MM Monday: Carduus Mar

Ready for a deep dive into the world of liver health and homeopathy? We guarantee that this episode will change your perspective on these often overlooked remedies. We're unravelling the mysteries behind Sepia and Lycopodium, as well as examining two lesser-known warriors in the battle for liver health: Carduus Marianus and Chelidonium. We also share a simple yet potent tip about using Carduus Marianus tincture with lemon water for giving your liver a gentle boost, especially during springtime.

Ever heard of Carduus, a gem from the Arnica botanical group? This episode takes you on a journey of discovery, exploring its incredible benefits from first aid to detoxing. We delve into how this remedy works on both mental and physical planes, making it a potent tool in dealing with issues like alcohol poisoning, cirrhosis of the liver, hormone imbalance and even promoting breast milk production. We promise, by the end of this episode, you'll have a newfound understanding and respect for these remedies and the role they can play in supporting your liver health. So, why wait? Tune in now to discover the power of these unassuming heroes.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Liver Health in Homeopathy
• 8:23 The Concept and Uses of Carduus
• 22:45 Cardus Mar and Celludonium Remedies Discussion

Transcript

Bri Hurlburt  0:00  

Welcome back to Homeopathy at Home with Melissa. Hey, Melissa. 

Melissa Crenshaw 

Hey, Bri. 

Bri Hurlburt 0:05

So before we kick off this time, I do want to read another review. I really enjoy doing these so we're gonna keep it going. I hope I'm pronouncing this correctly, but I think Joanie Sue, and they said, “Since learning about this podcast, I've gained so much helpful information that works. Thank you for your willingness to share your vast knowledge and your faith. It's a blessing and so refreshing. Praying for you and your gifts to be multiplied.”

Melissa Crenshaw  0:34  

Awww, so sweet. I love the prayers. I love it.

I would love for you guys to do a review. Wherever you're watching this or listening to this, if you'll give us a review, but especially on Apple podcasts.  The more people review it and give us some good stars, it just comes up more in the feed or when people search so thank you for that. 

Bri Hurlburt  1:07  

Isn’t it funny being on this. You hear people say that when you listen to podcasts all the time, and I'm like, “I'll do that later.” But now we really do see it. When we get them and how happy it … like how good it feels to read them. I’m like, “Oh, now I want to go back to all the podcasts I've loved and write them a nice review.” You know?

Melissa Crenshaw  1:26  

That’s right.  Absolutely. Yeah. Yes to that, and then it also helps other people to find it so you're helping other people also, not just blow our heads up. But we appreciate it. It's so sweet. Thank you so much. 

All right. We're going to talk about the liver tonight. Everybody loves talking about the liver. We all love to cleanse the liver and do all the liver things, right? What do you know or think about the liver Bri?  What comes to mind when you think about liver?

Bri Hurlburt  2:01  

I actually had no … The only thing I knew about liver problems before I had my last baby, maybe even before I even got pregnant with my last one, was severe stuff like liver disease and jaundice. People really, really sick. I didn't realize how common a lot of things we deal with, how commonly those are linked to liver problems. It wasn't until I lived in Pittsburgh, how long ago now? 2018 we moved there. I think it was partially the water that was a big deal. So heavily chlorinated.  After about a year there, I started getting so itchy at night. That's about the time I met Melissa. I don't know if you remember all this, but I used to just like itch and itch.  It would be for hours at night. I would get almost like a … not hives, but some kind of bumps all over. And I would just itch and itch and itch.  It would go away and come back the next day. And it was miserable. It was horrible. I wasn't pregnant.  It went away for most of my pregnancy.  It came back toward the end. And I remember I think it was you who mentioned liver. And it was when I was pregnant. 

You know when you're pregnant, you do think more about cholestasis of the liver and the itching and why that happens. And it clicked. I really think it was the liver, like a toxin overload. I started doing liver support teas and remedies and castor oil packs, you know, all the liver things. I thought about how many people are probably dealing with this type of stuff, the energy levels, all that stuff. Now I'm much more aware of all of the things that can be tied to the liver. 

Melissa Crenshaw  3:56  

If you don't know any … Let me say it the other way. Anybody listening to this podcast is on this journey with us to natural health. But before you got on this journey, or if you're brand new and you didn't know that liver issues could cause itching on your body, what would we do? We would go to the dermatologist. What would they give us? A topical something to just stop the itching, right? Homeopathy just goes so much deeper and homeopathy is just such a beautiful liver support. Well, it supports all of the organs and really brings balance to all parts of the body and immune system but I really love using homeopathy for liver.

Another question, and we didn't talk about this ahead of time. What are two remedies that come to your mind first for liver?

Bri Hurlburt  4:58  

Sepia and Lycopodium?

Melissa Crenshaw  5:01  

Yup.  Yeah. Those are like the number one everybody knows, Sepia and Lycopodium.  Big, huge liver remedies. Guess what? We're going to talk about two other liver remedies tonight because most of you know Sepia or Lycopodium.  Those are just really big, beautiful remedies, but we're going to talk about Carduus Marianus and Chelidonium either in this one podcast, or we might break it up into two.

We're gonna start with Carduus Marianus.  Carduus Marianus is Mary's thistle. That's just the plant, Thistle, this plant, has been used as a food forever. It's a prickly plant. The leaves are white and streaked as if it's got a milky juice inside of it. Here's just a side note idea, something you can do. You can take 10 drops of Carduus Marianus in the tincture form. We're talking mother tincture, not homeopathic, so that's the herbal preparation. Take the mother tincture of Carduus, take 10 drops in the morning, put it in lemon water. Do that for a couple of months during the spring and it's like a nice little liver tone up at springtime for the liver and the gallbladder. It's a really gentle way to tone up the liver. I just thought that was cool. 

I've got Carduus Marianus in the mother tincture form because it's a great gallbladder remedy, like a gallbladder attack. I have it on hand just in case I need something like that. 

Carduus is really gentle. It's just got a gentle side to it.  It's like the gentle mother. It's in the botanical group, like in the Arnica group.  It's in the same family as Arnica, Chamomilla, Calendula, Eupatorium, Bellis Perennis. It's a great first aid remedy. Great for detoxing.  Great for healing. This plant grows in the countryside. It's used in the most basic, fundamental way to keep people healthy. And has been for a long time. 

If you've ever watched Winnie the Pooh, then you know Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh.  He eats this plant.  He eats thistle. And so remember his temperament is grumpy, miserable, pessimistic. He had a jaundiced view of life, right? A theme that runs through all of this family of remedies, like think of Arnica with the spikes on it. So remember Arnica is like, “Go away. Leave me alone. Don't touch me. Back off. Don't touch me.” Remember?  We've talked about Arnica. Carduus is kind of like that. 

It's a wonderful remedy for dealing with the traumas of life, when life is just hard. Carduus looks a bit like Chamomilla.  Think about the angry, bossy little Chamomilla.  It can look kind of like Chamomilla.  In this podcast, or if we decide to break it up into two then the next would be Chelidonium. What would differentiate Carduus from Chelidonium, which is also a big liver remedy, is that Carduus is more gentle.  It's more feminine. Chelidonium is more aggressive, more masculine. That's just a little differentiation there. 

Carduus is great for women whose breast milk has dried up or is out of balance. It appears that Carduus was having a direct effect on the hormonal system, as well as just on the liver and the gallbladder specifically. We know that our hormones are … What is the word?  Is assimilate the right word? They're assimilated in the liver.

Bri Hurlburt  9:56  

I don't know if that’s the word.

Melissa Crenshaw  10:03  

I feel like it's not, but the liver does something with the hormones.

Bri Hurlburt  10:10  

It does help regulate the balance of hormones.

Melissa Crenshaw  10:14  

Right. Right. When the liver is not healthy then the hormones might be out of balance, and Carduus is great for both, hormone balance and liver and, like I said, gallbladder. It's indicated for healthy breast milk. 

This remedy moves from liver to pancreas to spleen in particular. It has a really big spleen link. The movement of Carduus is across, from right to left, which also reminds you of Lycopodium. Think of the sugar cravings of Lycopodium and the pancreatic aspect there. 

Do you want to tell us about the mental picture of Carduus?

Bri Hurlburt  11:01  

Yes, I would love to. And I was also just looking at the liver’s role in hormones, just looking up a couple of things. It's interesting that it helps with breast milk because it does regulate the levels of hormones in our body and helps detoxify, getting rid of the extra that we don't need when there's a higher level of hormones. You wouldn't think breast milk is linked to liver, like you’d use a liver remedy. That might be what it's doing. It might be regulating your hormones by targeting the liver, which helps your production. That's just my theory reading on how the liver works and Carduus being such a big liver remedy. Although in homeopathic form, it can go a lot deeper than just that. Even just as a tincture, like you were saying, if it's taken often in the tincture or lower potencies. Just something that was cool to me. 

Okay, so mentals for Carduus.  There unfortunately are not a lot. Even in the Materia Medica it's super small. I think this might be the smallest I've ever seen the mental picture look. It's also used really often in lower potencies. We’ve talked that it's not a hard rule, but higher potencies are typically the mental potencies.  The ones that are linked to Carduus are joyless, forgetful, bad tempered, angry (like we said, similar to Chamomilla), restless, depressed, sensitive to noise. 

There are other areas, Carduus in particular, for beer or any sort of alcohol to help with detox. This could be linked to the abuse of the liver, which causes some of those bad moods.  Could have constipation and diarrhea alternating, so we're moving to some physicals. Really, the mentals are very short. We just have bad tempered, angry, depressed, sensitive to noise.

I can keep going for the rest of these.  Some of these moves to the physicals, but I think that's still appropriate. Constipation and diarrhea alternating and just liver-ish symptoms in general. So think bloating; flatulence; that heavy, dragging feeling around the liver; nausea; green vomit. If I had actual green vomit I'm not going to be sitting thinking, “I should take some Carduus for my liver,” so remind me. Could be hard, knotty stools or white stools or very bright yellow stools. 

There are sometimes headache symptoms, primarily right sided.  The Materia Medica keep saying liver headaches.  Migraines, worse on the right side. Later on, you could always use Carduus for alcohol poisoning. It could be useful along with Chelidonium for cirrhosis of the liver. And like Melissa mentioned, it can also be good for gallstones and that gallbladder attack.

Melissa Crenshaw  14:41  

So Carduus is the most gentle way of detoxing the liver. And, you know, there's a lot of people that want to detox their liver. It's an underused remedy. Because it's underrepresented in the books, it's not going to come out in the repertorization usually so you're just not going to use it or suggest it to people as often.  Hahnemann’s first provings were done with crude doses, the mother tincture or the whole plant or whatever. You don't have to have a potentized remedy for it to act homeopathically is what I learned in college. Please don't hit me up with questions about that because I don't know. That's just what I learned. 

Bri Hurlburt  15:34  

The Banerjis use it often as a mother tincture. 

Melissa Crenshaw 15:37

That's right. Yeah. 

Bri Hurlburt 15:39

Chelidonium is usually a low potency, but Carduus is often mother tincture for gallbladder or liver stuff. I think it's pretty widely used but we don't know a lot about the herbal form.

Melissa Crenshaw  15:51  

With Carduus I would use, like Bri just said, a low potency, like a 3x, 6x, 3C, 6C.  You could use that daily, or you could do the mother tincture and just use it that way. This is a great remedy for hepatitis in general, and like you already said, cirrhosis and gallstones and gallstone colic, cramps.  Cramps in the calves, feet and thighs. It's a great cramp remedy, not something we usually think of.  We usually think of Mag Phos and Arnica and those kinds of remedies.  

We already talked about the liver headaches, the bitter taste in the mouth, nausea, retching vomiting. It's a chilly remedy. Generally speaking, it's a cold remedy. The person who needs Chelidonium doesn't tolerate fats. They can be really aggravated by eggs, meat and milk.  They can be really thirsty, and just have to drink in sips or they vomit. If they drink gulps, or too much at one time, they might vomit it.  Dragging pain, I think you already said. 

Although it hasn't been proven in high potencies, you can use it in high potencies. Base it on the totality of symptoms.  Meet the intensity of the … No, sorry.  That's an acute thing. Again, if it were to fit mentally and you have the liver symptoms, you could do a 30C or 200C if you had both.

Bri Hurlburt 17:38  

I wanted to ask you this. I've seen it used sometimes, either in the Banerji protocols or just based on some notes I read, where you're maybe doing a protocol for your gallbladder or a remedy for your liver, let’s say Sepia or Lycopodium. Maybe you've been on that. Would Carduus be an option to use in the mother tincture or lower potencies acutely?

Melissa Crenshaw  18:03  

Oh, yeah. 

Bri Hurlburt  18:06  

I don't know. Maybe if you do have one of those headaches, a liver headache, or the gallbladder attack I know you mentioned. But could you do both? Since it's so gentle, could you do Sepia and Carduus long term even? Or would you only use Carduus acutely?

Melissa Crenshaw  18:25  

You know what? No, I think you could do long term, but I think depending on the person, depending on the picture, I would probably do Lycopodium, Sepia, one or the other, and then I would probably use Chelidonium acutely as needed for whatever kind of pain or attack. Also, I think it's a great idea to do that little liver cleanse or detox in the spring with the lemon water.

Bri Hurlburt  18:53  

And that's Carduus.  Did you mean to say Carduus before, instead of Chelidonium?

Melissa Crenshaw  18:59  

Oh yeah, I meant to say Carduus.

Bri Hurlburt  19:01  

Okay.  I know.  We've been talking about them so I feel like we're getting them mixed up.

Sorry, another question. Thinking chronically here. Because it's so gentle, would you start with it first and see how somebody responds before going to some of the bigger ones we've talked about like Sepia or Lycopodium?

Melissa Crenshaw  19:20  

I don't usually. I usually start with a Sepia or Lycopodium.  Those are just my first go-tos.  I keep Carduus over here because it's just been in my mind for so long, gallbladder.  If somebody were to have a gallbladder attack, I would want them to have Carduus on hand, or have gallbladder issues.  Now, I’m going to be … This is why I love doing these, talking about these remedies like this on these podcasts, because it helps me to remember, “Oh, look at this little remedy that we haven't been using that is so good.” I might do something different going forward, but no.  I've been just going … And Nux vomica is also a big liver remedy.

Bri Hurlburt  20:06  

Yeah, I just learned that, that it's so big for liver. I didn't realize that it was such a big liver remedy.

Melissa Crenshaw  20:12  

Yep.

Bri Hurlburt  20:16  

There were a few more things, but that bitter taste in the mouth is mentioned several times in the Materia Medica so that might be one to keep in mind. I have heard that before, people saying that. It has varicose veins and ulcers. Itching on lying down at night. It does have the muscle cramping. I'm reading out of Robin Murphy's Materia Medica right now, just about anything else we didn't mention already.  Earthy, yellowish gray, dirty or florid complexion.  Heat in the face. Poor appetite. Abuse of beer. Worse for beer. Great fatigue after eating and low blood sugar.

Melissa Crenshaw  21:05  

Wow.

Bri Hurlburt  21:07  

Yeah, this is interesting. There's a lot of stuff.  It said never well since mono or hepatitis. Worse after the abuse of alcoholic beverages, especially beer.

Melissa Crenshaw  21:26  

So interesting.

Bri Hurlburt  21:28  

Yeah, this is so good. So that's Carduus Mar, you probably see it just as Mar often. I don't think I see it written out very often.

Melissa Crenshaw  21:39  

All right, so tune in next time for Chelidonium. We'll go into Chelidonium and then also just discuss a few other liver remedies at the end after we finish talking about Chelidonium. So thanks for being here, Bri. I'll see you next time. 

Bri Hurlburt 21:56

Thank you.