Started replacing my OTC medicine stockpile with actual plants and honestly kind of wish I did this sooner

Posted by Wise-Effort3486@reddit | preppers | View on Reddit | 39 comments

Okay so this might be a weird one but hear me out.

I've been prepping for a while and for the longest time my medical strategy was just... buying a lot of ibuprofen. Rotate the stock, check the dates, repeat. Felt like I had it figured out.

Then it hit me that I was still 100% dependent on a supply chain for literally every single medical need. Like even just a bad cut or a rash. That felt like a pretty embarrassing hole in my setup so I started looking into medicinal plants and now I'm kind of obsessed.

Here's what I actually have in the ground and why:

Yarrow – stops bleeding. Like, actually stops it. You crush the leaves into a paste and put it on a wound and it helps clot. People have been doing this for thousands of years and there's a reason. Also grows back every year without you doing anything which is the whole point.

California Poppy – before anyone says anything, totally legal, totally non-addictive. I added this one because honestly sleep deprivation is going to be a massive problem in any serious situation and nobody talks about that. Soak the plant parts in vodka for a few weeks and you've got a tincture that genuinely helps you wind down and takes the edge off minor pain.

Calendula – the workhorse. Burns, cuts, rashes, bites. You infuse the dried flowers in oil, add beeswax, done. You now have a salve that lasts over a year and handles like 80% of minor skin stuff.

Finding good seeds that actually germinate was way more annoying than I expected ngl. Took a few tries.

Anyone else doing this? What am I missing from my list?

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Mission_Reply_2326@reddit

Garlic is delicious and incredibly anti-microbial. Mints are good for tummy upset and easy to grow. Lemon balm is calming and easy to grow. Rosemary is good for warding off lice (and also delicious). Echinacea is beautiful and medicinal (immune booster). I like to use local wild plants and thats where the real magic happens in my ecosystem! Cottonwood and devils club salve is for literally everything you can put a salve on. Oregon grape has a bunch of medicinal properties (liver tonic, helps fight infections, can aid in blood sugar management). Raspberry leaves are uterine tonic and basically good for that time of the month problems. Colts foot is where robatussin gets the “tussin” and can be used for the same things (tussilago farfara- this isnt where I live but it is great if it grows where you live). Willow bark=aspirin. Plantain is perfect cure for rashes- even fungal ones like diaper rash- just chew it up and spit it out and there’s your rash cure.

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sassysassysarah@reddit

Raspberry is also good for diabetics. It's like the lower sugar option in the berry world and it's used a ton in diabetic meal plans and snacks

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Very-Confused-Walrus@reddit

I eat my fill of garlic to ward off vampires. Can’t be too careful. Just so happens it’s good on just about everything too

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Mission_Reply_2326@reddit

Of these, the three I swear by the most are: (1) Garlic- this thing is magic. It can be used to treat vaginal yeast infections (Knick it and stick it works!); can get rid of worts; can be steamed and inhaled for sinus infections AND ITS DELICIOUS. (2)plantain greens chewed up as rash treatment. When my son was a baby, nothing from the drug store helped with the diaper rash…. But plantain did! Worked so well! (3) cotton wood and devils club salve- the cotton wood numbs muscle aches and pains and eases pain from bruises, it’s also anti inflammatory … and the devils club promotes healing and is good for boils, wounds,skin infections, swollen glands and arthritis.

Skalgrin@reddit

Replacement is probably not the best idea in general. It's a great supplement and potentially a substitute if the meds would become unavailable.

Herbal treatment is useful but far less effective compared to modern meds (in general). That means, it's good for light to mild issues. Above that herbs still help, but lack the power so the person can go into more serious states of health despite herbal treatment.

And herbs can be as dangerous as meds if used without proper knowledge and training. Some herbs help to treat stuff, but overdo the dosage and your livers or kidneys gets irreversible damage, which might lead even to shortening life. Some herbs are now considered as dangerous despite being successfully used in folk herbal treatment. Because using them can lead to poisoning right away or liver/kidneys collapse some time later.

It's not as good to treat a fever today to die in 5 years do to health being damaged.

That said - herbal medicine is golden, but only as long you study it properly. Study the herbal medicine today, there is shit ton of well researched books with all the lab data behind and all the warning and whistles. Know how to identify properly (small difference can in some cases switch from a healing plant to poisonous), how and when to pick (some plants can be picked only in certain tlperiod of year, or only some parts of the plants are beneficial), how to dry if necessary (you can ruin it), how and how long to store (light, mold and time is your enemy). Have the equipment to weigh the medicine properly (overdose is dangerous, underdose not helping). Etc.

peacequietnchips@reddit

Would you be able to recommend a specific book that has data? I have many herbal books that don't have actual data. This is a good idea.

Example in my native language:

IrwinJFinster@reddit

Why not do both? I have aspirin from the 80’s that are still effective. Not all drugs become toxic or useless after the use-by date.

Utter_cockwomble@reddit

If tablets/capsules are kept cool and dry they retain 90% or more of their potency for years.

There are a couple of exceptions so check with a friendly pharmacist.

BluejayDifferent9388@reddit

So yes and no, herbs are great and work for some issues, as an herbalist and author in the disaster preparedness space I like to see folks out there taking responsibility for their own needs.

That being said antibiotics, anti nausea, and fever reducers are a god send and shouldn’t be ignored. Herbs are amazing but have their place.

As for common herbs: comfrey for herb care, mint, lemon balm, marshmallow, goldenrod, bee balm, reshi mushrooms etc all are easy to grow and have multiple medicinal uses.

I’d advise getting a couple good herbals, and an English physician figuring out what grows native around you and then filling in as needed with cultivated herbs

Hoyle33@reddit

Why not both?

TheRealBunkerJohn@reddit

It's not weird in the slightest! I realized after a surgery that my painkiller options were...well, Tylenol and ibuprofen. That was a wake-up call. As a bit of a green thumb, I've shifted my indoor garden into plants that can supplement or replace some medications (obviously not at a 1-1 ratio or effectiveness, but still useful.)

I never thought about houseplants having medicinal value. What plants do you grow indoors/ what uses?

bluedog165@reddit

Add Mullien...make your own tincture...Greatly relieves lung congestion/ coughing. Also helps me get through allergy season.

zivja@reddit

Does anyone perhaps have any information about how to get hormones like hydrocortisone and thyroxine without blending freshly killed animal organs?

Friendly_Shopping286@reddit

"I prefer to only use natural medicines. The only time I'll take Western medicine is if the natural medicine didn't work." - an acquaintance of mine who lacks critical thinking skills.

As mentioned above there are lots of natural plants that offer some amazing benefits... But there are way too many ailments out there that actually require Western medicines. Make sure to stockpile those if you can

Cats_books_soups@reddit

Dollar tree sells mixed perennials seeds. I got some when I moved into my house 8 years ago. Germinated them in a seed tray before planting them out. I got echinacea and calendula, along with lots of other things. Cheap option for getting those plants if you don’t mind waiting.

Emotional_Seat_7424@reddit

I would not REPLACE the OTC medicine as the convenience and security in dosage is far beyond anything you can get from herbal remedies and some effects cannot be achieced from natural plants.

But I get it as a supplemental part of the prep

To add willow bark is a known pain reliever because it contain salicylic acid or something close to it (effective compund in aspirin).

Barley - homebrew itself is nice but you could go a step further and make concentrated spirit with a still ensuring you could make disinfectant

SnooKiwis2161@reddit

Yes exactly. Knowledge of herbs is good but a person will learn real fast what can be replaced and can't be if they experiment with things.

flortny@reddit

White willow bark is basically aspirin, blood thinner, pain reliever....the vast majority of medicine has roots in homeopathy. The pharmaceutical intervention didn't really get traction or even trustworthy until the 1950's, then they basically put natural cures into pill form and used the money FROM THE PLANT MEDICINE, To demonize homeopathy, 180-200,000 years of walking upright and caring for ourselves using nature......less than 100yrs of drug companies.....which do you actually trust? Antibiotics, game changer but other than that....."modern" medicine is a shell game throwing spaghetti at a wall and seeing what sticks.....placebo results are still consistent in drug trials than the actual drug

Financial_Resort6631@reddit

It’s wild that I can post publicly available tax payer funded evidence based medical information that hasn’t gotten blessed by medical associations yet and the mods come in an lock the post but we can throw around medical herbs information with no dosing information, how to prepare it, or any safety information at all.

Well I am sure this is completely fine. No harm can come from internet pharmaceutical advice. No bad can happen only good can happen. 🙄

Autocannibal-Horse@reddit

White clover leaf and flower (tea) for chest congestion

Tumeric for anti-inflammatory

Spearmint (tea) for hormone control

Chamomile (tea) for anxiety

Dadd_io@reddit

Tumeric doesn't do squat for inflammation.

DomFitness@reddit

I’ve heard that adding finely ground black pepper to a turmeric tincture enhances the absorption of the turmeric. I’ve occasionally mixed turmeric, black pepper, and honey to milk as a drink and noticed some subtle changes in inflammation ✌🏻🤙🏻

-Thizza-@reddit

Just make sure you use your actual medicines on your children. The number of sick kids I saw die of herbal intoxication from healers in Northern Nigeria was maddening. They were coming in too late to start actual medical treatment. You can experiment on yourself how much you want.

mad_method_man@reddit

this got me curious, and now im like 3 papers deep. is it ackee? or are there more herbal things?

not into herbal options, but it never hurts to know

There's tons of benign plants you can poison yourself with if potency and quantities are high with countless of different symptoms, none of them we couldn't determine in our basic children's hospital. Even festering wounds were packed with herbs and making it worse.

did the herbal doctors knew what they were doing or it was just snake oil to take advantage of people? or a bit of both?

Does any herbal doctor know what they're doing? It's impossible to determine doses with natural materials without a lab and they don't do tests before and during treatment to evaluate progress.

I believe they were only good intentions from the village elders.

saltyoursalad@reddit

Very important note.

redpain13131313@reddit

Most of the best herbs have been covered by everyone else but I just wanted to add feverfew for fever reduction and mullen for an expecterant for congestion and colds.

Reinvented-Daily@reddit

Just FYI herbal remedy books go on sale all the time at Barnes and Noble. There's even a few that will explain proper dosage for each plant and what you can/ can't combine them with.

Eurogal2023@reddit

Aloe vera for burns and anything skin related, plantain (any plantago species) for wound healing, chamomile for sleep and stomach problems, hot peppers for stomach and heart, hawthorn for heart regulation, just to mention a few.

For pain management you have wild lettuce, willow bark, and of course hemp/weed.

Then we have the whole wolrd of medicinal mushrooms, starting with chaga.

Rivendell_rose@reddit

I’m into herbal medicine and there’s tons more you can do. If you want a good beginner staring place, I recommend The Healing Garden: Cultivating and Handcrafting Herbal Remedies by Juliet Blankespoor. If you have any specific health issues you want to grow herbs for, I may be able to recommend something that can help.

DreamSoarer@reddit

Yes! Medicine herb garden, along with pollinator garden, along with veggie/fruit garden, and a small orchard. It is all natural and better for you if it does the job well enough for your condition. It is also legal to grow many other types of plants, as ornamentals only - you cannot process them for medicinal use. You can use seeds for baking, though.

Keep in mind that many fruit plants and other vegetative growth may be used medicinally. If you want to up your game, find a few books about native medicinal vegetation and herbalism. Have fun growing and prepping 🙏🦋

Total_Transition1533@reddit

Look up the health ranger. He has free ebooks in a library for medicinal plants, tinctures and the like. Mike Adams. He is smart and knowledgeable and has his own lab for testing a lot of things.

Aggravating_Act0417@reddit

Lots are missing.

Ephedra

HummousTahini@reddit

This is interesting and a good start. Would you mind posting the genus species names of the plants you've been experimenting with? I might be interested planting some - want to ensure we're talking about the same ones to get the benefits you describe (and avoid any unwanted interactions).

Thank you!