Natural Home-Made Pain Killer

The history of medicine has been enriched by thousands of plant species, but one plant, the willow, has probably been used and prescribed more than any other powdered drug. Willow served as the first aspirin; it contains salicin and was widely used as a painkiller until  about 1853. Salicin is a natural substance, which is metabolized into salicylic acid in the human body and chemically resembles aspirin, temporarily relieving headache, stomach ache, and other body pains.

The leaves and bark of the willow tree have been mentioned in ancient texts from Assyria, Sumer and Egypt as a remedy for aches and fever, and the Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.) wrote about its medicinal properties in the fifth century BC. He noted that chewing leaves of willow (Salix) reduced pain, and he also prescribed this remedy for women in labor. Native Americans, the Alabama, Chickasaw, and Montagnai Indians, used willow to relieve fevers, aches, and pains, and the beneficial effects were also known to the Hottentots of southern Africa. 

The active extract of the bark, salicin, was isolated to its crystalline form in 1828 by Henri Leroux, a French pharmacist, and Raffaele Piria, an Italian chemist, who then succeeded in separating out the compound in its pure state. In 1897, Felix Hoffmann created a synthetically altered version of salicin. The new drug, formally acetylsalicylic acid, was named Aspirin by Hoffmann's employer Bayer AG. Aspirin’s ingredients now come from coal tar and petroleum products and people around the world use about 40,000 tons of aspirins a year to treat disorders and discomforts. It’s so easy (and healthy!) to go natural, so if you wish to give it a try I am sharing this recipe with you:

To make the pain killer you’ll need:

½ teaspoon dried willow bark

2 cups cold water

In a glass jar or bowl add the water and willow bark, cover and soak overnight. The next morning transfer it in a saucepan and bring it to boil. Simmer for 20 minutes at low heat. Strain, cool and bottle. The dosage is ¼ cup to be sipped slowly, as needed for the pain.  

It really does work and very fast indeed! You'll be surprised!

Natural Remedies

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willow

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspirin

http://www.botgard.ucla.edu

Photos:

http://www.bechollashon.org  

http://www.allposters.com

http://el.wiktionary.org