Thuja plicata or occidentalis
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Western Cedar Thuja plicata or occidentalis |
Western Cedar - Thuja plicata or occidentalis (in the Pinaceae or Pine family)
Part used: Scales.
Taste/smell: Aromatic, slight bitterness.
Tendencies: Drying.
Dosage: 1:0.9 fresh strength liquid extract: 10-30 drops 1-4 times per day in a little water.
Mental picture and specific indications: The person is sensitive, fixed ideas, insomnia, muscular twitching, weakness, lack of appetite and feels as if soul and body are separated. Symptoms are worse at night, with ingestion of fat and coffee and from cold damp air. There is a tendency to warty or other viral-related conditions. It is indicated for lymphatic congestion due to systemic infections. Moist skin eruptions and discharges are common. There is often a history of sexually transmitted diseases.
Use: (a) Antiviral, (b) Antifungal, (c) Antibacterial.
In small doses it stimulates the kidneys and lungs. In large doses, it becomes irritating to these organs as well as the digestive system. Cedar is commonly used externally and internally for warts, inincluding HPV. It is useful for urinary incontinence, nocturnal enuresis in children and respiratory and urinary tract infections. One of the constituents of cedar is thujone.
Contraindications: In large amounts thujone can cause vomiting, stomach and intestinal cramps, tachycardia, hot flashes, retention of urine; and in serious cases it can cause renal damage, vertigo, tremors and convulsions. Thujone is alcohol soluble, therefore aqueous extracts contain very little. Aqueous extracts are also less medicinally active. Cedar is contraindicated in pregnancy.