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Speaking of smells…

boswellia

I’m a big fan of Western medicine. And, along with that, a big skeptic of herbal and other home remedies.

Or at least I was. I’ve changed my mind after a couple of non life-threatening but annoying conditions that yielded better to herbal remedies than drugs, or at least the drugs I was willing to take. (People who talk about their health issues are boring, but remind me to tell you my psoriasis story some time).

Two things I’ve learned about herbals. One, they’re highly individual — something that works for me may not touch you. Two, you have to take them in higher doses and/or for longer than it says on the label. I suppose herbal companies are right to be cautious, but most of the stuff they sell is benign (and it’s pretty easy to find out online what’s not).

Like, if you make an herbal tea for a therapeutic purpose, make multiple strong infusions and sip it throughout the evening. And never buy in capsules when you can buy bulk powders (the capsules take up more room than you think).

I’ve recently been taking boswellia for joint pain. But because I’m a cheapskate, I bought a bag sold for veterinary purposes (10 grams for ponies, 15 grams for horses, a little spoonful for weasels). I mean, nobody would poison a horse, right?

I’ve been taking it about a week and I’m not sure it’s helping my joints, but I’m pretty sure it’s upsetting my intestines.

The other name for boswellia is frankincense. My poop smells of frankincense.

That’s it. That’s the whole thing. I told you this story just so I could inform you that my poop smells like frankincense.

Comments


Comment from Ric Fan
Time: July 27, 2017, 10:20 pm

My gawd, you’ve gone native. All these baths (Americans take showers, dammit!) and now herbal remedies? Not good, not good at all…


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: July 27, 2017, 10:24 pm

Hey, I still have my accent. It’s a great conversation-starter.


Comment from Ric Fan
Time: July 27, 2017, 10:37 pm

Do they think American accents are charming the way we think Brit accents are?


Comment from Carl
Time: July 27, 2017, 10:45 pm

Baldwins sell empty gelatine capsules which are useful when you are concocting your own herbal medications.

I went to Baldwins old Victorian shop several times. It was very atmospheric. It was always full of elderly West Indians knocking back the sarsaparilla.

The new store doesn’t have the same atmosphere but their products are excellent.


Comment from Ric Fan
Time: July 27, 2017, 11:11 pm

You know who else has psoriasis? Kim Kardashian.


Comment from Jeff Gauch
Time: July 27, 2017, 11:54 pm

Be sure to let us know when your wee smells of myrrh.


Comment from Uncle Al
Time: July 28, 2017, 12:14 am

Jeff, but if she starts blowing her nose and finding gold nuggets in her hankie, she should keep quite about it, and not tell anybody…even us!


Comment from RimrockR
Time: July 28, 2017, 2:50 am

Funny that reminded me that Arizona has a tree that produces frankincense – the elephant tree. The desert museum sez frankincense is a herbivore deterrent. That must make the horses very happy when they are made to take it!


Comment from Bob
Time: July 28, 2017, 6:28 am

FWIW: years ago both of my knees were hurting so bad I was wondering about surgery. I was drinking a lot of diet coke at the time and a friend challenged me to stop and drink only water for a month. I refused to give up coffee, but I started drinking bottled water instead of diet coke. My joint pain was substantially reduced by the end of the month, and was completely gone by the end of the second month.

My experience made me a believer that Aspartame is bad for joints.


Comment from Feynmangroupie
Time: July 28, 2017, 2:19 pm

Sounds like you have myrrh-sa…yeah, I’ve got nothing.


Comment from Steve Skubinna
Time: July 28, 2017, 4:22 pm

Okay. I have known people convinced that their sh!t didn’t stink.

You are the first I have ever known convinced that it smelled of frankincense.


Comment from Ric Fan
Time: July 28, 2017, 7:57 pm

Arent pooped processed teas a big thing? I vaguely remember tea leaves pooped by pandas and cats were used to brew very expensive tea. Maybe, stoaty is starting her own line of stoaty poop infused incense. Probably cost a $1000 an ounce.


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: July 28, 2017, 8:21 pm

There was a weasel coffee supposedly pooped by Vietnamese weasels, which were really more like civets. Very expensive and quite bitter from what I understand.

I gave up on aspartame six months ago, Bob, on account of it’s not supposed to be good for the desirable kind of gut bacteria. Hey, when I get a new hobby, I go all in.


Comment from Ric Fan
Time: July 28, 2017, 8:49 pm

Googling around I see that they just use panda poo as fertilizer. No big deal. But tea they brew from it is $200 a cup. I’m sure I’ve read about teas that are produced from leaves eaten by certain animals.

How’s Charlotte doing? I would think she would be suffering from PTSS.


Comment from Durnedyankee
Time: July 28, 2017, 8:52 pm

“Three kings eh?
Well what’s in the box?
Looks like…..Weasel poop?
Mary have a look at this!
You followed a star from China to bring us a box of weasel poop for our son’s birth?
Shove off you lot!
Angel, show ’em the door.
Bloody hindoos.”


Comment from Steve Skubinna
Time: July 28, 2017, 9:05 pm

Kopi luwak is made from coffee beans pooped out by Indonesian jungle weasels (or civets). I believe it’s $300/ounce.

I also believe that it started as a joke, somebody said you could get yuppies to drink weasel poop if you charged enough for it.


Comment from S. Wessel
Time: July 28, 2017, 9:15 pm

One of the great titillating factors of this websight is that one never knows whether the poats are made by the real S. Weasel or one of you cunning scoundrels logged in as admin and changed the password and now the real S. Weasel is acting like Enrico Palazzo screaming at Uncle B.
“Look!! They wrote about my poop now!!”

On one hand, the opsec is a deliberate joke, so much so it makes one think of a honeypot.
On the other paw, the real S. W3as3l could be shifting the Overton window in order to beguile the captive audience with the weasel war dance.

It is a conundrum, wrapped in a perplexity, and buried under a pile of leaves and odoriferous puzzlement.


Comment from ExpressoBold
Time: July 28, 2017, 11:53 pm

Comment from S. Wessel
Time: July 28, 2017, 9:15 pm

~
This works really well on twitter… the people over there just do NOT read OR pay attention.


Comment from Weaseltablet3
Time: July 29, 2017, 12:57 am

Huh. I could’ve sworn that was me.

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