Lobelia (Lobelia inflata)

CONSTITUTIONAL & METABOLIC INSIGHTS

Lobelia & Asthma

Lobelia is famous for its use in asthma, especially to relieve constriction, swelling, tightness, and heaviness. It is also an expectorant useful for Kapha conditions in the lungs. Lobelia achieves this through an antispasmodic action - calming & opening the bronchial tubes. For the same reason, it is also used to prevent miscarriages. As an emetic, Lobelia just may be the ideal herb for asthmatics: Ancient Ayurvedic texts suggest vomiting as the primary treatment for Kapha type asthmatic conditions. Lobelia is often used in smoke preparations.

Lobelia & the Nervous System

Lobelia is an important nervine that relaxes the body while stimulating the mind. Specifically, it relaxes the autonomic nervous system while stimulating the central nervous system. However, its use as a nervine is limited because it is a strong emetic. Lobelia may cause spaciness, giddiness, or a sensation of being high.

Lobelia & Addiction

Lobelia has been used to help curb addictions and obsessions, especially nicotine addiction. As it creates disgust and nausea, it curbs desire, obsession, and greed in general. It meets any indulgence with nausea, forcing a person to face unfulfilled needs directly rather than hiding behind addiction.

Lobelia & Emesis

Lobelia is among the most famous plants native to North American annals of medicine, popularized by Samuel Thompson, who formed an entire system of medicine based upon the use of Lobelia. The Kings American Dispensatory (1893) states that consumption of the fresh herb stimulates a release of saliva and mucus into the mouth and pharynx, accompanied by a burning, acrid taste and a feeling of nausea. Lobelia's ability to stimulate gastric juices and vomiting helps in the release of copious amounts of gastric mucus. The vomiting is accompanied by acute perspiration, lethargy, and muscle relaxation. The symptoms soon abate, leaving the person with a sense of bodily satisfaction. If consumption of Lobelia does not lead to emesis, it will cause purgation of the bowels.

Lobelia Decongests Obstructive Mucus

Samuel Thompson wrote that Lobelia removes obstruction to 'prana' - the vital life force. Its use is indicated when there is a thick coating on the tongue. Ayurveda shares Thompson's belief that the stomach is the home of all congestive, phlegmatic, obstructive disorders (Kapha). Ayurveda asserts that purging mucus and Kapha from the stomach relieves congestion from the blood, and obstructions to circulation in the blood, thus restoring vitality and warmth to the body. As an antispasmodic, Lobelia relaxes blood vessels, opening up circulation directly and bringing heat to the surface of the skin. By encouraging perspiration, Lobelia flushes the skin and toxins from the body.

Lobelia's use by Thompsonian physicians has been blamed for the deaths of several individuals. Although accounts are murky, and the number of fatalities miniscule when compared to the use of Western pharmaceuticals, these deaths earned Lobelia notoriety in the annals of American medicine. Please check with your primary care physician before using Lobelia.Leave a Comment / Question