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Brandie Gowey, NMD
Since childhood, I have been fascinated with plants and the medicines therein. At age 17, I got my first botanical identification book, using it, as I wandered the woods, swamps, and fields of Northern Wisconsin, to identify the intriguing plant life around me. It was during these wanderings that I first met the pitcher plant – a beautiful, purple, bog plant that I almost stepped on as I hiked. It was low to the ground and surrounded by a swarm of flies, but it caught my attention because of its lovely reddish-purple coloring. I crouched down to take a closer look, getting out my ID book as I examined it. Sure enough, it was a pitcher plant – Sarracenia purpurea.
It was the only one in that little section of bog at the edge of a pine forest. I found it on a foggy, humid day in July. I liked to sketch the plants I encountered, so this one I did proper homage to, as I did with all plants I was learning about – with a pencil sketch of its appearance, a brief description of the habitat and environment, and a note about the bugs crawling into (but, in this case, not back out of) its curved leaves. How fascinating!
I had no idea of the power of this plant as a medicine until I started to formulate with it as a physician. When I was only 2 years into practice, Dr Bob Waters, genetics and biochemistry instructor at SCNM, approached me with a tincture of this precious purple pitcher plant. He told me that he and fellow researchers at Arizona State University were studying in the lab the efficacy of this plant as a remedy for smallpox, based on historical use of it.1 Really? This plant from a stinky bog has medicinal value against viruses? Is this the same plant I almost stepped on while exploring the bogs and woods of Wisconsin?
Indeed it was the same plant!
At the time he approached me, I was (I am being honest here) looking for an alternative treatment to both LEEP (loop electrosurgical excision procedure) and escharotics. I had been taught to do escharotics with enzymes and heat lamps and other manner of herbs to abrade the cervical lining, but I thought there must be another way.
I devised a methodology of topical application with the pitcher plant, and called it in as a script to a compounding pharmacy. The result was a 20% concentrated formulation that in its final form was a soft brown, creamy, cool-looking gel, with a faint herbal smell. The gel was almost gold in appearance and, when applied to my skin, felt refreshing.
It is funny how the Universe works and how we get sent patients at the right time, at the right moment in time, and only when both patient and doctor are ready. The first patient for whom I prescribed this pitcher plant (topical 20% gel formulation) had Kaposi’s sarcoma as his chief complaint. The patient had been struggling to find a treatment that would shrink, or keep at bay, lesions that normally ulcerated to the bone, wore away tendons and ligaments, oozed pus and caused incredible, excruciating pain. Radiation had temporarily kept lesions at bay, but then the lesions came back in force. He had been struggling for years with pain!
I remember so clearly the day I first used the precious pitcher plant as a medicine. I asked the patient if he wanted to try this. He didn’t hesitate; in fact, I remember his eyes got large as I mentioned it, and he instantly said yes. He didn’t even ask me much about the plant or the gel or the ingredients. When I look back at this moment, I realized that part of the magic of the pitcher plant is that patients reach for this topical, healing, beautiful gel without a moment’s pause. They instinctively know that it has the ability to heal them.
This patient began applying the pitcher plant gel to his lesions a few times daily. He called me a few weeks later to share that the lesions were shrinking … and the pain went away instantly upon application of the gel. Seriously? I had to see this for myself.
At our next follow-up, I was convinced. Sure enough, his Kaposi’s lesions were shrinking!
Following the patient described above, I had my first patient with cervical dysplasia who wanted an alternative treatment to the LEEP. She had LSIL (low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion) and we discussed what else could be done. I started her on a regimen of a gluten-free and sugar-free diet, stress management (aka adrenal fatigue treatment), and at each follow-up I did a vitamin B/C IV drip, along with with an application of the plant gel to her cervix. I followed her every 2 weeks over the course of a few months. Within that time, I witnessed her cervix go from a very angry red to a nice healthy pink, and her PAP go from LSIL, to ASCUS (atypical cells of undetermined significance), to normal. Amazing!
Now my confidence in this little purple pitcher plant was building. I was finding it to be highly effective in the treatment of MRSA, HSV1 and HSV2, and squamous cell carcinoma; anything with a rapid turnover of cells was rendered useless under the healing touch of this plant. I never saw (and have never seen) any adverse reactions to it; the skin only seems to heal, and heal rapidly. The more unhappy the skin, the better and faster the plant works. Even ulcerated, infected spider bites heal quickly!
What is this magic???
I felt that the plant species must be somehow cytoprotective, yet inhibitory. How odd, almost like apoptosis was being induced, but the plant was protecting the healthy cells at the same time. Perhaps it was both arresting and healing an abnormal, unhappy p53?
I had patient volunteers help me conduct a literature review and this is a summary of our findings. To-date, very little research has been performed on this plant genus/species:
My experience working clinically with the pitcher plant has been nothing short of “magical.” S flava contains a constituent called “coniine,” which is a neurotoxin.13 You would think that application of a neurotoxic plant would cause some serious side effects, but the only thing I have observed is healing – the skin heals, and does so without any scarring. If you look at the plant itself, you can see the Doctrine of Signatures in full effect: S purpurea looks like a cervix and vaginal canal. If you look closely at S flava, you will see a tumor metastasizing. And if you think about it, you will realize that flava should be used for cancer, and purpurea most likely should be used for cervical dysplasia.
The Creator of the Universe is giving us an incredible gift and I hope that you read my words and take them to heart. This plant is not one to be shuffled off and put on a shelf! I believe this plant is a Naturopath at heart and that its Spirit has an almost magical ability to heal.
Brandie Gowey, NMD, is a 2007 graduate of Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine (SCNM) in Tempe, AZ. She was a 1999 “Graduate of Distinction” from the U of Wisconsin-Madison, was named “Woman of the Future” by UW-Marshfield in 1995, was honored for her Service to Community by the SCNM Alumni in 2008, and was named Ruby Award Winner by Soroptomists International of Flagstaff in 2009. She founded Naturopaths International (a 501c3) in 2007. Dr B is passionate about affordable medical care, using all proceeds from the sales of her products and books to promote the medicine she loves and to work towards building a hospital with outreach into shelters. She specializes in hormonal disorders, gut issues, and pre-cancerous conditions. Her first book on preventing and reversing cervical dysplasia was published on October 1, 2012.
References
Brandie Gowey, NMD
Since childhood, I have been fascinated with plants and the medicines therein. At age 17, I got my first botanical identification book, using it, as I wandered the woods, swamps, and fields of Northern Wisconsin, to identify the intriguing plant life around me. It was during these wanderings that I first met the pitcher plant – a beautiful, purple, bog plant that I almost stepped on as I hiked. It was low to the ground and surrounded by a swarm of flies, but it caught my attention because of its lovely reddish-purple coloring. I crouched down to take a closer look, getting out my ID book as I examined it. Sure enough, it was a pitcher plant – Sarracenia purpurea.
It was the only one in that little section of bog at the edge of a pine forest. I found it on a foggy, humid day in July. I liked to sketch the plants I encountered, so this one I did proper homage to, as I did with all plants I was learning about – with a pencil sketch of its appearance, a brief description of the habitat and environment, and a note about the bugs crawling into (but, in this case, not back out of) its curved leaves. How fascinating!
I had no idea of the power of this plant as a medicine until I started to formulate with it as a physician. When I was only 2 years into practice, Dr Bob Waters, genetics and biochemistry instructor at SCNM, approached me with a tincture of this precious purple pitcher plant. He told me that he and fellow researchers at Arizona State University were studying in the lab the efficacy of this plant as a remedy for smallpox, based on historical use of it.1 Really? This plant from a stinky bog has medicinal value against viruses? Is this the same plant I almost stepped on while exploring the bogs and woods of Wisconsin?
Indeed it was the same plant!
At the time he approached me, I was (I am being honest here) looking for an alternative treatment to both LEEP (loop electrosurgical excision procedure) and escharotics. I had been taught to do escharotics with enzymes and heat lamps and other manner of herbs to abrade the cervical lining, but I thought there must be another way.
I devised a methodology of topical application with the pitcher plant, and called it in as a script to a compounding pharmacy. The result was a 20% concentrated formulation that in its final form was a soft brown, creamy, cool-looking gel, with a faint herbal smell. The gel was almost gold in appearance and, when applied to my skin, felt refreshing.
It is funny how the Universe works and how we get sent patients at the right time, at the right moment in time, and only when both patient and doctor are ready. The first patient for whom I prescribed this pitcher plant (topical 20% gel formulation) had Kaposi’s sarcoma as his chief complaint. The patient had been struggling to find a treatment that would shrink, or keep at bay, lesions that normally ulcerated to the bone, wore away tendons and ligaments, oozed pus and caused incredible, excruciating pain. Radiation had temporarily kept lesions at bay, but then the lesions came back in force. He had been struggling for years with pain!
I remember so clearly the day I first used the precious pitcher plant as a medicine. I asked the patient if he wanted to try this. He didn’t hesitate; in fact, I remember his eyes got large as I mentioned it, and he instantly said yes. He didn’t even ask me much about the plant or the gel or the ingredients. When I look back at this moment, I realized that part of the magic of the pitcher plant is that patients reach for this topical, healing, beautiful gel without a moment’s pause. They instinctively know that it has the ability to heal them.
This patient began applying the pitcher plant gel to his lesions a few times daily. He called me a few weeks later to share that the lesions were shrinking … and the pain went away instantly upon application of the gel. Seriously? I had to see this for myself.
At our next follow-up, I was convinced. Sure enough, his Kaposi’s lesions were shrinking!
Following the patient described above, I had my first patient with cervical dysplasia who wanted an alternative treatment to the LEEP. She had LSIL (low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion) and we discussed what else could be done. I started her on a regimen of a gluten-free and sugar-free diet, stress management (aka adrenal fatigue treatment), and at each follow-up I did a vitamin B/C IV drip, along with with an application of the plant gel to her cervix. I followed her every 2 weeks over the course of a few months. Within that time, I witnessed her cervix go from a very angry red to a nice healthy pink, and her PAP go from LSIL, to ASCUS (atypical cells of undetermined significance), to normal. Amazing!
Now my confidence in this little purple pitcher plant was building. I was finding it to be highly effective in the treatment of MRSA, HSV1 and HSV2, and squamous cell carcinoma; anything with a rapid turnover of cells was rendered useless under the healing touch of this plant. I never saw (and have never seen) any adverse reactions to it; the skin only seems to heal, and heal rapidly. The more unhappy the skin, the better and faster the plant works. Even ulcerated, infected spider bites heal quickly!
What is this magic???
I felt that the plant species must be somehow cytoprotective, yet inhibitory. How odd, almost like apoptosis was being induced, but the plant was protecting the healthy cells at the same time. Perhaps it was both arresting and healing an abnormal, unhappy p53?
I had patient volunteers help me conduct a literature review and this is a summary of our findings. To-date, very little research has been performed on this plant genus/species:
My experience working clinically with the pitcher plant has been nothing short of “magical.” S flava contains a constituent called “coniine,” which is a neurotoxin.13 You would think that application of a neurotoxic plant would cause some serious side effects, but the only thing I have observed is healing – the skin heals, and does so without any scarring. If you look at the plant itself, you can see the Doctrine of Signatures in full effect: S purpurea looks like a cervix and vaginal canal. If you look closely at S flava, you will see a tumor metastasizing. And if you think about it, you will realize that flava should be used for cancer, and purpurea most likely should be used for cervical dysplasia.
The Creator of the Universe is giving us an incredible gift and I hope that you read my words and take them to heart. This plant is not one to be shuffled off and put on a shelf! I believe this plant is a Naturopath at heart and that its Spirit has an almost magical ability to heal.
Brandie Gowey, NMD, is a 2007 graduate of Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine (SCNM) in Tempe, AZ. She was a 1999 “Graduate of Distinction” from the U of Wisconsin-Madison, was named “Woman of the Future” by UW-Marshfield in 1995, was honored for her Service to Community by the SCNM Alumni in 2008, and was named Ruby Award Winner by Soroptomists International of Flagstaff in 2009. She founded Naturopaths International (a 501c3) in 2007. Dr B is passionate about affordable medical care, using all proceeds from the sales of her products and books to promote the medicine she loves and to work towards building a hospital with outreach into shelters. She specializes in hormonal disorders, gut issues, and pre-cancerous conditions. Her first book on preventing and reversing cervical dysplasia was published on October 1, 2012.
References
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It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy.
The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making
The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy.
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution
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