Last night at 11:30 PM I received a text from my youngest, now away at college. “I’m at the ER with a fever, feel awful.” And later at 2:30 AM, “I tested positive for the flu. They gave me Tylenol. I’m heading home now.”
We are a four hour flight away, so there wasn’t much I could do other than to ask her to keep me posted. I hadn’t yet put together cold and flu capsules for this coming season and was planning to make and send them this week. I didn’t know when I mixed and made them yesterday that she was already sick. I think that comes solidly in the Murphy’s law category!
I did in fact make cold care capsules (pictured above) yesterday, pack close to 50 of them – more than she’ll need – in a box, and mail them to her. I anticipate they’ll arrive right around the time she’s starting to get better. Oh, well. Next year they will be on the plane with her.
These capsules are very effective. When taken at the first sign of symptoms they always seem to prevent a serious cold or flu from setting in. I often pair them with a nice dose of Emergen-c to hedge my bets, being a belt and suspenders kind of girl. 🙂
The formula, which comes from Rosemary Gladstar’s recipes, is simple:
1 part powdered Echinacea angustifolia
1 part powdered Hydrastis canadenis/Goldseal root
1/2 part powdered Althaea officinalis/Marshmallow root
1/4 part Capsicum annum/Cayenne
Mix them together evenly and encapsulate.
making capsules is easy with a capsule maker. And you can buy gel capsules online inexpensively.
Dosage: Take 2 at the first sign of cold or flu and every 2 hours up to 9/day and not exceeding 3 days.
If you would like to buy capsules I make and send them. A trusted technical advisor and I are working on an on-line store for these kinds of apothecary essentials. Till that’s up and running, and mindful that flu season seems to have started early, please drop me a note at kirsti.frazier@gmail.com. The cost is $47.99 for 30 capsules or $84.99 for 60 of them.
Goldenseal root, an herb endangered in North America from over harvesting, emerging from the forest floor in spring
Some time ago a friend approached me about his case of chronic colitis. Which is to say — he has had it for a long time and it’s pretty miserable, and did I have any suggestions?
Off the top of my head, other than demulcents, which are mucilaginous herbs that coat and soothe inflamed or irritated membranes, I did not. But I did a bit of reading and found that there is an herbal formula that has been used for IBS and similar problems related to the digestive system for a long time with good results, and has been adapted for use with modern constituent derivatives, etc. Looking at the ingredients list, it seemed to me that the formula addresses inflammation and virus in the gut. None of the ingredients had contra-indications that discouraged me, though these are definitely medicinal, rather than tonic herbs. By that I mean that these herbs are known to have powerful and immediate effects, as opposed to herbs that are gentler and can be taken daily and indefinitely. 
I decided to make the traditional formula myself and share it with him. 
There are versions of the formula that can be purchased online and have been modified from the traditional version by their makers, but I found an “original” formula that did not include derivative compounds, and purchased those herbs.
the individual ingredients in Roberts formula pictured here and combined at front in a mixing bowl before encapsulating
I will give away the ending before continuing this story: this formula worked for him. It corrected a chronic and persistent case of colitis that had been present for over a decade in a matter of weeks. 
encapsulating Robert’s Forumula
When the herbs arrived I had to grind some in order to be able to compound them, so I spent a Saturday morning grinding and combining them in equal parts. The old formula did not specify the quantity or ratio of each herb. I know from my herbal studies that often we combine in equal parts unless we know an herb (like cayenne or in goldenseal, for example) should be used more sparingly. I made the decision to combine them in equal parts.
The ingredients in the formula I made: Purple Coneflower root (Echinacea angustifolia), Marshmallow Root (Althaea officinalis), Wild Indigo Root (Baptisia tinctoria. note here the original called for a different genus – Baptisia australis, but the tinctoria was available and I judged the substitution to be fine), Slippery Elm Bark (Ulmus rubra), Poke Root (Phytolacca americana), American Cranesbill Root (Geranium maculatum), Goldenseal Root (Hydrastis canadensis. A note, this is an endangered species at this time so I was careful to order it organically cultivated. Please don’t buy this wildcrafted.)
We know that herbs are the original medicine of the people, and that they are powerful and effective, but I was surprised at how quickly and effectively this formula worked because traditional allopathic medicine had tried and failed to treat him. The truth is that allopathic medicine often is more quickly effective for some things – for killing pain, for example. But in this case these herbs, which are whole foods, worked with his body to remedy a problem that had been serious and persistent for many years, and had not been treatable with allopathic medicine.
Some of the versions of this formula you can buy are liquid and arguably more easily absorbed. I felt that in this person’s case the ease of the capsules would help ensure he’d take them, and the pure nature of the herbs compounded together with no “carrier” ingredients (tincture or syrup) felt intuitively right and was more accessible to me. 
If you have questions about this please feel free to reach out to me. I’m not a doctor, just a simpler herbalist, but I felt sharing this was important because of the profound effect it had for my friend , and I know that many people have similar digestive problems. 
Backyard Botanics 