Medicinal Plants
Sagebrush, juniper, and pinyon trees grow in the Upper Sonoran Zone, between 45,000 feet to 65,000 feet elevation, in the Southwest United States. Sagebrush, juniper, and pinon grow in warm temperature. The indigenous people and animals use the vegetation.
Ts'ah – Sagebrush
The common English name for ts'ah is sagebrush. Big sagebrush is the species that grows on Diné Nation. Ts'ah is an evergreen with silvery–green leaves. Ts'ah can grow as tall as six feet and has a strong aromatic smell. It is bitter to the taste. Ts'ah grows at an elevation of 4,500 to 7,500 feet. Sheep, cattle, goats, deer, and other herbivores eat the plant for food.
The sage comes from the sagebrush. Sagebrush grows four to six feet high. The plant's main part of the plant is woody with stem and branches and is a non–herbaceous plant. The plant grows in the spring and summer then loses it leaves during the winter months. The leaves are silver green and measure one–half inch to one inch in length. The width is usually one–fourth inch. Sage has a distinctive scent that is strong smelling. The plant is bitter tasting.
Ts'ah is used to treat colds, indigestion, constipation, and fevers. Ts'ah leaves are collected and boiled into a tea. The warm tea is consumed without the leaves. The tea can be very bitter if it is not diluted. Ts'ah is also used to cure headaches and sinus. In this case the patient holds the leaves of the ts'ah and breathes in the odor. This is repeated several times until the pain subsides.
Gad Bik2'7g77 – Juniper
The Diné name for juniper is gad bik2'7g77. Gad bik2'7g77 can be found to be a shrub of up to 25 feet high. Gad bik2'7g77 grows at an elevation of 4,500 to 7,000 feet. It is also known as Utah juniper. Gad bik2'7g77 grows in woodland, forest, and shrub land on the Diné Nation.
Gad bik2'7g77 is one of the plants used as medicine by Diné. Gad bik2'7g77 is used as medicine for stomachaches, headaches, colds/influenza, abdominal pains from child birth or menstrual pain, and body aches. The gad bik2'7g77 is used for abdominal pains and body aches. Small branches, about eight inches long, are collected and bundled in a towel about the size of a rolled up newspaper. The bundle is heated in an oven or on a skillet. Then the heated bundle is placed on the abdomen or aching area. The process is repeated until pain is relieved. The cloth maybe dampened, and then wrapped around the gad bik2'7g77.
To use juniper for a cold, you need lots of blankets to cover the body from the neck down. This is done to break a sweat. The juniper is heated. Fill two pillow cases with the heated juniper then the patient lays on the pillow cases. Cover the body with blankets until a sweat is broken. The body absorbs the juniper fumes and will be "cured" in a day or two. This procedure is repeated to heal the body from the flu.
Ch1'o[ – Pinyon (Tree)
Ch1'o[ known as the Colorado pinyon is the size of a shrub to 30 feet tall. The ch1'o[ tree bark is blackish brown on the outside and reddish on the inside of the bark. The bark is rough and can be one–half inch to one inch thick depending on the age of the tree. The ch1'o[ has 11/2 inch needles, and sporadic cones. Like the juniper, the ch1'o[ also grows at an elevation of 4,000 to 7,000 feet, and grows mostly the woodland area on Diné Nation.
The needles of the ch1'0[ is removed from the branches and boiled with juniper leaves in a pot to make a tea mixture (made into decoction). The mixture is then consumed to treat diarrhea. The pitch of the pinyon is also used to treat cuts and abrasions. The amount needed is collected for the cut or an infected area of the skin. A gauze–like cloth or dressing is used to place on top of the pitch and bandage with breathable material. The dressing is left on until it comes off on its own. The pitch will heal the cut, or draw out the pus and heal the infected area.
Western Medicine
Western medicine frequently uses plant products for healing. Aspirin comes from a plant. Aspirin's active ingredient salicylic acid comes from the willow bark. The willow bark was used to relieve pain by a Greeks physician by the name of Hippocrates in 460 – 370 BC. But salicylic acid is bitter and can irritate the stomach. Later a German chemist at the Bayer Company modified the salicylic acid and created a related compound that was better to take for pain, because it was not so irritating, and came up with aspirin in 1899. Today aspirin is used all over the world for all types of pain such headaches, toothaches, muscle pain, and more.
When the human body is in pain, the area of the pain produces a chemical called prostaglandins. The prostaglandins affect nerve endings and a message is sent to the brain about the pain. Aspirin or other types of analgesic will stop the production of prostaglandins, and the pain stops after a few minutes. A dose of aspirin is about 600 milligrams that travels all over the body to stop the pain along with the area of pain, for example a headache.
The aspirin is swallowed and goes to the stomach and then to the blood stream, which carries the aspirin molecules all over the body, including to the pain site. The small intestine filters molecules according to size and chemical structure before entering the bloodstream. Some molecules are fat–soluble and others are water soluble. The fat soluble molecules pass through the filter easily because of its fat content. The aspirin molecule is small enough to pass through the wall of the small intestine where it is absorbed into the bloodstream.
The aspirin molecules continue to travel through the liver through the hepatic portal vein. The liver's function is to breakdown molecules that are foreign to protect the body. This process is called metabolism. This is where the magic happens. The aspirin's chemical unit is acetylsalicylic acid which is the salicylic acid with additional carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms. The carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen cluster is called an acetyl group. The liver removes this acetyl group forming the salicylic acid that stops the pain. The aspirin will then re–enter the bloodstream which the heart will pump to transport the aspirin around the body. The aspirin travels to where the prostaglandins are to stop the pain by stopping the productions of the prostaglandins.
Prostaglandins are not just produced at sites of pain. They are also made by the body in the stomach. Prostaglandins protect the stomach from the gastric juices that are acidic. Along with the pain, aspirin also stops the production of prostaglandins in the stomach allowing the gastric acidic juices to penetrate the lining of the stomach causing damage and pain. This is a side effect of aspirin. The body stops producing the protective prostaglandins for about four hours.
The aspirin molecules stay in the body for about 24 hours, although the number of molecules drops below a critical point earlier than that (after 4–6 hours), so that the aspirin loses effectiveness. If pain persists after the aspirin wears off then more aspirin has to be taken to stop the pain. The body's circulatory system discards the aspirin molecule through the liver and the kidney. Generally this is how drugs work in the human body.
There is the biochemistry of how life exists. The body has about 100 million different molecules all doing different things. Some examples of molecules are sodium chloride, water, DNA, protein and carbohydrates. The body is a mixture of simple and complex molecules all working together to make life possible. Biochemistry is what allows the human body to read, play, learn using muscles, and all the process that we do as human beings. Biochemistry occurs within cells, which are the basic building blocks of the body. In the cell (building block) are enzymes and receptors that carry out the biochemical activity. Most drugs act by interfering with the regular functions of the enzymes and receptors. For example, the drug aspirin–described above–interferes with the enzyme that produces prostaglandins.
The enzymes speed up the chemical reactions in the body. One type of enzyme in the stomach is responsible for the breakdown of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates in foods. Enzymes in the body are catalysts. They make things happen more rapidly. These enzymes are proteins, and have certain shapes that allow enzymes to carry specific processes in the body. The enzymes are made up of building blocks called amino acids. The enzymes have a particular shape with an active site that has a particular shape and structure, sometimes called a cleft. The cleft is where a certain chemical will fit. The chemical, once in the active site, is changed by the enzyme.
The place where the enzyme and the substrate fit contain atoms that create a chemical bond that makes the enzyme and substrate bind together. After the bond occurs the enzyme can do its job by creating molecules. This process is continuous. Each enzyme can match with only one type of substrate. If the substrate is not the right one then the enzyme and the different substrate will not bond and no reaction is created.
Many drugs affect the human body by interfering with enzymes. The drug molecule that is similar in shape to the natural body's substrate can take its place in the enzyme active site. Instead of the substrate the drug molecule will attach itself into the active site of the enzyme. Drugs that block the substrates are called enzyme inhibitors. In the example of aspirin molecule, the aspirin molecule is an inhibitor of an enzyme called cyclooxygenase or COX. COX's natural process is to bind with arachidonic acid to produce prostaglandins, but if aspirin is present this doesn't happen. The result is the pain that is caused by the production of prostaglandin is blocked.
Another part of the cell that is frequently involved in drug action is called the receptors. Receptors are also proteins that are found on the surface of the cell. The receptors are bumpy all over where smaller molecules called ligands can attach themselves. The receptors are located between the inside and outside of the cell. Receptors then bind with ligands sending signals to the cell causing some type of biochemical activity to take place. Hormones and neuro–transmitters are two types of ligands. Both are very important to the body's biochemical activity.
Some drugs cause addiction. Addiction is caused by molecules in the human body being inhibited by recreational drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, caffeine, and heroin. Drugs that are water soluble can easily enter the bloodstream. Other drugs that are oil soluble can enter the brain much faster than water soluble drugs. Caffeine from coffee, chocolate, and tea is a drug.
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