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Houttuynia and Sida Acuta

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Posted 4/23/2016 9:20 PM (GMT 0)
Hey everyone! How's everyone doing? Had a quick question for anyone that's taking Houttuynia.

I'm trying to figure out the best way to take it. I just took my first bit today to see what happens, so I downed 1 tsp in water. This stuff seems to be a pretty fine powder, and it's a chalky mess at best.

Going off of Buhner's recommendations, his website (outdated I know) simply says 1 tbs a day. The thing is, I'm curious if people take that amount, or more or less, and how they take it. I do have a capsule rig for filling my own caps, but if I go that route, I wasn't sure if I should build up to taking the whole 1 tbsp at once, or take it throughout the day.

Also, I've read that several of you made a tea from it. Assuming it is just as effective as taking the whole leaf, I wasn't sure if I can make a tea from it since the powder is so fine. Now that I think of it, I could use a coffee filter instead of a tea bag.

Thirdly, I could even make a tincture of it if I really needed too. Recently I'm in such better health that I can actually drink caffeine and small amounts of booze if I really wanted to!!! Hoorah!

So anyway, how did you all take it?
Posted 4/23/2016 9:38 PM (GMT 0)
For the Houtt: I am a tincture type person. I did one drop 1 time a day and worked up to where now I am 2 droppers full,3 times a day.

As for the Sida Acuta, I took it and then stopped because it affected my heart, but my heart is really easily affected.

I hope someone else chimes in.
Posted 4/23/2016 9:48 PM (GMT 0)
I remember you mentioning to me before that Sida Acuta did that to you. Still for me it affects my eyes. It's got to be the only thing I've experienced that seems like a herx. I'm actually taking over the recommended amount per day now, and taking two full droppers 3x a day.

I've never made my own tinctures before, except green tea tinctures back in the day. I'm not sure how to make my own tincture of Houtt though, because I'm not sure how long to steep the powder for (I would assume days, if not weeks).
Posted 4/23/2016 10:05 PM (GMT 0)
I think our Moderator cd has done it. If not, you can easily google how to make tinctures. She even got the organic grain alcohol for hers. I probably should make my own tinctures. I make my own soaps and hand lotions..... I just keep thinking I will get well and not need this stuff. I am such a Pollyanna.
Posted 4/23/2016 10:59 PM (GMT 0)
I use the "cut, sifted" houttuynia for my tea and I use only 3 grams per 3 cups of water. In this thread, I detailed how I go about making the medicinal tea. www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=30&m=2887463

I would suggest that you research it (or ask a very knowledgeable herbalist), but 3 grams should be three grams.

Houttuynia is powerful stuff, so don't steep it for any longer than the 10 minutes recommended, unless you are making a tincture, but of course, that's different anyway.

This is a site that I trust a lot. mountainroseblog.com/guide-tinctures-extracts/
Posted 4/23/2016 11:12 PM (GMT 0)
Yeah, I might have to do an extract some way or another. I just tried putting it in capsules, and one tbs amounts to 30 "0" capsules. That's a lot of pills for just houttuynia!
Posted 4/24/2016 12:28 AM (GMT 0)
Houttuynia can be very strong, and you might not be able to tolerate a whole tablespoon. Like all herbs, it should be ramped up gradually. I opted for tincture, since I could start at the smallest dose possible. Gradually I got up to 1 full dropper twice a day for houttuynia tincture from dried leaves (or 1/4 dropper if using fresh leaf tincture). Fresh leaves produce the strongest tincture. Dried leaves are better for tea, but are suitable for tincture if that's the only form you can get/make.

1st Chinese Herbs has dried. You can order live plants from Richters. I'm a bit too far north for it to be happy here, so I just used dried leaf tincture.

Tincture making is pretty easy. I do it high tech (Vitamix to powder herbs, vacuum suction to press), but you can do it low tech (buy powdered herb or tincture whole herb, hand press). I use organic grain alcohol from Alchemical Solutions (you might need to get an alcohol permit from your state first). Everclear is another option. You could use any vodka from the store, but some herbs do best with a specific alcohol percentage. You do need to add water if you're using Everclear or organic grain alcohol. There's pretty good instructions in Buhner's books. These are good resources on making standardized tinctures. I let my tinctures go for 4 weeks. If you use any vodka (something <190 proof), they should go for 6-8 weeks.

bearmedicineherbals.com/an-introduction-to-tinctures.html
/oldwaysherbal.wordpress.com/2013/12/15/making-weight-to-volume-tinctures/
Posted 4/24/2016 2:06 AM (GMT 0)
We make infusions of houttuynia, Japanese knotweed, and cordyceps, lions mane and reishi mushroom powders.

We (both K and myself) were unable to make it past 1 tsp daily (divided into 3 doses, 8am, 3pm, 8pm) of houttuynia powder, without getting into a herx mess. We opted for the low dosage/longer treatment option.

There are different types of extractions that can be made from these herbs. An alcohol extraction is a tincture, a water extraction is an infusion, and an acid extraction is produced when you swallow the dry capsules (ie stomach acid).

To make 3 doses (a day's worth) of tea out of powdered herb, you boil water and pour 1/2 cup into a Pyrex measuring cup. Then you add the amount of herb that you want to use for the whole day into the measuring cup too. We use 1/3 tsp per dose, 3x daily, so we add 1 tsp to the cup.

You can also add the other herbs you are infusing into the cup at the same time. So to the same cup I add 1 tsp Japanese knotweed, 1/2 tsp of cordyceps and lions mane, and 1/2 tsp of reishi.

Then you cover and let cool to room temperature. I always make my infusions the night before for the next day, and put them into the fridge.

Buhner says to allow the infusion to cool from very hot through a range of temperatures, because different constituents are extracted at difference temperatures. In this way you will be extracting the maximum number of constituents available into the water. However, these may be different from the constituents extracted by alcohol which is why some people find tinctures to be more effective, while some like infusions.

When it is time to dose, you stir the herbs in the water and measure out 1 1/4 oz into a shot glass, making sure the herbs are suspended in the water while you are pouring. Empty the shot glass into a larger glass and add a bit more water and any tinctures you want to take at the same time (this is when we add our ginger, turmeric, rhodiola, cilantro, CSA and red root tinctures.

Drink all this down and follow with a shot of pomegranate juice (which makes everything much more pleasant).

By drinking the herbs along with the infusion, you are allowing an acid extraction of even more constituents to take place. This is why I have never tried to sieve out the herbs before drinking.

I have never attempted to make my own tinctures. I am a chicken.
Posted 4/24/2016 11:09 AM (GMT 0)
I'm a bit of a "by the book" type of person and then might get creative afterwards lol

In his coinfection book that includes Bartonella, Buhner recommends fresh leaf Houttuynia tincture.

The only recommended source of his that makes fresh leaf tincture is Woodland Essence.

Before I bought Buhner's book that includes Bartonella, I had used Nutramedix (Cowden) Houttuynia, Sage Woman Herbs and Montana Farmacy - all made from dried leaf Houttuynia. I herxed on them all and it's clear others find dried herb Houttuynia to be effective.

I got up to maximum doses (1/4 to 1/2 tsp 3x daily) of 17 different herbs and the cost was really hurting my wallet. That's why I finally decided to make my own tinctures and I have quite the apothecary now :) I don't make the two fresh herb tinctures I take, though. I couldn't find a Buhner-recommended source that proved cost-effective for them.
Posted 4/24/2016 7:00 PM (GMT 0)
I got a tincture from my LLND, which I put in capsules. I'm up to about 1 1/3 droppers full per day, but I've only recently started it and my LLND said to build up relatively slowly.
Posted 8/3/2016 7:56 PM (GMT 0)
Grateful for this thread! Making my hottuynia tincture today. Thanks for the info.
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