Category: Heart, Blood & Circulation

Clearing the Issue Naturally

Lymphedema: Why It’s So Hard to Clear, and What I Reach For

Lymphedema is one of the more stubborn issues I run into in this work. I want to put down here what I’ve learned reaching for it over the years, partly so I have it written out clearly, and partly so I can hand this along to anyone in HEAL who needs it.

Why It’s So Stubborn

The root of lymphedema is a blockage somewhere in the lymphatic system, keeping fluid from draining properly out of an area. That alone makes it harder to clear than ordinary fluid retention. But here’s the part that makes it worse in practice: the lymphatic system doesn’t have a pump of its own the way the blood does with the heart. It depends on muscle movement to keep circulating. So when an area is swollen and uncomfortable, the natural response is to move it less — and that’s exactly the response that backs the problem up further. I’ve seen this cycle play out again and again. It’s one of the hardest issues to clear precisely because the body’s instinct to protect the area works against it.

This Isn’t the Same as Fluid Retention

I want to be really clear about this one, because it’s the mix-up I run into most with members: lymphedema is not the same thing as ordinary fluid retention — the kind tied to the kidneys, the heart, or a long day on your feet. With that kind of swelling, the fluid itself is thin and watery, and the plumbing that’s supposed to move it is basically fine — it’s just backed up, whether from a kidney that isn’t filtering as well as it should, a heart that isn’t pumping strongly enough, or veins that are struggling to send blood back up from the legs. That’s why elevation helps with that kind of swelling, and why a diuretic can bring it down — it’s working with kidneys that are still doing their job.

Lymphedema runs on a completely different mechanism. The fluid moving through the lymphatic system carries more protein in it than ordinary tissue fluid, and the problem isn’t that too much is being made or that the kidneys aren’t keeping up — it’s that the drain itself, the lymphatic vessels and nodes that are supposed to carry that fluid away, is blocked or damaged. A member’s kidneys can be working perfectly and it won’t make a bit of difference, because the fluid has nowhere to go. That’s the whole reason a diuretic is the wrong tool here, no matter how much the swelling looks like it should respond to one.

How It Progresses When It’s Left Unsupported

Early on, lymphedema is easy to write off. The swelling comes and goes — worse by the end of the day, better after a night’s rest or with the limb propped up. That back-and-forth is exactly what fools people into thinking it’s ordinary fluid retention.

None of that is inevitable. It’s the reason I push so hard on catching this early and staying after it with the salve packs, Detox Formula, and movement — the earlier you’re working with the body’s drainage instead of letting fluid sit, the less of that hardening and tissue change there is to undo later.

What I Reach For

Detox Formula is the better internal match because it’s already built around Poke Root, along with Burdock Root, Burdock Seed, Red Clover, Chaparral, and Yellow Dock Root — traditional blood and lymph alteratives that support the whole system rather than just pulling fluid out of the blood. Paired with M&L Salve packs working locally right over the blocked area, you get both ends of it at once: systemic support and targeted local action.

Keep It Moving

If there’s one thing I’d want anyone dealing with this to hear, it’s to keep the area moving as much as they reasonably can, even gently. Since the lymphatic system relies on muscle movement rather than a pump, rest alone won’t clear a blockage — it tends to let it settle in further. The herbs and the salve do their part, but movement is doing real work here too, and it’s easy to underestimate how much it matters.

Anemia is a deficiency in the number of red blood cells, hemoglobin or both.

Causes:

When we have a good bloodstream we have a good, healthy life. It would be wise to take time to learn the principles of building good blood in the body. One of our teachers, Dr. Edward E. Shook at the Los Angeles Herbal Institute (closed at this writing), gives a fine explanation of the cause of anemia as follows:
Carbon dioxide and other waste gases are re-absorbed into the life-giving oxygen. Everyone knows that two atoms of oxygen unite with one atom of carbon to form dioxide. But when there is insufficient oxygen, only one atom unites with carbon, to produce carbon-monoxide, and that is where most of our trouble begins–anemia, low blood pressure, or where there is an abundance of calcium, high blood pressure; because calcium thickens the blood.
It requires a great deal more pressure to pump thick blood than it does to pump thin blood; and please make special note, that all this is brought about because there is not sufficient iron in the blood, to carry enough oxygen to the cells, to enable them to breathe, and throw off their waste products. New cells are not produced fast enough to replace the decaying and dead ones. Pus is formed only when cells decay. Therefore, it requires no great stretch of the imagination to see how vitally necessary it is to have enough iron in the blood stream to convey sufficient oxygen to all parts.
Nearly every food we eat, or a large percentage of it, contains iron and oxygen. Wheat and most of the grains and cereals (in their whole state) contain iron in the form of iron phosphate, as do many vegetables, such as beets, turnips, tomatoes, spinach, lettuce, cabbage, celery, carrots, squash, parsley, mustard greens, dandelion leaves, watercress, etc., but our principal source of organic iron and oxygen is the fruit.
The apple is loaded with these two elements, particularly the Winesap. All berries, plums, prunes, grapes, raisins, dates, figs, cherries, etc., contain organic iron in abundance, and the citrus fruits, such as oranges, lemons, limes, etc., are principally composed of citric acid, which is one third oxygen.

When the blood pressure spikes to dangerous levels the need to know what to do and also know that what you are doing will support the issue is vital.  Last week after making a pot of scrumptious vegetable bean soup including a can of butter beans which I failed to check the sodium level before adding, my blood pressure spiked.  I will not share how high it had gone as it will disturb many kindhearted souls who will know how dangerous the levels were.   

The afternoon and evening after consuming the soup I did not feel well but was not overly concerned.  In the morning after a good night of rest I woke with a headache and feeling a little off, dizzy, just a bit lightheaded.  I decided to take my blood pressure and found it to be in very serious condition.  Here is what I did to bring the numbers down quickly.  By 2pm my blood pressure was down to 106/62.  A little low for my normal 110/74. 

1 tsp Cayenne in my morning drink of lemon juice and apple cider vinegar with distilled water.

This drink was repeated four times before noon. 

2 tsp. High Blood pressure #1 formula right after drinking my cayenne drink

Hi BP #1 was repeated two more times before noon at 1 tsp per dose.

I also took my regular dose of Echinacea.

1 rounded teaspoon of Burdock root added to cup then boiling water poured over the herb.  This was allowed to steep for 15 minutes before drinking.  Burdock root supports the kidneys to better filter waste from the blood. 

The NF Formula was a true gift as I did not need to have a panic attack over the very high numbers that kept showing on the BP monitor.  I used ½ tsp one time early in the day to keep calm. 

Complete faith and a working knowledge that what I was doing would support my blood pressure allowed me to proceeded into my day as I normally would.  I did not get on the treadmill as I was feeling a bit weak but that was the only part of my day I left out.  The more I moved around getting my shower and dressing I felt stronger, my head stopped pounding midmorning.  Every hour or so I would take my blood pressure again to find it was still much higher than normal or safe.  Understanding that the Cayenne would support my heart and prevent a stroke I took the hot lemonade with the tsp of cayenne every hour throughout the morning.

When our employees left for the day at 2pm, I went back upstairs and took my pressure once again and found it to be 106/62.  My body had removed the excess sodium and its effect from my system.  My pressure has continued at its normal levels.  Yes, I was concerned but I knew without a doubt that what I was doing to support my body would work.  This is how faith grows through time and experience.  The herbs are powerful gifts form the Father, with the nutritional strength to support life and health when used in a crisis. 

Definition

Abnormal and excessive accumulation or infiltration of diluted lymph serum in the interfibrillar spaces of the subcutaneous connective tissue or in the serious (peritoneal or pleural) cavities of the body which do not drain.

Symptoms

This condition is accompanied by swelling, scanty urine, poor appetite, sluggishness, and debility. The swelling usually begins in the feet and ankles and proceeds up the legs towards the abdomen.

Cause

Heavy salt users often have edema as do diabetics. We do not pinpoint the symptoms as to locality (hydrocephalus, hydrothorax, ascites, etc.), as does orthodox medicine, but the general problem is that fluid does not eliminate properly through the kidneys and skin.

Dr. Edward Shook had the following to say about dropsy (Edema):

“When sulfuric acid is generated within the organism, it immediately unites with water and swells up. This action produces heat, which expands the capillaries. The osmotic pressure forces the serum through the walls of the blood vessels, producing inflammation and dropsy (edema).

Hence the using of inorganic matter is always poisonous to the human organism in spite of all the apparent evidence to the contrary.”

What Can be Done for Dropsy?

This was a question put to Dr. Christopher in his newsletter. His answer: For mild or beginning forms of dropsy caused by urinary malfunction, we have the following:

For a severe case let us cite a good case of how it can be handled in most cases.

A lady came into our weekly Tuesday night lecture a little late, after we had barely started. She asked if she could interrupt and tell something that had happened to her since the last lecture, a week ago. We said we’d be happy to hear her story, so she told us the reason she was a little late was because of a long distance phone call she had just received.

Just after the last lecture, the Tuesday before, she received a call from her brother-in-law in Chicago. He told her that if she wanted to see her twin sister alive she had better fly back there immediately because the doctors had said she had only a day or two to live.

Our student took a few days off from work and arrived in Chicago on the following Friday. She went in to see her sister and would not have recognized her if she hadn’t been told who it was. Her sister was so badly swollen from edema (dropsy) that she seemed to be only a bloated, unrecognizable mass of flesh. She had been under doctors’ care for a number of months, and they had been unable to give her anything but temporary aid from the water accumulation. Now they were utterly baffled and had, at the family’s request, sent her home from the hospital to die (being given a day or two or slightly more grace).

The sick and suffering twin was in a coma, not recognizing anyone, and our student cried when she saw her favorite sister lying there helpless, with little school children needing their mother so much, so she asked the husband if he would allow her to use an herbal routine she had heard about at a lecture recently. He said the family’s doctor was just waiting for her to die anyway, so go ahead!

Our lady found a little health food store nearby and bought some parsley root and glycerine (this was animal glycerine, we now use vegetable glycerine which is superior).

When she got back she made up parsley root tea (one teaspoon of herb to a cup of water, or one ounce of herb to the pint of water), making up about one gallon of the tea. (Steam distilled water is 30% more efficient than tap water and is our choice.)

One quart of the tea was used straight to give to this patient orally, and three quarts of the parsley root tea was mixed with equal parts of glycerine (making six quarts of the mixture) for fomentations.

They would give a cup of parsley tea each one half hour to the patient to drink, and the heated combination (of parsley and glycerine) was used as a fomentation over the badly swollen legs, arms and abdomen. This was done by soaking white flannel cloths and laying them over the areas. (Use cotton or wool, never use synthetic cloth.)

As the patient lay there so helpless, her sister remembered instructions given to follow the progress of the treatment. She was to lift the corner of the cloth, after the fomentation had been on for a short time, and watch to see if the pores were starting to take the water from swollen areas. She said that as she looked it was like seeing hundreds of little springs coming from the body. She had made this trip and was walking by faith, using a formula she did not know about or had ever used before. She had just heard of it at our lecture that previous Tuesday. She had to fly back to work on Monday, so she left all the instructions with the husband to continue on with the program that had been started.

After work Tuesday she rushed home to get ready for the regular Tuesday night herb lecture and the phone rang. It was her brother-in-law from Chicago. He said, “There is someone here who would like to talk to you.” He put his wife on the phone. Even though she had laid helpless for months and part of the time in a semi-conscious condition, she was on the phone now, so happy she was crying. The swelling had gone down, and she was recovering rapidly–in fact she said she got the children’s breakfast and fixed their school lunches that day and was so grateful “to be a mother again”–not a dying patient. There were not many dry eyes in the lecture room that Tuesday night when she finished her story.

Varicose Veins are a painful condition caused by the leaching of calcium from the veins and flesh.  This occurs when sugars, pastries, soft and alcoholic beverages, breads, candies, etc. are used.  Excess pull of calcium can also occur during pregnancy as nature gives the developing baby the needed nutrients to form and grow in mother’s womb.  When the baby’s requirements exceed the amount taken in the body will leach calcium from mother’s system to compensate.  This leaching of calcium from the body causes varicose veins, cramps, Charlie horses, loss of teeth, nervous upsets, and the list goes on.

HEAL’s Calcium formula is a wonderful natural calcium tea made up of horsetail grass, oat straw, comfrey root and lobelia. In this excellent all absorbable calcium formula the silica in the horsetail grass converts to calcium, and the other herbs work in close conjunction with this master calcium herb. We need calcium for nerve sheath, vein and artery walls, bone, teeth, etc. This combination is all pure herbs. It is also used for cramps, “Charlie horses,” and for all calcium needs in the body.

An Excellent fast herbal aid to clear Varicose Veins is HEAL’s BF&C formula and Salve.  Apply a Salve pack over the affected area as directed in our BF&C Info Sheet and use 1 tsp. of the tinctured BF&C formula added to a cup of hot water three times a day.  Many women have had their varicosities reduced miraculously by following these directions.

BF&C is also an excellent aid for the growing fetus as it provides natures best nutrients for knitting the Bone, Flesh, and Cartilage together.  This formula can be used throughout pregnancy as an aid for the growing baby. For more information on this formula see our BF&C Information Sheet or email mail@healmarketplace.com for a pdf copy.