A plant at a time: Oatstraw

[coyotemist]

The myelin sheath info is good to know. Wonder if I can find out more about that? In the past 2 years or so, my left foot drags occasionally, and I'll get a tremble in my left hand. I'm still exploring what that means, along with some tachycardia (with no found cause after a full work up). Anything that's going to help in these areas is welcome.

[Bat in the Gloaming]

I'll ask my friend for more info and let you know what she says.

[coyotemist]

In "A Plant Lover's Guide to Wildcrafting" by Krista Thie she says:

Oats are cultivated for the nutritional value of the grain and have been used for building nerves.

She references a paper by a Dr. G. Nagel called "Personal Communication". It seems that this is Dr. Gabriele Nagel, from the Institute of Epidemiology at Ulm University in Germany. I haven't been able to find the actual paper, but I might be able to in my hospital library.

[coyotemist]

I've also just found this

In addition, Feather Jones, Rocky Mountain Center for Botanical Studies (Boulder, CO) director has suggested that several other nerve-nourishing herbs may potentially help in spinal cord dysfunction (personal communication). For example, she has indicated that a fresh plant extract of skullcap (a member of the mint family) reduces nerve inflammation; a tincture of milky oats (i.e., immature oat seeds) can rebuild the neuronal myelin sheath that is often damaged in both MS and SCI; an external liniment of Cow Parsnip, (a common weed that is a member of the parsley family) is a traditional Southwestern Hispanic remedy for treating injured nerves and stimulating regeneration; external application of St. John’s Wort can treat neural inflammation; and hawthorn helps to hold collagen fibers in place along the spinal cord.

http://www.healingtherapies.info/altern ... primer.htm

[LadyB]

Drives me nuts when they don't say WHICH PART of which plant??? Cow Parsnip - seeds or leaves? Hawthorn - berries or leaf and flower?
What I do when I get a list like this....self-test and see what's right for YOU. I'd just seen recently on Facebook that someone FED ground up Cow Parsnip SEEDS to a goat with a damaged spinal nerve and the recovery was nothing short of miraculous, so they may be looking at the seeds. Interesting stuff.

[Green Raven]

Wow, with cow parsnip you'd REALLY want to know what part and how to use it safely.

[LadyB]

Well, you'd really want to be SURE you have Cow Parsnip (Heracleum) and not Poison Hemlock. And some folks have an allergic reaction to the hairs on the Cow Parsnip stems.

[coyotemist]

I agree that it is frustrating when they don't give enough information. However, I was specifically looking at the "tincture of milky oats" which correlated with the info I found in another book (I still can't find that paper, though, although I found Dr. Nagel's email address...wonder if she'd mind an email...).

The other concerning part of this, is that if someone came across that cow parsnip info and didn't know THE PLANT, it could really be a problem. At least Hawthorn, St Joan, and oats are pretty nourishing, and unlikely to cause any trouble...

[Bat in the Gloaming]

Coyotemist,

My friend finally got back to me about milky oats tops for nerve healing. Unfortunately she only said that she looked it up on line and found stuff. Not very helpful...No links or names of studies etc. So I guess just google : myelin sheath, milky oat tops....I don't have time to do that myself. Maybe later in the year when there isn't so much gardening and harvest to put up. Good Luck!

[Fethenwen]

Ok, the season to actually harvest oatstraw for this year is now over, I'm not really sure it would have been a good idea to harvest from somebody else's field anyway, lol. It's so typical that when I find out about a plant and would like to get to know it better it's already too late to get my hands on it. I'm such a late bird. And we have also VERY short summers

Anyway now I wonder if anyone here perhaps knows where I can buy dried oatstraw in Europe? I haven't had much luck finding it yet, I was thinking about ordering online. I would rather not order all the way from US because of the postage. Any tips or links would be most welcome.

Thanks!

[Fethenwen]

I just got a BIG bag of oatstraw in the post a few days ago, I bought it from Baldwins & Co, wonderful stuff! I have been drinking quite a lot of this, two big cups a day. I feel deeply that this is just what I need, I have been a bit stressed these last two months and a bit down. Also my PMS had gotten worse, and my nerves where quite stretched. So I have been drinking tincture of oat tops for a few weeks and now oatstraw infusion. It might just be my hormones, or that the sun is showing itself more often, but I have been feeling marvelous lately and all the tension I have been having lately is completely gone. Or maybe it's oat that's helping me out of this rut.

Anyway, a cup of oatstraw infusion is soooo soothing, I like drinking it a bit warmed up with a little bit of honey <3 Typing this down makes me want another cup just now

[LadyB]

How great that you were finally able to GET some! Sounds like it's a GOOD ally for you.

[WindDrinker]

My gosh, I haven't posted in a while! But yesterday, a friend thanked me again for introducing her to oatstraw and milky oat tincture, I log on here today and the first place my curiosity takes me is here!
I loves my oats, in any form! Through the worst of the stress six years running, oatstraw and motherwort were my champions. The past 4 years in Alaska have been a glorious discovery of plants I never found elsewhere, and yet.... every summer I grow my oats.

[Bat in the Gloaming]

WindDrinker,

I grew oats last year for the first time. I had a nice patch and watched it closely to catch when they reached the milky stage. Then I harvested them and put them in a dark dry attic to dry. Later I bagged the tops. Then later when I pulled out a bag it had lots of little specks that made me think some worm or other insect got in there and had a good meal. So sad for me as I was looking forward to using them for infusions.

Do you have any wisdom about harvest, drying and storing to prevent this? I'd like to grow another patch but am reluctant for this to repeat.

Thanks
Angela