Astragalus

Now, still in the category of A, we come to the herbal remedy, popular in Traditional Chinese Medicine, astragalus. I see it is one of the agents that Andy recommended for viruses and is consequently in my blog post “What to do about the Covid virus.”

Andy says in Amalgam Illness that along with stimulating cellular immunity and increasing NK (natural killer) cell numbers, astragalus stimulates adrenal function and alleviates fatigue. This last sent me rummaging through my pile of supplements because I know I bought some when all this corona virus fear porn got going. I still haven’t found it, though. I guess I will have to stick to the yerba mate which is in my pantry for now. With one cup of coffee I can write 4 or 5 of these essays, do the laundry and clean the house, too. But then I will get insomnia and be awake all night. Sigh! Perhaps I should try acetyl-l-carnitine, the first subject in the A list.

Andy says that astragalus stimulates sweating. The internet adds that it enhances workouts. Michael T. Murray, N.D., in his book The Healing Power ofHerbs suggests it as a remedy for colds. He remarks that although it does have some anti-viral properties, it mainly works by enhancing interferon production and secretion.

Astragalus should only be taken 5 to 7 days out of a month. I know that some people who know a lot about herbs agree with that and are happy that Andy mentioned it when he wrote about astragalus.

Dr. Murray says that one to four grams of astragalus dried root tea, one to one and a half teaspoons of the tincture or 250 to 500 mg the powdered solid extract can be taken three times a day.