I can't find where you commented on this before...
I have alcohol-based tinctures...
I want to evaporate the alcohol without putting it into boiling water...
...didn't you write somewhere that simply letting it sit in warm water will evaporate the alcohol?
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
- What a couple of my NDs have suggested over the years:
Warm water (not from the tap as you should only draw cold water from the faucet for drinking - but heated on the stove, not microwave)
Add tincture to 1/4 cup slightly warm water in a large mug and swirl for a minute. Add about another 1/4 cup water and sip.
It the tincture is from solely root parts (rhizome), you can use hotter water.
If from leaf, stems, flowers or other fresh "aerial parts" stick with slightly warm water.
For anyone new to any tincture, start with just one drop. One drop for several days until you see how you do. Each time a different tincture is started, go back to the "one drop" at a time approach. -
Posted by Hoosiers51 (Member # 15759) on :
Why exactly are you trying to get rid of the alcohol, canefan?
I have found it doesn't seem to negatively impact my health, the amount in tinctures and homeopathics....but I think it can vary person to person.
I was taking the Pekana homeopathics for awhile, and those have quite a bit of alcohol, considering the dosages I was taking, and my LLMD was fine with it. So it isn't necessarily a "Lyme no-no" in those doses.
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
- One LLMD (who is also a doctor of Oriental Medicine and one trained in liver disease) with whom I consulted did not want me taking ANY tinctures as he said the alcohol used is just so very strong and he thought the liver of any lyme patient was too compromised to handle that 3 x day for every day.
Occasional use - and using the swirling technique above - would be okay, he said. For the most part, powdered (encapsulated) extracts can be found for most things in tincture form. There are just a few herbs for which tincture is the only form.
As for homeopathics, rather than using the straight drops that are with alcohol , pellet form works best for me.
Liquid homeopathics should never be heated and may not work well in water. Some can work if used on the wrist, though. Rescue Remedy works best on my wrists.
When taken under my tongue, Rescue Remedy always produced a seizure for me - I'm that reactive to straight alcohol, it instantly knocks me for a loop. But I also have porphyria so that is likely a player with the straight alcohol "allergy" shock.
But I can take a scullcap tincture in a 1/2 cup water now and then and be just fine. Scullcap works only as a tincture. -
Posted by canefan17 (Member # 22149) on :
Thanks Keeb
Hoosier, I'm trying to rule out some things that may be upsetting my stomach.
The red root and eleutherococcus have a strong alcohol smell to them... and I thought maybe it'd be better without the alcohol.
Posted by canefan17 (Member # 22149) on :
Also just out of curiosity...
How does the warm water evaporate the alcohol?
And it doesn't evaporate the herbs?
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
- The swirling does it, to a degree. The warm water is just the best for the body to accept the medicine as it passes though the mouth, over the tongue, the warm water helps.
As for evaporating herbs, not a little swirling. It's the alcohol that is most volatile, lighter to evaporate when exposed to air. The swirling exposes more of it to air.
The herbal stuff is heavier than alcohol. The alcohol preserves it. -
Posted by GiGi (Member # 259) on :