Gentleness for the tough

  I've been helping a friend with a couple of health issues, well, mishaps actually, and it's reminding of me something valuable about the relationship between the herbal remedy and the individual.

  He's a tough guy. Really tough. He's a farmhand, a logger (he's our firewood guy), a hunter, among other things. He's also a bachelor who lives on beer, cigarettes and meat. Gets injured plenty, just grits his teeth. But when he inhaled some chemical fumes and couldn't breathe, he asked if I had any "old-time" remedy. I gave him mullein, in the form of a syrup of the leaves, which he used to sweeten his coffee, or took by the spoonful. He told me it not only helped his breathing, but it "knocked him on his ass", as he put it.

  When my son was a little boy, elderflower tea worked for whatever ailed him. It's pretty versatile for most childhood ailments anyway, but it seemed to just "settle" him on a deeper level. Flash forward to present day, he is now a full grown bear of a man. We recently put in an elder bush and when he came to visit, he walked right up to it  and said "excellent." I asked him why he said that,but he couldn't really say. He didn't know what it was, and had no memory of elderflower teas. Yet he was strongly drawn to that bush.

I would like to hear any other similar stories, if anyone would like to share. Which plants just "work"?
C

Licorice root.  Most of my life as a young woman was plagued by unusually heavy periods, bloating and severe pain.  Licorice root taken daily right at the start and through the following week was a great relief.  It helped me out for many years before the effectiveness finally wore off in my early 40s. 

By then I was in a postition, financially, to go ahead and surgically remove all of the offending equipment  - Oh happy days!

But until then licorice root was my friend.  I still take it for inflamation.  Currently using it for tendon pain from an episode with a broken foot.