Alcoholic Liver Disease Jaundice

will enter into theofficial medical science. traditional herb therapyin udvarhely region all my life people havesaid that i don’t need food - only tea. we used these kinds of tea. this was our home remedy. we gathered from allkinds and stored them. if we were coughing, or hadkidney or bile problems, we made tea from it.

we don’t really buy medicine, we collect herbs fromall over and brew them. what can we do? folk medicine has alwaysbeen based on phytotherapy, that is, medicine made of herbs,and medical science itself and medicine containing infusionshave their origins in folk medicine. so sooner or later the useful herbsthat are used in folk medicine there are many plants in folk medicinewhose effect has been demonstrated. under the guidance of someprofessors like rã¡cz gã¡bor,

there was in marosvã¡sã¡rhely a work team that investigatedthe effects of plants used in folk medicine. for example, according to their experimentscommon agrimony suppresses tbc bacteria, so its properties in folkmedicine have been demonstrated. it is also effectivein treating diarrhea. or there is st. john’s wort. based on experiments it is extremelyuseful in treating gastric ulcer. patience-dock was alsofound to be beneficial – it completely stops thebacteria in cases of diarrhea. when one of us had a cold both my motherand our old family doctor used to say:

“give the child elderberry tea”. it is small and pink andgrows on uncultivated land. it is very good forblisters and for prostate. there is hawthorn, which is good for theheart, both its flowers and its berries. but it’s not goodfor the kidneys. wild rose or hedge is good for thekidneys, but not for the heart. we also collect blacklocust or acacia. if you have problems withyour liver, it is very good. then there is common comfreyfor bones, the spine or waist.

when your bones hurt, use it inthe form of ointments or powder. how do you make that? you take the root, wash it, and put itin a jar and pour on it homemade brandy. use it to apply compressesor wash the body part. you can also make a poultice. you have to dry the herb and cutor grind it into small pieces. then you add some oil, mix it. after that you put it on a piece of linenand place it on the ailing body part. my auntie told us to plantcommon comfrey in our garden.

now we have so much of it that itwould be enough for the whole county. and she said itmust not be washed. when it is dry you justclean off the soil. the medicine is in itsblack outer part. she said that part must not be scrapedoff, because it neutralizes its effect. the root of the common comfreydoes not need to be peeled, just cleaned with abrush and washed. when you grate it or cut it thereis a sticky snow white inside that becomes dark in seconds.

ointment is made from it similar tocalendula or st. john’s wort ointments. we usually make ointmentsfrom calendula or comfrey. you can pour alcohol or brandyon the collected parts. we collect its roots,clean it and chop it. we put it into a bottle and pourenough brandy as it covers the plant. we ferment it for a week in a closed bottle atroom temperature and it can be used afterwards. it’s a little bit sticky when we rub it into the skinand it has a dark colour, but it’s not revolting. it is unbelievable howwell it can stop the pain. for example, people say to young kids, adolescentswho are still growing and their legs hurt:

“you’re growing, thatis why it hurts” – this certainly isgood for that, too. there is this plantcalled butterbur. people put it on wounds,or if someone’s leg hurts, we apply compressesduring the night. butterbur has large foliage. i’ve learned that the thistlymotherwort is for heart problems. i had problems with my heart andmy son took me to szentgyã¶rgy. when we came home this doctor toldme i should drink this medicine.

and when we went back to szentgyã¶rgythe doctor there asked me what i had drunk,because i was cured birthwort is very good for all sortsof wounds, wounds on horses, too. we used to have lots of horses andgathered all kinds of plants. then there is spearmint,i also use it for tea. there are three types: roundleaves, wine-red pointed leaves, but i use the round leaves. and linden flowers forinflamed throats. there was a german doctor in etã©d a long timeago who always recommended it for the heart.

now they say it’snot good at all. well, i don’t knowwhat the truth is. these are 5-6 ofdifferent kinds, my dear. i put them in tea,in the kettle. and this is very good forthe kidney, this horsetail. there are two types of horsetail or snakegrass, but one of them is not good. that’s what the doctor said. watercress is for the childrenif their throats hurt. now they are all runningto the doctors.

watercress growsclose to the ground, it thrives best in waterand it has white flowers. we dry the flowers anduse it with honey. my children used to cougha lot just like me. we toasted bread with lard andsprinkled sulphur wick on it, which is medicine, and weused it for animals as well. i say it was the best thing. now i’m just wasting my breathtelling my grandchildren, because they don’t believe me.

are you familiarwith the mistletoe? i’ve heard about it. you just heard about it.but i use it. i had such heart problems. i wanted to go to medesã©r, but i only got as faras the neighbour’s fence, and i had to return. i couldn’t go further. then i started reading about it. you have to collect mistletoe in december and april, because then it doesn’t have those white berries that are poisonous.

by themselves the berries can be medicine too - i used it myself. i mixed the white berries with lard. it’s hard to prepare, but it is good for frostbite. the berries are good whensomebody has frostbitten feet. mistletoe tea is good for diabetes,blood pressure, and for the heart. thank goodness i haven’t used medicinefor the heart for ten years now. in every january i do a six-week treatment. in the first three weeks i drink three cups, inthe second two cups and in the third one cup. i do a six-week treatment and i don’t take anydrugs for the heart for the rest of the year.

mistletoe grows on the stems of othertrees. actually it’s a parasitic plant. it grows on wild fruit trees. it reduces blood pressure. a little twig is soaked in onelitre of water for the night and the next morning you drinkit one mouthful at a time. it has a very good effecton reducing blood pressure. plantain or rib-grass is very good. it is for detoxication.

it has an immediate effect on insect bites. how is it used? you have to pick it immediatelyand rub it well on the skin. it is effective even for snake bites as first aid. but the lanceolate rib-grass shouldnot be mistaken for the regular one. they say it’s more effective. once i was hoeing with my brother-in-law from barã³t. i picked some and put it in my pocket because the flies were biting us. they don’t always do so, but when they do, we rub some rib-grass on it.

for a while he was making fun of me, but he also picked a handful. and after a while he was also convinced. i have in my yard rib-grass. well, when people feel they need somethingsour, it is because they have iron deficiency. well, rib-grass is the best. i brew this kind of tea a lot of times. i have some in the yard, andwhen i pick the fresh herbs, i pick some rib-grass too and put it in the tea. and i don’t feel like eating something sour anymore.

it seems the organism has recoveredfrom the iron deficiency. mint tea is good for headaches. for headaches every household has herbs. wild berries are all medicinal plants. for me, parsley is one or sage, or pepper. every household used to have applecider vinegar made from crab apples. and if someone suddenly had a headache, they put some on their hands and on their forehead. in five minutes the headache was gone.

for example, when people were tired from workingin the fields and their legs were exhausted, they poured some apple cider vinegar inthe water used for washing their feet. bruises, blows and falls were treatedwith it, and it worked unbelievably well. if children have earaches, thereare two methods people use. there is houseleek, which is a medicinalplant sometimes called earwort or roof foil. everybody has it on the roof of their outhouse or in a pot. when you cut the stems it has a similar substance as the aloe vera. it is good medicine forbites, because it disinfects. you can put drops in the earto make the pain go away.

or you can use lukewarm oil. i pick two and rub them togetherwith my fingers in a spoon and i squeeze it until there are three or four drops. if it’s bigger four or five drops are squeezed. you need to pour this in the ear, and the pain goes away immediately. i nursed an old lady back to her feet. if your blood pressure drops, for instance i’manaemic, and you are nauseous and dizzy, then you need to pick blackcurrantleaves and drink blackcurrant tea. it is a must.

it took only two days to have an old lady back on herfeet again, because it raised her blood pressure. however, my old man can’t eat blackcurrantor drink either its tea or syrup, as his blood pressure is high, and if he drinkseven a mouthful, in half an hour his head aches. absinthe wormwood. do you know it? now that is the greatest medicine. but it’s serious poison. it’s for the bowels. what do you call that illness?

ulcer and i had it tested. there was a man next door andhe came home from brassã³, he weighed 84 kg. he was working at the hospital as a repairman in brassã³, he got sick and needed an operation. and he lost so much weight, from80-85 kg he came down to 36 kg. he was the same size as you are. he said he was as small as a baby.

he wanted to come home tosay goodbye to the family. the doctor agreed, so he went home. he met an old doctor on the way who asked, “what has happened to you jã³ska?” and he said he needed an operation for his ulcer. the doctor said that ulcer is not an illnessand he didn’t need an operation. he advised the following: “go and gather some wormwood and drink aquarter of a litre every morning for ten days. you put ten drops of iodine into it and mix it.

this is poison. wormwood will gnaw off whatis not supposed to be there. and afterwards the two will go on separate ways in your body. after ten days go back to the doctor to have an x-ray.” and the man went back, had an x-ray andthe doctor asked how he had recovered. the man said from the medicine they had been givinghim in brass㳠he would be in the cemetery by now. and then at the end of the villageon the left in the second house there was a man who could not eat anything. he was so sick he said he was going to die;

there was nothing he could do. and i told him there certainly was andi asked if he knew about wormwood. he said yes and he picked someand followed my instructions. on the tenth day he finished the treatmentand hasn’t been ill since then. i had kidney stones and it hurtlike it was the end of the world. it occurred more than once, and iwas given injections all the time. when i went to aunty irma she saidthere were two types of kidney stones: one that moves and one that stays put. the one that moves can be removed with parsley.

and of course juli tried it immediately, that’s me - my name is juliska. i did not drink any water for 21 days, and every day i boiled three stemsof dried parsley in a 2 litre pot. and i drank that for 21days, no water at all. on the 21st day i felt thestone move and i got rid of it. thank goodness it has not come back overthe last ten years, although it can recur. wild thyme or creeping thymeis for gastric haemorrhage. if someone has a stomachache andthe stomachache is inflamed

- or they have a slight haemorrhage with bloody diarrhea - then thyme is the remedy. agrimony or sticklewort is verygood for persons with lung disease. it is a long, spike-like plant with tiny yellow flowers. we dry it and make tea from it, butit can be used as a cure with lemon. we have a very old recipe. you soak the plant in alcohol. for making tea you only infusethe herb with boiling water. but in this case you need a certain number of lemons

and soak the agrimony in alcohol or home-made brandy. you drink a small glass every day in the morningbefore eating or going out in the fresh air. it is especially good for silicosis patients –people who used to work in mines or dusty places. it cleans the lungs. those who had lung operations should also drink it. for smokers who quit smoking and wouldlike their lungs to be cleaned, it is recommended that they drinkthis tincture like medicine. agrimony has a special taste and weuse it in common herbal tea mixtures. we add it to all kinds of herbs and drinkit even when we are not ill at all.

how did you gather dandelionsand what did you use them for? you pick 250 flower heads, boil them in one litreof water, and strain this yellowish-greenish tea. then you put a kg of sugar init and stir it continuously. when you lift the spoon and thetea does not run but it drips, you let it cool until this syrupcan be poured into a bottle. it is recommended among other things fordiabetes, sore throats, and trachea problems. however, in the spring there are spruce shoot tips. have you heard about it? well, let me tell you,it won’t take long.

when my dear granddaughter was very young she hadsuch severe asthma, i said she would die of it. she was taken to doctors who recommended that she should betaken to parajd to breathe in the air in the salt mines. she could not endure it and she had to be taken out. and then i said i would cureher, just leave her to me. i picked 260 spruce shoot tips and iboiled them in one litre of water. i added 1 kg of sugar and when it was ready,it was a bit strong, green, tasty drink. i squeezed some drops of lemon intoit and poured it into little bottles. when the girl finished with three treatments,every morning two spoonfuls before breakfast, she was cured, and now she is ahealthy nineteen-year-old girl.

there was a boy in fiã¡tfalva, and he was incontinent. his flow of urine could not bestopped, and he died in three months. i also had a son with extrapulmonary tuberculosis - his bones and joints were weak when he was born - and once he also became incontinent. he was always wet. i was really scared, because i hadheard about the other case as well. and the reality is that people needinformation, whether others talk or not. i went to this woman in another villageso that i would know what to do.

and she gave me common chicory stems. she said i should boil them and have my sonsit in the chicory tea for three evenings. but he was tall, 2m 8 cm. i put the wash-basin on a chair and although theenamel of the wash-basin was ruined, he was cured. because of this common chicory. how did you pick that? just the flower or the stem? it has a four-sided stem and it should havebeen picked in mid-july, now it is withered. it is similar to bluebottle; it has bright blue flowers but only4 or 5 flower heads on a stem.

it is just as bright as bluebottle. at that time my father had jaundice and was on a dietfor a year, but he still had problems with his liver. he couldn’t consume alcohol. here in tarcsafalva there was a veterinariancalled jakab dã©nes who gave my father some herbs. these helped him and his liver became clean. then he showed me some herbs andexplained their benefits to me. this is how i know about plants,and i gather them to this day, i even teach my children to recognizethem and know their effects. what kind of herb tea was your father given?

achillea or common yarrow, agrimony and st. john’s wort. these strengthen the immunesystem and purify the blood. they are good for internal and externalailments, and act as sedatives. st. john’s wort is a depressant. it is also good for hysteria. it’s common knowledge that hawthornis for heart and vascular problems. my father, god rest his soul, had vascular atrophyand this is why he started to use hawthorn. it helped him a great deal ashe wasn’t in so much pain. gathering hawthorn is rather problematic,because we start with the flowers

and buds in the spring and the other parts in autumn. but it is worth gathering thegreen berries in the summer, too. so, flowers, green berries, red berries – all of these withshoots, mix them together and boil them with the stems. however, not for a long time, just throw the herbsinto hot water, cover the pot, and let it cool a bit. the tea should be sweetened with honey, especiallyif you have diabetes, but sugar is also fine. or you can drink it unsweetened; hawthorn has a bland, neutral taste. these are kidney bean pods. my mother was diabetic, and she was advised to use thembecause they control the sugar level, so it was beneficial.

i also know from experience that sage is very good. then there is field horsetail forbladders, kidneys, and the urinary tract. we use it for sitting baths. mint tea is indispensable for gastritis. aniseed is a sedative for babies. and calendula reduces inflammation. patience dock is for diarrhea;we used it even for animals. when cows came home and they atesomething that caused problems, we boiled it and they drank it frombuckets and the cows got well.

and this is flat sea holly or blue eringo for coughs. this is blueberry it strengthens the immune system,it’s good for the stomach, and it induces sweating in cases of coldsjust like wild marjoram or oregano. sweating is beneficial, as it shortensthe healing process of colds. for stomach ailments use achillea and st.john’s wort, thyme and oregano. oregano also makes meat very delicious. people love it on pizza. we had some for today too - meat seasoned with oregano.

when the meat is ready i sprinkle some oregano on it. don’t put too much on it, just enough to taste it. but it’s very delicious. it helps digestion. there are some other herbs. i’ve mentioned achillea, thyme, and st. john’swort, which is beneficial for a lot of things. i remember when the sheep had hoof problems;we also tried it, because we had sheep. their feet were infected and were oozing pus. we had to wash their feet, and soaktheir hooves in a tub of water. then we applied lard to their hooves andwrapped them with cloth soaked in this liquid.

and it healed the sheep. when my girls got a cold i put a stone into the stove. after it got all hot and red, ibrought some bract from the barn. do you know what that is? it is whatfalls off hay, flowers and everything. i put it in a pot, poured water intoit, and put the hot stone in it. it produced steam, and i covered the girls’ heads. i did it twice and they were all fine. this is how we did it. we said they had runny noses.

when my arm was broken, an old ladytold me to pick nut tree leaves, make an infusion, put a handful ofsalt into it, and put my elbow in it. so it is good for fractures, and i’vealready gone through all of this. toothache. in the past there were so many people whohad their jaws tied up with a head scarf - just like when dead people’s mouths are tied shut. people had toothaches due to draughts, for example. tea made from the flower of horseradish is very good. it helps abscesses maturate sooner.

until the core ripens and discharges it is painful. i remember we used horseradish for it. did they make tea from it? yes, and they gargled with it, or usedcompresses, but they did not drink the tea. for sore throats and toothacheas well, sage tea was made. there was an old teacher who always toldus to drink sage tea if our throats hurt, and it’s not a problem if weswallow it, because it’s healthy. this has a calming effect. i need it during the nights to sleep.

it is horse mint, which is different from spear mint. it is not as strong, but probably better. i know and use st. john’s wort. it is the best. it is calmative and it is good for stomachaches. my daughter-in-law had liver problems,and it is also effective for that. my husband went near the forest to cut the grass, and he said that the common nettle grows there abundantlyand that he would go to gather a cartful of it. pigs also like it, and it is very healthy. so he went and brought some, and i thought how good itwould be, because my back hurt from so much lifting.

we had to lift and carry everything - unlike now, when people stand with their hands in theirpockets ordering others to place the goods. we put the nettle into the bathtub andcovered it with a big handwoven bed-sheet. then poured hot water onto it. when it cooled down a little, i said i wouldlie in it to relieve the pain in my waist. but if you don’t use your mind, well … i lay in it and the nettles came up tothe surface, i screamed and yelled. it was one o’clock in the morning andmy husband asked what i was doing. i was so red because of the stinging of the nettles.

we still laugh about it to this day. horseradish is said to be very good. it strengthens the lungs. horseradish has been used in the kitchenfor eating, but for coughs as well. grated horseradish with honey is very good; we serve it with meat and sour cream. horseradish is used not only as aherb, but as a condiment as well. nuts are useful, too. they stimulate the brain. we would eat nuts not only when wewere ill but when we were healthy.

we ate walnut rolls and walnutnoodles, not pasta as nowadays. we put nuts and plum jam in pancakes. prunes have medicinal properties, asthey are good for the digestive system. these were the fruits we ate, today there are somany kinds, and we don’t know what they contain. in every spring my mother drank aboutone and a half dl of nettle tea every morning before breakfastfor ten to twelve days. this tea was refreshing for her. i’ve also tried this, but it turned out that i amallergic to nettle, so it didn’t work out for me. however, i mix achillea withhorsetail and use it quite a lot.

my feet get cold very easily, and ioften have urinary tract infection. and then i use horsetail mixed with achillea. i drink it and i also use it forsitting baths or foot baths. when i make tea, i mix achillea flowers with horsetail. for foot baths i use the stems andthrow in a handful of salt, too. these two together make me feel better quite quickly. so i can recommend it especially for women patients. it’s said that you must try putting bract in a bucket. you know what bract is?

it falls off hay and it’s cleanedup, but not the dusty kind. then you pour boiling water over it, cover it with acloth and sit over the steam and it warms you up. what else? when it cooled down a bit, a stone was warmed in the stove and put into the water to keep it warm. women were tucked up in bed. i’ve seen it happen, but thank god i didn’t need it. i didn’t have similar problems either. my grandmother had three sons,and for urinary problems for men

she used sour cherry stems mixed with pumpkin seeds. she made tea and gave this to the men todrink when they had urinary problems. and whenever we were making sour cherry compote or jam, we had to set aside the stems, withor without leaves, for her to dry. and then pumpkin seeds. depending on what kind of squash wasavailable, winter or summer squash, she took a dash of seeds, about 7 – 10 seeds, and put them in the tea. she said this was good for men. she used to say to me “keepthese for later, because

you also have a son andyou will need them. ” what did people use when children had tapeworm? i have heard that you need tolightly roast 25 pumpkin seeds and eat them before breakfastfor ten to fifteen days. but it matters which kind, becausewinter squash seeds are much more effective than summer squashseeds: those are fed to the pigs. there is a very thin greenishlayer on the seed that must not be peeled offafter it has been roasted. when i was a child in rugonfalva there was alittle barrel which we kept under the clock.

my father had a narrow apple crushing trough. in it wasan apple crusher – it’s similar to a meat tenderizer, but made from a larger piece of wood – and on oneside there is a hole where the juice comes out. he crushed the apples – of coursethose were the apples that had fallen to the ground, becausethey could not be wasted. the juice came out of these fallen apples,and it was a very delicious apple juice. they filled the barrel with it. they also added the vinegarfrom the previous year, which was jelly-like, andit fermented the cider. and around christmas time wealways had apple cider vinegar.

and we never used anything else. we put it in food and used it in compressesfor headaches, for example. you would soak a cloth in apple cider and put it on yourhead and this quickly made the pain go away. if someone had a pain in their arm or knee,this was the primary treatment. if this did not help, then there was something else.doctors would then come from keresztãºr. for tired eyes there is chamomile and clarysage. when the eyes get tired due to hard work, a distillation is made and put on the eyes.clary sage has similar benefits as chamomile. these two herbs are good for the eye.calendula is also beneficial. it is well-known and it is so complex thatit is good for almost everything.

i don’t know if you know what yellow sweet cloveror melilot is. it has yellow flowers and a characteristic scent. you can put it among old thingsor use it as moth repellant – it’s like lavender. it’s good for the liver and bilecomplaints. i think it’s for the stomach as well, but it definitely helps theproduction and excretion of bile. there is clubmoss, you can find it inforests, in mossy areas, and it is a climbing plant. you can drink its tea, butthe plant also has some kind of effect. when you put it in a cloth and place iton a painful body part, it is very good. what i like about forest fruits is that i makea mixture of tea and dried fruit from them.

wild crab apples, wild pear,rosehip, hawthorn, dogwood or cornus, wild plum –these six or seven types. i dry them, but eachrequires a different type of drying method – you can’t drythem all in the same way. i dry these fruits in the oven: i put them incardboard boxes with parchment paper inside. you can’t dry fruits in a metalbaking pan because when the metal heats up it is not goodand the fruit gets burnt. so i use parchment paper and thefruits don’t lose their juice. wild plum, for example,has to be put in the oven

three times before i putit into bags or boxes. when these fruits aredried i mix them in a big pot or kneading troughand start packaging. you make an infusion, so you pourboiling water on the fruit mixture. you let it brew overnight andthe vitamins are extracted. the first infusion is delicious, but not the most delicious. dried fruits are economical. you enjoy their real taste later. the second infusion is better and even thethird one is good, although a little lighter.

and you can eat some of the fruit, too. fibre is also very important for the stomach,so don’t throw away the remaining fruit. fibre cleans the bowel tracts. according to research in folk medicine,the use of herbs is widespread. folk medicine is an inexhaustible sourcefor the pharmaceutical industry, as well. there are always regions where people knowspecific herbs that are used effectively. but these herbs are not known in other regions. thus, the coordinationand comparison in this type of research couldprove to be very useful.

a lot of emphasis is put on theknowledge of folk medicine these days, as many specialized publicationsare appearing in this field. if it doesn’t do anything, then it can’t hurt you. we can all agree on this. it is quite simple. if it doesn’t do anything, it can’t hurt you. special thanks to: professional advisor:music: production team:

reporter:director - photography:producer: translation: jakab anna mã¡ria subtitle: soã³s mã³ni