This episode dives into detail exploring a case study on herbal support following trauma. Learn about potential herbal and nutritional options for Tina:

Tina (she/her) is a single mum whose son has been in prison the last 18 months. Since he’s been inside his self-harm has worsened to the point of repeated suicide attempts. Tina is nervously exhausted from phone calls and prison visits. Her arthritis has flared up so badly that she is now using a walking stick on very bad days. She has body pain all over and isn’t refreshed by sleep. She feels tense and unable to relax on a daily basis because she is so worried about her son. She takes Ibuprofen and Paracetamol regularly but no other medication. She is in early menopause and sleep is affected by night sweats. She has lost her appetite.

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• Herbalism, PTSD and Traumatic Stress Course (CLOSES SUNDAY 13TH OCTOBER!)

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Welcome to the Frontline Herbalism podcast with your host, Nicole Rose from the

solidarity apothecary.

This is your place for all things plants and

liberation.

Let's get started.

Hello.

Welcome back to the Frontline Herbalism

podcast.

This is the fifth case study that I've put

together for the herbalism PTSD and traumatic stress course to kind of, yeah, support

people, get a flavor of what kind of roles herbs can play in supporting people

experiencing kind of long term chronic stress or, you know, traumatic stress who are kind of

potentially in the midst of or recovering from trauma.

So, yeah, I guess, content warning, I do mention a few prison y things like self harm

and stuff, but, yeah, I hope you find it interesting and shameless.

Plug the herbalism PTSD and traumatic stress course closes for enrolment on Sunday.

So, yeah, please get in there now if you'd like to join.

Like I say all the time, no one is turned away for lack of funds.

You can find a link to the kind of solidarity pricing info on the course page.

Yeah, there's also the payment plan options and things.

So, yeah, feel free to take a look, and I would love to welcome you into the course and,

yeah, thanks for listening.

I hope this is of value to people.

Okay, take care.

Thanks.

All right, so, Tina.

Tina, she.

Her is a single mum whose son has been in prison the last 18 months.

Since he's been inside, his self harm has worsened to the point of repeated suicide

attempts.

Tina is nervously exhausted from phone calls

and prison visits.

Her arthritis has flared up so badly that she

is now using a walking stick on very bad days.

She has body pain all over and isn't refreshed

by sleep.

She feels tense and unable to relax on a daily

basis because she is so worried about her son.

She takes ibuprofen and paracetamol regularly,

but no other medication.

She is in early menopause and sleep is

affected by night sweats.

She has lost her appetite.

Okay, so, yeah, kind of working through the same framework that we have with the other

case studies.

So looking at medication and allergies, sleep,

nervous system state, digestion, nutrition and inflammation.

So in terms of medication, she's taking ibuprofen and paracetamol, which, you know,

for someone in chronic pain, I can 100% understand why you would take them.

You know, like I. When I had all my horrific cause chondritis, like chronic inflammation in

the cartilage of the ribs, like, I did get very dependent on ibuprofen because, yeah, it

just is, you know, effective a lot of the time.

However, it had a very harmful effect on my gut health, which kind of lengthened the

amount of months slash years that I had bad inflammation.

This was like years before my clinical training.

But ideally, we would be getting to a place where, where, you know, in terms of herbal

actions where inflammation has reduced so that she doesn't have to take these medications

because they are going to be having this kind of potential harmful effect on her gut,

especially the paracetamol.

But yeah, for now, obviously, the herbs aren't

going to be contraindicating with these two kind of common painkillers.

But I'm just saying as a kind of long term goal, that would be amazing to work towards.

Right, where she's not in pain, not just for the sake of the painkillers, but just because

who wants to be in pain, right? Okay, so in terms of sleep.

So it's mentioned about sleep getting interrupted by night sweats.

So yeah, some of the herbs mentioned in the herbalism, PTSD and traumatic stress course

that are kind of particularly indicated here could include linden, like lime tree flower,

you know, it's fantastic.

Kind of diaphoretic, which means helps kind of

induce like perspiration and sweating, but in a sense that it kind of like cools you down.

And, yeah, it's a very kind of cooling and relaxant herbicide.

Mother war is, you know, kind of similar action, also very calming and relaxing.

Obviously, she's got vast amounts of kind of activation going on, so that could be

effective.

Yarrow is also cooling and would have this

kind of multifunctional action because of its support potentially for arthritis, you know.

Yeah, I'm going to talk about.

Actually, I'll save it.

I'll talk about arthritis in the inflammation section.

But Yarrow is one of the nervines in the course.

It's kind of more has an affinity with kind of wound care and, you know, the pelvic region,

things like this.

But it's also like, fantastic because it's a

circulatory stimulant, but it's very cooling.

And as you know, a lot of people experiencing

kind of traumatic stress and like, nervous system activation are often, you know, have a

lot of, like, heat signs.

Right?

Have a lot of inflammation, have a lot of kind of heat.

Anger, rage, anxiety.

And so, yeah, we're wanting our kind of

cooling herbs.

And yarrow is brilliant because it stimulates

the blood, but it's also very cooling and it's also diaphoretic.

So Yarrow is kind of traditionally integrated into kind of fever blends.

Like Yarrow, peppermint and elderflower, for example, is like a perfect mix, you know, when

someone has, like, a cold or the flu.

Skull cap.

So I've talked about skull cap so many times, but wonderful kind of nervine tonic nerve and

nervine tropho restorative, full of b vitamins, really kind of cooling and calming,

supporting you to move into that kind of parasympathetic state.

Also helpful in cases of kind of night sweats.

Yeah, and I'm going to talk more when I talk

about the inflammation, actually, I'll save it, then I'll talk about schisandra as a kind

of potential herb that has this indication with people in kind of perimenopause.

Hops is another option in terms of night sweats and sleep.

Yeah.

Nervous system state.

So bless Tina.

There is a lot going on.

Yeah, there is a lot of kind of chronic nervous exhaustion, a lot of tension and

worry, which are the kind of their own.

Like, I always think, like, tension is such an

interesting state for the body in terms of what it does to our muscles and our cartilage.

And, you know, worry can be a bit, kind of faster, a bit more activation, a bit more kind

of, kind of unrelenting kind of thinking and lots of fear.

But attention is more of a kind of, like, free state response of you're just carrying so

much, you can't breathe out kind of feeling.

So, yeah, I would definitely be thinking about

relaxants for Tina.

So, you know, I've mentioned these a bunch in

the other case studies and we go into them in depth in the course, but, you know, chamomile,

fantastic general relaxant for that kind of like daytime support to kind of tone down that

background anxiety fever view.

Again, similar.

I've included it in the general kind of relaxant section of the course.

I don't think I've talked about it much, but it's part of the Daisy family and it's kind of

been pigeonholed as this migraine herb.

It has an affinity with blood flow to the

head, but also has kind of.

Is used for things like period pains, too.

And the reason I thought about it for Tina was because of her arthritis.

And I haven't put in the description what kind of arthritis she's experiencing, whether

that's a kind of immune mediated, kind of rheumatoid arthritis, or that's more of a kind

of like osteoarthritis or, you know, disintegration of cartilage or just kind of

general joint pain.

I've tried to keep these really vague because

I'm aware that not everyone, excuse me, working through the course is going to be like

a general herbalist.

Right.

Or have, you know, an understanding or training about kind of other conditions.

Like, the course's focus is on trauma.

But I do, when I talk about the plants and

introduce them in the plant profiles, I do like to kind of give some of the other common

kind of medicinal actions that they're kind of used.

Like, you know, people have worked with them for years around because obviously we can

separate things.

Right.

Like her arthritis is, you know, could well be a kind of trauma response or like a response

to kind of chronic long term stress.

And.

Yeah, I'll talk about that in the arthritis bit soon, but, yeah, fever v could be a good

option.

It's.

Yeah, I could help be kind of cooling with the night sweats and things and help with the

joint pain potentially.

It's kind of got very gentle antispasmodic

action.

And it's also, yeah, this sort of gentle

nervine lavender.

I just want to smother tina in lavender.

I think it would be really nourishing for her nervous system and strengthening as well as

relaxing and calming.

Hawthorn.

Yeah, hawthorn is obviously a wonderful gentle relaxant.

Wonderful in cases of kind of chronic inflammation.

But, you know, also, I talk about it in the course, but Hawthorne has this affinity with

the cartilage.

Right.

Like, I really actually see it as a herb in my kind of sort of musculoskeletal kind of

toolboxes.

I. Yeah, I've worked with Hawthorne a really

long time, like, with my ribcage stuff.

And, yeah, I think there's, like, so many

different layers to it of supporting, you know, blood flow and cardiovascular health and

blood vessel health, which is going to be supporting our tissues to get more blood.

You know, like, if you have, like, pain in an area with tissues, often, it's because things

aren't moving necessarily.

Like oxygen's not getting in and nutrients

aren't getting in and kind of, you know, like inflammatory cells and things aren't getting

out.

So it kind of becomes, like, more and more

painful.

And I think Hawthorn can kind of support the

blood vessels to kind of support with that sort of.

I hate the word detox because it's, like, really associated with just this, like, real

bougie, like, let's have a smoothie detox stuff.

But I just mean in terms of, like, shifting and moving kind of sort of inflammatory matter

in the body, if that makes sense.

I'm kind of not doing this justice.

I'm very sleep deprived.

Lee has been teething, so it's, yeah, a whole

new world of fun.

Well, not for him.

It's awful for him.

And it's also not fun for me and Rob either.

But anyway, yeah, so Hawthorne is going to be potentially supporting with the joints, with

the cartilage, with, you know, with kind of like, blood vessels, like I've talked about.

So, yeah, I think.

And also with this kind of grief and pain and

heartache.

Right.

Like, I can't imagine Lee having harm, you know, or.

I know he's only, like, tiny, but the thought of him being in prison just, like, would

completely break me.

And I think, yeah, for her, like, it must be

horrific to have a son in prison, you know, and have that kind of daily feeling of, like,

what's going on for him, you know? So, yeah, definitely Hawthorn for grief.

And Rose, just because it's a babe, you know, like, wonderful for grief and emotional

stress.

General relaxant, very cooling and, yeah, just

really kind of comforting and nourishing and, you know, maybe.

Maybe like, it sounds like Tina is kind of holding a lot in her body, right?

Like, you know, she's expressing her distress through her body, through her pain.

I don't know anything about her personality, obviously, she's completely hypothetical, but,

you know, it might be that Rose could help release some stuff.

Right.

You know, like, with all my ribcage stuff, I

was terrible at crying.

Like, I've always been not very good at

crying.

And, yeah, that's a long term trauma response

thing.

But I think for Tina, like, maybe she's a kind

of stoic, hyper responsible mom type.

Right.

And maybe she needs that rose to actually help release some of those feelings and that

distress and that might help with her kind of tension and body pain.

So, yeah, I definitely want to be nourishing her with lots of tonics, lots of nervous

system tonics.

So, yeah, just, you know, I think when someone

is so depleted, you can kind of give them anything and it will help, but, you know,

betany is an option for that kind of really long term stress.

Arthritis can often have a kind of liver link in terms of kind of.

Yeah, metabolism and stuff in the body.

So betany has this affinity with the liver, so

might be supportive.

Also has this kind of musculoskeletal affinity

as well.

Evening primrose.

I haven't talked about evening primrose much, but there's a whole plant profile about

evening primrose in the course.

And, yeah, like, it's not just kind of these

amazing little capsules you can get with the oil, which I think would be wonderful for her,

especially with her kind of night sweats and kind of, you know, I don't want to, like,

pathologize the menopause because it's not.

It isn't a disease.

Like, it is a completely normal, like, bodily process.

Does that make sense? But I also want to name and acknowledge that

people can feel discomfort and distress and kind of harm when, you know, certain things

are kind of out of balance, when it's, you know, things are really kind of affecting

them.

So, yeah, I'm not saying that, like, we should

pathologize menopause and that it needs, like, quote unquote treatment.

I'm just saying that, you know, there can be support for symptoms that we're experiencing

that are kind of affecting us in ways that we don't kind of want, if that makes sense.

So, yeah, so evening primrose, all those kind of essential fatty acids are going to be

really great for her arthritis.

But also, I would, you know, evening primrose

as a tincture is really wonderful in general, as a nervine, in my opinion.

Yeah, I would really be thinking about kind of HPA access stuff, and I talk about what that

means in the nervous system.

Deep dive in the course.

But the hypothalamic, pituitary, adrenal axis, right?

Like, the way that our kind of brain communicates with our adrenal glands and our

hormones to kind of respond to stress and stuff in the body, like, you know, and that

kind of process is being depleted, like, a lot over a long term.

And I think in the case study about Ahmed that I introduced, I talked about how he is, you

know, he was the refugee from Afghanistan.

So it's like he had this, like, horrific kind

of year of really brutal trauma and stress, but before that was, like, very kind of

physically active and healthy.

And it's like a teenager without kind of

chronic health issues.

Whereas Tina.

This is the.

Tina's, like, the sort of person that I'm more

worried about in terms of chronic issues and chronic fatigue and chronic inflammation,

because you're looking at, like, what, 50, 60 years, potentially, of chronic stress, like,

depending on her background, obviously.

You know, maybe.

Maybe it's not, and maybe it's just been the last 18 months, but even 18 months is a long

time of chronic stress and, like, loading on the body.

So, yeah, I'm going to be thinking about what's going on in her body in terms of that,

like, kind of unrelenting stress response.

All those stress hormones and, yeah, there's

lots of kind of research around the HPA axis and sort of perimenopausal symptoms and that,

you know, that kind of, like, adrenal stuff coming up at that kind of time in someone's

life.

So, yeah, so licorice might be.

Might be a good option.

Licorice is also kind of moistening and

mucligenus.

So, you know, if she's got kind of dry, hot,

painful joints, then licorice is, like, potentially very, like, nourishing here.

Milky oats, you know, just for that kind of chronic exhaustion would be.

Yeah, wonderful.

Schisandra is kind of one of our, like, nerve

tonics, which is more kind of also indicated in this kind of adaptogen category, which I

don't.

I don't use the framework of adaptogens in

the.

In the course.

I'd prefer to focus on sort of nerve tonics simply because people think, oh, I need a herb

to help me adapt to stress, and then they end up taking these, like, really stimulating,

like, hardcore herbs that lead to, like, really hardcore burnout.

And I'm going to do a podcast about that at some point.

But Schisandra, I think, is a fantastic nerve tonic.

And again, this kind of indication with the HPA axis, you know, it lowers kind of elevated

cortisol.

So I would.

Yeah, I would be thinking that she also needs a bit of support.

Right.

Like, this stress isn't.

Isn't a stopping anytime soon.

It's not like she's recovering from something

that happened a while back.

Like she's really in the kind of, you know, in

the kind of eye of the storm, so to speak.

So, yeah, I think when someone is in that

place of daily stress that is unlikely to reduce anytime soon, I think that's when herbs

like Schisandra really come into their own, because it's kind of like a harm reduction

approach.

Yeah.

Another potential nerve tonic is St. John's wort, you know, really fantastic for sort of

like, nerve pain, also for things like arthritis.

You know, it could be like a really nice option, could be a really lovely, like, muscle

rub, you know, that she could have for her arthritis and for her tension.

And, yes, St. John's war would be great.

And also just for kind of that tonic action

and lifting mood.

Vervain.

I would 100% have a go to a vervain with Tina.

I think vervain is, for me, I just associate

it with, like, burnt out femme, you know, like someone because of patriarchy who's socialized

to do all the caring like, looking after everyone under the sun to the absolute neglect

of the self without resources, without the financial resources, like taking on the

emotional labor of everything and everyone.

Like, I think vervain is, like, really

fantastic for that kind of chronic exhaustion and depletion.

And I think Tina's probably, like, really playing that role in her life.

And, you know, when we look at these case studies as, like, always thinking about other,

other responses beyond just like, herbs and nutrition.

Right.

You know, like, what collective care does she

need? Like, you know, it'd be amazing if she had a

little WhatsApp group of friends that could support her with her son or, you know, she

could be part of a prisoner solidarity group to, again, access support and generate, you

know, action alerts for her son or something so she's not, like, completely alone.

Maybe, you know, she might get some financial support so that she could visit him or, you

know, maybe people could crowdfund to get her kind of professional counseling or therapy,

for example, to kind of.

Yeah, or, you know, do like, co counseling or

something.

Yeah, I think just things, you know, it's

important to not just grin and grin and bear it, you know, grin, grin and bear.

It's important not to grin and bear it, you know, but to also access support.

And I can imagine for this kind of.

Yeah.

Suffering mother archetype, it could be that she's been giving out a really long time and.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Withania.

So Ashwagandha, you know, I'm always nervous

with ashwagandha in terms of anxiety and things, but I think for Tina, she is more in

that state of depletion, you know? And I think, yeah, I think it could

potentially be supportive as part of a blend because of its affinity with the HPA axis.

It's also supportive for rheumatoid arthritis, you know, can help with sleep and just kind of

this, like, sort of chronic exhaustion.

But yeah, I'm sure there's many other nerve

ions and nerve tonics that could be supportive in terms of her digestion.

She's mentioned loss of appetite.

So we might be thinking about, like, well, one

aspect of that is like bitter herbs, right? Like, bitter herbs is kind of taste that

communicates to the body that they need to release certain enzymes and stuff to help

digest our nutrients.

Not just our nutrients, but digest our food

properly.

You know, kind of herbs that could be good in

that respect include sort of chamomile fever views, also a bitter and has this kind of

liver support.

Motherwort is bitter and also has liver

support.

Yarrow.

I've mentioned skullcap, Bettany and vervain.

So again, we're like, stacking functions.

Right.

Again, lack of.

I mean, loss of appetite can also be because of, like, a million and one other things.

You know, sometimes it's from kind of chronic dysbiosis, like that kind of imbalance of kind

of gut flora.

You know, it could be causing a lot of nausea,

for example.

And, yeah, you might.

Again, if I had, like, loads of money to pay for clients to get their, like, gut

microbiomes tested and mapped, we might be able to see what's going on there, because gut

health is really, really strongly linked to things like arthritis and, you know, body

pain, fibromyalgia, things like that.

So, yeah, I think I. If I was supporting Tina,

I would be thinking about giving her those nerve iron tonics as a priority and nervine

relaxants that will help her get through this time.

But in terms of actually addressing the chronic pain and inflammation and the

arthritis, I'd be really trying to screen for things like food intolerances.

I'd be looking at improving her gut health, things that will help modulate inflammation.

For example, chamomile feverview.

I've already mentioned in terms of its support

for things like nerve pain and arthritis.

Lavender oil would be really fantastic

topically.

I've mentioned about Hawthorne already in

terms of cartilage, again, like, nourishment, like rose hips would be really fantastic.

Yeah.

We might also be thinking about our sort of

anti spasmodics that can help with actual kind of pain and tension.

So things like hops is antispasmodic, mugwort.

Yeah, maybe even wild lettuce, it would be

kind of strong.

But I. If she was having, like, a real bad

pain day, it could be really fantastic.

And also maybe help her sleep longer and

deeper, which is, you know, sleep is the main thing that's going to be helping with

addressing any sort of chronic inflammation, which is why it's always at the top of my

list.

You know, I've mentioned betany as a nervine,

but, yeah, has this wonderful affinity with the liver and it's also kind of diuretic.

So, yeah, where there's sort of dampness, like, I haven't specified what sort of

arthritis she's got, but if it was that kind of dampness, stagnant kind of tissue state, we

would be thinking of our more sort of drying herbs.

So, yeah, and I talk about tissue states in the course.

I've talked about licorice for inflammation, milky oats, again, fantastic for connective

tissue mentioned cassandra already in St.

John's wort.

So, yeah, like, there's a lot there.

Right.

Like, again, I would be thinking daytime blend, which is helping with her kind of

generally relax this tension and giving sort of nervous system support at the same time

giving inflammation support and digestive support.

So, you know, several of these have come up a few times, you know, like chamomile and fever

view and things.

And I would definitely want to give her, like,

quite, you know, a big kind of tonic mix and maybe.

Yeah, maybe for the nights, like some skullcap tea, just, you know, just to help get through

the night and, you know, support with that kind of tropho restorative, kind of long term,

like, recovery option and then.

Yeah, really kind of focusing down on sort of

gut health.

Yeah, other, you know, I know, like, Sage has

this kind of affinity with kind of night sweats in this, like, menopausal stage.

It's generally like short term use only.

And, you know, I do profile sage in the kind

of warming, sort of stimulating nervine section of the herbalism PTSD and traumatic

stress course.

And, yeah, like I mentioned it for Ahmed, but

just, you know, a ****** bath every evening with epsom salts and essential oils in there.

You know, maybe lavender and chamomile essential oil and some rose petals.

You know, it would just be so fantastic to have, you know, kind of optimum nutrients

coming in through the skin, like transdermally or, you know, a magnesium spray if she doesn't

have time for baths.

You know, maybe there could be, like, a

specific kind of blend for, you know, for phone calls.

You know, after she's had a distressing phone call from her son, she can take a sip of rose

petal glycerite.

Like, I've done that for absolutely years as

part of my sort of, like, energetic work.

And, you know, because, like, one.

You know, Sam and Kev have pretty much called me every day for years.

And it used to be Taylor.

And I've had other friends in prison, you

know, that have called me regularly.

So it's like.

It is awful listening to someone listening to what's going on on the wing, like all these

kind of ligature attempts and horrors and self harming and, you know, screws being screws and

attacking people and stuff.

It's like.

It is awful.

Like, obviously it's awful being in prison,

experiencing it, but it's also awful hearing about it vicariously.

And, you know, I'd also maybe think about supporting Tina with, like, a specific prison

visit blend, right? And I recorded an episode about herbal support

for prison visits.

So, yeah, kind of thinking about, you know,

something like, very specifically that can help her on those days.

Oh, I haven't mentioned elderberry.

Elderberry would be wonderful for Tina.

Super nutritive, like, wonderful musculoskeletal relaxant.

Helpful female tension in the body.

Yeah, I would be, yeah, thinking of, like,

something very nourishing she can take and immune supporting.

I would want to clarify what sort of arthritis she has before giving her things like

echinacea and stuff, in case there's, like, an autoimmunity aspect.

But, yeah, that's what I would be thinking.

And also, you know, like, if you could

organize it collectively, like, getting her a ****** massage, you know, getting her some

body work to help with this kind of, like, systemic detoxification, and, you know,

supporting with this tension, that would just be.

Oh, my God, now I want to start a massage.

A fund for prisoner families.

But, yeah, okay.

I think.

I think that's the things I wanted to say.

So if any of this takes your fancy, this is

the sort of last case study.

I'll try and create some more for the sort of

next time I promote the course.

But if you haven't heard, it is closing for

enrollment on Sunday.

So, yeah, last chance to join.

Yeah.

Please check out the course page.

Feel free to dm me on instagram with any questions.

I'm sorry, I'm a bit slow getting back to you on email.

Because of the bubber, it's much harder to get on the laptop.

But, yeah, I do go on my phone when he's napping.

So that's the kind of.

Yeah, fastest way to get a response.

Okay, thanks so much for listening.

I hope this has been helpful.

And, yeah, eventually, when I have a bit more kind of childcare support and resources, I

will definitely want to be getting some kind of herbal packs out to people like Tina, you

know, who are supporting people they love in prison.

So, yeah, if that's you, please bear me in mind and get in touch if I can kind of support

you in the future.

Okay, take care.

Links thanks so much for listening to the Frontline Herbalism podcast.

You can find the transcript, the links, all the resources from the

show@solidarityapothecary.org.

podcast.