Serpentina for Profiting and Saving

In our house we have a plant called serpentina. Some people from our neighborhood would from time to time seek our permission to pick up leaves from the plant. It was a useful herbal plant. It healed my persistent cough problem and recently I learned that it is good for the proper functioning of your brain.

A Cure for Mental Illnesses

There are plenty of articles online that state that serpentina could help in mental problems such as anxiety and schizophrenia. Reserpine is a substance derived from serpentina. There are actually medicines being sold commercially that are derived from reserpine which among others cure mental problems.

It is sold under the brand name Serpasil to treat mild cases of mental illness as well as other illnesses which could include hypertension and tardive dyskensia.

A Brief Description of Serpentina

Its complete name is Rauwolfia serpentina but it is also called Indian Snakeroot, Devil Pepper or Serpentine Wood. It origins can be traced in India but it now can be found in Asia, Europe, Americas, Africa and Oceania.

It has long oblong shaped leaves that grow pointy at the ends. The plant is very green in color especially when it is properly supplied with water. The leaves have a very bitter taste when drank as a tea beverage.

We have a lot of them growing in our own backyard where we regularly water them and keep the soil moist. Our backyard is also partially covered from sunlight at some hours of the day which might have prevented them from drying due to overexposure from sunlight.

We also have a few of them growing in our terrace which is almost always exposed to sunlight. I can tell the difference between the two locations. The ones growing in our backyard which are partially covered from sunlight are more greener and healthier looking than those in our terrace.

Actual Proofs of Its Health Benefits

Heart Conditions

My mother suffers from a heart condition. Her heart often palpitates fast and has already seen many doctors who prescribed her a lot of medicines for the heart. The doctors told her that she would have to take the medicines regularly as a part of her treatment. They say that she cannot stop taking these medications.

She followed the doctor’s advise and her condition slightly improved. But it was only slightly. To make a long story short she was still very sick despite taking the medicines regularly.

Then one day she was able to acquire a plant from one of our relatives. She planted it in our backyard and waited until it was stable enough to be used. She began drinking tea derived from it.

Making tea from serpentina is easy. All you have to do is immerse some of its leaves in hot water the same way you immerse tea leaves in hot water. This is all that is needed plus of course waiting until the serpentina tea is cool enough to be drank.

After about a week of drinking serpentina tea daily in the evenings my mother reported that she was feeling better with her heart condition. According to her the heart palpitations started to disappear but not entirely after only one week of drinking the serpentina tea.

A few more weeks and she said that she feels she is in excellent health plus her heart palpitations were gone. But I was still dubious. I was a big believer in doctor prescribed medicine rather than herbal medicine.

When she went to the doctor her medical results were impressive. She is found to be quite healthy for her age. I was following her case before and I can definitely say that besides taking her medicine the only thing she changed in her routine was that she was drinking serpentina tea.

Later on she nearly abandoned her doctor prescribed medicines but kept a few in the cases she needed them. She also stopped drinking serpentina tea regularly but when she feels ill she drinks some.

Lung Conditions

I generally avoided serpentina but when I have a fever or flu my mother would force me to drink serpentina tea. I do not know if I have an allergy problem or something but when I start to cough and produce phlegm it would usually last for months before disappearing.

Over the counter medicines and even doctor prescribed medicines are of no use to me. I would finish the cough syrups, pills, capsules and inhalants in no time at all but my sickness would still persist without any change.

My most recent one was particularly nasty. I had already spent a lot of money on doctors and medicines but still no cure. Changing doctors did not help me. It got so worse that when my latest doctor inspected my throat it was so swollen that eating has become very painful.

Again the doctor’s verdict was more conventional medicines plus a few new ones. I was on my wits end due to the pain of my sickness and discomfort brought about by my uncontrollable coughing and spitting of phlegm.

I was willing to try anything. This made me more welcoming of treatments not prescribed by conventional medicine. Despite the bitter taste of serpentina tea which I detest I began to accept a regular routine of drinking serpentina tea.

A week has not passed when my uncontrollable coughing and spitting phlegm suddenly disappeared. I was not taking any other medicines except for this tea. I can convincingly say that serpentina tea cured a sickness which frequently caused havoc on me all my life.

As a result whenever I sense that my uncontrollable coughing and spitting of phlegm would start to appear I immediately start drinking serpentina tea and my incoming sickness would immediately disappear.

This is also the same thing with my niece who lives with us. Whenever she is sick with a fever or flu she also drinks the bitter tea which she detests a lot. But unlike her regularly drinking it has made me used to its taste. I have also read it somewhere that people add honey to it when they are taking the tea as medicine.

The Market for Serpentina

There is a good market for serpentina. In the country of the Philippines for example they can be bought even online. There are e-commerce stores that carry all kinds of products derived from it. There are serpentina capsules, powders, leaves, teas and so on.

This even includes live plants and seeds. I made a cursory check of Amazon and sure enough there are serpentina capsules available for sale. However they are more known as “Rauwolfia” capsules and marketed as supplements.

In E-bay’s site meanwhile serpentina can be bought not only in capsule form but also in powdered form. You can also buy the roots of this plant in this e-commerce platform including plants and seeds.

If you wanted to buy the live plants there are many online specialist stores online that sell them not only in the Philippines but in the US and Canada among others.

From a consumer’s point of view this is very good but in terms of a businessperson’s point of view this is not good. The reason is simple. One needs only to buy the live serpentina plant and they can grow it and use its leaves without having to buy the capsules or other herbal medicines derived from it.

It is not all bad news however for the businessperson who is selling serpentina. Not all people own houses and even if they do not all of them have backyards or places that can be used to grow plants including serpentina.

I have lived in several apartment blocks in Australia for example. I can tell you that the people who live in these apartments have almost no spaces to grow plants. If you are a regular user of serpentina you would easily finish off all the leaves in one serpentina plant in no time at all. You would need plenty of them if you use them as a daily herbal medicine.

So there is a market not only for live plants and seeds but also for herbal replenishment products such as capsules, powders and even leaves. Roots are also brought specifically which lessens the number of live plants for sale.

A Daily Dose of Serpentina

The Mayo clinic recommends that for high blood pressure adults should take 50 to 200 milligrams a day. This could be taken as a single dose or divided into two doses.

A 100 milligram of serpentina costs about $2.00 so a person with high blood pressure would spend between $1.00 to $4.00 dollars a day or $7.00 to $28.00 per week. This might not seem much to a person living in a developed country but for a person living in a developing country like the Philippines this is a lot of money.

To emphasize the point the minimum wage in this country is about $11.00 so spending $4.00 is literally almost spending half your salary on medicines alone. This is why there is an opportunity for people who are able to supply serpentina cheaply in these countries and maybe even in developed countries.

A Dose For Mental Illness

A regular daily dosage of anti-psychotic medicine could cost $8.00 a day or about $60.00 per week. This is a lot of money in developing countries and is also quite a bit of money in developed countries.

Though serpentina is only prescribed for mild causes of mental illnesses a person with such sickness could benefit by being able to save money if ever they need anti-psychotic medicine as supplements.

Mental illnesses are very difficult to maintain and there could be times when prescribed medications may not be available due to a real lack of medicines or of monetary resources. Simply put it is convenient to have a reliable secondary source of cure as mental illnesses can be very unpredictable.

Other Sicknesses Cured

Besides finding a use as a cure or supplementary medicine for mild high blood pressure, lung problems and mental problems serpentina is also used in other sicknesses. It is used to treat insomnia and other sleeping problems.

It is also used as a treatment for achy joints and muscles, constipation, edema or fluid retention, epilepsy, intestinal diseases, liver ailments, reptile & snake bites and rheumatism among others.

Not only is this good news for people who are sick but also for people who can provide these sick people with serpentina. This means that there is a large market for serpentina if you can effectively reach these sick people.

A Warning

Just like all herbal medicines using serpentina unwisely can be dangerous. For example the overuse of serpentina instead of treating mental illness can exaggerate the symptoms of depression.

As serpentina can also lower blood pressure the overuse of it can lead a sick person suffering from high blood pressure to dangerously low blood pressure as well. That is why when using serpentina one must always check their blood pressure with even very simple blood measuring devices at least.

Conclusion

I for myself have experienced the healing characteristics of serpentina and based also from many testimonials and scientific research online I can confidently state that it has medicinal characteristics favorable for treating heart, lung and mental problems.

Though serpentina can be bought as a live plant and theoretically could provide for all the needs of a sick person entirely the truth is far from reality. Not many people have access or can depend on a single plant source for all their medicinal needs.

There are also many sicknesses that serpentina can be a cure for. This is not only good news for sick people but also good news for people who sell serpentina as not only they have the opportunity to earn money but also the chance to help sick people.