Maslow redefined

Made my day, ha ha

Stinging nettles my new best friend

I wrote yesterday about using stinging nettles as pain relief. I overdid things yesterday. I drove, I gardened, I lobbed balls for the dog and I swam. Oh dear. Silly me. This morning I woke in pain again. I reminded my RSI that it should have been resting! Fortunately the nettles on my kitchen windowsill are still stingy. They loose their sting with age in water, or on wilting. I have found if I bash the cut part of the stem so it mushes up, they are able to drink up the water and last longer. And I wash them first (wearing gloves of course) in case they are dusty or are bird poo-y.

So I did the stinging nettle pain relief procedure this morning. Last week, from the 5th to the  9th of August, I did it daily. I saw a huge improvement the very next morning the day after  the first "treatment". And by the 10th I was really comfortable for the first time since the end of May. That was a week ago. I overdid things yesterday because I have been feeling really well and completely pain free.

I am learning fast about using stinging nettles as pain reliever. It's easier for me to pick the top of the nettle where it branches out into buds and flowers. It's best if it has several branches at the top. A long stem allows me to hold my little branch in my one good hand (my right one) and swish it or roll the nettle onto my right shoulder and arm above the elbow. It's nettly stingy. But within a few minutes, it calms to a warm tingle. I don't find the sensation bad at all.

The "science" behind stinging yourself on the pain site, is that the body sends along all the antihistamines, anti-inflammatories and other lovely personally generated chemicals to the nettle sting site, which just happens to be the pain site that needs all that lovely stuff to get well. 

Now, I am aware that some people have a very bad response to nettle stings, so a stinging "test" would be a good idea on a very small place. But I have been stung many times as I scour my garden for what I used to call the "perishers" hiding under the garden bench or lurking down the path. My whole attitude to nettles has changed. I am even growing seedlings to keep on a sunny window ledge in the winter just in case!

They grow in semi shade in rich soil and young leaves are very like spinach when cooked. They are delicious as spinach. They make a good addition to soups and stews. But the older ones, are more intensely full of beneficial healing chemicals, especially after they flower. But they are not good to eat - very bitter.

But for MY purposes, the sting is great. Nettles have become my new best friend.

The secret is in the sting

I have been in terrible pain with my shoulder for over two months. NSAIDs (non steroidal anti inflammatory drugs) eat your stomach and have horrible side effects. I was not happy with them.

Accidentally, and quite co-incidentally, I discovered something called "Urtication" which means stinging yourself at the pain site with stinging nettles to relieve the pain and seeing the stinging nettles are good here at the moment, I tried it. The result was miraculous!  Stinging yourself on purpose with the humble stinging nettle is as good as any pharmaceutical drug. I have been astonished and delighted.I am now pain free!

I works because the body sends out all the anti-inflammatory chemicals and other good stuff it needs to the nettle site - which, of course is your pain site and it works wondrously.

Not so much is written about urtication - its both ancient and modern. If anyone reading this has good links, please send them to me,

But I did see a clinical trial where it ranked with any NSIAIDS, so people must know about it. Couldn't imagine any of our pharmaceutical corporation pets telling anyone in their surgery "Just go home and flog yourself with nettles"! 

Here is a Patent for 2010 for nettle and pain - dried powder - but I think the secret is in the sting.

Bongo Bongo Bongo The civilisation song - The Godfrey Bloom generation - and the present silly one!

Mr Blooms blunder

Mr Bloom's generation  - the culture - anti civilisation song - offensive? The present generation has moved on in political correctness, but not wisdom.........

Frozen shoulder/repetitive strain - a bigger concept

I have spent many posts on this blog moaning about the disappointment I feel at how strangely warped life on this alien planet feels. At the end of May, I overdid things in our garden and the same weekend overdid metal detecting near Hadrians wall. Since then, I have been in and out of agony. Sometimes I have decided this shoulder and arm is the beginning of something terminal! When I am on pain killers, I can use my arm reasonably comfortably, but then, am I just masking the pain? The pain is telling me something, yes? And a further complication is that my left arm, is semi paralised from a post-natal stroke I had after my last baby. So when the doctor said "Keep your arm at rest, don't use it", I nearly fell off the chair laughing. In your dreams Mr Doctor - it's the only arm I have!

What is the meaning of the pain in my arm/shoulder other than to tell me it has been injured? Well, here is some interesting stuff from a different angle.
  

According to Louise L. Hay in her book "Heal your body" (Hay House, revised edition 2008):
Shoulder pain represents our ability to carry our experiences in life joyously. We choose to make life a burden by our attitude.

Yup - that fits me.

According to "The secret language of your body" (Blue Angel Publishing, 2007) by Inna Segal:
The shoulders are to do with carrying the world on your shoulders. Holding onto too much strain, stress and worry. Feeling insecure, unsure, frightened, overwhelmed, sad, rejected, distrustful and discouraged. 

Yup, that fits me too. In fact I'd say it was spot on about how I feel about this world that we humans are mangling into something almost unrecogniseable to me.  Yet the younger generation think that their lives are "normal", apathetically accepting limitations to their freedoms, invasions to their privacy, legislations to issues where they don't belong, continual wars, oil and gas fired greed and avarice, corporate power, illusory money, lifestyle interference, science used dishonestly, denormalisation of groups like smokers, fat people, drinkers and the religious, rampant consumerism, materialism, botoxed facelifted photoshopped hair restored fake-people, feral children, me, me me promoting media, induced fear by science, not by satan and not understanding that 1984 has already arrived. (nice long sentence yes?)

So all that is captured in my pain. It is in my soul.

I feel better now that I said it - maybe the pain will go away?

Closeups

I have a new camera that I don't know how to work. Yesterday, our garden was full of bumblebees  so I spent a goodly time trying to capture one in closeup without success. 



The secret to snapping bumblebees it to capture them on flowers with an open structure. My bumblebees kept on disappearing down the tubes of Hosta flowers....I promise you they are there!

So, this next one was a success, but it wasn't a bumblebee! Ah well. It made me feel good. But THIS was my best!

Mind over matter - science makes us fear. Fishy stuff!

My daughter's fish tank, which she stocks SCIENTIFICALLY, is a disaster to my mind. Her fish keep on dying. Do you know that if you want to buy more fish on this alien planet you have to take in a sample of your tank water?! I find that most offensive. Surely if you wanted to serve roast guppy for supper, you should be able to? But, on this alien planet, legislation intrudes everywhere!

On the previous planet to this, in the old days, we used to chuck everything into our fish tanks. Sand - let it settle - plants - rinse first - rocks - soaked well overnight and rinsed - and fish - after floating them in their plastic bags in which they were purchased from the pet shop. It all worked! Fancy that! No science involved.

I have checked with my children in case my memory has failed because of my old age, but it is true - we used to give black mollies, neons and guppies away to all our friends and sundry people because our tank was overpopulated. And snails. Tons of snails.

Our Siamese fighting fish had so many babies (that is a fascinating procedure to watch) that we were constantly on the hunt to get rid of the males (who attack each other) and keep the females who were in a constant ragged state due to male attention.

Oh, remembering our fish tanks make me feel so uplifted! Those were the days when we simply expected richness, fertility and success. We believed!

That's what is wrong with my daughters fish tank now - she expects failure - science has been no help. It's only induced fear!