Jiaogulan, The Immortality Herb for Renewed Energy

 

I am excited to tell you about Jiaogulan.  It is one of the herbs I began taking six months ago in my personal health path to recovery after taking care of my father-in-law for almost 3 years.  When he passed away in April of this year, I had been putting in 24 hours a day. I had not been home with my husband for weeks. Sleep had been in bursts with his dad up and down all night. My nerves were so far gone, I did not even realize it until he passed, and I just fell apart physically.

Right after he died, it was my granddaughter’s graduation in Colorado. Marty stayed home to take care of our plant nursery and the animals. I didn’t get much sleep there either and everyone was sick at her party. I came home very sick with bronchitis and strep throat.

I took my standard regimen including echinacea, goldenseal, oregano, and Vitamin C. I did not get better. I realized then just how bad my immune system was from stress. I went to the doctor and did for the first time in several years take antibiotics, two rounds of them, two different antibiotics. They did not do much either except cause a yeast imbalance in my whole system on top of it all. I now was sicker than before I had gone to the doctor.  It was serious. We were still under stress dealing with his death and all the legal and financial issues that go with that. I took care of a difficult man, extremely difficult, but I loved his father. Grief was part of the whole health imbalance.  The state of your heart, mind, and soul all come into play during a health crisis.

Realizing the seriousness of the situation, I reevaluated what to do next.  My usual regimen and training are in western herbs. That is my 37 years of background as a Master Herbalist. So, I then investigated adaptogens and Ayurvedic medicine again. I really hadn’t looked at that healing modality in a number of years. I had forgotten how amazing Ayurvedic medicine was because it identifies your individual constitution, then gives you the herbs that fit your constitution and basic personality traits. Ayurvedic medicine is quite dense and takes years to master.  Today Ayurvedic teachers are breaking down this complicated healing modality so we can understand it better. I will be taking 7 weeks of classes under a well-known Ayurvedic master.  That is exciting. You can use Ayurvedic medicine without becoming a master.  It is well worth your health to begin reading about it and how effective it is.

Ayurvedic medicine has been used for 5000 years with success.  Ayurvedic medicine gives you herbs and combinations of herbs that balance out your different body organ systems and deal with the cause of the imbalance such as stress. Ayurvedic medicine works to balance out the different elements of mind, body, soul, and spirit.

So many times, when we are sick, it is because of life events that cause stress and affect us in so many profound ways.  I realized I needed herbs that had the effect of re-balancing and rebuilding my whole system. That is what I needed to get well.  So, I focused on rebuilding my immune system as well as my depleted nervous system.  I did go back to my regimen of herbs such as goldenseal, but I added several herbs for the immune system and nerves. Over the next articles, I will go over these herbs that are now a big part of our daily program.

Did these herbs work?  I am writing again with energy and excitement. I wrote little the past 3 years with little time and stress beyond the breaking point.  Writing projects just sat on paper with little progress.  I did not feel like doing any of it, running on Adrenalin, taking care of his father who was one difficult Commander who at 94 was still dictating that everything be done his way or the highway. I am up at 4.00 am writing without fatigue.  The way I feel is the best I have felt in a number of years. So, these next articles are written from the viewpoint of being at breaking point to feeling full of life. I owe that to Adaptogen and Ayurvedic herbs which are what I have been taking since May of this year.  That is what is so wonderful about herbal medicine, that there is a whole world of herbs to utilize given by our creator above.  If one regimen does not solve the health problem, there are others to try.

Jiaogulan, The Immortality Herb for Renewed Energy

It is one of the Adaptogen herbs that are easy to grow yourself. It is a vine where all you do is cut the leaves and stems and make tea. You don’t have to dig up the root as Ginseng.  It does not have to be grown for 5 years before you can harvest the leaves. It is a pretty vine that can be grown in a hanging pot or basket. It is a pleasing-tasting tea as well.

 

 

 

You can drink the tea, take capsules, or use it in hot medicinal herbal chai.  Every morning I make a drink with milk, Jiaogulan, turmeric, gotu kola, nutmeg, and cinnamon. It takes good and it wakes my mind up with no caffeine in any of these herbs. I take Jiaogulan in capsule form as well as part of my regimen to rebuild my immune system and nerves.  This chai drink does not taste bad, and you can add stevia as a sweetener if you wish.

Jiaogulan is an herb that most people may not know.  You may be familiar with the amazing benefits of ginseng, but it is expensive and hard to grow yourself. It takes 5 years in the ground before you harvest your ginseng root. Jiaogulan is so much easier to grow and use. It is less expensive, even if you buy it.  Jiaogulan contains 82 healing constituents to ginseng’s 28. Jiaogulan should be in everyone’s daily regimen for good health.

These compounds occurring in Jiaogulan have multiple effects on all the different systems of your body.  These effects normalize imbalances. If your blood pressure is too high, it brings it down. If it is too low, it brings it up to balance.  It does not work on just one system but works generally over all the systems to help them to work more effectively. It works to help your body to work as God designed it, efficiently and effectively.

Important Note to readers taking prescription drugs:

Now I have to note here that if you are on prescription drugs, taking Jiaogulan can correct things like high blood pressure so you could end up needing less of your prescription drug. If on prescription drugs you need to be monitored by your doctor.  This goes for anyone on blood thinners, heart, or cholesterol medicine.  If you are taking Jiaogulan and blood pressure medicine, you could end up with an overdose of the medicine. You must have a doctor supervise your health.  Drugs and herbs taken at the same time can be really dangerous.  Ask your doctor to help you lower your dosage. Ask him for his help. He may tell you herbs don’t work. He has no education other than standard medicine, so his knowledge base is usually zero. He has no idea about the hundreds of quality double-blind studies available on different herbs including Jiaogulan.

This is the introductory lesson into the world of Adaptogen and Ayurvedic herbs.  The next article will cover Jiaogulan in depth.

More links to learn about Jiaogulan are below:

https://healthyfocus.org/jiaogulan-benefits/#:~:text=Jiaogulan%20is%20an%20excellent%20source%20of%20natural%20antioxidants,those%20unwanted%20signs%20that%20we%20are%20getting%20older.

 

https://www.verywellhealth.com/the-lowdown-on-jiaogulan-88940

Cathryn Freer, the Herbladyisin signing off.