,000 people living with cystic fibrosis (CF) in the United States, and more than 70,000 people worldwide.


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Recent Lecture: Herbs for Acute and Chronic Respiratory Infections

11/13/2016

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Picture(Patrick J. Lynch, illustrator)
Hi friends. I recently taught a class on using herbs in acute and chronic respiratory infections. Here is the class description: 

Prepare for winter by enhancing your understanding of how respiratory infections develop and how herbal, nutritional, and lifestyle interventions can make a big difference regarding prevention and recovery. In this class we will discuss how to use herbs to address a wide variety of respiratory complaints including colds and flus, acute and chronic lung infections (bacterial, fungal, and viral), bronchitis, as well as chronic sinus irritation and infection. Our focus will be on moderate to severe respiratory illnesses. Students will gain deeper knowledge of how to use natural means to combat infections in order to minimize the need for use of antibiotics, steroids, and other pharmaceuticals.

Below is the lecture, which is split in two parts. I've also added a slide show of my power point slides. Enjoy! Let me know if you have any questions or would like to share your own experiences. 


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Herb of the Month: Elecampane

10/5/2016

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PictureElecampane, Inula helenium
Okay so it's been more than a month since I posted my last herb of the month... sorry! Summer is a super busy season here in Vermont because the growing season is so short, but I hope to post more regularly now (please bug me if I don't!). 

Anyway, I wanted to talk about elecampane this month because it is a staple of herbal respiratory care in the Western (Euro-American) herbal tradition and one of the more important herbs for people with chronic respiratory diseases to know about! It is one of the first herbs I recommend to people who have lingering lung infections that won't clear. In regular doses this can be very helpful for people with functionally normal lungs to help clear bronchitis or aid in recovery from respiratory viruses. It's especially helpful when you want to make sure a cold doesn't settle in the chest and turn into a lung infection. In higher doses this may be helpful for people with CF, in combination with other herbs and therapies, who are battling lung infections. It is antimicrobial in the respiratory tract and digestive tract, and is also an expectorant, helping us to thin mucus and clear it out more easily through coughing. Here is a more detailed monograph from my Materia Medica on this helpful herb...


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Herb of the Month: Astragalus

6/16/2016

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PictureAstragalus propinquus/membranaceous
Hey there friends! I have been meaning to do some more in-depth monographs on some of my favorite herbs, particularly ones that are beneficial for most people with CF. I mention a few helpful herbs in the section called Herbs for CF, but there are several herbs that are so helpful that they deserve a more lengthy discussion. 

Let me explain: a "monograph" is a lengthy description of a particular herb (there are also drug monographs, but I will not concern myself with those) that usually includes Latin name and botanical family, common name(s), parts used, how to identify them and grow them, where/how to source or buy them, their energetic profile (according to organoleptic analysis and traditional healing practices), physiological actions, clinical uses, key constituents, relevant scientific literature, safety concerns, preparation methods, and dose. A "Materia Medica" is a compendium of medicinal herbal monographs. There are many materia medicas from different herbal and traditional medical modalities, such as Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Eclectic Medicine, Tibetan Medicine, Modern Western Herbalism, and so on. I will not post my entire collected materia medica (mine is over 300 pages long so far and growing), but I will post a few herbs that I think everyone with CF (and many other people, too) will benefit from knowing. 


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The Combo: Genistein + Curcumin

12/6/2014

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PictureTurmeric root (Curcuma longa)
I've been meaning to write this post for a long time. For at least a year now, a portion of the CF community has been experimenting with "the Combo", or the combination of curcumin plus genistein supplements to help modulate CFTR function. This intervention is proving to be very helpful for many people who try it, yet it is a complicated issue. The impacts are somewhat mutation-specific, and the rate of digestive absorption of these herbs varies person to person, thus the dose must be deduced via personal experimentation. 


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Miscellaneous Experiments and Discoveries

7/27/2014

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1. Cinnamon
I've been experimenting with taking cinnamon to control my blood sugar for years. And yet, I never really did enough controlled experimentation to get to the bottom of how it could help me, especially with my reactive hypoglycemia in the morning, until now. 

I have discovered that if I eat more than 25 grams of carbs for breakfast, I will have a reactive hypoglycemic reaction about 1-2 hrs afterward. I contemplate why this might be happening in a previous blog post. But regardless of why it was happening, I was not able to prevent a reactive hypoglycemic reaction unless I ate less than 25 g of carbs for my first meal of the day. Carb restriction is a reasonable approach, but sometimes carbs (like an apple with nut butter or a fruit-nut bar) are the most convenient thing to eat quickly before I start my morning treatments. So recently I've been experimenting with eating about 30 g of carbs for breakfast and taking different combinations of cinnamon and insulin to see what happens. 


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    Author

    Mica is a clinical herbalist specializing in cystic fibrosis, severe respiratory diseases, nutrition and digestion, diabetes and blood sugar disregulation, and immune disregulation. Through their own personal experiences with chronic illness, they are passionate about empowering people to take charge of their own health with natural, holistic, and integrative approaches. Please ask questions or share what's worked for you! 

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    Disclaimer: The content of this website and blog is for educational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. I am not a licensed medical professional and do not take responsibility for any actions taken by the reader as a result of access to this information. 
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