Herbs for a gum infection

Once again, I'm dealing with a gum infection. It hurts all the time and it leaves a funny taste in my mouth. Usually I just use Echinacea but this time I'm using a combination of Echinacea and Licorice. I'm drinking a cup of Echinacea tea (recipe found here) every 8 hours. And yesterday I made some Licorice Lozenges (recipe found here) to place directly on the sore.

For some pain relief, I tried something I've never done before. I took a little crushed dried licorice root and added just enough water to cover it. I boiled it and when the water was almost gone, I added a little more. I did this for about 30 minutes, adding water 6 or 7 times. When the juice turned thick and dark brown, I strained out the licorice pieces. Then I soaked one end of a cu-tip and applied it directly to the sore. The relief was immediate and intense. I was even able to eat without wincing. This is definitely a recipe I'm going to try again in the future.

Licorice Root: Healer or Harmer?

Licorice Root is a very powerful herb. It's ability to heal illness has been well documented in almost 200 clinical trials. Although it's commonly used to treat everyday ailments, licorice root has also been found to help major illnesses like cancer and HIV. Most studies show that it heals better than the pharmaceutical drugs because in most cases, it only affects what it's treating. For example: Chemotherapy kills everything in it's path. But the polyphenols in licorice root have the ability to kill cancer cells without having any negative affect on the bodies healthy cells.

But power isn't always a good thing. Licorice root has just as much ability to harm as it does to heal. Glycyrrhizin is the active compound responsible for a lot of the healing abilities in licorice root. But ingesting too much of it can cause major health problems ranging from fatigue to death. Here are almost 200 documented cases of death and other adverse affects of licorice root.

Because glycyrrhizin is the only compound in licorice root that causes these side effects, doctors figured out how to remove it. DGL, short for deglycyrrhizinated licorice, can be used without fear of causing additional health problems. But it won't treat as many ailments as whole licorice root. For instance, DGL is almost useless in treating hepatitis, herpes, arthritis, fibromylagia and asthma because they all require the anti-inflammatory properties from the glycyrrihizin. In those cases, ingesting less than 500 mg of glycyrrihizin a day lessens the chance of unwanted side effects.

In conclusion, as long as you're careful about the amount and type you use, licorice root will be a powerful and effective healer.

Herbs for cancer treatment

I don't understand why there isn't more research being done on treating cancer with herbs. There has been study after study that's shown that certain herbs can shrink tumors, stop cancer cell growth, and even kill cancer cells. But it seems like every time they reach that conclusion, they stop researching. Keep going!


I have a 7 year old niece that has multiple tumors growing in her heart and brain. Conventional medicine hasn't helped. Maybe herbs could. I mean, just look at this list!

Alfalfa

Black Cohosh

Cascarsa Sagrada

Dandelion

Garlic

Goldenseal

Parsley

Tumeric

Anise

Buckthorn

Celery Seed

Echinacea

Ginger

Licorice

Psyllium

Valerian

Apple

Burdock

Chaparral

Fenugreek

Ginseng

Mistletoe

Red Clover

Every single one of these herbs has been shown to have some kind of tumor shrinking or cancer fighting abilities. Any one of them could potentially be "the cure". But, until someone figures out that these herbs are killing cancer cells because they are meant to kill cancer, we'll just have to sit around and watch more people die.

Sorry. I didn't mean to go on a rampage, but......