From HerbMentor.com, this is Herb Mentor Radio.
You are listening to Herb Mentor Radio and HerbMentor.com. I'm John Gallagher. My guest today is Bevin Clare. Bevin is a clinical herbalist and nutritionist.
She is clinical division chair of the masters of science in herbal medicine program at Tysophia Institute in Laurel, Maryland. Bevin has studied herbal medicine around the world and blends her knowledge of traditional uses of plants with modern science and contemporary health care strategies. Bevin also serves on faculty at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, co director for the Herbal Clinic for All, on the board for United Plant Savers and lectures nationally. Also, Bevin is a professional member and vice president of the American Herbalist Guild, and you can visit her at BevinClaire.com and tai dot e d u. That's T A I dot e d u. Bevin, welcome.
Thank you, John.
You know, you're a busy woman.
I am a busy woman.
So so I really appreciate you being here. Wow. That's a it's a lot going on.
I I guess I forgot to mention your most important role and that's, of course, mom. Correct?
That is correct. Definitely a mom.
I have to get that in because that's probably the most important of all of those, especially as an herbalist too. Right?
So Bevin, I wanna focus on, today on a lot of questions submitted by Herb Mentor dot com members, since we have an herbal clinician online, which doesn't happen every day. But first, we'd love to get to know you a bit because on hermentor, dot com, lots of folks, either starting out or they've been on their learning journey a bit now. And it's always inspiring to kinda, you know, hear ideas or where people have learned and all. So how did you first get started in using herbs?
It's it's always hard to say with that question. I think, I was always interested in nature. Even as a child, I grew up in the country in New Hampshire, and so I was out in the forest a lot looking at plants.
But it wasn't until my teenage years where I really started getting interested in using them more medicinally and therapeutically.
So I would say it was very much a teenage thing and that became pretty serious after that.
So I wanted it to be a viable profession. That was an interesting thing because at the time, most of the role models that I had that were clinical herbalists were, they'd come to that by being very, you know, kind of broke and poor and struggling for a long time, having a good time meanwhile. But I thought, you know, is that really necessary? Like, do I have to do I have to, live in a tent for ten years and not have a car and to be able to do this? So a lot of it was trying to kind of create a different way of, you know, walking this profession, but still in a good way and still connected to the earth. Just maybe making sure that it could be a a real and viable profession, in the future. And that's really changed since I've been part of it.
Did you go to schools to learn, or did you start with, like, books?
Or I started with books, and I also started by doing things like Rosemary's correspondence course.
And, yeah. And I went to Rosemary's program. I also did seven songs program.
And so, you know, I've I've certainly had a lot of teachers over the years as well as I've, done a lot of conventional education also. So kind of blending the two. And as you mentioned in the introduction, I've spent a lot of the time out of the country, so learning about herbs around the world has been a real focus for me.
Well, let's let's talk about that.
Give me what like, how how where did you go and how did you learn or set things up? Because this is great because, you know, the names you mentioned, like Seven Song and Rosemary, people on Urbinter have, heard and they know they have programs and go to. So it's really fabulous to say, I went to these programs and then, you know, know, this is all the things that you're doing now and and I think it gives a lot of people, some, you know, some hope and guidance in a way to to things that they can make happen if they put their minds to it and, you know, and all. But tell us about, about something that you did out of the country, like, that really affected you.
Well, I've always traveled over the years, and and travel has been a great source of of joy for me just to experience different cultures and foods and way of life. So most of my travel has been in the developing world, and I had an experience which was really profound for me. I had been learning about herbal medicine for a while, and, and so I was I was I already considered myself an herbalist, and I was in Southeast Asia. And at that time, I was in kind of a remote area of Myanmar or Burma, as you might know it.
And when I was there, people I mean, it's not a place where there's a lot of tourists, so there's very it's very difficult to get there. At the time, I had a lot more time than money. So if someone said, well, it's twenty five cents for a, you know, thirty six hour bus ride, I'd be like, great. I can go somewhere that far away for twenty five cents.
So so I would just kind of hop in the bus and go somewhere. So I was in this remote area, and, it was a time when I spent about a year and a half, almost two years abroad, and it was the very beginning of this trip. So I was walking through this little village in a very remote place, and I didn't realize it until I had a little more experience in Southeast Asia. But when you get really into really remote places and you're clearly a Westerner, it's basically assumed that you're a medical professional that's, that's there to help. And a woman came up to me with a, a little child, maybe about, two or two and a half, and she was and the child was clearly ill. I mean, she was holding her and she was either sleeping or passed out.
And asked me - I don't It wasn't in English, really, but asked me if I was a doctor.
She did know the word doctor and, was clearly asking me for my help. And, you know, I immediately was just I just said, you know, I'm so sorry. I'm not a doctor, and I felt so badly. And and I kind of turned to to leave, and then I thought about it and said, no. Well, I could probably do something that could help this child.
So so I did. You know? And it was great. I went to the local market and recognized most of the plants.
No. That's not true. I recognized enough of the plants there that I was very comfortable making medicine. And there's things like, you know, fresh chamomile and mint and garlic, ginger, fresh turmeric, and a lot of herbs that that most people would recom recognize when they're Asian plants.
And so we made some medicines to this child who had a really intense, abscess that that was had gone systemic. So she had, you know, septicemia, essentially.
And we just worked with her, and she was able to get better. But the the part with that that really impacted me was just the community there. I mean, I you know, all of the people were very interested in what I was doing, and I loved it that I was able to use their medicines. And for me, what I took away was that, herbal medicines can really work in these situations.
And over the years in the developing world, I've been able to observe people using plants for things that if it was here, we should go to the hospital. I mean, there there is still no doubt that in a lot of these urgent care situations that I use plants in, that anyone that had access to a, you know, proper medical facility should use it. But, but that wasn't an option. So the best choice was herbs, and, and they worked.
I mean, and that's it just changed the way that I thought about plants as these, you know, kind of nurturing tools that you can use to help heal people from chronic disease and help them just stay well and be part of a healthy lifestyle. And I realized, like, these are these are powerful medicines. And that's why I went and and did my master's work in infectious disease, because I I'm just fascinated by the place where plants and, infectious disease kind of come together.
Yes. I took your class at the at the conference, and I even taped it. So hopefully, we'll get that up on HerbMentor.
They did a class on infections in there.
So, so so did that lead you, then to do more clinical work than when you came back to the States and then that led to, you know, like, your work running the clinic at Tysophia or how did that because because that's something that a life it's kind of a little rare, type of thing for someone who experience in this country, like, being able to for example, to be a student in your clinic would be pretty cool. And, and I hear that a lot around there. So, do you see more of that happening in this country with the clinics happening or, you know, that kind of thing?
Or did that Well, I think people are looking for a clinical education, and it's it's a tricky thing to put together.
And Tysophia is unique in that it's a, you know, an accredited school Mhmm. Which means that, you know, it's a long program, and people can get financial aid and so on.
Otherwise, I think that there's a lot of great models for learning in a clinical setting that that are coming up now.
And and it's it's tricky because a lot of us in the the community is very diverse. Like, we you know, as far as how to practice herbal medicine, western herbal medicine, there really you know, there isn't a method to do that. So it makes it so that there's different types of herbalists, there's different types of practice, and I think it's harder to to navigate sometimes for students to know, you know, to find a good fit and to know what the right or not the right way, but the the right way for them to practice is. But I I think that there'll be a there's a lot more opportunities, and they and they do increase. And it's fascinating to be able to to work in a student clinic environment like that. It's something that I now absolutely adore.
That's amazing. What a great opportunity. And I I, didn't find out about Tysophia until, like, after I moved away from Maryland. So I was like, I was in the northwest all of a sudden. I was like, darn.
So, and then the herbal clinic for all is is is that's part of the clinical experience. It's is it a free clinic?
So the Herbal Clinic for All is part of the, is associated with the student clinics, essentially. And it's a program that allows people to to get both cost free consultations and, cost free herbal products up to, you know, we have kind of a limit. But, but we're able to do that through, basically through private donations. So the the program has been alive and well now for, I think about four or five years, and we've been we've been able to see a lot of people in that time. So we're lucky to to, you know, to kind of be able to plug into the overall you know, there there's already a clinic present and and so on, and we already have a dispensary, but we just fund, those things that go out to to people that are in need.
So So if anyone lives in the greater DC area, it's a good resource to know about. And if that that information for that's on the Thai website too, t a I dot e d?
Yes. If they go to t a I dot e d u, you can find that information. Or if you just call, Thai Safia Institute, you can you can find out about the herbal clinic for all.
Great. So let's get to some questions from Urban Time because, I mean, really, I I I would love to I could just sit here and and listen to stories from your travels because that's really, really interesting to me. Like, I'm like, oh, let's talk about that for a while. You know?
Because because when you mentioned, like, oh, everyone doesn't like ginger or turmeric, but we don't realize is a lot of people don't know what they look like outside of their powdered forms.
Right.
Right. So it's like awesome that you're like, we're there and harvesting and using it right for people. That's awesome. So, in this case, there's a oh, gosh.
You know, folks who who put any questions in. I kinda went back a couple days later. I'm like, oh, boy. There's a lot of questions here.
So I'm going to go, I'm gonna ask we'll we'll get through some of them, and, we'll do our best here. But always remember, you can always ask on the forum if there's something that you need help with.
Okay.
So, let's see. Linda emails in, wants to ask you what your three most favorite herbs are and how you include herbs in your daily routine. Like, she was wondering, do you drink in, like, nourishing herbal infusions, herbal baths? Do you, prefer tinctures? Or, like, where where do you what's what are your a few of your favorite herbs and how you use them on a regular basis?
So my my favorite herbs, there's two that are pretty much always the same and one that that changes on a whim. Mhmm.
The the first would have to be garlic. It's, it's just so fantastic. It's present. It's affordable. It's delicious.
It makes you smell delicious.
It's, you know, it just has so many properties, and it's so versatile. You find it around the world.
You know, it's it also can can change so much depending on what you do with it. And it's powerful medicine for the cardiovascular system. It's a powerful antimicrobial and immune supporter.
It also has, you know, a whole number of other activities. Garlic is just good for just about anything. So so I really appreciate it. I I feel like it's one of my, defenses from the the world that we live in in many ways. And and, you know, as Jim Duke says, people stay a little further away sometimes if you eat a lot of garlic and you don't wanna get sick.
But, you know, but in general, I think that that's and I probably everyone I work with probably rule their eyes when they hear me say say this about garlic because I probably walk around the building smelling like garlic all the time, and I don't really have that consciousness that other people might not wanna smell it.
But I, you know, I just I love that plant. And the other one would be yarrow. I think between, the, you know, mystical aspects of yarrow where it's seen as this, sacred plant in so many traditions. You know, yarrow makes the sticks for the I Ching in, in Asia.
It's, it's the plant, you know, that was used, for Achilles in the mythology. I mean, it's a it's a plant that's seen in so many traditions as, being sacred and magical. So I I love that piece of it. I also love it as, again, you know, an antimicrobial, as a as an aromatic bitter for both, you know, for the digestive system.
I just I think it's a fantastic herb for all sorts of types of infections, and and it works well, you know, infused in water or in oil. And, so I love yarrow. The third one, it really just depends. It depends on what what mood I'm in and what plants I've been experiencing a lot.
And I think that, I probably would have to say, for this week, my my third favorite, my just good old simple mint. And, the reason why is we we just went to Turkey, the beginning of the year, so just a week ago or so. And in Turkey, you know, they use so much mint in cooking. And in a lot of places where I wouldn't necessarily use it, and just gave me a whole new appreciation for it.
And, of course, I drink lots of mint and tea, but I probably take it for granted a lot of the time. And the combination of mint and also, sumac berries were are used a lot there. Mhmm. So I came back with just a new appreciation of mint and sumac berries, but mint in particular.
And so as far as how I use herbs on a daily basis, I drink a lot of herbal teas.
And I would say beyond that, it's food. So herbal teas and food are a really common way, for me to use herbs. You know, yesterday, for example, this would bring a lot of my favorites together that, we had kind of, like, these flatbreads that I made with, you know, these are roasted vegetables and things, and it had yogurt that I put, garlic, sumac berries, and mint in, kind of a turkey inspired thing, and put that over the flatbreads. So for me, I, you know, I make a I actually also had fresh parsley, but I make a concerted effort to use fresh herbs, or dried herbs and in in a kind of a therapeutic quantity.
So, you know, when it's talking about a quarter teaspoon I don't know. I mean, nutmeg's probably the only herb I use in a quarter teaspoon. Otherwise, I just dump them in. And I watch my two year old, one of the ways that he imitates mommy is cooking, and he's always going into the cabinet and getting the the herbs out and just trying to dump massive amounts of them into his little cooking vessel.
So, so I I really believe in using a lot of of plants, fresh or dried or medicinal plants, in cooking. But I don't I I'm not not as likely to be using things that are, you know, purely medicinal and trying to get them to taste good in in cooking as much as I'm, using what I think are extremely healthful herbs that, that are also delicious.
Mhmm.
And then, you know, if I need herbs for something else, like, I came back with kind of therapeutic teas or tinctures or capsules or powders. Mhmm. I'm a big fan of herbal powders. I think that they're much more affordable and, you get a little bit more of a sensory experience from them.
And I'm, you know, I'm less likely to use tinctures probably, because at this point, I'm not making my own medicine. So I just think that they're expensive and that when I'm making my own medicines, then I use them a lot more.
Okay. Great. Thank you.
So Renee, noticed that you were a nutritionist from your from your biography. And, and she's been reading a lot about how vitamins, the hype of the last thirty years has been consuming a high carb, low fat diet. Doesn't make much sense to her. So, what's your take on this issue? And in particular, what fat sources should we not be without?
Well, I would say I you know, as far as the long term, bias, you know, against fats, I I think we I'm I'm a pretty big believer in being moderation in most things and, and just having things be as close to their natural sources as possible. So I definitely shy away from almost any dogma when it comes to food, because I find that the dogmatic approach usually is, is not very moderate. So Right.
Right. I like that.
That could I like that term dogmatic approach.
It kinda covers a lot. Yeah.
Well, I mean, everybody has their well, you must do it this way or that way or this is that.
Right. Right.
Good or Mhmm. So, you know, I I can be convinced that maraschino cherries and those rainbow colored sprinkles are probably not going to be healthy even in, small amounts. But if you love them, then, you know, I I could go with it occasionally.
So as far as fats go, you know, I I think that my take is that you need a lot of fat in a diet, and fats are a key piece in, in just making you feel full and sustaining you. And, at the same time, the quality is absolutely critical. And so I would say try to get as much fat as possible intact within the food that it's in. So if that means, you know, you eating your nuts seeds, eating things like avocados, high quality animal products.
So, you know, animals that are that are raised eating, corn and soy, even if it's organic corn and soy, are gonna have a lot more of the pro inflammatory fat ratios versus plant animals that have eaten, you know, grass and bugs and Mhmm.
Twigs and leaves and stuff. And berries are gonna have a very different profile. So, but I would say as much as you can get it intact in the in the item itself. And then beyond that, it's about how hard it is to get the oil out.
So olive oil is a great oil because all all you have to do is take a bunch of olives and squish them, and out comes olive oil, versus other oils, where, know, if you think about something like corn oil, if you squish corn, oil does not come out. So, you know, you need to use a chemical process, and it denatures the the natural aspects of the co of the oil when you do that. Mhmm. So, so I would say definitely keep, you know, a healthy amount of fats in there, but make sure that they're of good quality and, when possible, within the foods that they actually came from.
I guess if you squish corn, you get tortillas. Right?
Yeah. There you go.
Pot oil.
Hot hot corn.
Jasmine, she's my pal from my acupuncture school I went to. How do you know? Has, has a question about Chinese herbs versus Western herbs. She's an acupuncturist. Oh, I'll just read it in her voice. I'm an acupuncturist, and I actually prefer to use herbs that are grown close to me in my garden or at least in the Pacific Northwest. But I know many acupuncturists that believe that Chinese herbs are stronger and work better because of the formulas and the way they are prepared.
So being that you run an herbal clinic program at a school that is also I mean, acupuncture school as well, I'm sure you have some insights here.
Well, we do have a Chinese herbal program that is, for acupuncturists too. Okay. But interestingly, they're, you know, completely separate departments. We have basically nothing to do with them. Mhmm. And, but we're we would be interested in, you know, chatting more. We're just there at different days and times.
So the the overall opinion about it for me is that, I, you know, I think we all are attracted to our own medicines and and that when you talk about Chinese herbs versus western herbs, the the the piece that's that's not mentioned is the herbalist often.
And, so, you know, I think if you stood there on a on a in a store and looked on a shelf at a Western herbal product versus a Chinese herbal product, I wouldn't say that there would be much difference if they were, you know, comparable in quality and all of that. But, but if you're working with a Chinese herbalist, Chinese herbs are probably gonna be more powerful. And if you're working with a Western herbalist, Western herbs are probably gonna be more powerful.
I do think that the, you know, the idea of these long term formulas and some of the precision that's after off offered in Chinese medicine, you know, has some great benefit that there has been a lot of time and energy to come up with, you know, these, these cohesive synergistic groupings of herbs versus herbal medicine in the United States is, much more regional.
And, and I think, you know, because of that, we get a lot a greater diversity and variety in what we use and probably a stronger connection to the natural plant world. And at the same time, you know, we don't have the the knowledge of these formulas that have developed for thousands of years. Mhmm. So I think you're gonna know, you know, what you use. And, of course, we use a lot of Chinese herbs in Western herbal medicine as well.
So the the last thing I'll add to that is Chinese herbs, the preparations are often a lot stronger.
And some of this comes down to technique and kind of history. Some of it also comes down to finances, that, you know, if if you were to use Chinese proportion traditional Chinese proportion decoctions, it would cost a lot of money to keep up with that on a regular basis, and it's, historically was something that, wasn't quite the same in our in our current world of, you know, herbs that that often have quite a markup. But, yeah, I think it's it's a very interesting discussion.
Yeah. Okay. It it is. And and, you know, even, like, well, the acupuncture school that's Italia Sofia was started by JR Worsley.
Right? And and, so it's interesting because that's the the style that I studied. And and I listened to him once and he was talking about herbs and he's like, oh, don't use Chinese herbs. Use the herbs that grow around you.
And then now the school is teaching about other herbs and now Western Herbalism is using Chinese herbs. It's all this kind.
I know. So you say it is a discussion, isn't it?
Well, and it's tricky because, you know, I I would love to to I focus on the herbs that are bioregional, but but, you know, thinking about living without cinnamon is a really hard thing to think about, or ginger. We just you know, the pungence and aromatics that we have are just not, they're not the same. So, you know, I love wild ginger, and I love spice bush. And but I'm I'm not gonna give up ginger and cinnamon.
Well, I know I know Jasmine, and she, is, also a midwife. And she specializes her acupuncture practice with, with, more maternity and, you know, helping women through pregnancy and and and continued care after that. And, and she does a lot of, teaching about, like, using infusions and things like that to help her patients as they're going through their pregnancy with nourishing herbs and what they might need along with their acupuncture. So I think it's just some she's getting into studying more. I'm just curious.
Yeah.
So, now there's, Malin who, says, hello.
I would like to know what herbs would be useful to take after an appendicitis to recover from an operation for an elderly man who is on statins and takes medication for his heart.
Mainly for mental well-being and healing after the operation. So this probably could go for a lot of operations in general, I imagine.
Well, I I think, Malin points out something in the the last part that's really critical is, the the mental well-being and healing is key after a lot of types of operations. So, you know, especially things that are are the results of, of something that's degenerative, particularly in cardiovascular disease. There can there can be this period where people really get down after they they have these operations. Mhmm.
So I like it that, he or she is already, you know, thinking along those lines. I think that food is very key in these times periods. You know, you need to give the body enough nourishment to, just to heal. And so I I'm a huge fan of medicinal soups, and I've been kind of refining my, medicinal soup recipe to make it easier and, and so on.
And the, you know, the current my current favorite for for people because I find after an operation, people also don't eat a lot, so they tend to kind of get snacky. And, it's not always the best snacks that they're using.
So I really like, just making, as long as somebody isn't vegetarian or vegan, chicken soup. And I use a whole chicken, like, the whole thing, just plop it in a big pot of water. And if it comes with the, like, the organs, in a little packet, I add those too. And I would just cook the heck out of that chicken.
You know, if you can cook it for, you know, twenty five or thirty hours, then that's great. And if you, you know, if you don't if you aren't the type of person that sits there next to the stove for twenty five or thirty hours regularly, I basically, you know, turn it on when I get home from work and boil it until I go to sleep at night. And, either I'll leave it on low or I'll just actually turn it off. And then in the morning, I'll turn it on again and boil it again and then leave it. And I think as long as you're continually turning it on and boiling it for a time period before you leave it for a little while, then, then that that keep it nice and and safe. And so those types of things when you add, you can, you know once it's all cooked down, what you end up with is broth that basically is full of protein and fat and minerals and, and you discard the the solids, what's left. And it doesn't look anything like a chicken after a while.
And you can drink that broth. You know, you can leave the fat in there, and, it has a lot of nourishment. And I also like to add herbs like astragalus, and, and ginger and whatever that person what might be helpful, maybe a little bit of dandelion or burdock. You don't wanna get it the tube to taste unpleasant.
And then you can add some of the fresh aromatic herbs like rosemary and sage and thyme, mint, garlic, towards the end when you'd serve it. And then you could add, you know, add vegetables or cook rice in it or whatever you wanted to do. So, so that was kind of a long answer to a a short piece, but I I think going at it with food is great. I also think that some of the kind of deep nourishing, healing herbs, and adaptogens, things like, ashwagandha could be a really helpful herb, and I think that's a wonderful powder. And you could also use something like, you know, more kind of standard dandelion and burdock. And because those are all just, you know, very safe and very gentle and, not something you have to to worry about if you're taking statins or medications for their heart.
K. That's great.
Well, Mary Anne, noticed, your study on aging on the aging. And she said, would she be able to give some herbal advice for us who are aging on this site, at seventy five, her husband's seventy eight, and take no meds, and they wanna rely on herbs. I read where you are older, you have to be careful not to overdo it.
So what does this look like? Let's see. I'll add that she says that we both have, issues minus high blood pressure, But, let's see. Better better than not, my mate of fifty seven years has prostate issues.
Let's see. And, anyway, she said she had read something about the elderly need to be a little careful with herbs. And so what do we do? She so she's curious about what how they might use herbs and what they might have to be, look out for to be careful with.
Well, it's it's there's there's some irony here because, you know, as I say, people should be careful with herbs when if people are saying that you should be careful with herbs as your elderly and it's not because of interactions and medications, then, you know, we're giving our elderly population more drugs than, you know, than any other aspect of our population. And and, so I don't think that you, you know, inherently need to be careful. It's more about what is the, the vitality and overall well-being. Like, how how much pushing and pulling can can somebody handle with herbs? And, you you know, there are herbs that are that are strictly nourishing, and gentle, and kind, and there's, you know, herbs like chamomile and mint and dandelion and burdock, and a lot of the first herbs that you would learn about.
And that doesn't mean they aren't powerful, because they're incredibly powerful, but they come at it from a nourishing angle. And then there's herbs that are all the way over to not being, you know, nourishing really at all, but they are, you know, they're strong, and they have profound effects on physiology. So those herbs might be things like, like anemone or poke, or baptisia or plants like that. So, you know, I think someone with the reserves and someone who has, you know, a strong enough constitution, even in their very elder years, can use, plan, any of those plans appropriately, just like any of us could.
Now if someone feels like they are, a little more fragile and they find that they react to things or they need to be a little more careful about what they're doing, then I would stick with the herbs that are more gentle. And a good way to do that may be even to consult books that look at, look at children in herbal medicine because they would be herbs that would also be, more gentle and, less less strong for people.
So I but I don't think that necessarily, you know, if you're older, you have to be careful to not overdo it with herbs. I I think that that's that's just a generalization. And, you know, and what does older mean? I mean, there's people I see people in the clinic that are that are older, that are, like, forty, and then there's people that haven't got to being older yet, and they're, you know, in their eighties. Right.
Right.
It just really depends on on the person and and who they are. But, and the other thing I'll say to that is that herbs used in a whole whole form, so if you're using, especially teas and foods, herbs, you can pretty much use herbs pretty freely. It's when you start getting to capsules or concentrated extracts or, concentrated tinctures, you have to be a little more careful because you're taking things kind of outside what your body would have its natural shutoffs for. Like, you can only drink so much herbal tea, especially if it doesn't taste good. Like, if it has a lot of alkaloids, it's very strong. You can't usually drink gallons of the stuff.
But if it's capsulated, then you then you definitely can. So it doesn't mean you shouldn't do it when you need it. It just means that, that you should be aware of, the the strength of it.
Right. Exactly.
Okay. Well, thanks thanks for that. That's really great information.
Okay. So Diane hello, Bevin. Thanks for taking on this big test for big task of answering questions. So she's had, severe itching on her lower legs for at least five years now and she believes it started as a poison ivy scrape on some skin graft tissue on her lower leg.
Because the skin is thin there, she couldn't feel it and ignored it and a week later it started itching. And it's been itching ever since.
It's very intense. Let's see. And, let's see.
And it went away once for about a year after, being on, Pregnizome, which is interesting. She also tried essential oils, Saint John's wort, let's see, jewelweed, tried blood cleansing herbs like, Padarco and others. And so she's wondering if you have any suggestions. She said she may resort to a prescription of Elidel Elidel, which suppresses body immune system. But, but itching too long causes hives in other places of the body. And she's she's very tired of being itchy, so she wants to know if you have any any help. Sounds sounds sounds rough.
So I hope there's something really, really frustrating.
Sorry, Diane.
I know. Oh, wow. It reminds me of, you know, women that get pups in, in pregnancy, which is I'm glad nobody's asking a question about that because that can be really, really difficult and is similar for, just this intense itching.
So, you know, I had a few thoughts. It's this is not something that I've seen specifically before, but, you know, I think that some of the things that she try has tried make a lot of sense.
I think Saint John's wort, when she says it helps some, I would love to explore that more and see how she's using it.
So whether she's using, like, a strong, oil infusion of it Mhmm.
Or if she's taking the Saint John's wort internally or using a liniment topically. I think that all of those different ways could be worth exploring, locally. I think the other thing that could be helpful locally is, something like licorice, and, you know, just as a as a nice inflammatory and soother. And, you know, those things are also helpful in, some of the postherpetic neuralgias that people get if you look into that in, meaning, like, when people get shingles, after shingles go away, there's often this nerve irritation or heightened nerve sensitivity that, and and so people can develop these neuralgia that can be very uncomfortable.
So the licorice and St. John's wort are two herbs that are very helpful in those situations, and I think worth checking out here, because it could be a similar mechanism. I know it's not viral, but it could definitely be it could definitely be something where her her nervous system is kind of always, on the rise. And along with that, I think looking at systemic nervous system tonics could be key to kind of down regulate a, an oversensitive nervous system. So I would think about, doing things like Skullcap or, you know, Skullcap would probably be one of my favorites, maybe a little bit of Valerian or Motherwort or, whatever really occurred to her as something that would be a long term nervous system tonic. And then, milky oats, if she can get milky oats.
As as, like, a decoction infusion with milky oats or a tincture?
I would say a decoction or a tincture. And, not oat straw as much as the actual milky oats. And that that would be just kind of good food for her nervous system. And and the last thing I think is is chamomile. It could be worth trying out, just because it is such a nice anti inflammatory, even topically on the skin and internally. So, it might be interesting to try a week of strong chamomile infusions and, making that and drinking some of it and applying some of that topically and seeing just how that works.
So I hope I I hope Diane has some luck. And if she if she does find anything, it'll be great to hear back.
That that's really interesting. I you know, you often don't think of, like, a a more overactive or whatever, like, nervous system. They always use that I always think of that, like, maybe with immune system, but and then trying to nourish the the nervous system. So that's and that's that's really cool.
So, yeah, I like the milky oats idea. So I just like oats.
So That's okay.
Oh, yeah. That was for anything.
So, let's see here.
Colleen is hardly allergic to mouse feces, chemical dust and that, that so she she quotes she put she calls it wonderful black mold and mildew. So she, house gets contaminated every winter with each of these.
And and the rains and slush cause mildew and every tiny crack and the chemicals used to salt and spray our roads gets tracked in the house.
And, so she's really wondering what if any preventative combination of herbals can I figure out to either apply or ingest over the winter to help with this? She gets swollen eyes, prickly skin, swellings, sore throat.
So she doesn't wanna use any histamines or epipens. And so wondering if there's a decoction or cream or something.
So what do you say?
Well, that sounds really frustrating. And, you know, I I I think, obviously, trying to avoid all those things would be ideal, but it's it sounds like she's explored that. Mhmm. So I'll just assume that, this is an inevitable situation.
Sometimes it is. Like, where I live in the northwest, try not to get mold in your house in the winter, you know. Right. Somewhere.
Absolutely. And I can and I I can definitely understand that we had we had mice earlier this year, and the first time ever, but I think it has to do with having a toddler somehow, who has food around.
And we went back and forth about how to fix the mice for a long time. So I knew how difficult it can be. Well, you know, with these, these types of questions, the stock answer is always, you know, to work with a clinician and talk to somebody so they can get to know you better. But there are some herbs that I certainly would consider, and, they are a little bit of a go to, hypersensitivity formula that I look at. So in, you know, in any type of allergy.
The herbs that I generally put in there are scuttlearia bicollensis. So the bicoll skullcap, not the Western skullcap. But the scuttlearia bicollensis has a lot of anti inflammatory effects and can be really helpful in allergies.
Another herb is, is romania. So I use cooked romania, which is also a nice anti inflammatory and, kind of a good blood builder. So there's a Chinese herb that we're referencing there.
Another herb I put in there is licorice.
Again, it's an excellent antihistamine and anti inflammatory that can be helpful in this situation.
The last thing is Eyebright or Euphrasia which, if you're using Eyebright, you wanna make sure that it's, cultivated or organically cultivated and not, from the wild because it is a it is a plant that is often in short supply out there and is on the United Plant Savers, at risk list. So the you know, I I often would put equal equal amounts of those as a tincture together and use that as needed, and I've seen some pretty good luck, for for people using that.
Okay. Great.
Let's see. Charmaine has some questions on the use of tinctures. She's currently making tinctures and using vodka, forty three percent volume alcohol to steep fresh herbs in. Is this okay? She should try something stronger.
And then our second question is, in treating health issues with tinctures, how many tinctures can be taken at one time? Great questions.
Yeah. They are good questions.
Well, I think with medicine making, the the most important thing is that you're making medicines. So you could get really precise. And I could tell you, you know, that, oh, you should be using certified organic grape alcohol from Southern France or something like that. And, you know, but it would mean that most people couldn't make medicines.
So I think that, vodka is a great substance use medicines in. If you're using fresh herbs in vodka, there's a few things to consider. So if they're really juicy herbs, you and you're making them very strong, it's actually possible to make them so that the vodka isn't even strong enough to preserve them. So you need about ten percent alcohol to preserve them.
So if you're making a tincture that, is like you know, in the jar when you make it ends up being, like, eighty percent herbs and twenty percent alcohol, it's just not gonna be enough to actually keep it, keep it preserved. At the same time, if they're more leafy, dry dry herbs, so you're, you know, using I know I know they're fresh herbs, but if they're things more like rosemary or something, then then that's gonna be fine. I think that in in the end, you would just need to probably take more of them. So that if you're using them for yourself, then go for it and just take a little bit more of them.
And you may want to get some grain alcohol at some point and use it for when you're, trying to extract particularly fresh herbs that have a resin content or herbs that are really, you know, really good in that in that alcohol.
So one of the excellent references that I always turn to for this is on Michael Moore's website on the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine. It's w w w dot s w s b m dot com. There's, herb manuals that were written by Michael Moore, and there's the, herbal materia medica, and that kind of goes through just about every herb out there and what percentage of alcohol and ratios and all of that that would be ideal to use. So you may wanna, take a look at that and just get an idea when you could use those stronger alcohols.
But the the most important thing is that it's great you're making medicines. Mhmm. The second question, how many tinctures can be taken at one time? Well, you know, everybody's going to have their own answer for that.
But I I think that it's you you don't need to use a lot of herbs. And in fact, you know, a a a great herbalist can can work with just about everything by knowing how to use about thirty herbs really well. So remember that each herb has all sorts of different actions, and you also want to make sure you have enough of each herb. So, you know, we do combine herbs because of their synergistic properties, and that's, you know, where where I practice or in where I supervise, we always use combinations of plants or almost always use combinations if I if I'm using a tincture, I'm blending them together into a formula, and there's usually an odd number.
And And they are you know, I'm using, like, five or seven herbs, but the odd number is just my own personal quirk.
But I'm definitely combining them. I'm not using separate herbs in separate bottles. It's one bottle, and they're taking a teaspoon so many times a day or a tablespoon or something like that.
Mhmm. You're making them separately and then combining them, formulating.
Exactly. Yeah.
Okay. Great.
Okay.
Tara would like to wonder if you could talk about herbs that would be supportive to the adrenal glands.
And how would the herbs you suggest best be used?
Well, there's a few herbs that I would think of that would be the most helpful for the adrenal glands. And I would say even more broad because, you know, you can't really isolate an adrenal gland as much as, use herbs that are, the I like I like the the term that Simon Mills uses, the neurotrophorestoratives.
So, you know, nerve restoratives, basically.
The herbs that I would think of most specifically, the first one is licorice by far. Licorice has that, effect on the adrenal glands specifically that is, is protective and helpful.
And how I would use licorice is preferably in AT, but it could also be used as a powder. You could make nut butter balls or just put the powder in your smoothie or in your oatmeal or just, mix it into some kind of liquid and toss it back.
And, you can also make tea out of licorice, and I've found a lot of people don't like licorice tea very much, but I've found adding some dried apricots to it works really well and makes it taste, you know, it the the sweet, chlorineness of apricots seems to cover over the sweet, chlorineness of licorice, and they go together well.
Then the other would be those milky oats that we already mentioned. I just I think that you can hardly beat them for the nervous system. And how I would use them would be a a decoction of the fresh or the dried milky seeds. And that and you could also use a tincture of the of the fresh milky seeds. Those would be my favorite two herbs of the adrenal glands.
Okay. Thank you.
How about, you know, just on on another way. I I sometimes hear about, like, for adrenals, people like drinking nettle infusions and all of you.
Do you like that too?
Or because that's just my own side note because I I I often think of nettles, you know.
Well, I love nettles. And I think that they, you know, they come even in a much more broad way of doing this, that they, you know, that they are just overall nourishing to the body. And and they give people more energy. I mean, you know, and I think that that's helpful for the adrenal glands. And the, I'd also think about things like like ashwagandha, and, things like holy basil or tulsi. And there's so many different things that are that are helpful.
I just wanna make sure it was okay.
I think that's okay for everything. I just every question you ask me, I could just say nettles.
It's like it's like the joke the joke my son always says. Like, he's like, whenever he asks me a question, all I ever say is, I just put a little t shirt oil on it.
He'll be fine. Todd, I cut my finger off. I just put a little t shirt.
So, Jamie wants to know if you could, recommend three herbal concoction. I don't know why specifically three, but three herbal concoction. It could be two, you know, remedies to have on hand in the event of a nationwide flu epidemic and anything help in the event of h one n one or h one n five, which is, I guess, a new one, virus outbreak.
Yeah. So I guess antiviral concoctions, I guess she's asking for.
Yeah. So the the three that I would think of would be garlic, garlic, and garlic. Garlic.
One of the reasons for that is, What was the third one?
Sorry. GA.
The The issue with recommending a lot of things in the nationwide flu epidemic, because I, you know, I do this with the medical community too, and I'm cautious because if you say some of our great medicinal plants, like, you know, oh, OSHA would be fabulous or something.
You know, we we have enough of a supply of OSHA to treat, like, what, like a couple thousand people in the population, and that's it.
There's not very many plants that we have enough of. And, you know, I really like to think of the health of that ecosystem too when we talk about flu remedies. So, garlic is there's a lot of garlic out there, and it is profoundly antiviral. And one of the reasons why it's so antiviral in its fresh, most as as raw as you can get it form is that, when you eat garlic, it it's exuded out of, your pores, but also out of your lungs And, intensely exuded out of your lungs.
It's not like your it's not your mouth smelling of garlic. It's actually, you know, you're breathing it out of your lungs. And that is how the influenza virus enters your body is through your respiratory system. So you're really like breathing out this, antiviral.
And on top of that, if you absolutely reek of garlic, as I as I mentioned earlier, and there is a a flu outbreak, then then you're less likely to catch it because, there'll be a wider barrier around you of other human beings. Mhmm. So, you those are that's the first thing I would really think of. You know, the the next thing is that in there's a difference between the every day flu that people get, where we are looking to kind of, support and increase the power of the immune system And something like these, epidemics of the novel influenza viruses where you're looking at, you're looking at something that that creates a profound amount of inflammation in healthy individuals.
So a lot of what we wanna do is actually more, down regulate some of that inflammation. And you would do that with, things like healthy fats and herbs that we know are anti inflammatory, things like turmeric.
There's so many things. And calendula, chamomile, yarrow, elderberries, but I call Skullcap. And then a lot of those plants, those are gonna be the most helpful things. And then, you know, the bigger herbs, things like walnuts and pomegranates and blueberries, those are all also going to down regulate inflammatory pathways and are going to be viable ways to make sure that people don't have that, the sharp inflammatory increase that ends up be causing all the harm in these situations.
So, you know, there's a lot more complicated answers that I could get into, but, but that would be where I'd start.
Okay. Great.
So Victoria says there's there's been a lot of discussion on HerbMent regarding gluten intolerance and its effects. So I'd love to hear any ideas, suggestions you have on rebuilding digestive system health once gluten has been removed from the diet.
K. Yeah. There's there's a lot of things we can do. There it is. It's a great question.
So I would I think that we've got some fantastic things for the for the GI. So some of my favorite plants that I would look to is I would look, at my demulsions first. So things like, you know, organically harvested slippery elm to make sure that it's not something that's threatened. I would look at marshmallow roots, particularly in powder or or as a tea.
If you are somebody who uses comfrey internally, I think that the comfrey roots could be used internally for a little while for helping to get a rebuild that digestive lining.
I also love some of the anti inflammatories that my probably my favorite digestive anti inflammatories would be, wild yam, crea villosa using, chamomile. I think we we think of chamomile for the nervous system, but it is just such a wonderful gut soothing herb. And so, chamomile, and I also think a lot about philippendula, filopendula almaria meadowsweet.
So those herbs are really helpful for mitigating kind of long term inflammation in the gut. And I think if you're if you make a tea, then you, you know, you can also add something that has a little bit more stringency to it, like a little bit of ladies mantle or, nettles and drinking those regularly. And then people often look to a diet that's more digestible, so, relies more on certain types of cooked foods and so on. But that that gets all, controversial.
The raw foodists and everybody's got their own thing.
Right. Right.
But I do often encourage people to do a lot more like soups and stews in particular when they're looking to really heal a long term inflammation from their gut. And chalendula is another wonderful herb that can go in those formulas.
Okay. Great.
Love it.
So let's see. Renee, a different Renee, says has a let's see. Several years ago, she had a vaginal hysterectomy due to, menar let's see. Men fibroids. I my my my printout got messed up here.
Fibroids and it looks like it's kinda can't quite read that. Sorry about that, Renee.
I should look at this before again, before I before I start. No. So anyway so she had a vaginal hysterectomy. And ever since that, procedure, I've had numbness in my thighs.
The doctor said it would go away. Here I am seven years later and still there. Gets painful, if I stand too long or if it's cold. I don't even know how to look that up, but I felt it right away after the surgery and was never given any support in trying to find out what the problem was.
And so have you ever heard of that? And what could it be? And is there anything she could do about it? So any help in that area?
I would say that, you know, it's especially because it was caused during, during surgery, I would definitely look for a, a pelvic floor physical therapist. They are out there. I don't know if she lives in a really rural area or an urban area, but, but look around. I mean, most physical therapists don't work with the pelvic floor, but there are those who do, and that could be a helpful thing. And and then I think the other thing would be really increasing the circulation in that area, particularly through hip movement, so things like belly dancing and hula hooping can be very helpful to kind of help move those, or just dancing in general. But thinking about moving your hips to increase the circulation would be my best thought to help him with that numbness. But it it is sounds really difficult, and I and I do wonder if there was, you know, a nerve or or something else that might have been damaged during the surgery.
Right.
And I I hope Renee has some luck. And I think being healthy and using nerve tonics and good herbs is always going to be, a good bet. And the, you know, the worst case scenario if you do some of those wonderful herbs, is that you're just going to be healthier. It may not help the numbness, but it will help you and may help you just be more resilient to it and, help it not to bother you so much.
K.
Karen was about this question is about treating and preventing of, vaginal yeast infections in children. She has an eight year old granddaughter, has recurrent problems with itching, especially after antibiotics for strep recently. She has divorced parents, goes back and forth a lot. So easy treatments for both parents, you know, that they could both do would be great. So what do you say?
Well, I'd wanna make sure first obviously, she's working with, you know, a doctor and so on, but making sure she knows to walk from front to back. I mean, that's just a really basic place to start with, with children.
And so the the vaginal yeast infections, you know, especially with antibiotics, it can be really tricky. So I would want to make sure, you know, hygiene was good and also that there was some good air in that area of her body. So she definitely making sure that she's sleeping without any underwear on, would be key and that her underwear was all cotton. So some practical things first.
I, you know, I would probably try to yeast love living where it's, kind of sweet and energetically a little cool. They like, of course, physical warmth, but energetically a little cool or sweet. And so I would think about kind of warming and spicing up the body. Now, I know that eight year olds aren't always into warming and spicing, but I think as much as warm aromatic things can be added to her diet, so things like applesauce with a whole bunch of cinnamon and maybe some ginger or cloves or something added to it or, some stewed fruits with a lot of warm things in them. I really like stewed fruits as a, prebiotic. Mhmm. And then, adding those probiotics into her diet, of course, either in a supplement form preferably in a supplement form if she's actually had antibiotics because they impact your flora for a long time, and that includes your vaginal flora.
So she could use a little bit of a something like a calendula, ointment, so a strong calendula ointment. And if she wanted to use that, she'd so a salve that would be a strong calendula salve, to take that and maybe even add a little bit of, probiotic for a week or so. So sprinkling a little bit of that probiotic powder from the capsules in that and then using that vaginally, that would be okay to use that. But in general, with little girls, we don't do so much as far as, like, douching, and sits baths can be hard.
But if she wants if she's willing to sit in the bathtub, I would, certainly pour in a big pot of, like, yarrow and calendula infusion into a bathtub, and have her sit in that. Or if she's willing to sit in a sitz bath, make that fun, then that would be great to do yarrow and calendula infusions. But I know that I mean, that's really getting complicated for those parents to to be making those. I think the the thing is is that, they're recurrent, but a lot of it might be that that it hasn't just hasn't completely gone away.
So, you know, if, if you can give it a week or so of really intensely trying to work with it, otherwise I would start with those dietary things, trying to remove some of the sweetness and sugar Mhmm. And, add some of those aromatics and spices and, and then those probiotics.
Yeah. And that's got it. I mean, it's probably with kids too, and they're so sensitive to so many things. There's probably so many so many levels of things going on there, especially having to go back and forth between parents and everything. It's just that's tough.
So thank you. You know what, Devin? That was just absolutely I think I think this this is the record for the most questions I've ever asked an herbalist with amazing, simple, and concise answers. I mean, this is just like yeah. You have hold the world the Air Mentor Radio world record for the most questions answered in a It's like a marathon here.
I did that, actually. I thought maybe maybe I should have spent more time with them and and, but, hopefully, I gave some answers that people can use.
Oh, yeah. Definitely. And that was, like, apparently, it was, like, half the half the question. So I think, I'll have to have you back sometime for sure because it's like, we'll have to have, like, a Bevin an Ask Bevin show.
We'll just we'll have you in the clinic at work. We'll just tap in Skype, you know, right in there. We'll just have the video. Or you know what? Why don't we just have a video feed up in your clinic, you know, that people can just go and and, watch you working.
Well, I hope you could just constantly be hooked into my mobile phone and and asking me questions day and night, you know, never stop.
Never never end.
Okay. That's awesome. Let's see. And and, you know, do you do you have any advice, for people who I mean, because a lot of these questions were a lot of chronic things.
How people can find, maybe a consultant or some way helping in their area because, gosh, it's one thing if you live in the DC area, and I can pop in and see you where you live near Best or University near me, but, but, you know, is there do you have any, like, ideas, like, if someone says, hey. You know? Like, you you should see someone. What with people with, limited options, what, what are what are ways people can can maybe find a consultant or somebody like you to get some answers from for chronic things?
I think you if you have a health food store, something you can always ask around Mhmm.
There. I also think you can go onto the American Herbalist Guild website, which has some herbalists, You plugging into your community, if you're a mom, the mothering dot com or if you're a dad, but mothering dot com is a great kind of natural health website.
And just asking around and being creative, even asking an herbalist in another part of the country. People ask me all the time, although I'm not saying everybody should ask me this, but, you know, do you know somebody in, you know, here or there or so on? And then there are herbalists that do work over Skype or, from afar. It's certainly not ideal. But, you know, if that's if that's what you need, it can it can work really well.
Right. Right. Great. And, you know, do you have any how can people find out about, like, any upcoming classes or conferences and places you're teaching? Would they just go to bev and claire dot com? Or do you have any you wanna tell people now about or anything happening?
So, well, bevinclair dot com, we're we're working on that right now. We're kind of revising that.
So there isn't anything online specifically but, but there's always, you know, those herb conferences that are out there that you can find out about. You know, I'm excited this year about the Traditions Conference out in, the Southwest in the fall and, and the American Herbalist Guild, which will be up in Pennsylvania near West Virginia this year, also in the fall. There's lots of, those herb conferences are really, you know, super fun depending on where you live, and they're pretty spread around the country. I think it's I would encourage anyone who's interested in herbs to just try to find their community, And once you find people, then those doors start to open. So, do look around and and see what you can find out there. There's there's pretty much herbalists everywhere, at least in my experience, and people are just so interested in this.
Thank you. So, Bevin Claire, thanks so much for being on our Mentor Radio and, really appreciate it. And, again, if you wanna find out about the clinic, the free clinic, or wanna check out where Bevin teaches and runs a clinic, you can go to T A I tai dot e d u. So thanks so much, Bevin, for spending time with us today.
Great. Thank you so much, John.
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