I have just come back from a Body, Mind and Spirit fair at Brentwood, having been looking at the stalls closely for anything that might be useful for my ailing respiratory system! The fair was full of options to help many conditions from many alternative perspectives, and I had a great day chatting with various therapists about realigning my energy balance etc which has no doubt been troublesome for some time!
I came away with a bottle Black Cumin Seed oil and wondered if anyone had any experience with this? It wasn't cheap at £20 a bottle but I got the stall holder down to £10! I will be taking a couple of tea spoons a day in my coffee (To the horror of the vendor, who recommended herbal tea + a product to free of me from my coffee addiction.../ I told him to leave that till next time!).
The leaflet says it will rebalance and strengthen my immune system, improve lung function, bind and destroy free radical molecules, relieve inflamation, destroy bacterial and fungal material in the lungs as well as repair damaged lung tissue.
I told the vendor that if it works I will be a customer for life, and he said that if it works I won't need another bottle!
If it worked I think every drug company in the world would be extremely interested!
There is a small amount of evidence from peer reviewed journals that black cumin seed oil can have beneficial effects. In particular, it has been shown in animal studies to have weak anti-inflammatory, antihistamine and antimicrobial effects. However, these effects are relatively minor compared to conventional anti-inflammatories, antihistamines etc (if an alternative therapy is found to have efficacy comparable to conventional medications, it tends to rapidly become a conventional medication).
Black seed cumin oil has no reported side effects (aside from the fact that it can induce miscarriage in large doses) but you should be aware that the side effect profiles of complementary and alternative medicines tend to be far less well characterised and less frequently reported than those of conventional medications. It is entirely possible that it may cause serious side effects that have not yet been identified.
As a general point, any new medication, whether complementary or conventional, should be discussed with your doctor or pharmacist to make sure that it is safe for you to take and that there are no dangerous interactions with other medications. Some herbal remedies, in particular, can be extremely powerful - it should not be assumed that they are harmless because they are 'natural'.
Aside from these notes of caution, I do wish you all the best with your new medication, do let us know how you get on.
Take care
Em H
Well, it has the phrase Nigella in it ,so it must be good.
Hope it works for you Last time i went to one of those fairs was in a dusty village hall and i lasted 5 minutes then collapsed from the breathing air full of stuff i was allergic too oh well such is life!
First impressions after taking a small spoonful last night, and another this moring and one more this evening.
It is vapourous not quite eucalyptous, not quite menthol, more like the feel after good Indian! It's difficult to work out whether this is coming from the small releases of air from the stomach or indeed from the lungs, but there is warm feel to the breath. My nostrils can also sense a mild sensation, like a floweryness. There is also a soothing feel which is all very nice.
Peak flow is normal, not down so no news is good news as yet!
But I have had my first downside. In London, at one of my postcard fairs this morning, someone said to me, ""Cor, what on earth have you been eating!""
""Not your usual Nigella stuff"", (..an unspoken reply)!
Will keep you posted!
Twizzle
2 days on and I am gettting used to the flowery musty aroma in my nostrils and possibly on my breath! I am getting conscious of a gentle but progressive antihistamine effect, whereby my rhinitis is getting a little drier and more condensed. I suspect that this is also occuring to my usual quota of residual mucus on my chest, by the small phelgms that I occaisionally bring up!
Peak flow is respectable, to what I am used to and not much higher at present, but no complaints!
Twizzle
3 days on and I have a huge jump in my peak flow, no April 1st joke (Like record levels)! Pleased as I am with this result, I have decided to stop this flirtation with herbal remedies for a number of reasons.
The peak flow jump may be due to the antihistamine effect, and if so I would like to see if a regular antihistamine will do the same. I have not tested this yet as I don't have a long enough trail of results. I am also very heavy with rhinitis and this may be clouding my perceptions of any real benefit from the remedy.
I would also like to have chat about this with my doctor, as per being suggested to on this site!
I am also very concious of a social issue, and due to the fact that I will be going to a major postcard event in York in a couple of days I am not sure that I want to be there with the breath of Mr Creosote!
Am I pleased with my purchase? Yes.
Will I take it again for possibly longer? Yes, especially if I am ever going on long holiday on my own!
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