Comfrey: The Comforting Herb

A month or two ago I felt the need to crack my neck but i think i did it on a bad angle or had something in there at the site. As when i did so, it made a terrible sound that resulted in some pretty intense sharp pains. the back of my neck bulged half an inch out over a few hours and it became seriously painful. As the day progressed i lost most of the range of motion in my neck and the pain only got worse.

I researched and ended up at 'disc bulges' and a recommendation for a 'cold anti-inflammatory cream like Comfrey' or something to that effect... and periodic ice pack treatment.

I put something frozen on it ten minutes in each hour and that seemed to help a little until i could get somewhere to do something proper about it. I then went to a health food store and got some Comfrey cream they had... and it really was amazing, on the first application it went from a serious 8/10 pain level down to 4/10, it was like pouring water onto a fire.

I alternated between ice pack and the comfrey cream every 30-60 minutes and that kept the pain well down.

I did make the mistake of trying to lie down and sleep... very, very silly. not for a day or two of this treatment could i lie completely down without all of the pain returning. i recommend sleeping mostly sitting up until most of the pain is gone, its not worth risking setting it off again.

Apparently the reason it works is because if the muscles around the joint/disc become inflamed they will swell up and that will then put pressure on the joint/disc causing the pain. the comfrey is a 'cold acting anti-inflammatory' it is anti-inflammatory and the net effect of the cream is cooling which reduces swelling. the cold from the ice pack also directly reduces swelling.

I also took some anti-inflammatories internally to speed up general recovery, ginger, tumeric, omega 3.

Ryan.

...Comfrey compresses healed not only the deep bruising (in 3 days), resulting from a stubbed, broken toe but also, bone -- after all, the common name for comfrey is "knit bone". Raspberry tea healed my indigestion after I was forced to eat "junk food" for 3 days whilst staying with my husband's cousin.

I used a comfrey poultice on my granddaughter's arm and it healed so rapidly, the doctor was amazed. My 90 yr old mom just broke her arm and I'm using a comfrey compress. I'm told it will take 3 months or more for it to heal, so we'll see, but I have faith that it will heal much faster!!!

Hello! I was interested in making an oil for inner adhesions with comfrey and calendula. In Germany here it is very difficult to get the dried comfrey leaf. I have found a supplier who offers comfrey "herb". Now I don`t know if this is the whole plant or what... anyway, would that also be ok to use for that oil or must it be the leaf?

Thank you very much!

Best,

Tanja from Munich

Dr. Christopher products no longer contain comfrey? As of when? I just purchased the comfrey ointment.

Dr Christopher's comfrey ointment has written on it for external use only, much like most comfrey products sold here.

Comfrey has been removed from all of Dr. Christopher's ingestible products.

It is about time someone standing up for the people s rights.

Hey there EC geeks was just wondering if you would know where if anywhere in Canada, comfrey aka "bone knit" might be available from. Just did a keyword search with Google and you guys topped great list. :) Please and Thank You.

Dear Mama to Many,

Would love your recipe for your comfrey gel.

Thank you very much,

Blessings, Mary

Mama to Many;

Thank you so much for your recipe. I truly appreciate it.

Blessings always,

Mary Martinez

I also live in TN and would like to know where your herbalist are as I really need to see someone. Thanks!

Thank you for this recipe! I have one more question regarding the comfrey. Right now I have comfrey root powder---should I use this powder form? I have seen dried leaf comfrey for sale--is this the type of comfrey I should get? I am looking forward to making this, just need to get all the ingredients now.

Where can I buy comfrey? I am looking to buy seasoned comfrey root or tincture. Please help me:)

You can buy comfrey roots in any herbal stores. It is widely available in GTA. I bought mine from Herbies-Herbs in Queen Street, Toronto. Or look for the brand Celebration Herbals, it has comfrey tea bags Good Health

You can buy bulk from any health food store worth its salt, or from Wild Rose Herbs from Calgary. Also, Community Foods in Calgary, although I can't say where in Edmonton. Any health food store can tell you.

I love comfrey and always have it growing in my garden. However, the tincture will not work well for broken bones, sprains, and such. You really need a whole herb compress as water is a much better menstruum for comfrey.

How much dried Comfrey do I put in a smoothie. Cup or tablespoons?

My granddaughter broke her arm. It was a clean break so they just put a cast on. I ordered some comfrey capsules and had her take one twice a day. She continued her dance classes and did her recital with her cast on. When they removed the cast the doctor couldn't believe how fast she was healing. He said to her mother to keep doing what she was. So after the cast was removed she continued to give her the capsules and applied the salve on the arm around the broken area. It was many years ago and we all use it a lot. The kids are living in Florida now and I just sent 2 jars of salve to them in the mail. They were just about out and didn't want to be without because it works so well. Can't wait to tell them about eating it.

About a month ago I stubbed my toe very hard. I expected it to hurt bad, but nothing happened until a few hours later and then it started swelling and hurting real bad. Turned all black & blue. Before bed I couldn't take it anymore so I put some Comfrey salve on it and sprayed it with a pain killer spray that I had and slepted all night. I awoke in the morning with very little pain. It took a little while to heal but I believe that salve helped it to heal faster.

Romona

The name Majestic Mountain Sage is correct. However, in reordering, I found that using Majestic Mountain Sage in a Google search produced a string of websites for other suppliers, none of which was Majestic Mountain Sage. The correct name for contacting Majestic Mountain Sage is thesage.com. Other suppliers of allantoin are primarily Chinese and European manufacturers seeking manufacturing contacts. None that I could find offered small qunatities of allantoin, If anyone knows of a source for allantoin USP (allantoin that meets the United States Pharmacopoeia standards) please post the information. Thanks.

Ramona, I would love to know how to make comfrey salve. I also grow it in my yard and I am looking for different ways to use it.

You can get around the comfrey problem for internal use as comfrey's active ingredient is allantoin. What you need is to dissolve allantoin, which is not soluble in water. However, it is soluble in DMSO and this can help with fractures. You can mix about 100-5000 mg of allantoin to 2 cc of DMSO. Of course you should add water to 10-20 cc at which you can apply to the skin or drink for internal purposes. It has help some people heal fractures and this is one way to avoid poisonous alkaloids from comfrey. Some people added aloe vera extracts and oil to improve healing.

Dosages for DMSO mixed with comfrey on a per day basis is estimated to be about 10 drops per day based on mixture I mentioned. Please understand that use of DMSO will result in you getting garlic odor. You can reduce this if you halved your dosages or drinking diluted hydrogen peroxide will also help reduce the smell. The reason why it smells garlic is because your body is hungry for oxygen. What it does is it takes out the oxygen component from the DMSO to get DMS. Now if the water you drink is high in hydrogen peroxide (water with not over 0.5% food grade H2O2), then the oxygen will come from H2O2 component more readily, reducing the garlic smell somewhat. Of course you can try MSM which is an DMSO with one more oxygen, this will get rid of the problem and will also help with healing of fractures. Of course, MSM is not as good of solvent for allantoin as DMSO.

Was it comfrey leaf or comfrey root?

Mama to Many,

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge!

Ted from Bangkok correctly pointed out that allantoin is the active ingredient in comfrey. It is available on the Internet from companies like Majestic Mountain Sage. I'm not sure if it dissolves in water, but it can be stirred into water with no problem. I wouldn't suggest using DMSO as a solvent. When I broke my lower leg I simply applied the powder to the skin above the break, but the location isn't critical. Anything in contact with the skin is absorbed to some extent and is carried throughout the body. How much did I use? Whatever made me happy. There is no record of allantoin being toxic, and no recommended dose size for its use. I never had a cast because three different doctors failed to recognize a clean break in my left tibia as the cause of the swelling and pain in my leg. The swelling evidently served me well as a cast. I am a biological scientist but not a physician.

Hay Zella, I have used Comfrey for alot of things. I even make Comfrey salve from my plants in my yard. I would love to have a copy of your Comfrey uses. I want to know all of its uses. I've never heard of eating it but am looking foward to trying this when spring brings up new plants. I pick the leaves, dry and store them for winter use. Please email me and let me know. Thanks Romona

I'm looking for my recipe. I'll get back to you as soon as I find it. Also you can email me and I'll send it to you. Thanks Romona

Thought I should share one my experiences with Comfrey - I have gum recession which caused a loose tooth - so I thought "comfrey causes skin to grow so maybe I could fatten up my gum around the loose tooth" - it worked but didn't secure the tooth - it just made the gum thicker in the area where I put it and because it wasn't normal, my attention kept being drawn there to this little mound as well as my tongue :-) It's been a year and has gone down about half.

Did you try using Black Walnut to mineralize and strengthen the tooth or did you lose it?

KT

How did it go? Hope your chicken bounced back :)

My mother is 87 years old. About 3 months ago she broke her neck vertebrae C2. The doctors said she is too old to go through the surgery and that she would have to wear a neck brace the rest of her life. The only time she doesn't have the neck brace on is when she's showering . So she basically where's it 24/7 . In your opinion, do you think the comfrey ointment would heal my moms neck? I suppose it's worth a try, it surely can't hurt.

I have been using comfrey tea as a hair rinse for over a year and have not experienced any side effects. I brew the tea from dry comfrey leaves.

Dear EC,

Lately, I am testing with Comfrey Leaves and Roots. Although there are widespread information about the usage of Comfrey in Internet.

Comfrey has incredible healing powers for respiratory, skeletal, digestive systems, especially for skeletal systems.

I request you too include section about Comfrey, so the people can advice how to use comfrey.

There are some ways that comfrey should not be taken, but varying info are available online. Some say you can take Comfrey Root Tea, some say you should not take comfrey root tea.

I tried both Root Tea and leaf tea. Leaf Tea was great.

Soon I will post how to use comfrey based on my experience

Good Health

EC: Hi Ed2012, we've had a comfrey page for quite some time! It was one of the first pages we created on Earth Clinic. Looking forward to hearing your feedback!

I have noticed something very strange .. I am weaning off of a beta blocker and down to 12mgs. but I don't even think it's doing anything anymore and someone had mentioned that around here on the posts.. What I find very interesting is that doctors will give patients 12mgs of a beta blocker to control their hbp . Okay I have read countless stories online about people taking 12mgs. or 6mgs. of this drug and reporting their bp going down.. I think it doesn't even work at that low dose ... So now I am wondering is this like a placebo effect where people's minds are actually believing this drug is working and so the bp goes down.. There is a lot of connection as we know between mind and body... Just another reason for the health industries to push the drugs even when they don't work..and making us think they are working.. Ha. I am not one for conspiracy theories but this makes me wonder..