I would like to know if anyone has knowledge or experience with phytoterapy?
For example i made good use of blackcurrant leaves when i had articular/joint problems and it helped to find again my suppleness and movement amplitude. I used also leaves of plantain (plantago major), dandelion and wild pansy to clean the body from all the bad things we eat and the fatigue from training, lavender for sleep and excitation problems, etc… On the other hand i had good and side effects with spiruline (digestive problems) and plantain (indirect intoxication).
This topic may look strange as most people use chemical supplements, but i had much better experience with natural plants.
Does anyone has tried ginseng, seabuckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides), Cola nots, etc? I’ve been cold to use it because of side effects (nervousness mastership) but ready to try…
Wow that is a lot of stuff that I am just unfamilliar with. Where did you got all this information? when using these did you feel a stronger with your legaments and tendons? It sounds very interesting. Prolo is another alternative medicine idae. Taking lavender for sleep, did that help you fall asleep faster, or just overall better sleep?
I have gone through many treatments of prolo. The Dr. is a good freind of mine. I hope I can help.
also there are more links to prolotherapy on this site, just do a search.
Informations from my grand mother 
and personal researches because at a time in my life i had to take a lot of medication and it caused more harm than good and need to wash my body. About lavander, there’s a lot of ways to use it, the flowers of course and their fantastic smell, you can use them in the bedroom it helps sleeping it won’t fall you alseep, but will make your sleep in better quality in the last hours. The smell has a power of relaxation obviously. For lavander drinks, too much isn’t good, i was told you shouldn’t put 4 grammes per 1/2 litres (don’t know the conversion pounds etc !). It has a double effect, calming and tonic, it has also good effects for asthma. Becareful to not mix it with other plants, but here i’m not aware of all the bad combinaisons.
Hafter a blackcurrant leaves cure, i felt it was like an oil in my joints, it makes them stronger too.
I didn’t know the word “prolotherapy”, will do a search!
Blackcurrent leaves, do you think that would help shoulders to tighten up? Where could I get some Blackcurrent? How would I take it?
Thanks
Tightening up? That depends on the reason which made the shoulders tight, but in any case, it definitively won’t harm!
Blackcurrent leaves should be cut before or after the tree (bush?) gives flowers (early spring or late summer). Cook them in nfusions or decoction as you like. Of course don’t forget to take the fruits, you can eat them or press them and cook them with sugor to make a sirup and it’s great for sore throats.
Where you can find the blackcurrent bush, i don’t know in which country you live, if you can’t find it in the nature, maybe specialised markets sell dry leaves?
Not on a scientific basis, sorry. But I use these things a lot.
I think some members use Tribulus for example. I would like to know if there is any scientific proof of the effects of tribulus.
I use other herbs, but mainly for general well-being issues.
(sore throat: sage, ribwort; sometimes before sleep Melissa officinalis; when feeling tense: Hypericum (=St. Johns wort?))
There are lots of things available here in “The North”, too, but when you look to tropical countries there are so many herbs with strong effects. Jamaicans have all these “Leaf of Life”, “Strongback” (and whatever they call the herbs) and there is a lot of knowledge about “bush medicine” around. I would be really interested if there is any scientific review of these substances.
I tried a some of them and I believe they work - not only placebo-effect. You can prove it with some things which are said to have a laxative effect - believe me, they do 