One of my friends just sent me a link about the neem tree, which is the source of many cures and treatments in India (where he's from). We started talking about dental problems, which is one of the things that neem trees can treat, when he started telling me about the other things that scientists are discovering.

Would you believe, for example, that extracts from this tree can be up to 100 percent effective as birth control? Or that it repels athlete's foot, psoriases, herpes, etc.?

Yeah - I wouldn't believe it either if it weren't for the fact that scientists are researching this (i.e. it's not a bunch of witch doctors trying to get people to buy the stuff from them).

Anyway - check it out at about.com - the second page is where it really starts to get interesting.

nope, i dont believe it....i think the people who are using it just believe it works so much that it works, because everything the body does is based on what the mind thinks, you can over come anything if you can "free your mind" you wont experience pain, exaustion or anything the body feels as long as you can think about not thinking i havnt experienced this first hand but my friend says is true, he has experienced this and is experiencing it, of corse theres only so much the body can take like 92 hours of no sleep is pretty harsh, any ways ive trailed off topic and i just want to say that no i dont believe it because i think is a load of non-sence

Well, just to make things a bit more clear about this issue... I'm from India and more of the 'now' generation as I would like to think of myself .

There are many remedies and cures for various diseases and health problems from scabies to sterility in the ancient Indian texts. Most of them are not used at all, but some of them such as the use of neem for skin ailments is not uncommon even in the present day. I remember when I was a kid, I got some kind of wierd rash all over my body because of playing in some bushes in the playground. My grandma who was staying with us then made my mom get some neem leaves and ground them into a paste and applied it all over my body. Frankly, I don't know whether it was because of that or because of the other ointment that my doctor asked me to use that did the trick, but I was fine in a couple of days. I applied some neem paste even when I had the chicken pox.... it feels cool and kind of reduces the itchy feeling.

It's not just neem, there are many other plants which are also used for treating some diseases. My mom also showed me a particular weed that grew in our backyard and said the leaves can be squeezed and the juice used as an antiseptic. Of course, we do prefer an antiseptic ointment like dettol, but it's always something that might come in handy in an extreme case.

You've probably heard of Ayurveda... it's a complete science of medicine in itself preferred by some to allopathy and homoeopathy. All the drugs and medicines are made from plants and natural occuring materials... no chemicals or anything.



That's for sure... "Whatever the mind thinks, the mind can achieve". But it won't help if you have a serious problem such as a disease or something. When you know you have a serious problem, it's better to try to cure it rather than trying to ignore it.

There are probably many more natural treatments available... no compulsion on anyone to use them... but if generations on generations have passed down the message that the neem leaves can cure some disease or the other... I think it possesses some credibility.

Cheers .

This post is off topic, and has earned a ticket to the health care forum.....


-William

A common chemotherapeutic drug being used in many forms of cancer including testicular cancer (yes... Lance Armstrong took this drug), is called Paclitaxel. Its active ingredient is known, to the scientific community as Taxol.
It was originally found in 1967 from extracts in the bark and needles of the Pacific Yew tree. Western medicine would do well to remember that some of its greatest discoveries have been found in nature first. Herbalists should do well to realize that western medicine doesn't mind using plants in therapy... provided that there is an actual ingredient(s) that is worth purifying.

Neem has terrific medicinal properties and has nothing to do with the placebo effect. These have been outlined way back in the Ayur (Herbal) Vedas (Vedas are the oldest written scriptures in the world) - as abhiram pointed out.

The leaves of Neem are horribly bitter - but have miraculous effect on digestion and acts as an anti-diabetic. Long term research has shown that anyone who eats a spoonful of neem leaves every day can keep such diseases at bay forever. In fact its a very common practise in India to eat neem leaves first thing in the morning. I used to be forced to do so when I was a kid. The bitter alkaloids in neem leaves help in production of bile juices as well as keeps your liver healthy, balances the sugar level in blood and gives you a healthy apetite.

Secondly - my parents are dentists - and even though teaching patients how to brush properly using toothbrush is a 20-times a day thing for them, I've found them advising people with really bad gum/teeth condition to use the branches of neem leaves to slowly massage their gum. You'll find a whole range of people in India who've never touched a toothbrush. First thing in the morning they do is to chew on the ends a neem branch and use that to brush the mouth as you'd do with a normal toothbrush. And these people have got amazingly white, sparkling and strong teeth.

When I'd chicken pox as a kid, it wasn't only the neem paste that came to rescue. If you itch hard on the pox blisters, they leave horrible marks on your body. The neem leaves turns out very handy in such a case. Just grab a soft branch with a whole bunch of leaves, and rub that lightly over the itchy region (like running a feather over the area). That does away with the itch and prevents formation of those horrible dents and bumps on your skin causes by pox.

Neem acts as an insect repellant too - infact, there's this particular time of the year around Oct-Nov, when we get this nasty explosion of horrid little green bugs. They smell, they have a sharp irritating sting and they come in hordes wherever they find a light source. In fact come evening, you wouldn't be able to see the lights in your home anymore - they'd be entirely covered with a green moving mass of these pests. Sticking in a branch or two of neem (along with the leaves) repels these bugs like magic. Besides, neem leaves ground into water can act as a strong insecticide/repellant when sprayed on crop plants.

Neem has certain effects as an anti-malarial drug, I believe as it's acts somewhat on the same lines as the bitter Quinine.

Pheww.. I'd better put a stop here - I could probably go on and on forever about Neem and it's amazing properties.

Anyway, what I wrote here are from First Hand Experience and not out of any textbook. So that says a fat lot about neem.

I know about the other tree that abhiram was talking about. In archaic Indian tongue, it's named Vishalya Karani. References to it can be found in the Ramayanas, one of the ancient Hindu epics - where its been cited as a miracle cure herb for treating wounds. The plant is very much in existence - and the juice or paste of the leaves will pretty much disinfect and heal any minor wounds and gashes.

Every coulture has some traditional plants they use as medical treatment. People are not stupid, for centuries they are using these plants for fighting disease.
At my place there is such a plant too, but Im not sure of it's latin or english name, direct translation would be something like: "house guard", and the reason it's called that way is, because it grows mainly on roofs of houses (!)

Well, the Physician's Desk Reference to Herbal Medicines, 2nd Edition (2000) pp 539 says that research has confirmed neem seed oil to have anti-inflamatory and antipyretic (fever reducing) properties. It also states other properties, such as treatment of febrile diseases (e.g. malaria and leprosy) as "unconfirmed", but that means they have not proven them wrong yet either. Such properties are not uncommon. About half of our current medications still come from plant extracts and half of the remainder come from synthesized plant extracts. Dogwood bark contains an antibiotic equivalent to sulferizole (sulfa drugs) and has also been used in the past to treat malaria. There was a shortage of chinchona bark (the preferred treatment for malaria at the time) that caused people to use dogwood instead. The antibiotic effect is why the Osage indians using dogwood twigs to brush their teeth had such a lack of dental problems. Herbal medicines are real; they are not magic and they do have problems/side effects, but they are real.

Ever hear of aspirin? Synthesized willow bark extract. Sudafed (psuedo-ephedrin) is just synthesized extract of ephedra. You probably use plant-based medicines all the time. If you know how to prepare the plant, you do not need the drug. Synthesized versions are more consistent in dosage but generally have more side effects. I cannot take Sudafed, but I can use ephedra.

There is another use of neem leaves prevelant in india and I have personally tried this before. If you burn neem leeves to make smoke, it drives away mosquitoes/insects/ other pests. And it doesnt have any adverse effects on us poor human beings. Now I cant do this anymore as i don't have no neem tree nereby and also it will trigger my smoke detector if i try it.

This post has been edited by Dinesh Samant: Aug 27 2007, 05:24 PM

Which part of neem are used for birth control as contraceptive and how to use?
Neem: A Natural Treatment That Works?

This is a right time to understand this cause this drugs have harmed our women



-SAMSON KIBONA