Category: Herbal Healing

Bladder Infections, Kidney Infections, the Spastic Bladder, and the Look-Alike: Pelvic Floor Spasm

Part of the Infection series. This sheet adds what is special to the bladder and kidneys. The core program (the two infection formulas, Echinacea, liver flushing and the five levels) is on the General Infection sheet. Kidney stones, failing kidney function and daily kidney care are on the Kidney Disease sheet.

Understanding the Condition

Urine Flows Down, Infection Climbs Up

The kidneys filter the blood and make the urine. The ureters carry it down to the bladder, a muscular holding tank, and the urethra lets it out. Because urine sits in the bladder until it is released, anything that irritates the bladder wall, or any bacteria that get in, has a long, quiet time to settle.

Most bladder infections start when germs travel up the urethra. In women the urethra is only about an inch and a half long; in men it is about eight and a half inches. That is the simple reason women get bladder infections so much more often than men. Caught early, the infection stays in the bladder. Left alone, or in a body whose elimination is already overloaded, it can climb the ureters into the kidneys, and that is when the fever and the deep backache come.

What Goes Wrong

• A bladder infection (cystitis) brings burning when you urinate, urgency, going often with little to show for it, and a bladder that feels full even when it has just been emptied. Acid urine makes the burning worse.
• A kidney infection brings a deep ache in the back at about waist level, often with fever, chills and feeling very ill. It is more serious than a bladder infection and needs to be taken seriously.
• A spastic or urgent bladder empties with a sudden urge when there is very little in it. Often the bladder has become too toxic, and a heavy load of bacteria, even a mild infection, adds to it.
• A look-alike: pelvic floor spasm. The muscles that form a sling under the bladder can tighten and spasm, giving every sign of a bladder infection with no infection at all. More on this below.

The Infection Merry-Go-Round

Antibiotics suppress the symptoms, but they often send the infection deeper. The symptoms return shortly after the drugs are stopped, and it is back to the doctor for more. I rode that merry-go-round for years. The way off is to clear the infection completely and keep the way out open: the bowels moving with LBF, the liver flushed, and plenty of fluid going through the kidneys. When the bowel and liver are doing their job, less waste is left for the bladder to carry.

The Emotional Side: the Energy Work

Healing the whole person. We are body, mind and spirit, and all three must heal together.

Louise Hay, in her book Heal Your Body, describes these patterns:

• Bladder problems (cystitis): anxiety; holding on to old ideas; fear of letting go; being “pissed off.” Turn it around: I comfortably and easily release the old and welcome the new in my life. I am safe.
• Kidney problems: criticism, disappointment and a sense of failure; shame; reacting to life like a hurt child. Turn it around: Everything happening in my life is working toward good, and good comes from every experience. It is safe for me to grow up.
• Urinary infections (cystitis, pyelonephritis): pissed off, usually at the opposite sex or a lover; blaming others. Turn it around: I release the pattern in my consciousness that created this condition. I am willing to change. I love and approve of myself.
• Urethritis: angry emotions; being pissed off; blame. Turn it around: I only create joyful experiences in my life.
• Nephritis: overreaction to disappointment and failure. Turn it around: Only right action is taking place in my life. I release the old and welcome the new. All is well.
• Prostate problems: mental fears weaken the masculinity; giving up; sexual pressure and guilt; belief in aging. Turn it around: I love and approve of myself. I accept my own power. I am forever young in spirit.
• Incontinence: emotional overflow; years of controlling the emotions. Turn it around: I am willing to feel. It is safe for me to express my emotions. I love myself.
• Bed-wetting (enuresis): fear of parent, usually the father. Turn it around: This child is seen with love, with compassion and with understanding. All is well.

Emotional patterns paraphrased from Louise Hay, Heal Your Body (Hay House). These are not faults to blame anyone for; they are places to look and let go.

Areas Affected & Opening the Way to Healing

Start the core program from the General Infection sheet. Herbal Aid 1 is the formula I use for bladder and kidney infections; it works best for clearing them. Keep the bowels moving with LBF so the waste has a way out, and keep the fluids going through.

A Bladder Infection: the First Twinge Is the Time to Act

There is a moment right at the start, a twinge, a little burning, the first urgency, when acting quickly can still stop it in its tracks. That is when to reach for Bladder Comfort.

• Bladder Comfort for the burning. Juniper berry, cranberry, corn silk, parsley root and uva ursi. It neutralizes the acid that causes the burning and calms the irritated bladder. It is a comfort formula: it eases the pain while Herbal Aid 1 and Echinacea clear the infection. Take it one of two ways:
• Stir 1 ounce of Bladder Comfort into 32 ounces of distilled water and drink it all at once. Or put 1 ounce in a large mug, pour 6 to 8 ounces of boiling water over it to drive off the alcohol, let it sit a minute or two, then top it off with cold water so you can drink it quickly.
• Either way, drink it down fast. You want the herbs to hit the bladder all at once, not dribble in over a long drinking period. Then try to hold off urinating for about 45 minutes, so the herbs have time to work. It takes about 45 minutes to reach the bladder.

Clearing the Infection: a Place to Start

• Herbal Aid 1: 1 teaspoon every 3 waking hours, about 5 doses a day.
• Echinacea: 1 ounce a day, 4 to 6 days a week while you do the infection work; for chronic or repeated infections, 6 days a week.
• Bladder Comfort, 1 teaspoon 3 times a day, only if there is ongoing pain and discomfort and an infection really is the issue.
• How long: a first bladder infection usually clears in 7 to 10 days. If you have taken antibiotics again and again for the same infection, expect anywhere from 2 weeks to 3 months.
• For more in-depth infection work, see the levels table on the General Infection sheet, and step up to the level that fits.
• Garlic paste to the feet for an infection that won’t clear; the directions are on the General Infection sheet.
• The three drinks (below) are a nice addition to the bladder work. There is nothing in them to hurt anyone, and they give the kidneys a good flush.
• Keep the fluids flowing. Plenty of distilled water. Dr. Christopher’s usual remedy for the bladder and kidneys was a strong parsley tea, at least two quarts, drunk freely. Marshmallow root tea soothes a burning, irritated tract.
• Feed the kidneys every day. Kidney Support in Kidney/Bladder Tea, ½ teaspoon to each 8 ounces, hot or iced, during the work and afterward.
• Take away the irritants. Dairy degrades my bladder quicker than anything else; cheese is very irritating to my renal system. Tea, coffee, sugar and soda should be avoided at all costs.

A Kidney Infection: the Aching Back

Kidney pain often feels like a stiff, aching back, so bad you hold on to the furniture to get around. But the kidneys sit at the same level as the lower back, so it can be hard to tell which one is talking. The three drinks answer the question.

• Herbal Aid 1 on the Infection Program schedule: 1 teaspoon in hot water every 3 waking hours for a mild infection, every 2 hours for a moderate one, and every hour for a serious one.
• Echinacea, 1 ounce in a mug of hot water once a day, once or twice for a serious infection. Garlic paste on the feet as needed, and an ELF every few days, or five nights in a row for a serious infection.
• Heat over the kidneys. Hot fomentations or a Kidney Salve pack over the kidneys calm the ache. Keep Kidney Support and the tea going alongside.
• Fever with back pain needs medical care the same day.

When the Flow Is Blocked Up

• Juniper berry and parsley root together, as in Bladder Support, I have seen be helpful for a blocked-up urine flow.
• Marshmallow root soothes and eases the flow of urine (see the story of the teenage boy below).
• Healing Salve across the lower belly, over the bladder. It is anti-inflammatory and may support an area that is swollen and blocked up.
• Not able to pass urine at all is an emergency. Get medical care right away.

The Spastic or Urgent Bladder

• Lobelia. An excellent antispasmodic that calms bladder spasms. Take 1 dropperful by mouth each time you void until the spasm clears. The bladder is then allowed to fill properly before the urge to empty comes.
• Bladder Support (juniper berry, parsley root, ginger, uva ursi, marshmallow root, lobelia and goldenseal) for urgency and leaking, which are often driven by a mild infection or bacteria in the bladder. It is a healing food formula: ½ to 1 teaspoon, 3 to 5 times a day, depending on how much trouble there is.
• Clear the toxic load. A week or two on the infection program while doing a good Kidney Flush. Some people need to repeat the Kidney Flushing Program every few months to keep the bladder healthy, and good hydration matters every day.

When It Feels Like an Infection but Isn’t: Pelvic Floor Spasm

The burning, the urgency, the bladder that feels full of infection: every sign is there, and the test comes back clean. The muscles at the base of the pelvis, the pelvic floor, have become too tight and gone into spasm. It is common in women who carry a lot of stress, tension or past trauma in the body. Other things can mimic an infection too: spicy foods, artificial sweeteners, coffee, citrus and alcohol, soaps and hygiene products, and in men, chronic prostatitis.

• Rule out an infection first. The symptoms mirror a bladder infection exactly, so have it tested.
• Stretch the pelvic floor, three times a day. Walking will not release it, no matter how many miles you walk; I walk 2 to 4 miles a day. Look up pelvic floor release stretching routines on YouTube and find the ones that suit you; I do mine on the bed, because my knees are tender. It will not happen overnight, but relief comes within a few weeks of a good daily routine.
• Lobelia relaxes the pelvic floor muscles from the inside, and M&L Salve over the groin calms the spastic muscles on contact.
• Bladder Comfort eases the burning when you void.

For Men

Prostate trouble and bladder trouble often go hand in glove: a slow stream, getting up at night, a bladder that never feels empty. The other problems that tend to come along with prostate trouble often come from poor circulation in the area too, and many men have been helped by opening that circulation back up. There are natural answers for all of it, so please ask. Many men don’t, because they think there is nothing we can do. See the Prostate sheet, and call us.

• Male Urinary Tract Support Tea, a classic Dr. Christopher formula for the kidneys, bladder and prostate together: powdered goldenseal root 3 parts, and 1 part each gravel root, marshmallow root, parsley root, juniper berries, lobelia and cayenne. Stir 1 teaspoon into a cup of hot water and drink it, powder and all, or fill #00 capsules: 2 in the morning and 2 at night. When the need is urgent, ½ cup of the tea often through the day. It is very bitter; a little honey helps.
• A bladder that doesn’t drain well. I have some men in wheelchairs who don’t empty their bladders well. Retained urine gives bacteria a place to grow, so they use a small amount of Bladder Comfort regularly as a preventive.

Level of Commitment

• Gentle support. The first twinge of a bladder infection, a bladder that is easily irritated, or a history of infections: Bladder Comfort at once, Kidney Support in Kidney/Bladder Tea every day, plenty of water, and the irritants taken away.
• Focused cleansing. A bladder infection that has taken hold, a kidney infection, a spastic bladder, or infections that keep coming back: the infection program with Herbal Aid 1 and Echinacea, the three drinks, garlic paste to the feet, liver flushing with the ELF, and a Kidney Flush week to clear the toxic load.
• The Incurables Program. Years on the merry-go-round, or a renal system weakened by repeated infection: the full program, alternating liver and kidney flushing weeks, and patience. It can take 2 weeks to 3 months to clear a chronic infection, and then keep the kidneys fed for good.

A Loose Healing Plan

• At the first twinge: Bladder Comfort, drunk down fast. Start Herbal Aid 1 every 3 waking hours and Echinacea, and drink plenty of water.
• If the back aches: the three drinks. Gone within the hour, it was the kidneys: step up the infection work. Not gone, look to the back.
• Settled in: garlic paste to the feet, ELFs, heat over the kidneys, and the levels on the General Infection sheet.
• Urgency and spasm: Lobelia each time you void, Bladder Support, and a Kidney Flush.
• Symptoms but no infection: think of the pelvic floor; stretch three times a day, with Lobelia and M&L Salve.
• All along: watch for the ER signs. Continue 3 to 5 days after every symptom is gone, then keep Kidney Support and the tea going.

Stories from the Work

More on the Bladder & Kidneys

• Infection: The Core Program
• The First Twinge Is the Time to Act
• Steady, Daily Support for a Tired Bladder
• Food for the Kidneys: A Daily Formula and Tea
• A Salve Pack for Struggling Kidneys
• A Few Drops for Spasms, Cramps and Shock
• A Bitter Tea Worth Making: Support for the Prostate and Urinary Tract
• Keeping the Prostate Clear
• Kidney Disease
• Kidney Flushing: From Light to Intense
• My Kidney Stories
• Bladder Pain Syndrome (BPS)

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

Toothache & Abscess, Infection After a Tooth Is Pulled, Bleeding Gums & Loose Teeth, Canker Sores & Cold Sores, Thrush and Bad Breath

Part of the Infection series. This sheet adds what is special to the teeth, gums and mouth. The core program (the two infection formulas, Echinacea, liver flushing and the five levels) is on the General Infection sheet. Start there, and use this sheet alongside it.

Understanding the Condition

A Tooth Is Living Tissue

A tooth is not a stone set in the jaw. Under the hard enamel is a layer of dentin, and in the center is the pulp, with its own nerve and blood supply running up through the root. The root sits in a socket of jawbone, held there by the gum and a cushion of ligament. Like every other living part of the body, a tooth is fed by the blood and cleaned by the blood.

Dr. Christopher taught that most tooth decay starts from the inside, not the outside: from a toxic bloodstream and the toxic saliva it makes. Sugar leaches calcium out of the body, and a body short of calcium takes it from the bones and teeth. That is why the teeth so often suffer in pregnancy, when the baby draws on the mother’s calcium. Good teeth depend on clean blood and good food all through life.

The mouth is also a crowded neighborhood. The roots of the upper back teeth sit just under the sinuses, the jaw joint sits in front of the ear, and the lymph glands under the jaw drain the whole area. An infection in a tooth or gum does not stay politely in one place.

What Goes Wrong

• Toothache and abscess. When decay or a crack lets germs into the pulp, the nerve swells inside its hard shell and throbs. A pocket of pus can form at the root tip, an abscess, and the gum or face may swell.
• Infection after a tooth is pulled. A pocket of infection can stay behind in the gum over the empty socket. It often shows as a small white pimple on the gum that will not go away.
• Bleeding gums, gum disease and loose teeth. Plaque and a low-grade infection along the gum line make the gums spongy, swollen and quick to bleed. Left alone, it becomes pyorrhea: the gums and the bone around the teeth draw back, and the teeth loosen.
• Canker sores are shallow, painful ulcers inside the mouth, on the inner cheeks and lips, the gums or the tongue, with a white or yellow center and a red rim. They are not caused by a virus and are not catching.
• Cold sores (fever blisters) are on or around the edge of the lips. They start with a tingle, then small blisters that break and crust over. They are caused by the herpes simplex virus and can be passed to others, so keep them away from babies.
• Thrush is a yeast (candida) overgrowth in the mouth: white, cottage-cheese patches on the tongue and inner cheeks that leave the tissue red and sore underneath. It is common in babies and after antibiotics.
• Bad breath rarely starts in the mouth. Dr. Christopher said it is the sewer line backed up: a constipated bowel, with the odor coming out the front door.

Why the Bowels and Liver Matter

The mouth shows what is happening deeper in the body. Bad breath points to the bowel. Canker sores that keep coming back point to a toxic condition running through the whole system, not just the mouth. Gums and teeth that are starved of calcium point to the blood. Treat the mouth, but clean up the inside at the same time: keep the bowels moving two or three times a day with LBF, and flush the liver.

The Emotional Side: the Energy Work

Healing the whole person. We are body, mind and spirit, and all three must heal together.

Louise Hay, in her book Heal Your Body, describes these patterns:

• Teeth represent decisions. Teeth problems: longstanding indecisiveness; inability to break down ideas for analysis and decisions. Turn it around: I make my decisions based on the principles of truth, and I rest securely knowing that only right action is taking place in my life.
• Gum problems: inability to back up decisions; wishy-washy about life. Turn it around: I am a decisive person. I follow through and support myself with love.
• Bleeding gums: lack of joy in the decisions made in life. Turn it around: I trust that right action is always taking place in my life. I am at peace.
• Root canal: can’t bite into anything anymore; root beliefs being destroyed. Turn it around: I create firm foundations for myself and for my life. I choose my beliefs to support me joyously.
• Wisdom tooth, impacted: not giving yourself mental space to create a firm foundation. Turn it around: I open my consciousness to the expansion of life. There is plenty of space for me to grow and to change.
• Jaw problems (TMJ): anger; resentment; desire for revenge. Turn it around: I am willing to change the patterns in me that created this condition. I love and approve of myself. I am safe.
• Mouth represents taking in new ideas and nourishment. Mouth problems: set opinions; closed mind; incapacity to take in new ideas. Turn it around: I welcome new ideas and new concepts and prepare them for digestion and assimilation.
• Tongue represents the ability to taste the pleasures of life with joy. Turn it around: I rejoice in all of my life’s bountiful givingness.
• Canker sores: festering words held back by the lips; blame. Turn it around: I create only joyful experiences in my loving world.
• Cold sores: festering angry words and fear of expressing them. Turn it around: I only create peaceful experiences because I love myself. All is well.
• Thrush: anger over making the wrong decisions. Turn it around: I lovingly accept my decisions, knowing I am free to change. I am safe.
• Bad breath (halitosis): rotten attitudes, vile gossip, foul thinking. Turn it around: I speak with gentleness and love. I exhale only the good.

Emotional patterns paraphrased from Louise Hay, Heal Your Body (Hay House). These are not faults to blame anyone for; they are places to look and let go.

Areas Affected & Opening the Way to Healing

Start the core program from the General Infection sheet at the level that fits. Herbal Aid 2 is the formula for the teeth and gums: it works on the blood and lymph and goes after a stubborn, local infection. (Herbal Aid 1 is for the throat and chest, not the teeth and gums.) Take Echinacea every day of the work, keep the bowels moving with LBF, and do the ELFs your level calls for. Then work on the area.

Toothache and Abscessed Tooth

• Tooth & Gum Formula on a Q-tip. Soak a Q-tip in the Tooth & Gum Formula and swab it right onto the sore tooth and gum. It usually brings relief within minutes to a throbbing, infected or inflamed tooth. This is my favorite toothache remedy, and the one to keep on hand.
• Clove oil rubbed on the gum is the backup if you are caught without it.
• A paste roll in the cheek. Moisten a little Tooth Powder with distilled water and 1 or 2 drops of Tooth & Gum Formula. Spread it on a small piece of gauze or thin cotton and roll it into a thin log, 1 to 2 inches long. Wet it with a few more drops of water and Tooth & Gum, tuck it between the cheek and gum over the sore tooth, and leave it 3 or 4 hours or overnight.
• The Charcoal & Flaxseed Poultice over the cheek. Lay it on hot (not burning) over the sore area, cover with plastic wrap and a washcloth to hold the heat, and hold it in place with a pair of pantyhose: the waist around the head like a shower cap, the legs wrapped over the poultice and tied under the chin or on top of the head. Leave it 4 to 6 hours or all night. Directions for the poultice are on the Charcoal & Flaxseed Poultice sheet.
• See your dentist. The herbs can carry you through to the appointment and clear the infection, but a broken or decayed tooth still needs to be seen.

Infection After a Tooth Is Pulled

Do the regular infection work: Herbal Aid 2, Echinacea, LBF and the ELFs, with Tooth & Gum on the gum. If a white pimple on the gum will not clear, the infection is sitting in a pocket the herbs are not reaching. That is when to put the Charcoal & Flaxseed Poultice over both ears.

• Make two poultices and hold them over both ears with wide sweatbands, angled low around the head.
• Leave them on about 4 hours, then replace with fresh ones. Keep going through the day, for a day or two.
• The first few may leave the ears sore, as if the ear tissue itself is full of toxins. A little Healing Salve takes the soreness away.
• Keep flushing the liver with ELFs all through; there is a lot of waste moving out.

In my own mouth, the pimple was gone by the fourth application. I was surprised it worked so well on the gum from over the ears, but the ears, jaw and gums all drain together.

Bleeding Gums, Gum Disease and Loose Teeth

Two formulas work beautifully together here. The idea behind them is an old one: Native Americans would place thin strips of inner oak bark between the gums and lips, day or night, to heal sores of the gums and tighten loose teeth.

• Tooth & Gum Formula as a rinse. Bayberry, white oak bark, echinacea and cayenne, with tea tree, peppermint and clove oils. It brings circulation back into the gums, fights infection in the mouth on contact, and helps tighten the teeth and gums. For best results use a water pik: 4 to 6 dropperfuls in the reservoir with warm water, at the strongest setting you can tolerate. Used daily, bleeding gums often stop within about a week. Or add 2 dropperfuls to 2 ounces of water and rinse, swishing and straining it through all the teeth. It can also be massaged into the gums with a cotton swab.
• Tooth Powder. Comfrey root, white oak bark, horsetail, peppermint, oatstraw, cloves and a little lobelia. It strengthens the gums, helps tighten loose teeth, and brightens the teeth. To brush: wet the toothbrush, dip the bristles in the powder and brush as usual.
• For problem gums, pack it overnight. Mix about a tablespoon of Tooth Powder with a little distilled water into a firm, fairly dry paste. Pack it between the lips and gums, upper and lower, around all the teeth, and leave it on all night. If it won’t stay, wrap it in gauze. In severe cases, pack it six nights a week, while still brushing, until there is clear improvement. Then keep brushing with the powder.
• Feed the teeth. Teeth and gums are built from the minerals in the blood. Cut out sugar, which pulls calcium from the body, and eat calcium-rich foods and herbs. Dr. Christopher’s Calcium Formula feeds the bones and teeth.

Canker Sores and Cold Sores

For most of my life I had canker sores and cold sores, always both together. What finally cleared them was getting good blood, full of the healing nutrients, to the mouth, while the whole body was cleaning out.

• Hot and cold to the face. In the shower, alternate hot and cold water over the face and mouth. Hold a washcloth over the face for each, one for the hot and one for the cold, to soften the sharp spray.
• Clean up the inside. Sores that keep coming back are the body showing a deeper toxic load. Keep the bowels moving with LBF, flush the liver, and for a few days lighten the diet to juices, distilled water and red raspberry leaf tea. Going forward, a clean, mucus-free diet keeps them from returning.
• Cold sores: Black Walnut at the first tingle. Dab Black Walnut extract right on the spot at the first tingle; it often brings fast relief and helps dry and heal it. Dr. Christopher taught that skullcap feeds the nerves where the virus lies quiet between outbreaks, so support the nerves and get your rest; outbreaks follow times when you are run down.
• Cold sores are catching. Don’t share cups or towels, and don’t kiss a baby while you have one.

Thrush in a Baby’s or Child’s Mouth

When the yeast is in the mouth, it really is a mouth issue, and it can be cleared quickly with frequent, gentle care. If it keeps coming back, or there is yeast elsewhere in the body, see the Female & Yeast sheet for the full Candida program.

• White oak bark tea, made strong and sprayed into the mouth with an atomizer, or swabbed on the patches, several times a day.
• Acidophilus for the baby (liquid, or a capsule opened into a little sterile water and swabbed in the mouth) and for a nursing mother too. The yeast passes back and forth between the baby’s mouth and the mother’s breast, so treat both at once.
• Red raspberry leaf tea to drink, for a child old enough, and as a soothing wash.
• Keep going until every white patch is gone, not just until it looks better.

Bad Breath

• Go to the cause: the bowel. Mints and mouthwash only cover it up. Clean out the bowel with LBF and work toward two or three movements a day; when the sewer line is no longer backed up, the breath sweetens.
• Digestive Tonic. Ginger, fennel and peppermint. ½ to 1 teaspoon in a couple of ounces of water sweetens the stomach.
• For the moment: chew a few cloves or a sprig of parsley.
• Rule out the mouth: an infected tooth or gum disease also causes bad breath, so use the Tooth & Gum rinse and Tooth Powder too.

Level of Commitment

• Gentle support. Bleeding gums, a single canker sore, bad breath: the Tooth & Gum rinse and Tooth Powder every day, the bowels kept moving, and less sugar.
• Focused cleansing. A toothache, an abscess, infection after a tooth is pulled, or sores that keep coming back: the Moderate level from the General sheet with its ELFs, Herbal Aid 2, Tooth & Gum on the gum, and the poultice over the cheek or ears. Clearing a stubborn gum infection can take a month; mine did.
• The full program. An infection that is spreading, gum disease with loose teeth, or a mouth that has troubled you for years: the Intense level or the Incurables Program, alongside your dentist, and medical care right away if any ER sign appears.

A Loose Healing Plan

• Every day: brush with Tooth Powder and rinse with Tooth & Gum (water pik if you can). Keep the bowels moving two or three times a day.
• A toothache: Tooth & Gum on a Q-tip at once, Herbal Aid 2 and Echinacea at your level, the paste roll by day and the Charcoal & Flaxseed Poultice on the cheek at night. See your dentist.
• After a tooth is pulled: the same infection work. If a pimple on the gum won’t clear, the poultices over both ears, 4 hours each, for a day or two, with ELFs.
• Bleeding or loose teeth: pack the Tooth Powder overnight six nights a week until the gums are firm; the water pik rinse daily; cut out sugar; feed the body calcium.
• Canker sores and cold sores: hot and cold to the face, Black Walnut on a cold sore, a few days of light eating, and clean out the bowel and liver.
• Thrush: oak bark tea in the mouth several times a day and acidophilus for baby and mother, until every patch is gone.
• All along: watch for the ER signs. Continue 3 to 5 days after every symptom is gone.

Stories from the Work

Watch

More on the Teeth, Gums & Mouth

• Infection: The Core Program
• Two Herbal Helps for Healthy Teeth and Gums
• Herbal Aids for Clearing an Infection in the Teeth and Gums
• A Simple Drawing Poultice: Charcoal and Flaxseed
• Our Two Infection Fighters
• Calcium You Can Actually Absorb
• Helping Sluggish Bowels Move Again
• Candida Program

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

Earaches, Ear Infections, Sinus Infections, Pink Eye and Styes

Part of the Infection series. This sheet adds what is special to the head. The core program (the two infection formulas, Echinacea, liver flushing and the five levels) is on the General Infection sheet. Start there, and use this sheet alongside it.

Understanding the Condition

It Is All Connected

The ears, sinuses and eyes all drain into the same place: the back of the nose and the throat. Tears drain through the tear duct into the nose. The sinuses, hollow spaces in the bones of the face, drain into the nose. The eustachian tube runs from the middle ear to the back of the nose. When that common drain is blocked with mucus and waste, everything above it backs up, and the backed-up waste is where infection takes hold.

That is why a head cold so often turns into an earache, a sinus infection or pink eye, and why the work for any of them is the same: open the drain, draw the infection out, and support the body with the core program.

The Ears

An outer-ear infection often starts from a scratch or from water left standing in the ear (swimmer’s ear). A middle-ear infection comes from a blocked eustachian tube, and can linger a long time; little ones who rub and pull at their ears are telling us something is wrong. An inner-ear infection can disturb the balance, bringing dizziness, vertigo and nausea.

The Sinuses

When mucus and waste pack into the sinuses and harden, the sinuses can no longer drain. Pressure builds behind the cheeks, eyes and forehead, the nose stops up, and infection settles in the stagnant waste. Impacted sinuses need that hard-packed waste softened and drained before they can clear.

The Eyes

Pink eye usually comes from a clogged tear duct, or an infected one. When the tears cannot flow, the eye cannot wash itself. A sty is an infected oil gland at the edge of the eyelid, a painful little boil that is the body pushing waste out through the delicate tissue of the lid. Pink eye is very contagious.

The Emotional Side: the Energy Work

Healing the whole person. We are body, mind and spirit, and all three must heal together.

Louise Hay, in her book Heal Your Body, describes these patterns:

• Sty: looking at life through angry eyes; angry at someone. Turn it around: I choose to see everyone and everything with joy and love.
• Keratitis (inflamed eye): extreme anger; a desire to strike out at what you see. Turn it around: I let the love from my own heart heal all that I see. I choose peace.
• Eye problems: not liking what you see in your own life. Turn it around: I now create a life I love to look at.
• Pink eye (conjunctivitis): anger and frustration at what you are looking at in life. Turn it around: I see with eyes of love. There is a harmonious solution, and I accept it now.
• Eye problems in children: not wanting to see what is going on in the family. Turn it around: Harmony, joy, beauty and safety now surround this child.
• Earache (outer, middle or inner ear): anger; not wanting to hear; too much turmoil; parents arguing. Turn it around: Harmony surrounds me. I listen with love to the pleasant and the good. I am a center for love.
• Sinus problems: irritation with one person, someone close. Turn it around: I declare that peace and harmony dwell in me and surround me at all times. All is well.

Emotional patterns paraphrased from Louise Hay, Heal Your Body (Hay House). These are not faults to blame anyone for; they are places to look and let go.

Areas Affected & Opening the Way to Healing

Start the core program from the General Infection sheet at the level that fits: Herbal Aid 1 is especially good for the sinuses and the head. Keep the bowels moving with LBF, so what drains from the head has a way out of the body. Then work on the area itself.

The Ears

• Treat both ears, always, even if only one is infected.
• The Charcoal & Flaxseed Poultice over both ears, applied as hot as can be tolerated, and left on overnight. Two wide sweatbands hold it in place for an adult. For a child, use an old pair of pantyhose worn like a cap, with the legs tied to hold a poultice over each ear. Make it a game; children don’t mind it at all. Most of the time one overnight application clears the infection. See the Charcoal & Flaxseed Poultice sheet for how to make it.
• Ear oil. If you have it, add 4 to 6 drops of Garlic & Mullein oil in each ear, with a cotton plug. If you don’t have it, the poultice works on its own.

The Sinuses: Snuff

Snuff is a fine herbal powder of bayberry, goldenseal, garlic and a little cayenne. It liquefies the hard-packed mucus in the sinuses so it can drain out in all directions: out the nose when you blow it, and down the throat.

• Use: place a small pinch on the back of your hand. Hold one nostril closed and snort it up into the sinus through the other. Keep snorting it up until you taste the bitter goldenseal running down your throat. Then do the other side. Your nose will begin to drain; blow it as often as needed.
• How often: I have used it repeatedly in a day when my nose was clogged, with no ill effects. Let common sense tell you when to stop: once the nose is clear and open, you are pretty much done.
• Children: if a child can understand enough to copy an adult showing them how, and they need the sinuses cleared, they are old enough to use it.
• Too blocked to draw air? Open the way first. Cut up several onions and let the vapors get the eyes watering and the nose running. Or blend fresh horseradish with apple cider vinegar to the consistency of applesauce, and hold ¼ to ½ teaspoon between your tongue and the roof of your mouth. Then begin the snuff.

The Eyes: Eyebright and Infection Salve

• Flush both eyes with the Eyebright wash, even if only one is affected: 1 to 3 drops of Eyebright in an eyecup, topped with room-temperature distilled water. Fit the cup over the eye, tip your head back and open the eye into the wash. Expect a minute or two of sensation as the circulation floods in and recedes, carrying waste out with it. See the Eyebright sheet for full directions.
• Pink eye is often cleared in one application. The Eyebright opens the clogged tear duct and lets the tears flow again. It works very quickly.
• Styes: flush the eye with Eyebright first, to clear out any debris and speed healing. Then close the eye and apply Infection Salve over the lid. Place a gauze pad over the closed lid and cover it with an eye patch.

Use distilled water for all teas and eye washes, and when taking your extracts in hot water.

Level of Commitment

• Gentle support. A simple earache, a stuffy head or pink eye: the area work above, with the Basic level of the core program for a few days.
• Focused cleansing. A stubborn or recurring ear or sinus infection: the Moderate level with its liver flushing, the poultice nightly, snuff daily, and the bowels kept moving. Continue 3 to 5 days after all symptoms are gone.
• Long-standing trouble. Ear or sinus infections suppressed with antibiotics for years can surface again as the body cleans house. Don’t be discouraged; do the work again. One application isn’t always enough to pull an old infection all the way out.

A Loose Healing Plan

• At the first sign: Herbal Aid 1 in hot water with honey, Echinacea, and the core program at the level that fits.
• Ears: the poultice over both ears overnight; ear oil in both ears if you have it and the eardrum is whole.
• Sinuses: onion or horseradish if the nose is fully blocked, then snuff as often as needed, or the neti pot rinse.
• Eyes: Eyebright flush in both eyes; Infection Salve under a pad for a sty. Clean the eye cups and wipe down surfaces.
• All along: keep the bowels moving, drink plenty of fluids, and watch for the ER signs.

Stories from the Work

More on the Ears, Sinuses & Eyes

• Infection: The Core Program
• An Herbal Eyewash for Tired, Irritated Eyes
• Impacted or Inflamed Sinuses
• Ear Drops for Hearing, Balance and Earache
• A Simple Drawing Poultice: Charcoal and Flaxseed
• A Salve for Stings, Bites and Hot, Inflamed Sores

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

Colds & Flu, Sore Throat & Strep, Laryngitis, Croup, Coughs, Bronchitis, Whooping Cough and Pneumonia

Part of the Infection series. This sheet adds what is special to the throat, chest and lungs. The core program (the two infection formulas, Echinacea, liver flushing and the five levels) is on the General Infection sheet. Start there, and use this sheet alongside it.

Understanding the Condition

One Airway, Top to Bottom

Air comes in through the nose and mouth, passes the throat and tonsils, goes through the voice box and down the windpipe, then into the bronchial tubes, which branch like an upside-down tree into the lungs. The whole way down, the airway is lined with a thin layer of mucus that traps dust, germs and irritants before they reach the delicate lung tissue. In a healthy body that mucus stays thin and is cleared without our noticing.

When the body is congested, the mucus thickens into old, hard debris that cannot be coughed out. That is where infection settles. A cold that is not cleared works its way down: a scratchy throat becomes a cough, a cough becomes bronchitis, and bronchitis can settle in the lungs as pneumonia. The lower it settles, the more serious it is and the harder the work, which is why the time to act is at the first scratch in the throat.

What Goes Wrong

• Colds and flu take hold in mucus-rich tissue of the nose and throat. Caught at the first sign, they can usually be cleared quickly.
• A sore throat or strep throat is inflammation of the throat and tonsils. The tonsils may swell from a clogged lymph system; strep forms pockets of pus on the tonsils and the back of the throat.
• Laryngitis is inflammation of the voice box. The vocal cords swell, and the voice goes hoarse or quits altogether.
• Croup is swelling and spasm in the voice box and windpipe of a young child, with a harsh, barking, crowing cough, usually at night. It is the spasm on top of the swelling that makes the breathing so frightening.
• Coughs and bronchitis come from inflamed bronchial tubes. Left there, the thickened mucus keeps irritating the tubes, and an occasional cough becomes a chronic one.
• Whooping cough is a bacterial infection with coughing fits that go on, cough after cough, until there is no air left; the breath sucked back in makes the “whoop.” Babies under 6 months may not whoop. Once called the 100-day cough, it commonly takes six to ten weeks to clear.
• Pneumonia is a swelling and infection of the lungs in which parts of the lung become plugged with a thick fluid. Breathing becomes labored and the fever climbs.
• Pleurisy is inflammation of the lining around the lungs, making every breath painful. Dr. Christopher saw it settle where mucus collects in a weak area of the lungs, often from never breathing deeply.

Why the Bowels Matter

Dr. Christopher taught that constipation is one of the chief causes of bronchial trouble: “the bowels must be cleared and kept open.” Mucus has to leave the body, and the bowel is its main way out. When the bowel is not moving everything out, the body cannot send more mucus there, so it sits and thickens wherever it is, and it can fill the lungs. Keep the bowels moving two or three times a day with LBF all through this work.

The Emotional Side: the Energy Work

Healing the whole person. We are body, mind and spirit, and all three must heal together.

Louise Hay, in her book Heal Your Body, describes these patterns:

• Throat problems: the inability to speak up for one’s self; swallowed anger; stifled creativity; refusal to change. Turn it around: It’s okay to make noise. I express myself freely and joyously. I speak up for myself with ease. I express my creativity. I am willing to change.
• Sore throat: holding in angry words; feeling unable to express the self. Turn it around: I release all restrictions, and I am free to be me.
• Tonsillitis: fear; repressed emotions; stifled creativity. Turn it around: My good now flows freely. Divine ideas express through me. I am at peace.
• Laryngitis: so mad you can’t speak; fear of speaking up; resentment of authority. Turn it around: I am free to ask for what I want. It is safe to express myself. I am at peace.
• Coughs: a desire to bark at the world: “See me! Listen to me!” Turn it around: I am noticed and appreciated in the most positive ways. I am loved.
• Bronchitis (and croup): an inflamed family environment; arguments and yelling; sometimes silent. Turn it around: I declare peace and harmony within me and around me. All is well.
• Lung problems: depression; grief; fear of taking in life; not feeling worthy of living life fully. Turn it around: I have the capacity to take in the fullness of life. I lovingly live life to the fullest.
• Pneumonia: desperate; tired of life; emotional wounds that are not allowed to heal. Turn it around: I freely take in Divine ideas that are filled with the breath and the intelligence of life. This is a new moment.
• Influenza: a response to mass negativity and beliefs; fear; belief in statistics. Turn it around: I am beyond group beliefs or the calendar. I am free from all congestion and influence.

Emotional patterns paraphrased from Louise Hay, Heal Your Body (Hay House). These are not faults to blame anyone for; they are places to look and let go.

Areas Affected & Opening the Way to Healing

Start the core program from the General Infection sheet at the level that fits. Herbal Aid 1 is the formula for the throat and chest: warming, it moves the blood and cuts through the mucus. Keep the bowels moving with LBF so what is loosened has a way out. Then work on the area.

Colds and Flu: Catch It at the First Sign

• Herbal Aid 1 tea. At the first sign, I make a hot cup of Herbal Aid 1 with honey and sip it all through the day. I am usually on top of my symptoms in about 24 hours. Start Echinacea the same day.
• The Flu Buster. 2 ounces of Echinacea and 2 ounces of Supertonic in 64 ounces of distilled water, sipped through the day. Do it for 2 to 3 days.
• When illness is going around, take Lobelia, 1 to 2 dropperfuls 2 to 3 times a day, through the exposure window. My stories here are all the same: everyone else got sick, and the person on Lobelia didn’t.
• Fever: help the fever do its work with the Epsom salt sweat bath; never sweat a small child. Both are on the General Infection sheet.

The Throat: Sore Throat, Strep and Laryngitis

• Sip Herbal Aid 1. A hot cup of Herbal Aid 1 with honey, sipped slowly so it rolls over the sore spot.
• The Ice Poultice. Wet a washcloth, fold it to fit around the neck, and freeze it until it is hard, about 20 to 30 minutes. Wrap it snugly around the throat, cover it with a hand towel, and fasten it with a safety pin. Keep the mouth shut: no talking, eating or drinking for about 45 minutes, until the body has warmed the cloth through. Then sip a second hot cup of Herbal Aid 1 with honey.
• Swollen tonsils and glands: alternate two packs over the neck. An M&L pack: M&L Salve spread on a piece of flannel, wrapped around the neck and covered. And the Charcoal & Flaxseed Poultice over the swollen area. Do one one night and the other the next night, or one at night and one during the day. Either way is helpful. Keep going until the swelling is gone.
• A tired or failing voice responds to the same Ice Poultice, done before you need to speak.

Croup

• Antispasmodic first. Antispasmodic is my go-to for croup. It is made with lobelia seed and is much stronger than plain Lobelia, so only a few drops are needed: 1 or 2 drops for a newborn or young infant, and a bit more for older children. It relaxes the spasm that is closing the airway.
• Steam. Run the hot shower and sink to fill the bathroom with steam, and hold the child upright in it.
• Cool night air. Bundle the child up with a hat, blanket and slippers, and sit outside in the cool air for 5 or 10 minutes, breathing calmly. It cools the irritated bronchial tubes and calms the spasm.
• M&L Salve rubbed over the chest and back.

Coughs and Bronchitis

• Bronchial Support (formerly the Bronchitis Formula) is built to clear a cough that hangs on: it loosens the old, hard mucus in the bronchial tubes so it can be coughed out. ½ to 1 teaspoon every 3 to 5 hours.
• Lobelia for coughing spasms: 1 full dropperful. It relaxes the spasm and also helps loosen the mucus, so it does not stop the body from clearing it.
• M&L Salve massaged over the chest and back. This is my preference for the chest.
• Onion and honey syrup. Dr. Christopher’s simple cough syrup: dice onions into a stainless steel, glass or unchipped enamel pan (never aluminum), pour honey over them until they are covered, and add nothing else. The honey draws the onion’s power out into a syrup. Take it by the spoonful. Keep it cool, or it will sour.
• Lung Support strengthens the whole respiratory tract when it has been weak for a long time, or after pneumonia: 2 to 4 droppersful, 3 to 5 times a day. It works best used steadily over time, not just in an emergency.

Whooping Cough

A member who nursed her children through whooping cough wrote down what she did, and she put it together perfectly. Her three goals: keep the child rested, build the immune system, and get the mucus out regularly.

• Stay calm. Your calm voice keeps the child from panicking. Remind them to open their mouth and breathe; children will try to suck in air through closed lips.
• Lobelia at night. Every 2 hours, or whenever a child wakes coughing. It lasts about 2 hours, and it helps them sleep. During the day, give it only if they are miserable; let them cough some to loosen what is in the lungs. Give Echinacea and the infection formulas consistently.
• Keep the mucus moving. Encourage them to spit out what they cough up. Plenty of water and herbal tea keeps the mucus thin. Superfood in juice or a frozen banana shake for extra nutrition. No white flour, dairy or fried food. And make sure the bowels move very well every day.
• Garlic. Rub the juice of a cut garlic clove on the soles of the feet several times a day and put socks on. At night, rub it on the chest and behind the ears too.
• Prop them up on pillows at night. Use steam and a cool-steam humidifier, with a little eucalyptus sprayed into the air, and the cool night air for a bad spell.
• And pray. In the busyness of remedies and cleaning, don’t forget the greatest help for calming fear.
• Everyone else in the house: the Preventive level, with Lobelia through the exposure window.

Pneumonia: Garlic Paste to the Feet

Garlic paste to the feet is natural healing first aid for pneumonia. I have seen lungs clear overnight. The full directions are on the General Infection sheet, along with Reading the Paste, which tells you each morning how the body is doing. In short:

• Press 6 to 12 cloves of garlic and mix 50/50 with Vaseline or a non-petroleum jelly. Oil the feet, then put on a layer of plain jelly.
• Spread the paste ½ inch thick on the soles only, cover with gauze and a white cotton or wool sock, and stay off the feet 6 to 8 hours or overnight. The bowels must be open.
• Adults: no more than two nights in a row if at all possible. Children: one night, unless it is extremely important. An infant does not have the body heat to pull the garlic in: dress the baby in a footed sleeper with a hot water bottle by the feet.
• It can be done even in a hospital, if family can get in to put it on.

Run the program at the Intense or Intensive level with its ELFs, Bronchial Support for the cough, and Lobelia for spasms. Pleurisy is worked the same way. Afterward, Lung Support helps rebuild the lungs.

The Sick Room

• A cut onion. Cut an onion in half and set it in a bowl by the head of the bed. I am not sure exactly what it does, but it absorbs something and makes a difference in a sick room. It is smelly, but helpful.
• Clear the air. Herbal Air (eucalyptus and citrus oils; the recipe is on the Herbal Air sheet) sprayed into the room clears the air during colds and flu. Keep it away from cats.
• Fresh air and sunshine, fluids, rest, and light, mucus-free food: juices, fruit, vegetables and Superfood.

Use distilled water for all teas, and when taking your extracts in hot water.

Level of Commitment

• Gentle support. A cold, a sore throat, a simple cough: Herbal Aid 1 tea at the first sign, the Ice Poultice, onion syrup, and the Basic level for a few days.
• Focused cleansing. Bronchitis, a cough that hangs on, croup, or whooping cough in older children: the Moderate level with its ELFs, Bronchial Support, Lobelia for spasms, and the bowels kept moving. Whooping cough takes six to ten weeks; be patient and keep the child rested.
• The full program. Pneumonia, whooping cough in a baby, or anyone struggling to breathe: the Intense or Intensive level from the General sheet, with garlic paste to the feet, alongside medical care when the ER signs appear. A chest that has been weak for years: Lung Support steadily for months.

A Loose Healing Plan

• At the first tickle: Herbal Aid 1 in hot water with honey all day, Echinacea, and Lobelia on hand. The Flu Buster for flu.
• Sore throat: the Ice Poultice between two hot cups of Herbal Aid 1.
• A cough: Bronchial Support, onion syrup, M&L Salve on the chest and back, and Lobelia for spasms. Antispasmodic, steam and cool air for croup.
• Settled in the chest: step up the level, garlic paste to the feet, ELFs, and keep the bowels moving.
• In the sick room: a cut onion by the bed, steam, cool air, pillows to prop up, plenty of fluids, light food.
• All along: watch for the ER signs. Continue 3 to 5 days after every symptom is gone, then Lung Support to strengthen.

Stories from the Work

Watch

Natural Support for Laryngitis & Sore Throat.

Garlic Paste to the Feet.

Garlic Paste to the Feet (first video).

Classes & Further Reading

• Lung Health Class
• Lungs & Respiratory System Class
• Colds, Flu, and Related Nuisances (Dr. Christopher)

More on the Throat, Chest & Lungs

• Infection: The Core Program
• Clearing a Cough That Won’t Let Go
• Soothing and Strengthening the Lungs
• A Few Drops for Spasms, Cramps and Shock
• Mullein and Lobelia: Letting Locked Muscles Go
• Echinacea: Telling the Immune System to Gear Up
• Supertonic
• A Pure Essential Oil Air Freshener You Can Make Yourself
• Getting Ready for Flu Season

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

The Core Program for Clearing Any Infection, and the Signs That Call for Help Now

Understanding the Condition

What an Infection Is

An infection is the invasion and multiplication of germs (bacteria, viruses, fungi such as yeast, or parasites) that do not belong in the body. It may stay in one place, such as a boil, a tooth or an ear, or it may spread through the blood and lymph to the whole body. An infection is a serious condition. Left to run out of control, it can become fatal, so any infection should be taken very seriously and cleared as quickly as possible.

The program for clearing an infection is the same wherever it lives and whatever kind it is. That is why this sheet comes first. The other sheets in this series (head, teeth and mouth, chest and lungs, bladder and kidneys, female, and skin and wounds) add only what is special to that area, and point back here for the program itself.

Why Germs Take Hold

Dr. Christopher taught that “germs cannot live on healthy tissue, because germs are scavengers and can only live on filth and waste materials.” An infection from a small cut, he wrote, means the bloodstream and body as a whole are loaded with mucus and waste: “this is the open door.”

Between the time a germ is caught and the time symptoms show is the incubation period. During that time the germ is blocking up the system so it can take over. Lobelia works to keep the body open, so the blockage an infection needs never gets established. That is why Lobelia is part of the Preventive level below.

The Way Out

Clearing an infection can only be done by supporting the body’s own defenses, not by suppressing symptoms. As the herbs go to work, the infection and its waste (the die-off) are carried by the blood and lymph to the liver, and out through the bowels. The liver is the vacuum cleaner of the body; doing an ELF (Emergency Liver Flush) is like changing the vacuum cleaner bag.

If the liver or bowel is backed up while that waste is moving out, the immune system becomes overtaxed and the body begins reabsorbing it. Symptoms return, and it is back to the doctor for more drugs. This is what I call the Infection Merry-Go-Round. Infection work creates a load of die-off every day, which is why liver flushing is built into every level of this program, and why the bowels must be kept moving.

Suppression: Why Some Infections Keep Coming Back

It is becoming apparent that the antibiotics we have used for years are no longer working as they once did. In my experience, their main work is to suppress the symptoms. The symptoms go away because the infection is pushed deep into the tissues and organs, where it can lie dormant until the immune system begins the process of healing. Prolonged antibiotics can also bring on yeast overgrowth.

That is not the whole story, though. If the antibiotics don’t kill them, they will suppress an infection enough to save a life, and then the herbal program can go in and clean it all out of the body. The longer an issue goes unchecked, the longer it takes to clear. The body begins to protect the badness as normal, so you have the work of clearing the issue while you redirect the body to accept that it needs to be cleared.

Fever

Dr. Christopher wrote that “fever is not a disease but a condition in the body wherein the balance of circulation has become disturbed. This is nature’s way of trying to burn out the toxic poisons.” When the body is chilled, the pores close and hold the heat in; the fever then raises the heat until the thick waste congesting the system is made liquid enough to pass out. (School of Natural Healing, p. 23)

So the aim is to help the fever do its work, by opening the pores and bringing on a sweat, not to stop it. The directions for adults and for small children are below, under Opening the Way.

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 others struggle to heal.

An infection is often called a “hot” condition: red, swollen, burning. Very often the heart is running hot too, with irritation and old anger that has never been let go.

Louise Hay, in her book Heal Your Body, describes these patterns:

• Infection: irritation, anger, annoyance. Turn it around: I choose to be peaceful and harmonious.
• Fever: anger; burning up. Turn it around: I am the cool, calm expression of peace and love.
• Inflammation: fear; seeing red; inflamed thinking. Turn it around: My thinking is peaceful, calm and centered.
• Viral infections: a lack of joy flowing through life; bitterness. Turn it around: I lovingly let joy flow freely in my life. I love me.
• Thymus (the master gland of the immune system): feeling attacked by life; “they are out to get me.” Turn it around: My loving thoughts keep my immune system strong. I am safe inside and out.
• Tetanus (lockjaw): a need to release angry, festering thoughts. Turn it around: I let the love from my own heart wash through me, cleansing and healing every part of my body and my emotions.

Emotional patterns paraphrased from Louise Hay, Heal Your Body (Hay House). These are not faults to blame anyone for; they are places to look and let go.

Areas Affected & Opening the Way to Healing

An infection may sit in one place, but it is the whole body that clears it. The work is to get the infection fighters to where the infection is living, and to keep the way out open: blood and lymph moving, liver flushed, bowels open, skin breathing.

The Two Infection Formulas

These two formulas are the heart of the program. One dose is always 1 teaspoon for a 150-lb adult; only how often you take it changes.

• Herbal Aid 1 (formerly Herbal Antibiotic): fresh garlic, dandelion root, goldenseal root, fresh ginger, fresh horseradish and cayenne. Warming; moves the blood. Best for the throat, sinuses and chest, and at the first sign of a cold or flu. Take it in a cup of hot water with honey, or in V-8 or tomato juice. Not for the teeth and gums, and not for pets.
• Herbal Aid 2 (formerly Infection Formula): plantain, black walnut, goldenseal root, bugleweed, marshmallow root and lobelia. Works on the blood and lymph. Best for the skin, teeth and gums, a stubborn or local infection, and long-term blood cleansing. Take it in a little almond milk. This is the formula for pets.
• Echinacea (or Echinacea Plus, which has a little garlic and cayenne added; both dose the same). Supports the immune system on every day of infection work. Amounts are in the levels table below.
• Lobelia keeps the body open. 1 to 2 dropperfuls 2 to 3 times a day during an exposure, and for coughing spasms.

Liver Flushing and the Bowels

Infection work creates die-off every day, and it must leave the body, not be recycled back into the tissues. Keep the bowels moving with LBF (Lower Bowel Formula) so they move two or three times a day, and do the ELF as often as your level calls for. After several weeks of infection work, it is always a good idea to flush the liver.

Garlic

Fresh garlic, 5 to 10 cloves a day, adds to the program; for serious cases, much more. For a daily dose, Supertonic (an ounce a day, or as a salad dressing with olive oil) or Herbal Aid 1 in tomato or V-8 juice is the easiest way. To eat a large amount of garlic without pain:

• Blend garlic cloves with olive oil until smooth and creamy. Spread it on toast, drizzle it over a salad, or use it to start your sautéed onions and peppers.
• Remove the pimento from green olives and put a slice of garlic in its place.
• Sprinkle a large amount of fresh diced garlic over an avocado, tomato and lettuce salad or sandwich. The avocado absorbs the heat.
• Press the garlic and scoop it into gelatin capsules. Swallow them quickly; the wet garlic dissolves the capsules fast.

Garlic Paste to the Feet

Garlic paste to the feet is natural healing first aid for the lungs, and a strong support at the Intense and Intensive levels. I have seen lungs clear overnight.

• Press 6 to 12 cloves of garlic and mix 50/50 with Vaseline or a non-petroleum jelly. Nothing else is dense enough to keep the garlic off the skin and still let it pass into the body.
• Massage the feet with olive oil, then put on a layer of plain Vaseline or jelly.
• Spread the paste ½ inch thick on the soles only, cover with gauze, then a white cotton or wool sock.
• Stay off the feet for 6 to 8 hours or overnight. The bowels must be open.
• Adults: no more than two nights in a row if at all possible. Children, who have tender feet: one night, unless it is extremely important to do it again.
• Past two nights it will leave a chemical burn that feels like a sunburn on the feet: not so bad, and no lasting harm. Soak the feet in aloe vera gel; BF&C Salve also heals the burn quickly. A child will likely peel a layer of skin from the feet.
• An infant does not have the body heat to pull the garlic in. Dress the baby in a footed sleeper and put a hot water bottle by the feet.

Drawing It Out: Salves and Poultices

• Infection Salve: the Herbal Aid 2 herbs, triple-infused in olive oil, with frankincense and oregano oils. Gentle enough for a baby’s bottom, strong enough for any hot or inflamed sore, sting or bite. Apply it and cover with a flannel pack.
• Charcoal & Flaxseed Poultice: activated charcoal and freshly ground flaxseed, cooked into a paste and laid on warm. It draws infection out through the skin: over a boil or sore, over both ears for an earache, over the cheek for a tooth, over swollen glands. Leave it on overnight or at least 2 to 4 hours. See the Charcoal & Flaxseed Poultice sheet for directions.
• Healing Poultice: slippery elm, plantain, goldenseal, comfrey root and a pinch of cayenne, mixed to a paste and packed into a deep wound, gouge or ulcer. It forms a protective herbal scab while new flesh grows in from the bottom. Always use the Charcoal & Flaxseed Poultice first, so the wound is clean.
• Healing Salve (Dr. Christopher’s Healing Ointment) for itching, hives and inflamed skin.

Hydrotherapy

Hydrotherapy unblocks the affected area so fresh blood can cycle through it. Hot and cold foot soaks: 1 teaspoon cayenne per gallon of hot water, and ice water for the cold. Do 7 changes, at least 60 seconds in the cold. The ice plunge is where the power to break up the blockage happens.

Feeding the Body

When clearing an infection, the body will not have the resources to heal if proper nutrition is lacking. Take Superfood daily, add 16 to 32 ounces of carrot juice a day, and drink about a gallon of water or herbal tea. Cut out processed foods, sugar and white flour.

Use distilled water for all teas, and when taking your extracts in hot water. If you use a hot water dispenser, distilled water greatly adds to the unit’s life.

Level of Commitment

How hard to work depends on how serious the infection is. Choose the level that fits, and be aggressive: most people do not dose often enough or in large enough doses. One dose is always 1 teaspoon for a 150-lb adult; children and pets are dosed by weight (a 75-lb child takes ½ teaspoon).

Level	Formulas	Echinacea	Liver (ELF)
Preventive	1 tsp Herbal Aid 1 (or 2), 2–3 times a day when illness is going around or after an exposure. Plus Lobelia, 1–2 dropperfuls 2–3 times a day during the exposure.	1 oz a day, 4 days a week, in fall and winter	—
Basic	1 tsp every 3 waking hours	1 oz once a day	Once a week
Moderate	1 tsp every 2 waking hours, alternating Herbal Aid 1 and 2	1 oz once a day	Every 3 days until cleared
Intense	1 tsp every waking hour, alternating Herbal Aid 1 and 2	1 oz every 12 hours	Nightly, 5 nights in a row
Intensive	Both formulas, 1 tsp each, 10 minutes apart, every hour. Usually only a couple of days, then step down.	1 oz every 12 hours	As the person is able, at least every other day

• Stepping down. The Moderate, Intense and Intensive levels can be stepped down as the condition improves, without stopping the program. Just increase the time between doses as the body and symptoms improve. Then continue for 3 to 5 days after all symptoms are gone, at the Basic or Preventive level, to be sure the issue is completely cleared.
• Every day while it is active. Common sense says to keep going every day when you are dealing with an active infection. Only for long-term work on a deep, suppressed infection do I take the Lord’s Day off.
• Night doses. Don’t wake to dose at night except in extremely serious cases; a good night’s sleep is also very healing.
• Babies. As a rule, a nursing baby gets the formulas through mother’s milk, with the mother taking the full adult dose. In a serious case, 1 to 2 drops of Antispasmodic can be slipped into the baby’s mouth during a feeding, followed by milk. Infection Salve may be used directly on a baby.
• How long. Most infections clear in 2 weeks to 3 months. An infection that has been suppressed with antibiotics for years can take as long as 3 months or more.

A Loose Healing Plan

• At the first sign: sip Herbal Aid 1 in hot water with honey through the day, start Echinacea, and keep Lobelia on hand. Many colds and flus are handled in about 24 hours this way.
• Choose your level from the table and start at once: formulas, Echinacea and the ELF schedule. Check the When Minutes Matter signs.
• Open the way out: LBF to keep the bowels moving, a gallon of fluids, carrot juice and Superfood, no sugar or processed food.
• Work on the area: Infection Salve, the Charcoal & Flaxseed Poultice, garlic paste to the feet for the lungs, hot and cold soaks, the sweat bath for fever. See the area sheet for the part of the body involved.
• Step down as the symptoms improve, spacing the doses further apart.
• Finish the job: continue 3 to 5 days after every symptom is gone. After several weeks of infection work, do a week of liver flushing.

Stories from the Work

Watch

Infection: An Herbal Overview.

The Infection Program, Light to Intense.

How to Do an E.L.F. (Emergency Liver Flush).

ELF Party.

Garlic Paste to the Feet.

Natural Support for Infectious Diseases.

The Bowel Cleansing Program.

Handouts & Classes

• ELF & The Amazing Liver Flush My Way (PDF)
• Lobelia: Emergency Uses (PDF)
• Infectious Diseases (PDF)
• Infection Class
• Infectious Diseases Class

More on Infection

• Infection: Throat, Chest & Lungs
• Infection: Ears, Sinuses & Eyes
• Infection: Skin & Wounds
• Infection: Teeth, Gums & Mouth
• Infection: Bladder & Kidneys
• Our Two Infection Fighters
• Getting the Herbs to Where the Infection Lives
• Echinacea: Telling the Immune System to Gear Up
• A Simple Drawing Poultice: Charcoal and Flaxseed
• A Salve for Stings, Bites and Hot, Inflamed Sores
• A Few Drops for Spasms, Cramps and Shock
• Getting Ready for Flu Season

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