But so much for politics. I wanted to write something personal which I suspected was either a psychosomatic or downright superstitious manifestation, but now I'm not so sure. For the past week (and shortly before that in Michigan), I was fighting off what felt like the beginning of a cold. Finally, after the long drive, I arrived here, and one of the problems I need to address is water damage from a plumbing leak which in turn caused some serious mold. Sleeping two nights breathing moldy air was enough to make me lose my battle against the wannabe cold, and as of the day before yesterday, the cold had won. But none of the work I had to do would go away simply because I developed a cold, and there's a ton of yard work. In particular, extremely aggressive English Ivy has taken over much of the yard, and is killing off trees right and left. The only way to save the trees that have not yet been strangled is to do battle with the ivy. Some of the "stalks" are six inches in diameter, and have to be sawed loose, then pried, pulled and it's a huge amount of work. As anyone who has worked with ivy will confirm, when this evil plant is molested it puts out toxic ivy dust, which can make most people sneeze and cough, and really susceptible people can develop the same sort of skin eruptions that characterize poison ivy. Fortunately I'm not in that category, but what did happen was that the sort throat I already had became strangely aggravated, and I was coughing like hell. An awful scratchiness in my throat developed (something like a painful dryness), and I figured I was probably being a damned fool and asking for an even worse cold than I already had, but what the hell. For two days, I did battle with the ivy, and braved the dust.
I went to bed last night completely exhausted, and feeling ill.
To my utter amazement, this morning I woke up and the cold symptoms have vanished. The sore throat went away without following the usual pattern of rhinitis. (Sniffling, congestion, coughing, pouring out mucus, etc.) For me, this abrupt turnaround is very, very abnormal, and because the only change in my pattern was the work with ivy, naturally it occurred to me to wonder whether ivy might have curative properties. Totally unscientific, and it sounds like nonsense, but what the hell....
Nov. 7, 2005 -- English ivy may help you breathe easier, especially if you have allergies, new research shows.
The research shows that the plant helps clean air of allergens such as mold and animal feces.
That could make English ivy an inexpensive alternative to commercial air-cleaning devices, researchers told participants of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology's annual meeting.
If you've got kids or pets, take care about where you place English ivy. The plant is toxic, so keep it away from animals or young children who might consume it. Cleaner Air
English ivy's air-cleaning abilities were recently tested.
First, researchers put moldy bread and dog feces in containers. Then, they checked how much mold and feces were in the containers' air at the start of the study. Next, English ivy was added to each container and repeat measurements were taken at baseline, then six and 12 hours later.
Six hours later, 60% of the airborne-mold had vanished from the air around the ivy. Almost as much of the airborne feces were also gone from the air (58%).
After six more hours the air was even cleaner. More than three-quarters of the airborne mold was gone (78%). So were nearly all of the airborne feces (94%), the study shows.
The above is not conclusive proof that ivy cured me, but it's certainly interesting enough for a blog post.
Also, it just so happens that as an herb, ivy and its preparations are used in Europe as cold and cough remedies.
The European indications that are currently in favor are primarily for the respiratory tract. In Germany, ivy is recommended for its expectorant effect in dry cough, common cold, and chronic respiratory tract disorders. Extracts have been used as antispasmodics and as topical treatments of dermal infections and itching, as well as for weight loss. Common ivy also has been traditionally used for arthritis, scrofula, fevers, skin parasites, burns, and infections.
There's also a discussion of its pharmacological properties:
The main components of interest are saponins (3-6% content, including hederin and hederacosides), flavonol glycosides (including rutin and kaempferol), sterols (including stigmasterol and sitosterol), sesquiterpenes, and polyalkanes (including falcarinol). The constituents in ivy are considered to have a mucokinetic effect, and they are reported to help loosen abnormal mucus in the respiratory tree. There is some evidence from animal experiments that ivy's saponins can increase respiratory tract secretions and can prevent acetylcholine-induced bronchospasm in guinea pigs. A product containing its chief constituent, hederasaponin C (hederacoside C), has been shown to have antifungal properties and to be toxic to some parasites and bacteria.
Had I not fortuitously done battle with this invasive and otherwise horrible plant while running a cold, I never would have imagined that it might have medicinal properties, but here I was, all set to blog about my superstitious suspicions before I saw any of that, and now I'm really intrigued. There's no possibility of a placebo effect either, because not only had I not read about its medicinal properties, I hate ivy and always dread working with it -- because of that irritating dust. I expectey my cold to get worse, so if there was a placebo effect, it would have been in reverse. I did have a strange feeling that by making the sore throat worse in a different way I might be making it better, which I thought was irrational. But what if I was right? We'll probably never know.
One thing I can predict is that whether ivy is a good remedy or not, it will never be bottled and sold, because there's no money to be made mass marketing a common plant that can't be patented.
My cold issue aside, I've decided to bring some ivy inside and place it in the water damaged area.
Politics will have to wait.
posted by Eric on 11.19.08 at 11:04 AM
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Comments
Convincing people that ivy is destructive is especially hard in a place like Berkeley, where people think everything green is good. Ivy turns nasty CO2 into oxygen. I know people who let their houses rot away because they could not bring themselves to "murder" the ivy growing up the walls - and sometimes INTO their walls.
chocolatier · November 19, 2008 12:05 PM
Perhaps kudzu is responsible for the difference in attitude toward plant life there and in the South.
The first person who figures out how to murder kudzu could be a rich man here.
This was really an interesting post. I have a thick bed of English ivy in my landscaping beds, and I just love to look at it. Something about the shape of the leaves and the color...It's very lush looking, even in the winter. I generally hate yard work, but I do cut the ivy back regularly. Even that is easy though. You can trample without care, cut and pull however you wish, and when you're done, it will still have that country cottage bed look. I must say, however, that I have no clue about this ivy dust? Hm? Course I don't have any six inch stalks here. Good luck with that! And feel better soon.
The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler
Don?t bang your head!
Convincing people that ivy is destructive is especially hard in a place like Berkeley, where people think everything green is good. Ivy turns nasty CO2 into oxygen. I know people who let their houses rot away because they could not bring themselves to "murder" the ivy growing up the walls - and sometimes INTO their walls.