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For a formula, it is usually best to use an herb from each of the following categories (see page 2832): |
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1. Urinary antimicrobial |
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2, 3. Urinary demulcent, astringent or both |
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4. Diuretic |
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5, 6. Urinary analgesic, anti-inflammatory or both |
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7. Urinary antispasmodic (optional) |
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A note on making your own formula: Some herbs make fine teas, some herbs work best as tinctures, some as either. It may be easier to make either a tea or tincture formula. However, it is perfectly possible to put together a formula by making a tea of two herbs and adding the rest of the herbs as tinctures (or some variant thereof). |
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Finally, most formulas commercially available either focus on ''fluid retention'' or mindlessly combine urinary tract herbs together with little thought to the philosophy of treatment, just combining the herbs for UTIs listed in Back to Eden and thus adding yet another preparation to their product line. It is best to put together your own formula. |
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Most herbs for UTIs are readily available on the marketplace, but some of them may take a little work locating. Therefore, I suggest you make your own herbal preparation out of what's available to you where you live. I have listed a great number of herbs here, many with similar effects, so that it will be easy for you to assemble a formula at your local co-op, health food store or herb store. |
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Although many tea plants could be tinctured, I recommend tincturing only if some parts of the plant are insoluble in water, the herb is most active in the fresh state and needs to be preserved in that form, or if the herb is so potent that a few drops or a squirt supplies a physiologically active dosage. |
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For example, one could tincture alfalfa, but the effect of the alcohol would end up being greater than the constit- |
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