The Herbs I Used in My Own PGAD
Hello! I’ve been in two minds whether to upload this post or not, but as I’ve been thinking about it, Ellie from BBC’s ‘Countryfile’ has been on television visiting some medical herbalists, so I shall take that as a sign to proceed!
People have been asking me increasingly often about the herbs I used to help dampen my symptoms of persistent genital arousal disorder (PGAD). In Tiny Tips for Dealing with a PGAD Flare I didn’t publish the combination, because it is not freely available and may be contraindicated in some cases. However, I now get emails about it on almost a weekly basis, meaning I spend a lot of time repeating the same things to individual people! I’ve therefore decided to write a post about it, so that everyone will be privy to the same information.
Before we begin, let me state the following:
- I am NOT a doctor or a qualified herbalist.
- Only a small number of herbs are available to buy over the counter in health food shops. These are the ones that are safe for the general public to use without supervision. Think of them as the plant equivalents of throat lozenges or indigestion tablets!
- ‘Herb’ and ‘natural’ do not always mean safe. There are herbs that are contraindicated in certain health conditions; there are herbs that are dangerous in pregnancy; and there are herbs that can kill you in the wrong doses. These are the ones that are not available in health food shops!
- Medical herbalists study for several years and undertake formal clinical training; they have access to many more herbs than can be purchased over the counter.
- You will NOT be able to get the herbs I used in the form I used from a health food store.
- You will NOT be able to easily just buy them from a herbalist.
- I have purposely left out bits of information, because it is up to the herbalist to decide on what strength and dosage are appropriate for any given patient.
- Although my mum is a herbalist, she is not involved in the day to day business of Tiny Pioneer. I am unable to set up contact between Tiny Pioneer customers and my mother, as she does not offer remote consultations.
- This is NOT intended as a prescription, but as an anecdotal account that may be of particular interest to qualified healthcare professionals who are in a position to assist patients with treatment plans.
- You should always consult with a qualified health professional before embarking on any major dietary changes or treatment protocols.
- The contents of this blog post are the intellectual property of Tiny Pioneer and may not be copied or reproduced without written consent and full credit. That might sound petty, but it took an awful of experimentation (and distress!) to find a combination that helped to alleviate my PGAD sensations. In sharing this blog, I’m giving the information away quickly and for free, so at the very least I expect my mum and I to be recognised for any part it may play in future research into PGAD. In other words, no plagiarising is allowed! You may, however, share this post on social media should you wish to do so.
If you contact a medical herbalist and ask if they can ‘get’ you certain herbs, they’re almost certainly going to refuse. Medical herbalism is not a prescriptive science, but rather the practitioner considers the person as a whole individual. They will want to consult with you, usually in person, to take a medical history, find out about your symptoms, ask about your lifestyle, and possibly examine you. They will then usually tailor-make a medicine for you. As my mum likes to say, three people with the same condition could go to see her and they could all leave with a different combination of herbs. The beauty of this is that if you go to see a herbalist about PGAD, they might be able to make you something that will really help, because they’ve made it especially for your unique circumstances. The downside, I know, is that you want the exact mix that Tiny had, because it worked for her! However, just because it worked for me doesn’t mean it will work for you. And that is ultimately up to your herbalist to decide – they are highly unlikely to just sell you the mixture that I had without question.
On the other hand, very few practitioners, herbal or otherwise, know the first thing about PGAD. So after consulting with you, although they will probably want to address your overall health with a bespoke combination, they’ll also likely be willing to let you try the mix I myself used. It will be at their discretion whether or not to supply it, but I can’t see that many will outright refuse unless there are safety reasons for doing so. If you do see a herbalist, I highly recommend that you choose one who is a member of a professional organisation like the National Institute of Medical Herbalists, or your country’s equivalent.
The mix I used was equal parts Anemone pulsatilla tincture and Salix alba fluid extract. If they are mixed in the same bottle, they go lumpy, so separate bottles are necessary. I personally took 5ml of each at a time – more gave me a really bad headache. I found symptomatic relief within about 20 minutes, which lasted for at least a couple of hours. I did not find that the mix contributed to overall repair/healing. More obvious herbal candidates, including antispasmodics and analgesics were tried before this combination was found, but were less effective for me and my symptoms.
If any of you do see a herbalist, please let me know how you get on! If you are given a mix similar to this one to try, I’d be very interested to know how it works out for you. I’d also be interested to know if you find other effective combinations! And if you've not read Tiny Tips for Dealing with a PGAD Flare yet, do check that out - there are plenty of things I did that helped and not all of them required me to part with any money!
This blog post is the intellectual property of tinypioneer.co.uk and may not be copied or published elsewhere. You may share a link to the post if you wish.
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