Arthritis, remedies Rheumatism

A large number of salts of sahcyhc acid have been prepared and evaluated for therapeutic or other commercial use. Table 7 hsts those most frequently referenced. Sodium sahcylate has analgesic, antiinflammatory, and antipyretic activities and was used extensively in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as a remedy, prepared from natural sources, for arthritis and rheumatism. In the 1990s the salt can be obtained directly from Kolbe-Schmitt carboxylation or by the reaction of sahcyhc acid with either aqueous sodium bicarbonate or sodium carbonate. The resulting mixture is heated until effervescence stops the salt is then isolated by filtration and evaporation to dryness at low temperatures. Generally, the solution must be kept slightly acidic so that a white product is obtained if the mixture is basic, a colored product results. The USP product contains 99.5—100.5% NaC H O (anhydrous). The May 1996 price was 8.15/kg (18). 

The herb is used in treating rheumatism (Launert, 1981). Infusions from the seeds are used for rheumatoid arthritis and gout. The essential oil is used in warm water to soak painful, gouty areas of the feet. Root tinctures and also fresh juice from the whole plant are also used in arthritic remedies (http //www. innvista.com/health/herbs/celery.htm). 

Preparations from Aconitum plants have been used in traditional Chinese medicine as cardiotonics, febrifuges, sedatives, and antirheumatics [22]. They have also been used in traditional medicine of some ex-USSR countries for the treatment of cancer, rheumatism, etc. [18, 23]. Aconitum plants were introduced in the medicine of European countries in the nineteenth century. Leaves and roots of Aconitum and aconitine powder were included in the British Pharmaceutical Codex (01911) [24], French Pharmacopoeia (9th edition) [25], and USSR Pharmacopoeia (8th edition) [26] and were applied to relieve neuralgic pain, especially in the face, to allay the pain of sciatica and acute rheumatism. Because of extreme toxicity, aconitine was replaced later by less-toxic anti-inflammatory and analgesic agents in European countries presently, the use of Aconitum plants is limited to the homeopathic medicine [27, 28]. On the contrary, in many Asiatic countries, aconitine-containing plants still remain one of the most popular remedies, and more and more new, naturally occurring or semisynthetic molecules from Aconitum species are introduced in medical use. Eor example, lappaconitine found in several Aconitum species, bulleyaconitine isolated from A. bulleyanum, and crassicauline A isolated from A. crassicaule were introduced in the official Chinese medicine for the treatment of chronic pain, rheumatoid arthritis, and for local anesthesia [29, 30]. 

Khoikhoi (Namibia) Infusion taken as remedy for rheumatism and arthritis. See also Topnaar [a Khoikhoi tribe] use of X. hottentotta (Watt and Breyer-Brandwijk 1962)... 

Traditional Medicine. Used in Africa and since the early 20th century in Europe for indigestion (bitter tonic), blood diseases, headache, allergies, rheumatism, arthritis, lumbago, neuralgia also as febrifuge, purgative externally for sores, ulcer, boils, and skin lesions folk cancer remedy. 

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