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Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Dandelion Puff


Here's my dandelion puff. As puffs go, it's an ugly one but it's mine... I grew it from seed to leaves to flower to puff.

The French call the dandelion "le pissenlit". This translates into pee-in-the-bed and reflects the good old country wisdom of the French rural regions where old men fart noisily as they sit on benches in the evening breeze. This plant is a very strong diuretic and blood cleanser. For me, it is a monthly life saver.

I am prone to bad bouts of premenstrual tension. Two weeks before my menstruation starts I can put on up to 2 kgs of water weight. My muscles become flabby. I experience headaches and nausea, and extreme tiredness. It's like being pregnant for 2 weeks out of every 4.

Last month, it was particularly bad. Normally friendly, affectionate and sociable, I sat apart from my friends at Bible Study and refused to participate very much in the discussion - like a spoilt sulking child. The extreme discomfort of last month's premenstrual tension made me resolve to take dandelion tea this month.

And so I did. I set an alarm on my calendar to take the first mug of tea 2 weeks after the start of my last menstruation. Everyday, for the past 4 days, I've had a mug. On the first day, I had cleared liquid black stools the next morning. On the 2nd day too the stools were very soft and black. On days 3 and 4, the stools became progressively lighter and firmer. I am now smack in the period of when I should be PMS-ing. But I'm alright... no water retention, no flabby muscles, no tiredness and no weepiness.

It isn't always that I get diarrhoea after drinking dandelion tea. If I've been conscientious enough to drink it every month, I don't get diarrhoea. This time though, I had missed taking dandelion tea for the past 3 months and I guess toxins had accumulated in the bloodstream such that when dandelion tea flushed the toxins out into the lower digestive tract, the body quickly ejected the toxic waste.

Anyway, from now on, I will set an alarm to remind me to take 4 doses in mid-cycle. I don't want to repeat last month's experience with PMS.

6 comments:

Blur Ting said...

Ah, that explains the lack of posts recently. I like the taste of the black dandelion tea actually. Thanks for recommending it to me!

Open Kitchen Concept said...

Oh.. another great herb.. First gotu kola.. now dandelion... what other herbs do you take? Pray, tell... :)

Petunia Lee said...

Ting - Yeah... it grows on you. But it isn't PMS that kept me from blogging. I've just been busy. Will probably be busy until mid-Nov or so.

Petunia Lee said...

NTG - I can pass you one seedling if you want and some seeds. We take many many different herbs. You can check out the earlier posts on thyme, rosemary and goldenseal... and I suppose that I'll continue to blog as and when.

Open Kitchen Concept said...

Oh... okay Thank u.. I wont be paiseh then.. I'm so interested in all the "lady" herbs u blog about - those good for skin and PMS.. Thanks for all these info. Now, if only there is a herb that can help to lose weight..

Petunia Lee said...

No need paiseh lah... I am more than happy to have herb buddies to share experiences with. Heh! Heh! After you asked about my other herbs, I thought I would blog about saw palmetto... but that's a man's herb. My husband swears by it... Hmmm... lady herbs.