We found out about this wonderful little plant this Spring when it was growing voraciously throughout our garden beds. I looked it up and found this cousin to the mint family had certain medicinal qualities and tried it out simply by chewing a bit of it and spitting it out. The anti-inflammatory effects were nearly immediate and a problem which has caused me endless knee joint pain for years decrease significantly because the swelling went away. So we did some research and decided to make a medicinal tincture from it.
The process took eight weeks and used a quart of organic potato vodka (so it doesn't trigger Ann's gluten allergy) to draw out the medicines. The processing was simple and we had done extracts before, so knew something of how to keep the downsides out of the mix. In the end we made three different jars, one was straight Purple Dead Nettle (not purple, not dead, and not a nettle at all). The second jar was Purple Dead Nettle with some Spearmint leaves thrown in for flavoring. The third we added Chocolate Mint. All three jars had to sit in the dark for eight weeks.
When we pulled them out I tasted them all using a kitchen teaspoon and put about a tenth of a teaspoon under my tongue at a time. Taste wise, the Chocolate Mint brew was better tasting so we bought a few tincture bottles, the sort with an eye dropper in it, and filled one of them with the stuff. Then the real experimenting started.
I began using this last Tuesday at breakfast. I simply pulled about a half of a teaspoon into the eye dropper and squirted it under my tongue and left it sit there for a half minute before washing it down with juice or whatever I had in my glass. Because of the alcohol content, putting the stuff under your tongue imparts the medicine almost directly into the bloodstream and the effects are nearly immediate.
For the past three days I haven't thought much about my knee, the pain dissipated, any swelling disappeared, and the joint became useful once more. When I sleep I am no longer awakened by twinges of pain from my knee and it is no longer sensitive to being positioned less carefully. The knee joint was always painful, even when sitting or laying down, and it caused me to limp noticeably most of the time. I injured it by misusing the thing and never wearing knee pads, so this has been a long time of often intense pain which could not be avoided. The pain is mostly gone today.
Today I am walking almost normally and beginning to put weight on the leg when climbing stairs and rising from the ground or chair. Being able to work on conditioning will only make things better over time. There simply is no swelling and the nerve endings have calmed to a point where I can walk naturally. I gave up using Voltaren (a topical analgesic with side effects and warnings) this week as unnecessary and go half the day before noticing my knee except to notice there is nothing wrong with it. My knee is still physically injured, this is only going to be fixed by surgery on the meniscus tendon. But using the tincture of Purple Dead Nettle it looks a though I won't need to have things fixed at all. The stuff is amazing.
Ann has had Osteo-Arthritis in her lower back and hands for the past four years, some days nearly debilitating, all days suffering some ill effects. She too was doing half a teaspoon in the morning and it was doing her some good. She was using Voltaren on her hands at bed time and in the morning to help stave off the pain and allow her to work. Today she upped the dose to a teaspoon and is moving around normally. She still has some twinges of pain, but the pain is not associated with the swelling, it is of the bone itself. Her pain was much more acute than mine, but it too is beginning to slack off and allow her to do the work we have to do here.
If you want to try some of this tincture out. Get in touch and we will hook you up. No side effects to be expected. Nothing in it that might hurt you that we know of. It is something of a miracle in a two ounce bottle and makes me wonder what other good ideas we might find out in the garden.
