Natural medicine is having a contest on a favored herbal medicine, so I am collecting up my posts on Comfrey. I LOVE Herbal medicine, and use it heavily. I just finished three posts on how to make Comfrey Tincture. Here are the links:
https://steemit.com/herbal/@smithlabs/making-comfrey-tincture-at-home-part-one-the-decoction-process
https://steemit.com/herbal/@smithlabs/first-extraction-of-comfrey-after-decoction
https://steemit.com/herbal/@smithlabs/final-extraction-of-comfrey-by-steam
Comfrey is a vulnerary which means it accelerates healing by encouraging cell division. The active ingredient is Allintoin which stimulates hyaluronic acid which is the mortar the body uses to bind cells together. I find that a fomentation of a Comfrey Tincture, left on overnight, sealed to stay moist, does wonders with joint and muscle damage. A bruise will disappear overnight under the same treatment. The single best use of Comfrey Tincture is treating arthritis, it is very successful at that. All of this is well documented, but I found one other use that is NOT in the Books.
Since Comfrey stimulates hyaluronic acid production, which is the mortar the body uses to bind cells together, I decided to try it on a brown Recluse spider bite (actually seven of them) That a sweet Lady from my church was unlucky enough to receive. She went to her MD, he sent her home with pain medicine, and antibiotics to reduce the rot. I based this treatment on the fact that the Recluse venom destroys the same hyaluronic acid that Comfrey stimulates. I hoped to minimize the tissue death, by supplying some replacement acid. What I found was that the Comfrey actually make hyaluronic Acid faster than the venom can destroy it. Her bites, except a pimple where the first bite occurred, were gone the next morning. The pimple was gone the second morning. I have tried this twice more with identical results.
NOW, it Should work for snake bites, because they act the same way; but I thankfully have been unable to try this! I hope I never need to, but the theory is sound! :D