"Creole Medicines"
***DISCLAIMER - The information in ''The T&T Heritage Handbook of Creole Medicine'' is written for the purpose of information. It is advised that any intention to apply any of the remedies listed in this book should be recommended by a qualified Botanist/Herbalist.
Group 1
Oral Medicines
Tisanes or "Bush" Teas, Purges, Coolings, Syrups: "Loc" and "Mille Fleurs", Composites, Tonics, Worm Medicines, Emetics
Details:
Some Tisanes or "Bush" Teas effective for use for colds and/fevers are as follows:
Carpenter Bush; Licorice Vine; Cerrio Blossoms; Red Hibiscus; Sorrel Sepals; Hog Plum Leaves; Kaiakeet; Garlic & Lime or Lemon Juice; Vetiver Root & Lemon Grass (Fever Grass).
Teas for "Chills" (after removal of damp clothes, etc.)
Bayleaf; Spice leaf; Spice bark; Cocoa Mint; Lemon Grass; Vetiver Root (Note: These teas are not advised for persons inclined to hypertension/high blood pressure)
Teas for "Gas" (pain caused by missing a regular meal)
Dried Orange Peel; Ginger Root; Peppermint Leaves; Cocoa Mint; Chadon Beni/Jardin Beni/Cilantro
Teas as a mild sedative for Amnesia/Sleeplessness
Lime/Lemon/Orange Bud; Soursop Leaf; Gros Mauve; Patchien
Teas for Nursing Mothers
Vervine; Mint Leaves
Teas for Coolings against internal "heat" (to be taken for three successive days only)
Watergrass; Shining Bush; Patchien; Grain amba Fen (Seed under leaf); Wild Senna; Chancha Muchin (St. John's Bush); Carailli Leaves; White Bachelor Button; Ti Marie (Mary Mary Close Your Door); Mauby; Cashew Leaf
Worm Medicines
Worm Grass; Jump Up And Kiss Me; Wild Coffee; Chive Tops; Paw Paw (Papaya) Seeds
Emetic - for severe indigestion (colique miséréré )
One tablespoon of common cooking salt dissolved in warm water will allow relief by inducing vomiting and bowel movement without violent after effect.
Syrups - Mille Fleurs: made with flowers and granulated sugar only
Principally used are: Cerrio Blossoms; Red Hibiscus (with garlic, lime/lemon juice); Carpenter Bush; Christmas Bush (Flor Natividad)
Loc: Made with any or all combined leaves and brown sugar, often with addition of bruised garlic
Leaves of Cerrio plant, Licorice Vine, Hog Plum Leaf/Juice, White Head "Broom
Mild Purges
Regular Purges were once necessary , not only in Trinidad & Tobago and the Caribbean but also in Europe. In those times when people often at not wisely, but too well, sluggishness and biliousness persuaded the need to 'clean out' the body. A popular 'longtime' treatment was "Leposem". This guaranteed a 'thorough cleaning out', the kind that left the recipient so weak, it was necessary to follow for at least with a light nourishing diet of Chicken and Fish broths, lots of greens and sea-moss. Other foul and unpleasant purges utilizing drugstore ingredients, jalap and rhubarb are thankfully no longer popular.
Unwise diet causes indigestion, constipation and other stomach unpleasantries and a mild purgative might be necessary on those days when a balanced meal was replaced by greasy, stodgy but tasty fare. On such occasions it is convenient to have at hand any one of the following:
1. Seeded prunes and Senna Pods; stewed with Brown Sugar.
2. 'Wild' Senna; Senna Leaves or Pods(from the drugstore);
3. Chancha Mouchin (St. John's Bush); Paw Paw (eaten raw and ripe);
4. Increased intake of plain drinking water.
Group 2
Poultices, Rubs for cold/fever, Bush Baths, Cloth Bags, Skin Salves
Group 3
Personal Hygiene and Toiletries
De-lousing Agents, Mite Deterrents, Hair Products, Deodorizers, Eye Washes, Skin Cleansers and Night Creams
Group 4
For infants and young children
Medicine for Colic, Prevention and Cure of Thrush, Prevention and Cure of Skin Rashes, etc., Soother for Stuffy Noses and ease Chest Infections
