More Uses for Goldenseal Root Powder

I believe all families who prefer to treat their bodies with natural substances should keep at least a small 4 oz bag of goldenseal root powder in their medicine chest.  If you have cayenne pepper and use it for other things, this will work almost as well.

The most important use of goldenseal root powder can be found on our A B C’s of Wound Healing page.  The information on this page is invaluable for anyone and everyone.  We all experience gashes, cuts and other tragedies and few of us want to go on antibiotics or see a physician if we do not need to.  If that is a choice you have made you will find the information very helpful.

You can use goldenseal root powder for such simple things as to stop the bleeding from a razor cut to such specialized this as drying up the umbilical cord on a new born baby.  With a newborn, the cord dries up very quickly and infection is never a problem.  If you have a sinus infection and snuff a mixture of goldenseal root powder and cayenne pepper into your nostrils you will at first feel lots of tingling, and they you will popping as the passageway opens.  This will be followed by the entire sinus cavity opening and then lots of draining will take place.  Your eyes may water at first, but I tell you, nothing beats it when you have that sinus headache.  A sinus infection is far worse.  This is what we use in our house, for both adults and children.  I have had a total of 2 sinus infections in my whole life.  Both times it took about 1 hour for the sinus to open and drain.  I’d say that it worked better than any antibiotic in the country!

A pinch of goldenseal root powder added to boiled water and then cooled can be dropped in the eyes to eliminate an eye infection.  This same solution can be used to rid the eye of impurities or to soothe the eyes from eye strain.  I had a dog once that contracted a terrible eye infection.  The eyes of dogs have several eyelids which I believes compound any problems.  When animals get eye infections it can look really bad.  This dog could not open her eye.  It was all swollen shut and was not even draining.  I made some very light goldenseal tea and with the aid of an eye dropper and my husbands hands we forced the eye open just enough to drop in the tea.  Pus gushed out all every time we dropped the tea in and so we continued this procedure over and over again until we had all the puss removed and the eye well flushed.  Later on that day we repeated the entire procedure.  The next morning the dog’s eye was no longer pussy or swollen, it was wide open and we never had to do anything further to the eye. Within 2 days it was no longer bloodshot.

Years later our entire family caught some type of flu.  About ¾ of the family developed an eye infection during the last stage of the virus.  For each of them I used a light goldenseal tea.  One day of flushing the eye “every time we though about it” and the infection was gone.  I have used this for babies that had clogged tear duct and developed eye infections and for pink eye and well.

Goldenseal is my basic for any infection I the body as well.  If someone catches a cold or the flu, or any ailment that appears to be from an infective agent, I typically give them 2 capsules of goldenseal 4 times a day.  Usually this means they will be on their feet within 24 hours if not before. 

About a year ago someone called me troubled about a wound he had just above his knee on his inner thigh.  He had gotten a scrap there months before that had become infected.  He had tried to keep it clean, but the infection spread.  This forced him to try an over the counter antibiotic cream.  However, the cream did not phase the infection.  So he ended up making an appointment with an allopathic physician.  This doctor gave him another ointment to try which seemed to work for a few days, but then the wound began to get worse.  Upon another trip to the doctor he received a different antibiotic ointment to try.  This new prescription worked for a few days and then the wound became worse again.  Upon his third trip to the doctor they did a culture to find out what organism they were dealing  with and what antibiotics they should use.  On this third visit, the doctor gave his patient an oral antibiotic along with another stronger antibiotic ointment.  These worked for a few days but then the wound once again began getting worse.

At this point the wound had grown to be about ½ inch deep and 2 ½ inches in diameter.  It was well inflamed and was showing red streaks.  This person was concerned ( and he should have been).  The report came back that he had pseudomonas aeruginosa in his wound.  Because I have worked as a medical technologist and microbiologist, I was well familiar with this organism.  Pseudomonas aeruginosa and staphylococcus aureus are the biggest culprits for developing antibiotic resistance.  There are many, many nursing home patients that contract pseudomonas in their lungs, in their bed sores, and in wounds that does not respond to any antibiotics. These two organisms are masters at developing antibiotic resistance.  Any antibiotic given to these patients, the organisms would develop resistance to within days.  The patients would often receive several different IVs containing the most current generation of antibiotics at the same time and often still not see results.

What had been happening to this man is that the antibiotics he was given would work for about 2 days until the organism developed a resistance to it and then it would “bounce back” once again attacking the healthy tissues in this man’s leg.

The man asked me what I thought and I told him all the things I have written above.  Then he asked me what I would do.  I told him about my mother.  I gave him other examples.  And then I told him I would soak the wound in Epson salts twice a day and when I was done with the soaks I would powder the wound with goldenseal root powder or cayenne pepper.

That day he discontinued his antibiotic.  He said they were not working anyway.  He purchased a 5 gallon bucket and found some rocks that would fit in around his foot and leg when it was in the bucket.  He also purchased some Epsom salts at his local grocery store and we sent him the goldenseal root powder. 

Once everything arrived, he fixed the Epsom salts solution in the bucket, placed his foot and leg inside and then placed the rocks on both sides of the leg to raise the water level.  He soaked his leg faithfully two times each day and used the goldenseal in between.  Within a week the wound was completely healed.  Within a day you could tell the wound was closing up and getting better. 

Two weeks later this called me and thanked me for the advice.  It is really nice to hear back from people and know they were helped.  It is my desire that these stories and information will, someday, help you too.

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