Goldenseal

Goldenseal

Scientific Name: Hydrastis canadensis

Part used: Root

In a word: Mucous plant

Uses: Chronic mucous overproduction, chronic sinusitis, chronic bronchitis, chronic tonsillitis

Goldenseal is an indigenous North American plant found growing in the deep woods of Canada and the eastern half of the United States. It appeared in the medicine bags of Native Americans long before the white man made his way to the continent. The Native Americans used the bright yellow root to treat problems of the mucous membrane, whether that membrane was located in the digestive or respiratory tract. They found that in any case where chronic inflammation was present, goldenseal would get the troublesome tissue to act right. This is of interest to the sinusitis, tonsillitis, and bronchitis sufferer because chronically swollen, inflamed mucous membranes lie at the source of their distress. When chronic respiratory tract infections are your problem, goldenseal may be your solution.

Sometimes the scientific name gives us a hint as to something about a plant. This is true in the case of licorice, which literally means "sweet root." In other cases, the scientific name doesn’t shed any light at all. Goldenseal’s official tag is Hydrastis canadensis. The Hydrastis part refers to water, and while I have heard it said that the name is related to the plant’s ability to tone mucous membranes that produce watery secretions, I think this is a bit of a stretch. All the second name, canadensis, reveals is that goldenseal is native to Canada. Its common name seems more to the point. The plant's root is a golden color and for people who would like to blow their sinuses to kingdom come, Hydrastis canadensis is golden in more than just color.

Goldenseal has the ability to clear up congested related conditions, sinusitis, chronic bronchitis, chronic rhinitis, tonsillitis, and the like.

The plant is a member of the buttercup family, which is a very medicinal plant family indeed. It includes anemone pulsatilla, black cohosh, pilewort and many others. The family members come packing complex mixtures of chemicals responsible for their individual activities.

The Native Americans knew that drinking goldenseal tea reduced all sorts of inflammations, even those due to mechanical injury, and the colonial medical community quickly took note and acted accordingly. The colonials learned of goldenseal’s medicinal attributes early in their stint in America, and by 1760, the plant had been introduced into England. By 1850, large amounts of goldenseal were being sent to Europe, seriously depleting the woodland stock. In 1905, the U.S. Department of Agriculture suggested that farmers start raising goldenseal in place of traditional food crops. It is estimated that in 1905 alone 300,000 pounds of goldenseal were shipped overseas. The demand outstripped the supply of the increasingly rare plant, and goldenseal became an expensive herb.

Plants that inhabit the woods are never easy to cultivate, as they tend to be extremely particular about where they are willing to thrive. One woodland plant I have worked with will grow on the east side of a mountain but never the west side. Commercially grown goldenseal requires shade and a very specific sort of soil. Obviously, these two factors add substantially to the cost of setting up a goldenseal plantation.

We use much more goldenseal today than the medical community did in the early 1900s, and there is much less to be found in the wild. Moreover, agricultural labor is increasingly costly. All this is to prepare you for the fact that goldenseal is not inexpensive. But neither is being out of work due to sinus problems. Goldenseal is pricey in comparison to other medicinal herbs, but not in comparison to most over-the-counter sinus medications. What’s more, it gives you better value for your money; unlike nonprescription drugs that only deal with the problem once it exists, goldenseal can help you to avoid the problem. As for me, I think being able to skip the pleasures of a sinus migraine is worth just about any price.

In 1900, Dr. Lyman Watkins described a sinus infection this way:

There is a loss of smell, a feeling of dryness, irritation and tenderness in the nasal fossae, the breath is hot and offensive, the disagreeable odor not being perceptible to the patient. There is the habitual picking at the nose to remove the accumulated crusts which seem to fill the cavities and obstruct respiration. Epistaxis, neuralgia, and a dull headache, are frequently symptoms. The mucous membrane is red and has a shining, glazed appearance. The disease is not fatal, does not, apparently, shorten life, but is exceedingly chronic.

Indeed the disease is not fatal, but the habitual picking of the nose could mean social death, and physicians like Watkins prized goldenseal for its ability to bring relief to their patients.

People who have never had a sinus migraine should have no opinion on the matter: it is a special hell reserved only for the initiated. It is amazing that a body part as small as a sinus can cause so much pain, but sinuses can and do debilitate millions each week. First of all, what is a sinus and how is it that they can be such a bother? Sinuses are essentially little air pockets scattered throughout the face, allegedly placed there to lighten up the whole structure. Connected to the respiratory tract, they are lined with mucous membranes, and this is where the fun begins. Mucous membranes are sensitive little tissues; when irritated, they produce mucus. The problem with sinuses is that they don’t drain well; once mucus is produced in them, it tends to get stuck. Some people’s faces are constructed better than others when it comes to draining sinuses. If you are prone to sinus infections, chances are yours don’t drain very well.

To make matters worse, mucus is a perfect growth medium for bacteria, and once it is lodged in the sinuses, infection rapidly sets in. This is about the time when you end up in bed. Moreover, like the hands and the feet, the head is completely packed with nerve endings, receptors meant to collect data about the environment and ship them to the brain for review. Buttock tissue has one nerve ending per 10,000 muscle fibers. Facial tissue has about one nerve ending per five muscle fibers. This means that the face is simply loaded with two things, nerves and sinuses, and when you have a problem like a sinus infection, you really feel it.

Furthermore, sinus infections are hard to get rid of due to another physiological fact. The sinus passages are largely avascular, which means that they don’t have a lot of contact with blood vessels. The blood vessels are responsible for shipping the undercover immunity agents out to kill bacteria in the infected sites. Because the sinus passages don’t have a lot of blood contact, the commando cells can’t easily get in there to do their job. This is also why antibiotics, which are carried in the blood stream, aren’t particularly effective at ending a sinus infection.

Sinus infections are a widespread problem, and as taking to our beds isn’t often an option, we spend a lot of money dealing with them. Like the rest of the respiratory tract, the sinuses are exposed to the outside world, and as such they are particularly prone to irritation and infection. If you get stuck in traffic behind a smoke-spewing city bus, and the exhaust fills your sinus passages, you are guaranteed that they will be angry. Angry sinuses then to act up. Increased air pollution has made the nightmarish sinus infection a common experience.

While goldenseal is especially recommended for sinus problems, it improves all congestion-related conditions for several reasons. First, its constituents tone the mucous membranes themselves, thereby improving their health. In many chronic respiratory conditions the real problem is the mucous membranes that line the respiratory tract. By improving the health of the mucous membranes, the problem goes away. Other elements in the herb are antimicrobial, so that if the inflammation is due to bacterial infection, goldenseal will kill the bacteria. The herb contains other compounds that act like steroids, reducing inflammation. The net result is that goldenseal has the ability to clear up congested related conditions, sinusitis, chronic bronchitis, chronic rhinitis, tonsillitis, and the like. When the mucous membranes are at fault, call in the golden seal!

There is one word of warning when it comes to buying goldenseal. Just because people work in herbal medicine or the health food industry, that doesn’t make them honest. I say this because recently I have noticed a proliferation of goldenseal pills that are made from the herb instead of the root. Medicinally, the leaf is worthless; the effective part of the plant is the root. Of course, there is a lot of goldenseal herb available because when you harvest the root, the leaves are just hanging out there with nothing to do. Some clever little businessperson must have seen all these leaves going to waste and thought, why not package the leaves in bottles with big letters that read "GOLDENSEAL" and little letters that read "herb." Don’t be misled; you want goldenseal root and nothing else.

Practitioners’ Advice

The herb is recommended in chronic respiratory tract infections, however, it is not traditionally recommended in acute respiratory tract infections. In other words, if you have a cough or a cold, do not use it. It should be reserved for those with ongoing problems with their respiratory tract and specifically when this includes chronic overproduction of mucous. Chronic sinusitis, rhinitis, tonsillitis, and bronchitis are examples of conditions where it helps. Chronic hay fever is another instance where it can make a real difference. When the mucous membranes just pump out mucous unnecessarily, it can be used to good effect. People who sound like they have corks stuck in their nostrils are good examples of people benefited by its use.

However, having said that, herbal medicine is about getting to the root of the problem. More often than not, there is a simple thing one can do to get these mucous membrane inflammations to go away. A little known but common cause of respiratory ills is the consumption of dairy products. If you really are tired of having chronic respiratory infections, remove all dairy products from your diet. You see, the minute you take them into your body, your mucous membranes start pumping out mucus. If your sinuses don’t drain well, that mucus is going to get stuck in them, and you know what comes next. The same is true for all respiratory conditions build on mucous over production. They are made worse by the consumption of dairy products. We have seen hundreds of patients whose condition disappears when they abstain from dairy products. Get rid of the dairy, you may need nothing else.

Tablets: 2-50mg tablets 3 times daily