In regions of Europe, Asia and North America with high humidity, you can often find a shrub height of 3-5 meters with small black berries. This buckthorn, which in folk medicine has been known since the 4th century, because it is an excellent laxative. Before talking about contraindications to the use of this plant, you should pay special attention to its medicinal value.
Useful properties of the buckthorn bark
The immature fruit of this shrub is poisonous. Consumption of only 10-12 berries can cause lethal outcome, but they can not be ripe. Curative properties have only bark of buckthorn. In its composition is avarin. This is a special glycoside, which provides a laxative effect. The buckthorn is also rich:
- flavonoids;
- essential oils;
- resins;
- tannins;
- pectin;
- vitamin C.
The buckthorn bark is used not only for constipation. It is also used for atony of the stomach, for regulating the activity of the intestine, with cracks in the rectum, spastic colitis and hemorrhoids. In some cases, the buckthorn bark is shown for weight loss.
Medicinal preparations based on it are used not only internally, but also externally. Infusion and decoction of the buckthorn bark are used for furunculosis on the skin surface and streptococcal infection as an antibacterial agent. Has a bark of this plant and an emetic effect.
Application of bark of buckthorn
The application of crust bark is most often carried out in the form of:
- infusion - 2 tablespoons of bark (crushed) pour 400 ml of boiling water, leave in a cool dark place for 8 hours;
- broth - in 200 ml of boiling water add a tablespoon of bark and cook for 20 minutes.
Take them in 2 divided doses: on an empty stomach in the morning and before bedtime in the evening. The laxative effect occurs only after 8-10 hours.
From the bark of the buckthorn you can make tea. To do this, in 250 ml of cold water stir a teaspoon of bark, leave the mixture for 12 hours, and then strain. Drink it once a day, best before bedtime.
Against a hard stool, you can make tea from a herbal mixture, it will have a slight laxative effect and will not cause a watery stool. To make it, you need to take 20 grams of buckthorn bark, 10 grams of chamomile and cumin blossom inflorescences, 5 grams of herbs of a thousand-thousandth. 2 tsp mixture of herbs should be poured in 250 ml of warm water and leave for 12 hours. They drink it one cup in the evening warm and filtered.
From the bark of the buckthorn you can prepare a hair dye. To do this, just pour 1 tablespoon. bark with boiling water and cook it for 10-15 minutes. Apply it for half an hour and rinse with warm water, after this hair gains a reddish-golden hue.
With skin diseases, tincture of the buckthorn bark will help. It is prepared from crushed raw materials. Coria in a ratio of 1 to 5 is filled with 30% alcohol and leave the mixture for 10 days. Use it for rubbing or in the form of lotions.
If you do not have the opportunity to prepare raw materials, do not worry, the buckthorn bark extract (water or dry), tablets and dragees are produced by the pharmaceutical industry.
Contraindications to the use of buckthorn bark
The use of buckthorn bark has some limitations. It can not be used when:
- constipation of neurogenic and endocrine origin;
- hypersensitivity to the drug;
- spastic constipation;
- intestinal obstruction;
- acute stomach syndrome;
- appendicitis ;
- acute feverish conditions.
The buckthorn bark during pregnancy and during breastfeeding should be used only after consultation with the attending physician and preferably as part of fees.
Symptomatic treatment of constipation by the bark of this plant should not exceed 10 days, as it can become addictive and the proper effect will not be achieved.
Never combine buckthorn and other medicinal laxatives. This can provoke, as well as aggravate constipation, irritate the intestines and weaken peristalsis.