50 days on St. John’s Wort, continued.
1/29/2008
master or weedhopper?
1/25/2008
St. John’s Wort as a tincture
Today is Day 13 on St. John’s Wort and, guess what?, I forgot to take it yesterday. Does that mean I should take two today? Hmmm …. maybe Dr. Eric could consult here. I remember a while ago when Eric was skeptical about “syndromes” (when I blogged about DHEA), so I imagine an herbal remedy won’t gibe with his western medicine sensibilities (though Seattle is geographically closer to Eastern medicine than we are here in Chapel Hill).
Anyway, I think I’ll just get back on schedule with one 300mg capsule at lunch. When friends have asked me how my experiment is going, I can only note feeling much better on all my runs. I haven’t felt that sluggish, slammed feeling in … let’s see now … about 13 days. Perhaps St. John’s Wort is restorative for muscles as well as the brain.
A quick google search revealed this for “st. john’s wort/restorative muscles:”
St. John’s Wort is also useful for other conditions. Many times with great success I have recommended St. John’s Wort oil or tincture for bed wetting, stiff arthritic joints, Bell’s palsy, and shingles and as a restorative for exhausted nervous systems. One man with painful muscles and joints applies the oil topically along his spine. Shortly thereafter, the pain is relieved and he is able to sleep. Another person has difficulty sleeping through the night. She takes St. John’s Wort tincture internally in conjunction with some other herbs. She now sleeps more soundly. Another elderly woman came to see me with such stiff hands that she could no longer play the piano. She massaged St. John’s Wort oil into her hands three times a day as well as taking another herb internally and within a short time she was playing the piano again.
I have been playing the piano again; a coincidence or side effect? 
1/21/2008
Day 8
1/19/2008
Day 6
Yesterday, Day 6, was symptom-free except for a slight difference in my temporal lobes. It was as if more light was in my brain, coming from the sides of my head - through the lobes. One of the known side effects of St. John’s Wort is photosensitivity, so maybe the brain/eye actually does let in more light. Or maybe there was a placebo effect; I read “photosensitivity”and believed I was more sensitive to light. My reading suggested my reaction. If one feels depressed in the winter months due to sunlight deprivation, it would make sense that a drug (or herb) that could actually stimulate light receptors would be effective. A sunlamp would also work, though I haven’t tried that. My brother used to tan himself under a sunlamp. Are those the same sunlamps? I remember people used sunlamps to zap zits; is that still a remedy for acne?
I can see more research is necessary in my experiment of one!
1/17/2008
50 Days on Saint John’s Wort
I don’t really know what a meme is, but I think I’m starting one today … in medius rex. I am on day 5 of taking Saint John’s Wort, an herb/drug (yep, you read that right - “drug” - come all ye with the cries of “Hypocrite!”). Saint John’s Wort is a holistic remedy (or not) for mild depression. I tend to get very blue in the winter months, so I thought I’d try an experiment on myself for 50 days … because there are exactly 50 300mg capsules in the bottle I purchased form Weaver Street Market. I didn’t chart my mood for Days 1,2,3 or 4, but I did look up the side effects on-line for livestock who eat the plant that Saint John’s Wort comes from and it said this:
“Mania and hyperactivity may also result including running in circles until exhausted.”
Well, geez, I’ve been doing that for 30 years … every Wednesday night at the track. I can handle that side effect.
On day five I have observed the following three things:
1.) Dave is calling this herb “Saint Joan’s Wort.”
2.) I don’t fall asleep as easily at night … racing thoughts and all that.
3.) I am feeling slight trepidation when I actually swallow the pill (more so than on Day 1).
Maybe St. John’s Wart is what caused my pajama day.
It looks harmless enough in the photo:
1/14/2008
pajama days
I was feeling surly today, so I decided to run in my pajamas again. Have you ever thought, “I just can’t be bothered to change into running clothes”? That’s what I was feeling today and yesterday. If I have to change clothes, I won’t run. I was warm and comfy in my week-end pink pj’s yesterday and, rather than change into running layers for the cold, I drove over to the trail-head “as is” - assuming I’d make the quick change to real clothes in the parking lot. Instead, I laced on my shoes and hit the trail in my flowing pink pajamas. Wow, was I fast! (or, at least I thought I was). That silk really cut the wind. I was completely set free from convention - and routine. Surely, that truculence was out of my system …
Imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning unable to budge from my cozy bed again. Hmmmm? Perhaps that electric blanket we got for Christmas wasn’t such a great idea after all. I decided to try the power of pj’s again. Where I was alone yesterday in my freaky outfit, today I met a group of ladies for a track workout. “Are those pajamas?!” they wondered, laughing. “Why yes,” I admitted, “I’m feeling surly today.” We all jogged over to the track - me with my spikes and pj’s - and did our extremely grueling 5 sets of 5 X 100m sprints. I might have cried had it not been for those pajamas. Seriously.
I wonder if anyone else has a trick to make it out the door on those “I don’t wanna run days.”
Remember the camp song?:
“I wear my pink pajamas in the summer when it’s hot;
I wear my woolly undies in the winter when it’s not;
and sometimes in the spring
and sometimes in the fall
I jump into the sheets with nothing on at all.”
Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that!
1/2/2008
Black-eyed peas and mustard greens
There aren’t very many people in Chapel Hill who are actually FROM North Carolina, or the south, so you might not know about the traditional New Year’s day meal of black-eyed peas, mustard greens, and cornbread. Here’s what Dave read aloud from wikipedia before he prepared and served a delicious meal yesterday:
Black-eyed peas are traditionally eaten on New Year’s Day in the American South and in some other parts of the USA. The traditional meal also features collard or mustard greens or cabbage. This is supposed to bring good luck and financial enrichment. The peas stand for good luck, the greens symbolize paper money. Cornbread also often accompanies this meal.
These “good luck” traditions date back to the U.S. Civil War. Union troops, especially in areas targeted by General William Tecumseh Sherman, would typically strip the countryside of all stored food, crops, and livestock and destroy whatever they couldn’t carry away. At that time, Northerners considered “field peas” and corn suitable only for animal fodder, and as a result didn’t steal or destroy these humble foods. Many Southerners survived as a result of this mistake.[1]
INGREDIENTS
* 1 1/2 pounds mustard greens
* 4 strips bacon, chopped
* 1 Tbs. canola oil
* one medium onio, chopped fine
* one medium celery stal, chopped fine
* 1 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
* 2 150z cans black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
* 1-2 Tbs cider or red wine vinegar
* salt
* freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Wash the mustard greens in several changes of cold water, stripping off the leafy green portions from either side of the tough central stalk. Discard the stalks and rip the leafy portions into small pieces. Shake to remove the excess water.Cook the bacon and oil in a medium dutch oven until the bacon is crisp, about 6 minutes. Add the onion and celery and cook until softened, about 6 minutes.Add 1 cup ctock and mustard greens, stir well and cover the pan. Cook, stirring once or twice, until the greens have wilted, about 4 minutes.Stir in the black-eyed peas and remaining 1/2 cup stock and cover the pan again. Cook, stirring until peas are heated through and the greens are tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the vinegar and salt and pepper to taste.Serve immediately with hot cornbread on the side.
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