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Journal
of an Herbalist: Uticaria
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By
Karima Burns
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24/04/2002
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The
body often cannot detoxify itself after repeatedly inhaling pollutants. |
Case: Jenna came to me complaining that she experienced such severe hives that she was on a daily antihistamine to prevent outbreaks of the hideous welts on her body. Her attacks were so bad that once they started, even the touch of something to her skin caused red welts and a rash. She also suffered from occasional asthma attacks.
I first took a case history of Jenna's situation. She reported that she had suffered from mild hives as a child, again when she was a teenager and now, again at 27-years of age. She was not sure why they went into remission at various times throughout her life. She noted that stress may have been a factor as she had moved across countries at each of these points in her life, however, she was also aware that this could not be the only reason, since stress does not produce hives in all people. Most recently, her health situation had become worse when she lived in Cairo for five years.
During her stay in one of the top five most polluted cities in the world, Jenna had been exposed to an insect invasion of her water system, heavy metals in the water and air, and various chemical agents in car exhaust, general air pollution and cleaning solutions.
Jenna's diet was another possibility for her current health situation. She usually started each day with a cola drink (instead of coffee for caffeine) and although she was vegetarian, she did not eat many vegetables. Instead, she practiced a form of vegetarianism that includes milk products, eggs and fish. Most of her meals consisted of bread products and cheeses. This was largely the same diet she had also had as a child.
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Juices
and specific juice blends can help to detoxify the body. |
Since cheese and milk products are actually one of the main instigators of chronic hives and I felt that Jenna's body was heavily laden with toxins from her stay in Cairo, I recommended to Jenna that she take two different juices to help her detoxify her body. Raw potato and apple juice (ratio 1:4) in the morning would help leach heavy metals and chemicals from her system and a spinach-apple juice (ratio 1:4) would help strengthen and her lungs.
I recommended that she do a ten-day detoxification diet with special juice mixtures to draw specific toxins out of her body. The detoxification diet I gave her consisted only of vegetables, fish and oats, all neutral and usually hypo-allergenic foods. I also recommended that after the detoxification diet she ease back into some of her favorite foods and monitor the reaction on her body.
Last, but not least, I gave Jenna an herbal tea that would specifically work on her stomach, lungs, lymph, kidneys and liver, which were all heavily stressed from her diet and exposure in Cairo. I especially emphasized herbs for the lungs and stomach as these are the two organs associated with hives in traditional Islamic medicine. Her tea included licorice, pau d'arco, yellow dock, cleavers and cloves. 
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