Background and disclaimers
These are kits of dried herbs based on protocols in Stephen Buhner’s book Herbal Antivirals. They include suggestions on preparing them at home and suggestions for how to use them, based on Buhner’s text.
While I have a year of training in traditional uses of herbs, I am not a doctor, naturopath, or credentialed herbalist. I am providing these kits as a convenience so people wishing to DIY herbal concoctions at home don’t have to source or measure ingredients. I make no claims about the efficacy or safety of these herbs and combinations.
As with all herbs, supplements, and medications, you should use the information here as a springboard for making your own determinations of whether the preparation is useful and safe for your own body.
SERIOUSLY. Talk to a doctor and/or herbalist before taking herbs, especially if you have ANY ongoing health condition.
The kits
Each kit will come with a list of preparation suggestions, including Buhner’s suggested dosing, some possible contraindications, etc. Each kit contains enough herbs to make enough to see one adult through one week-long “bout” of illness – about a pint of tincture or somewhat more decoction. You’ll need to provide 20oz of 80- to 100-proof alcohol, such as vodka, plus a jar with a lid that will hold all the ingredients.
Before you get sick
- Take the best care of your health that you can. Prioritize sleep, nutrition, and daily movement at whatever level suits your body.
- Better Broth Powder – Savory, flavorful, nutritive herbs (astragalus, burdock, garlic, ginger) and lymph movers (plantain). Great for long simmering in soups, or adding to savory dishes, eggs, vegetables, chicken, etc. Adds nutrition and flavor to store-bought soup, too! Also just a super delicious and salt-free alternative to bouillon granules.
Rationale: Herbalist Jim McDonald recommends focusing on your core health and immunity before you get sick. One key, he says, is to keep your lymph moving. Lymph plays a large role in absorbing nutrition and removing metabolic wastes from your body. Additional support comes from “food-like herbs,” such as burdock, plantain, and astragalus, that have been eaten for millennia as part of a healthy diet.
If you think you’re getting sick
Buhner’s Viral Exposure Tincture Kit * (or decoction) of Echinacea, Red Root, and Licorice
Rationale: Echinacea works on contact as an antiviral. Red Root (Ceanothus) is a lymph stimulant and tonic. Licorice amplifies the action of the other two and adds additional systemic antiviral action.
Dosing: One dropperful per hour at the very first sign of illness (or known exposure). Hold the liquid in your mouth and let it slowly trickle down your throat – you want the echinacea to contact as many virus particles as possible.
Contraindications
Reactions in short-term use are rare, but use caution or avoid this combo if you are pregnant (all), using coagulants or anticoagulants (red root), or have hypertension, hypokalemia, hypernatremia, or low testosterone (licorice)
Elderberry Syrup
Buhner recommends this if you think you’re getting influenza, specifically.
Rationale: Elderberry has been shown in scientific studies to counteract influenza viruses and shorten duration of symptoms.
Dosing: One teaspoon every 1-3 hours at first sign of illness
Contraindications
Uncooked elderberries have been known to cause rashes and digestive purging. This syrup requires long simmering, which neutralizes the compounds responsible.
In a very small portion of the population (1%, according to McDonald), these reactions persist even with cooked elderberries. Try a teaspoon and discontinue of you have issues.
If you’re definitely sick
For viral illnesses, specially influenza and Covid
- Buhner’s Common Flu Blend OR Buhner’s Common Flu Blend PLUS
- Premade Isatis leaf tincture (separate and optional; buy from a different source)
- Chameleon Plant (houttuynia) tincture (separate and optional; perhaps we can crowdsource this? It’s a raging weed in the south but hard to buy.)
Rationale: Buhner describes a “common flu tincture blend of equal parts lomatium, red root, licorice, and pleurisy root.” He also has a much more involved protocols for flu and Covid, which are fairly similar to each other and have literally dozens of different herbs named. Sharon Astyk makes her own subset blend of these, including Baikal Skullcap root, Isatis, houttanyia/chameleon plant, licorice and lomatium, and red sage. I am choosing to narrow this down a bit further, for these reasons:
- Isatis, which is a very potent antiviral and highly recommended for Covid, is also hard to source and requires multiple steps to extract properly. It also tastes, in Buhner’s words, “like rotten cabbage.”
- Houttanyia/chameleon plant is also strongly antiviral and suggested for Covid, but it must be tinctured from fresh plants; drying the plant or water-based extractions remove most of its virtue. It also tastes like fish.
- Pleurisy root, which is in Buhner’s simpler flu blend, is prohibitively expensive ($115/lb) and is mostly included to help manage respiratory symptoms that often come along with the flu. But coughs can be managed as effectively, more cheaply, and in a more nuanced way.
SO…I used the following guidelines to choose what to put in these blends.
- It must purported by multiple reputable sources to be effective against influenza and Covid as a primary antiviral – that is, it can work directly against the virus. I am assuming you’d also use other approaches for symptom support (e.g., for coughs, fevers, diarrhea, etc.)
- It must be easy for a non-herbalist to extract in either water or alcohol.
- It must be easy and affordable to source.
- It should have few contraindications and side effect.
- It should be palatable – after all, a moderately effective remedy that you’ll take will do you more good than a spectacularly effective remedy you refuse to put in your mouth.
What I arrived at are these:
Buhner’s Common Flu Blend (minus one)
Lomatium, red root, licorice – baseline effectiveness and fewest contraindications. Note that while this should be better-tolerated by more people, it lacks several higher-potency antivirals.
Contraindications: Pregnancy, bleeding issues (e.g., blood thinners)
Buhner’s Common Flu Blend PLUS
Lomatium, red root, licorice, baikal skullcap, red sage, kudzu – aids sleep and adds potent brain and cardio protection for the inflammation that comes with Covid. If you don’t have any of the conditions below, I’d default to this one.
Contraindications: Pregnancy, bleeding issues (e.g., blood thinners), diabetes. May cause changes in how many common medications (including, but not limited to, insulin, ribavirin, albendazole, ciprofloxacin, amphotericin B) are metabolized, so you may need more or less of them.
Also consider adding…
- Isatis leaf tincture (“heavy hitter” antiviral) – Strongly recommended for Covid, especially, but complicated to make at home. See Buhner’s instructions or buy premade from the link (his suggested source). Apparently tastes like bad boiled cabbage.
- Chameleon plant tincture (“heavy hitter” antiviral) – Also strongly recommended for Covid, but must be made with fresh plant. Check your yard – it’s a major weed in the southern US. Some people say it tastes like fish.
- Cough remedies for your particular kind of cough (wet, dry, barking – I will add more detailed suggestions soon)
- Elderberry syrup (esp for influenza)
- Herbal electrolytes for hydration (Caretaker)
- Other herbs for specific symptom control, e.g. coughs, fever, etc.
- Scutelaria Plus from Sage Woman Botanicals is a pretty good all-in-one match for Buhner’s antiviral protocol, including some of the hard-to-source or intricate-to-prepare ingredients. Contains Chinese Skullcap (Scutellaria baicalensis) root, Cordyceps (Cordyceps militans) 1:1 mushroom extract, Dan Shen / Chinese Red Sage (Salvia miltiorrhiza) root, Isatis (Isatis indigota) root, Cleavers (Galium aparine) herb, Kudzu (Pueraria lobata) root, Dong Quai (Angelica sinensis) root, Astragalus (Astragalus membranaceus) root, Bidens Pilosa (Bidens pilosa) herb, Licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra/ Glycyrrhiza uralensis) root, Rhodiola (Rhodiola rosea) root. Currently $115 for an 8-day supply.
* Tinctures are herbs soaked in alcohol. Decoctions are herbs simmered for a long time in water.