Because the histamines in nettle limit the body’s response to pollen and
other irritating substances, nettle was also a favored treatment for asthma
and allergies. The astringent or constricting quality of the roots and
leaves led to its use to stop diarrhea, dysentery, and bleeding.

Old-time herbalists favored nettle for its diuretic action and prescribed it
for many urinary tract conditions. Today, several companies in Europe
manufacture a nettle extract to combat urine retention caused by an enlarged
prostate.

"It was used for a long time as a detoxifying agent, helping to flush the
body," says Debra Gibson, N.D., a naturopathic doctor in Woodbury,
Connecticut. "A lot of folks drank nettle tea in the springtime when hay
fever season came on. It was a spring tonic."
bullet

A Worldwide Weed

The common or stinging nettle is a perennial plant and common weed that
grows in temperate climates throughout the world. It stands two to three
feet high and has dark green, serrated leaves and small, inconspicuous
flowers.

Young shoots of nettle are edible when cooked. They contain about the same
amounts of beta-carotene and vitamin C as spinach and other greens. Other
parts of the plant are used for healing.

In North America, nettle was a popular plant medicine with mainstream
physicians throughout the nineteenth century and into the twentieth. A
popular medical textbook published in 1928 mentions that people used it to
reduce inflammation from sprains and arthritis. Since then, scientists have
learned that nettle contains about 20 different chemicals, including
lectins, phenols, sterols, lignans, and histamines.

Histamines, which occur naturally in the body, are the culprits behind
allergic reactions, says Stanley W. Beyrle, N.D., a naturopathic doctor at
the Kansas Clinic of Traditional Medicine in Wichita. When you are exposed
to allergens—substances that cause allergic reactions—your body releases
histamines, which in turn cause hives, constrict bronchial vessels, and
inflame the skin.

The histamines in nettle attach to histamine receptor sites in your cells
and keep your body’s histamines from attaching to those cells during an
allergic reaction. Nettle’s action is very similar to that of pharmaceutical
antihistamine drugs, says Dr. Beyrle.

"What’s important here is that the plant histamines have a less sensitive
trigger than the body’s histamines. Although they attach to the receptor
sites, they are so weak that they rarely cause any allergic reaction in the
person," he says.

-----Original Message-----
From: FailsafeNT@yahoogroups.com [mailto:FailsafeNT@yahoogroups.com] On
Behalf Of Renee Cyr
Sent: Friday, November 07, 2008 11:17 AM
To: FailsafeNT@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [FailsafeNT] Is this what's going on?

Naomi Lorenzini wrote:
> I was looking for nettles but didn’t find any wild ones cause they have
20%
> minerals compared to other greens. I was just going to buy the tea and
> drink it. Does anyone know if we can handle nettles tea or would it be a
> salicylate bomb. I read that because it’s a natural histamine it was
> supposed to help when you get glutened. I haven’t got any yet but I was
> going to test ½ a cup on the girls if they’ll drink it.
>
>
>
> With the whole zinc and copper I wonder if there is any test we could do
to
> see if we are low or high. It would be nice to get blood drawn and just
> check everything all at once.
>
>
>
> I’m glad others are looking into this cause I’m having trouble finding
> stuff.
>
>
>
> Naomi
>
>
>
>
What? Nettles have histamine? Wow, I used to drink the tea, alot! The
thought was it is good for allergies. I tried to naturalize it in my
garden, but it didn't take. There is a rhyme about it...

"If they wold drink nettles in March and eat mugwort in May
so many fine maidens wouldn't go to the clay."

Maybe you should search in March, maybe it is a spring tonic sort of thing?

Renee

------------------------------------

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