Pain – Dara Dietz Blog

Blockage, Injury and Restoring the Circulation

Understanding the Condition

Pain is not your enemy. It is a friend trying to show you where the damage is, giving you an opportunity to repair it before a worse issue appears. Dulling the area with pain killers only masks the real issue, and numbing it often makes it easy to keep overusing an injured part of the body that needs rest and healing.

Pain Means the Circulation Is Broken

Anything that hinders or breaks circulation causes pain. In nature, water circulates from the oceans to the ground, up to the sky and back down again, and that circulation keeps the earth thriving and healthy. It is the same in the body. Good circulation of nutrients, water, light and air creates a healthy condition. When you lose the ability to move out the waste and bring in fresh nutrients, you end up in pain and with an unhealthy, toxic condition in the body.

Diagram comparing nature’s water cycle with the body’s circulation, with a blockage or injury breaking the flow and causing pain. — Nature’s water cycle and the body’s circulation. Simplified diagram drawn for H.E.A.L.

Jethro Kloss, author of Back to Eden, taught the same thing: “All pain is caused by disturbance to the circulation because the overfilled vessels put pressure upon the nerves.” Dr. Christopher put it this way: when the system is clogged with wastes, mucus and sludge, “the organism can drown in its own filth. Pain is a result of congestion and degeneration of healthy cells and tissues by poor elimination of waste products.”

Blockage and Injury

Whenever there is injury or disease, there is blockage. Pain is usually caused by blockage, injury or inflammation, or any combination of the three. Clearing the blocked area and allowing free movement through it often relieves the pain quickly.

Congestion and waste. A backed-up bowel, an overloaded liver and sluggish kidneys leave waste in the blood and tissues.
Deposits. Uric acid crystals in gout, old mineral deposits in arthritic joints, and stones and gravel in the kidneys.
Spasm. A muscle locked tight chokes off the blood flow through the area. A kidney under stress can throw the muscles of the back into spasm.
Trapped air. Gas pressure in the stomach and bowel.
Swelling. Inflamed tissue and excess lymph fluid press on the nerves.
Injury. A sprain, a pulled muscle, a break, a wound or a burn tears the vessels and stops the flow.

Pain Killers and the Liver

All the drugs hospitals use for pain place a heavy weight on the liver. It is the liver’s job to clear poisons and drugs from the system, so habitual use of pain medication keeps wearing it down. Dr. Christopher noted that the old opiates hid the true cause of pain while they brought on chronic constipation, a sluggish liver and lethargy, and the original complaint was still there when the drug wore off. The first and most important step with any pain is to understand why it is there.

When Cleansing Stirs Up Pain

When old waste breaks loose from the bowel and the tissues, it can hurt on its way out. These pains may be rough, but they are temporary and subside as the cleansing goes on. Dr. Christopher taught that on a clean, living diet, pain usually means the body is housecleaning. On a diet of acid-forming, mucus-forming and overcooked food, it is a warning that poisonous congestion is building.

Pain That Shows Up Away From Its Source

Pain often shows up somewhere other than where the trouble started. The area that needs clearing is the part causing the issue, not the place the symptoms appear.

A backache that is really the kidneys. When the kidneys are inflamed, the muscles over them go into spasm. Dara’s Three Drinks (see the Kidney Disease sheet) tell the two apart: if they calm the pain, it was the kidneys.
A headache from the bowel. A backed-up bowel sends toxic blood to the head. Keep the bowels clear and the toxic headaches stop.
Sciatica from the bowel. Dr. Christopher taught that crippling pain down the leg comes from toxic poisons in the lowest part of the bowel (the sigmoid colon) irritating the sciatic nerve. Clean out the bowel and the poisons no longer reach the nerve.
A tight chest from trapped air. Gas pressure can make the heart and upper chest feel constricted (see Trapped Air below).
Skin trouble from the liver. With psoriasis and eczema the skin is affected, so we want to treat the skin. The real answer is to clear the liver so it stops pushing toxic waste out through the skin.

The Emotional Side: the Energy Work

Healing the whole person. We are body, mind and spirit, and all three must heal together. When one part is neglected, the other two cannot find complete healing. A person can follow a perfect herbal program, but if she stays in a life that keeps wearing her down, or never makes time to care for herself, the body will keep losing ground. Healing the body often means facing what is happening in the heart and spirit as well.

Feelings that are held in instead of let go stop the flow the same way a blockage does. Dr. Christopher wrote that pain and suffering can begin in the mind as well as the body, and that anger, hatred and selfishness can set a person up for physical anguish. Love is the best pain reliever.

Louise Hay, in her book Heal Your Body, describes this pattern:

Pain: guilt, and guilt is always looking to be punished. Turn it around: I lovingly let go of the past. They are free, and I am free. All is well in my heart now.

Emotional pattern paraphrased from Louise Hay, Heal Your Body (Hay House).

Areas Affected & Opening the Way to Healing

Most acute pain can be quickly cleared without much drama if you can see or understand the driving cause behind it. Clear the blockage and restore the natural circulation through the affected area: waste out, fresh blood and nutrients in.

Opening the Way to Healing

1. Clear the blockage.

2. Get the healing nutrients into the area.

3. Let sunshine and fresh air cycle over and through the affected part.

4. Bathe regularly.

5. Move the area as much as you can.

6. Know which area is truly affected. Not where the symptoms show up, but the part causing the issue. That is the area that needs to be cleared. With psoriasis and eczema, the skin is affected, so we want to treat the skin. But the real answer is to clear the liver so it stops pushing toxic waste out through the skin. Then the body quickly clears the skin, and the topical supports become effective in healing the damage.

Keep the Bowels Open

The bowels must be kept open and clean so the body can absorb nutrients and carry waste out of the cells through the blood and lymph. Nothing else on this sheet works for long while the bowel is backed up. Use LBF, building up one capsule a day until the bowels move two or three times a day. Slippery elm tea soothes an inflamed bowel.

Hot and Cold: Getting the Blood Moving

Kloss taught that hot and cold applications, alternated for thirty minutes or more, relieve congestion faster than any other remedy. Heat relaxes the tissues and takes the pressure off the nerves; the cold that follows drives the blood out, and fresh blood rushes back in.

Hot and cold fomentations. A towel wrung out of hot water, as hot as can be borne, then a cold towel. Dry the skin between each round. Dr. Christopher ran them the full length of the spine for deep pain, as well as over the painful area.
Hot baths increase the circulation and have eased pain both inside and out. Arthritis and hemorrhoid pain respond well to hot water.
The castor oil liver fomentation. A flannel soaked in hot castor oil over the liver (right side, under the ribs), a hot wet towel over it and a hot water bottle on top, 20 minutes; then a cold towel for 5 minutes. Repeat for up to an hour and a half. It has relieved the pain of congestion in the liver, gallbladder and pancreas.
The Ice Towel for headache. Wet a towel, fold it in thirds and freeze it until icy (about 45 minutes). Wrap it around the head while the legs soak in a bucket of hot water. This drives the congestion out of the head and pulls the excess blood down to the legs. Most headaches begin to ease in 10 to 15 minutes.
Hot apple cider vinegar. For gout and inflamed joints, soak the painful part in hot apple cider vinegar; relief often comes within a few hours or by the next morning. Drink a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water three times a day to help clear the uric acid from the joints. The Arthritis sheet gives detailed instructions for clearing gout.

Sweating: Opening the Skin

The skin is one of the great ways waste leaves the body, and sunshine and fresh air on the skin are part of opening the way. Dr. Christopher taught that wherever the trouble is in the body, if the general circulation is involved, sweating helps dramatically. Drink hot yarrow tea, or take a ginger bath, and let the body sweat; then rest, wrapped up warm.

Spasm and Soft Tissue Injury

A spasm is a muscle locked tight, and it chokes off the circulation through the area. M&L Salve stops the spasm. BF&C Salve repairs the damage. BF&C Salve is the answer for any soft tissue injury. Once the ice comes off, wrap or pack the area with BF&C Salve. As long as nothing was ripped or torn, it should recover by morning.

M&L Salve (mullein & lobelia) relaxes spastic muscles and releases a locked-up joint. It also moves excess lymph fluid out of an injured area, which eases the pain and lets the circulation back in. Massage it into the muscle; for a severe spasm, add a dropperful of Lobelia by mouth.
Over the spine, too. Dr. Christopher rubbed lobelia over the area of the spine whose nerves feed the painful part, as well as on the sore spot itself.
BF&C (Bone, Flesh & Cartilage). The salve packed over the injury overnight, and the extract by mouth, 1 teaspoon three times a day, to knit the tissue back together. With time it also clears old injuries of adhesions and the mineral deposits behind arthritic pain.
Lobelia for cramps. Lobelia or M&L Salve is good for any kind of cramping. By mouth, 1 good dropperful usually does the job; up to 2, depending on size and how severe it is.
Arthritic flares and inflamed joints. An arthritic flare can be handled in a few hours with the A&R Salve. Joint Support (the extract) and A&R Salve (the same formula as a salve) take down the inflammation so healing can begin; BF&C then rebuilds the joint. For a stubborn joint, apply the A&R Salve as a pack overnight.

Using Comfrey With Care

Comfrey root is one of the nine herbs in BF&C, where it feeds and rebuilds tissue as part of a traditional blend. Take the extract at the dose on this sheet, 1 teaspoon three times a day. Use the salve as an overnight pack, and leave the area open and clear of salves for at least 6 hours each day. More is not faster.

Nerve Pain

G-Nervine Salve and the General Nervine. The nervine herbs calm the fiery, throbbing pain of an injured or pinched nerve, shingles and nerve injuries. Apply the salve, or the General Nervine tincture straight from the bottle, over the painful area; when it begins to wear off, apply more. The valerian in it is sedating, even on the skin, so expect to feel sleepy.
Sciatica. Clear the bowel first; no lasting relief will come while it is backed up. For quick relief, soak the feet in hot water with apple cider vinegar. For faster action, rest the right foot on a plate of freshly chopped garlic while the left foot soaks. Add hot water and more vinegar as it cools. This starts a circulatory movement that brings quick relief. The Arthritis sheet gives detailed instructions for clearing sciatica.
Swollen glands and lymph nodes. A fomentation of mullein and lobelia (3 parts mullein to 1 part lobelia), or the M&L Salve, has reduced pain and swelling in the lymph nodes of the neck, under the arms, the breasts and the groin.

Trapped Air and a Crampy Bowel

Trapped Air: Pressure, Not Cramping

Trapped air feels like pressure, as if you want to explode. The stomach feels hard all the way across, and the heart and upper chest can feel constricted. Take 2 teaspoons of the L-P Formula and 2 teaspoons of the Digestive Tonic in a few ounces of hot water, which drives off the alcohol. Follow it with a swallow or two of juice or a nice-tasting tea if you like. Then lie down on your right side for a few minutes. The formulas displace the pressure and let the blocked air move through the system. Lying down also relaxes the stomach muscles, so the trapped air can pass more easily. Before long you may begin burping or passing gas. Either way, the pressure is relieved.

Keep a cup of cayenne tea ready while you wait for the gas remedy to work. If the tightness in the chest doesn’t ease within a few minutes, gets worse, or comes with pain running into the arm, jaw or back, shortness of breath, sweating or nausea, treat it as the heart: give the cayenne and call 911 (see Chest Pain below).

A Crampy Bowel

A crampy bowel is a different feeling. It can come with loose stool, or you can be crampy with nothing coming out at all. Either way, stir a rounded teaspoon of LBF #2 into 6 oz of water or juice and drink it all at once. Then sit in your favorite chair with a heating pad across your stomach. LBF #2 quickly absorbs what is irritating the bowel and firms the stool, and the cramping usually ends within 5 to 10 minutes. Even if you’re stuck on the potty, it only takes a few minutes before you can move to your chair and get comfortable with the heating pad.

Chest Pain and Heart Attack

In a heart attack, a blockage breaks the circulation to the heart, and the pain is the heart crying out. Cayenne supports the heart and blasts through the blockage. That restores the circulation, and restoring the circulation is what ends the pain.

For chest pain: stir 1 teaspoon of cayenne and 1 tablespoon of hawthorn berry extract into a cup of hot water and sip it as a tea.

If the person takes any drug that slows the heart rate, such as a beta blocker (metoprolol, atenolol, propranolol) or digoxin, leave out the hawthorn and give the cayenne alone. If you’re not sure whether a medicine slows the heart, ask the pharmacist.

The pain stopping doesn’t mean the heart is well. It is still sick, clogged and damaged, so the work of healing needs to begin or continue. Dr. Christopher said to “follow with the diet, bowel cleaning and heart foods from then on until healing is fully evident.”

A Heart Attack Is an Emergency

Call 911 first. Give the cayenne while help is on the way, not instead of it.

Quick Relief for Common Pains

Each of these has its own sheet; here are the first steps.

Toothache. The Tooth & Gum formula on a cotton swab over the tooth. Oil of cloves or a few drops of cayenne tincture will do in a pinch.
Earache. Two or three drops of warm mullein flower oil or garlic oil in the ear, two or three times a day, massaging around the ear. The Infection Poultice over the ear often draws the infection out overnight.
Sore throat. Freeze a damp washcloth (20 to 30 minutes) and sip a teaspoon of Herbal Antibiotic in a cup of hot water with honey, letting it wash over the throat. Then wrap the frozen cloth around the neck, cover it with a hand towel and pin it. The cold draws fresh blood full of infection fighters to the throat. No eating or drinking while it thaws, about 45 minutes.
Menstrual cramps. One good dropperful of Lobelia by mouth usually ends them in about 20 minutes; M&L Salve over the lower belly helps too.
Kidney stone pain. Hot fomentations over the kidneys are the go-to: people rolling on the floor in agony have been comfortable in 15 minutes or less. Keep the fluids going. See the Kidney Disease sheet and the Stone Dissolve Routine.
Gallbladder attack. See the Gallbladder Attack & Gallstones sheet.
Shingles. The pain of shingles is nerve pain, and the G-Nervine Salve over the inflamed area stops it. One man who had been in so much pain he could barely sleep or wear clothes for nearly three weeks got relief shortly after the salve went on, and slept a good five hours that night. Shingles near the eye needs a doctor right away. See the Shingles sheet for clearing the virus.
Muscle tension headache and stiff neck. M&L Salve massaged over the tight muscles of the neck and head.
Insect stings and spider bites. Plantain ointment or crushed fresh plantain leaves over the bite. Red streaks running from a bite need medical care the same day; keep the plantain on alongside it.
Cuts, scrapes and burns. BF&C Salve; the BF&C herbs make one of the best burn pastes.

When to Get Medical Care

Herbs are support alongside medical care, not a replacement for it. Get help right away for chest pain that doesn’t ease quickly, sudden severe pain anywhere, a severe headache that comes on like a thunderclap, pain with a high fever or a stiff neck, red streaks running from a wound or bite, a possible broken bone or torn tendon, or any pain after a serious fall or accident. Don’t stop a prescribed medication without the doctor.

Level of Commitment

How much is needed depends on what is causing the pain and how long it has been building:

Gentle support. For a sudden pain with a plain cause: a spasm, a sprain, gas, a headache, a crampy bowel. Use the quick relief on this sheet, keep the bowels open, drink plenty of water and rest the injured part. Most of these clear in hours or days.
Focused cleansing. For pain that keeps coming back: headaches, back pain, sciatica, arthritis, gout. Bowel cleansing with LBF, a week of liver flushing, then an ELF (Emergency Liver Flush) once a week, with weeks of kidney flushing alternated in. Hot and cold hydrotherapy, BF&C and the salves over the painful area, daily movement and sunshine. Give it about three months.
Incurables Program. For pain that comes from a serious or long-standing disease. Find the sheet for that condition; the pain will ease as the blockage behind it clears. The full Incurables Program includes cleansing the bloodstream with HEAL’s Blood Purifying formula. Blood Purifying contains chaparral, which has long been regarded as one of the strongest blood purifiers in herbal use. It has had years of bad press, but used wisely it supports the body in clearing what has built up. Use with care: take Blood Purifying in courses, not continuously: two dropperfuls 4 to 6 times a day for a week at a time, in a few ounces of grape juice, while drinking 64 to 128 oz. of liquid a day. Avoid it with existing liver disease. If the skin or the whites of the eyes turn yellow, the urine turns dark, or there is pain under the right ribs, stop and have the liver checked.

More Is Not Faster

These doses are set to what the body can clear. Taking more stirs up more than the bowels, liver and kidneys can carry out, and that is when cleansing starts to feel like poisoning. Healing the body requires steady, consistent nutrition and action, not a bigger dose.

People are different, and now and then someone reacts poorly to a particular herb. If that happens, stop it. What I offer here is a guideline. You are the one living in your body, so work with the Holy Spirit and the wisdom the Lord has given you to apply these supports in the best way for your life.

A Loose Healing Plan

In the moment: find out what kind of pain it is. Blockage, injury, spasm, trapped air or the heart? Rule out an emergency first.
First hours: open the way. Use the quick relief that fits: hot and cold, M&L or BF&C Salve, the trapped-air or crampy-bowel remedy, the Ice Towel, a vinegar soak.
Same day onward: get the bowels moving. LBF, plenty of water, and live food.
First week or two: feed the repair. BF&C extract and salve packs for injury; Superfood for nutrition; rest the injured part, then move it as much as you can.
For pain that keeps coming back: clear the source. A week of liver flushing, then an ELF once a week, with weeks of kidney flushing alternated in. Hot and cold hydrotherapy several times a week.
All along: sunshine, fresh air, bathing, movement and the heart work. Let go of what you’ve been holding.
About 3 months: take stock. Long-standing pain takes steady work to clear. Keep going with what is working.

Stories from the Work

Dara’s Story: A “Fire Ball” in My Knee

What you might call a “fire ball” of pain had developed in my knee. None of the regular herbal remedies were bringing any level of relief. Searching in Dr. Christopher’s writings, I found a reference to the use of nervine herbs for nerve pain. I applied the General Nervine Tonic directly from the bottle to the painful area on my knee. It was as if I’d taken a fire hose to the pain. It just wiped it out. I was amazed. The relief lasted about three hours, and when it began to wear off I applied more. It continued to work. We quickly made a salve from the formula, which continued to relieve the pain in my injured knee. Over the next few months I found the salve worked great on the pain of shingles and nerve injuries; if it is pain from an injured or pinched nerve, this salve is helpful.

Dara’s Story: Twelve Years of Back Spasms

A car accident in the late summer of 1985 caused a compression break to a vertebra in my lower back. For years afterward, out of the blue, my back would go into a spasm and send me to the floor in a world of hurt. All of this came to a blessed end when I discovered the BF&C formula in the late 1990s. Three months after I began using the body-repairing herbs in the BF&C, the devastating back spasms ended.

Dara’s Story: My Husband’s Back

My husband is 6’4” and thinks he is still 19 years old. He sprains his back at least once a year. One time he wouldn’t wait for help to arrive so the two of them could move a new, oversized piece of furniture into the house. He did it on his own and paid dearly for it. The next morning he could not even lift his head off the pillow. When he couldn’t get up, he began taking the BF&C I suggested. By the end of the day he was on his feet, shuffling around like an old man. By day two he was back to himself, still a bit sore but moving normally. Last time it was moving wet lumber. I use the M&L Salve to stop the spasm and the BF&C Salve to repair the damage.

A Story from the Work: Sciatica and a Foot Soak

Someone close to the work was suffering badly with sciatica and decided to give our foot soak a try. We filled her foot basin with hot water and two cups of apple cider vinegar. Her left foot went into the hot soak while her right foot rested on a plate of freshly chopped garlic. As the water cooled we added more hot water and more vinegar. Her pain nearly cleared during the 45-minute soak, and over the next several hours she became completely pain free.

More on Pain

This information is for education only. It is not meant to diagnose, treat or replace care from a qualified health professional.