Saturday my husband was bush hogging near the woods around his mom’s house & @ some point during the day, ended up being bitten by a brown recluse. Being the unconcerned soul he is, I didn’t know about it until Sunday night. Monday morning he was running a low grade fever, the site of the bite was swollen, full of fever & bright red. Thankfully we had a session on bites at herb school recently so I knew just what to do to draw out the poison.
{Disclaimer: I am an herbalist, not a medical doctor. This information is for educational purposes only, & is in no way meant to diagnose or treat any ailments. Amen.}
Once Brandon felt the bite was affecting him, & asked for help, I went into overdrive & pulled 2 herbs from my apothecary. Echinacea & Plantain. The echinacea I had in dried form, and the plantain I picked from the dog free section of our lawn.
Each hour, on the hour, I applied a poultice of the herbs. To poultice them, I had Brandon chew a tsp sized amount of plantain, mixed that well with the echinacea & placed them on the feverish area from the bite. Gauze was taped over the herbs and as the herbs pulled out the poison, the fever came with it. When the gauze went from being cool to warm to the touch, it was time to change out the poultice for a fresh batch.
Internally, I gave him a decoction of 1 Tsp echinacea & 1 Tsp of fresh plantain. To make a decoction (the Southern method of medicine making) simply low boil your herbs in a small sauce pan for 15-20 minutes uncovered, strain & ingest. The “grassy” taste of the plantain was easily balanced with a heaping spoonful of local raw honey to make it more palatable.
About twelve hours into treatment, Brandon’s fever finally broke & after 2 applications of the poultice & 2 cups of he herbal tea, his arm was looking significantly better. Twenty-four hours have now passed & the soreness has decreased & the site of the bite is drawing to a head. We will continue this treatment – backing down to every 3-4 hours until all of the fever is gone from his arm for at least a day.
It’s a crazy life & I’m thankful for the knowledge of herbs to be able to help support the craziness.
Tread softly,
Mae
Going Herbal 