CRAMPS

Symptoms:

Painful, spasmodic, and involuntary contractions of the muscles; in the stomach, in a muscle, in the uterus or genital organs, in the bladder, or in the kidneys.

Cause:

Panic and fear, food, or a congested condition in the stomach and the bowel.

Herbal aids:

The first thing to do is to locate the condition and then cleanse the bowel, if that is what is needed.  Use an antispasmodic or cramp bark.  For stomach cramps take a little tincture of rhubarb in water.  For uterine cramping, use cramp bark, squaw vine, or wild yam.  Many times when a cramp comes on, all that is needed is one-half teaspoon of ginger in a cup of hot water.

Useful herbs:

All-heal, anise, balm, black cohosh, blessed thistle, blue cohosh, cajeput (oil), calamine, camomile, caraway, cardamon seed, cayenne, chickweed, cloves, coral, cowslip, cramp bark, daffodil, dill, fennel, goose grass, juniper berries, lady's slipper, linden flowers, lobelia, masterwort, motherwort, mudar bark, nettle, nutmeg (oil), parsley, pennyroyal, peppermint (herb and oil), prairie hyssop, rue, sage, skullcap, silverweed, skunk cabbage, Stone root, thyme, twin leaf, valerian, whortleberry, wood betony, yarrow.