Treating Nausea With Herbal Medicine
Nausea is one of the most common symptoms or side effects felt, and can be quite debilitating if it can not be alleviated quickly.
This is why it is beneficial for everybody to understand how to treat this issue quickly, and effectively at home.
Nausea is not so much a condition, as it is a symptom of a condition. This is why treating the symptom of nausea is not always the most effective method of correcting the problem.
It is, however, a good way of making one comfortable while the condition sorts itself out, or in conjunction with herbs that address the underlying issue.
Ginger
(Zingiber officinale)
Arguably, the best, and themost versatile herb used for nausea is ginger (Zingiber officinale). Ginger is useful for almost all forms of nausea, and is readily available to almost anybody. It can be used for motion sickness as both a preventative AND treatment, as well as for morning sickness and PMS related nausea. It is soothing to the stomach, and its warming qualities help digest the contents of the stomach to ease indigestion related nausea.
Try this ginger extract for nausea.
Peppermint
(Mentha piperita)
Another valuable herb for nausea is peppermint (Mentha piperita).
This herb is also readily available and works great for a variety of different causes of nausea. It has a much more cooling action and does not seem to stimulate digestion as well as ginger.
It does, however, work very well for eliminating gas in the digestive tract, which may also be a cause for nausea.
German chamomile
(Matricaria chamomila)
German chamomile (Matricaria chamomila) is another useful herb for this condition, and works in a similar way as peppermint, eliminating the buildup of intestinal gas, and soothing the stomach and digestive tract.
This herb is much more sedating than ginger and peppermint and therefore is especially useful at bedtime.
Cannabis
(Cannabis sativa/indica)
Cannabis is a well known treatment for nausea, and has a long history of use as such.
The CBD and other cannabidiols contained within the cannabis plant act on our intrinsic (contained naturally within us) cannabinoid system.
This system regulates the normal functioning of a variety of processes within our body.
The phytocannabinoids act on this system to regulate normal processes within our bodies. By taking in these cannabinoids they are able to bind to, and modulates this system, thereby reducing such symptoms as pain, convulsions or spasms, and of course, nausea.
Every strain of cannabis (and there are in fact A LOT of different strains) is slightly different and can have different strengths and weaknesses for treating these sorts of conditions as well as neurological conditions, heart conditions, or cancer. Overall, CBD (Cannabidiol) is generally the main chemical held responsible for these anti-nausea actions, which can be found in the highest amounts in Cannabis indica species.
The dose needed to cause these effects is fairly low, and with very high doses can actually trigger the opposite and CAUSE nausea.
The key to using cannabis for nausea is to only use a small amount (10-15 drops of a 1:5 tincture).
In places where cannabis is no longer outlawed, CBD extracts can be found which will not cause the side effect of psychological intoxication, but may cause some drowsiness in some individuals.
More holistic extracts of the whole plant are also available in these places.
I recommend these liquid or encapsulated extracts over smoking for use in treating nausea with cannabis.
Using Formulas Over Single Herb Extracts:
As with most herbal therapies, simple, one herb applications can be very useful, but the superior treatments will use a combination of multiple herbs, which often address different causes and symptoms.