Jenkitty's not gonna like this...

[elfs]

I walked into QFC this morning to buy milk and grapefruit and walked by a stand of Traditional Medicinals, the herbal tea company that makes all sorts of nifty things, some of which actually work. I noticed that the design on "Breathe Easy," their hot tea that really does work, had changed a bit.

You got it. The ephedra is gone. Already. Crud, that's one of the few of their line that really did anything for me. Now it's just a blend of woo-woo herbs that probably doesn't do much at all.

Comments

[rapier.livejournal.com]

Know what? I'm not playing with you guys anymore.

[solarbird]

You could always dose up with half-doses of psudoephedrine. Or is that too strong?

[pixel39.livejournal.com]

The ephedra has been gone for a while, actually. I bought a box last spring and it was already gone.

You're damn right I'm not happy about it

[jenkitty.livejournal.com]

Too strong for my ex-husband. Sudafed makes him hallucinate, but the tea was fine. Low enough dosage, but still very effective. It told me just how super-high a dosage those pills were, believe me.

Fuckers, all of 'em. The Feds for being idiots, and the manufacturers for not standing up to them.

I wonder if I can get ma huang seeds?

[damiana-swan.livejournal.com]

According to their site:

Breathe Easy® promotes normal respiratory tract health by reducing mucus and helping to keep the nasal passages open.* Breathe Easy® combines eucalyptus, fennel, and licorice; herbs that have been found to have beneficial effects on upper respiratory tract health. Their effects are complemented by the addition of "Bi Yan Pian," a traditional formula for upper respiratory tract health, widely recommended by practitioners of Oriental medicine.*

Ingredients: 300 mg licorice root, 285 mg eucalyptus leaf, 255 mg bitter fennel seed, 120 mg Bi Yan Pian dry aqueous extract (8:1), and a proprietary blend of peppermint leaf, calendula flower, pleurisy root, and ginger rhizome.

Bi Yan Pian is a traditional Chinese herbal formula, extracted in pure water and then dried into granules, made from a mixture of xanthium fruit, magnolia flower bud, siler root, forsythia fruit, wild chrysanthemum flower, schisandra fruit, platycodon root, fragrant angelica root, anemarrhena rhizome, schizonpeta herb, and Chinese licorice root.

I'm not sure about all of them (not having my huge honkin' binder of herbalist notes with me) but I can tell you that eucalyptus and licorice root are both effective lung remedies, and several of the herbs in the Bi Yan Pian are used in Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine for treating upper respiratory issues. A couple of them are things I tend to use more as digestive aids--fennel and peppermint--and the ginger is probably there to just help the body warm up, and to assist in getting the medicine where it needs to go.

I'd try the new formula and see how well it works. :-) And if all else fails, whole black peppercorns, cracked open and swallowed like pills (around 20-30 of them) are a wonderful decongestant.

O Canada!

[(Anonymous)]

The Canadian version is untouched. So you can get this stuff north of the border.

It's true that I may be hypersensitive to the stuff

[dakiwiboid.livejournal.com]

but I hated that tea, and I hated every ephedra and ephedrine preparation I ever used. Me no like shaky hands, upset stomach and still not being able to breathe.

I've been asthmatic since birth, and to be honest, the stuff they treated me with as a child, including ephedrine preparations, was gods-awful. I think of it as primitive medicine. I spent years on theophylline and albuterol because they had nothing better to give me, and, in consequence, was so thin that everyone thought I was anorexic.

I get great results from my modern maintenance asthma drugs, and when I want an herbal cold remedy, I am quite happy with Traditional Medicinals Gypsy Cold Care, supplemented by lashings of ginger tea, mint and lemon balm tea, chamomile, and honey. Of course YMMV, but I'd be perfectly happy never to SEE the word ephedra again.

[riverheart.livejournal.com]

Let me know if you want some of the "real" stuff and I'll look for it in Canada the next time I go up to Deb's house. I expect we'll be going up next weekend, and I will almost certainly make a trip across the border for a few things we need. If they've changed the US formulation of Breathe Easy tea, which I've been using for years, I'll pick up some of the Canadian formulation for our household, and I'll get you some too, if you like.

Bringing a couple of boxes back should be no big deal. I hope.

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Well, I appreciate that, but at the moment we use the stuff so rarely that I wonder if it would be worth it at this time to ask that of you. Why don't you see if you make it across the border by yourself first.

wow

[http://users.livejournal.com/dominic-m-/]

you guys all aparrently love your tea or something.i certainly do enjoy a good cup now and then but i mostly prefer coffe to a cup of herbal tea.i know it should be the other way around but tea is not strong enough for me.too soothing i guess.i know tea HAS to be better for me but you know how badly can coffe hurt you really?