Thyme

Thymusbulgaris(thyme)

Thyme was cultivated as a crop in Ancient Egypt and Greece. It was used to flavor tea and as a savory seasoning for various dishes. The smell of thyme for the ancients personified the human soul. The Greeks often burned dry thyme instead of incense during worship. The Egyptians and Etruscans used thyme along with other embalming substances. Africans used a decoction of thyme and olive oil to cleanse wounds. The ancient Slavs used it to fumigate their homes. According to legend, this plant gives strength, courage and bravery. Therefore, medieval knights tied scarves on which one could see an embroidered image of a pink-purple thyme inflorescence surrounded by bees. Odo of Mena describes the properties of thyme as follows:

The powder of this herb, mixed with boiled honey, eaten (it is also taken with wine), expels the tenacious moisture of the chest, giving birth to phlegm. With warm wine in the stomach, it relieves colic if it is drunk abundantly, and I have often been convinced of this myself... Let the pregnant woman avoid touching the grass; He won’t even eat it, he’ll just put it on him and the birth will begin immediately. It treats nausea if it is taken crushed with a small dose of wine or if it is taken in an egg; In the same way, it also arouses love amazingly, If the dry and green drink is drunk generously...

Bogorodskaya grass (as thyme is popularly called) was used as a diaphoretic and antiseptic. In the 17th century, surgeon Pierre Argelata treated wounds in the mouth and larynx with thyme infusion. Avicenna wrote that thyme “... is useful for internal tumors and very hard phlegmon. It is boiled in vinegar and mixed with rose oil; if you lubricate your head with it, it helps against memory loss, as well as insanity. Wild thyme leaves are also used to make a medicinal bandage for the head and forehead for headaches, and this is beneficial.” Pedanius Dioscorides in his book “On Medicines” writes that thyme is indispensable for childbirth and female diseases, and with honey and poppy seeds it improves vision.

Thyme essential oil is used externally in the form of an ointment as an analgesic for radiculitis and neuralgia. Thymol, its main component, is valued in medical practice as a disinfectant, analgesic (Hartmann's liquid) and anthelmintic. Liquid extract of thyme is included in the composition of pertussin, used for whooping cough and bronchitis. A water infusion of thyme is used for abdominal pain, dysentery, as a cardiac and diuretic.

Medicinal properties

1. Stimulates the motor activity of the ciliated epithelium of the respiratory tract, promotes loosening of inflammatory plaques and liquefaction of sputum. For dry lesions of the mucous membranes of the throat and larynx, it has an enveloping effect.
2. Recommended for bacterial and viral infections, inflammatory diseases of the oral cavity and nasopharynx caused by pyogenic bacteria.
3. Effective for laryngitis, rhinopharyngitis, tracheitis, bronchitis, bronchopneumonia, colds, asthma, spasmodic cough, tonsillitis, tuberculosis, emphysema, runny nose, sinusitis.
4. Used for dysentery, flatulence, hernia, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract accompanied by decreased gastric secretion, atony or intestinal spasms. Improves the digestive process, destroys pathogens in the gastrointestinal tract, and also eliminates the phenomena of fermentation and rotting. It has an analgesic effect for stomach and intestinal spasms. Stimulates appetite.
5. Used as an anthelmintic in the treatment of hookworm disease, trichuriasis, and necatoriasis.
6. Used for urinary tract infections and hepatitis.
7. Improves heart function. Stimulates the formation of white blood cells, general blood circulation, and prevents the formation of blood clots. Eliminates vegetative-vascular disorders.
8. Increases blood pressure.
9. It is recommended to use for painful, scanty periods, as well as for their delay and leucorrhoea. Relieves inflammatory processes of the uterine appendages.
10. Effective in inflammatory processes complicated by pathogenic microflora resistant to antibiotics.
11. Neutralizes poisons of animal origin, promotes the elimination of toxins along with sweat and urine.
12. Antidiabetic agent.
13. Stimulates the immune system.
14. It has an analgesic effect for arthritis, gout, rheumatism, radiculitis, myositis, neuritis.
15. Prescribed for purulent skin lesions, eczema, dermatitis, furunculosis, fungal diseases of the nails and skin of the feet, abrasions, scabies (eliminates itching).
16. In folk medicine, it is used for chronic gastritis, stomach ulcers, loss of appetite, heartburn, diarrhea, diseases of the renal pelvis, as well as for dry cough, whooping cough, inflammation of the gums, skin irritation, to relieve spasms of cerebral vessels, as a warming agent for hypothermia, an expectorant, carminative, diaphoretic and mild sleeping pill.
17. Has a tonic effect on the nervous system. Indicated for psycho-emotional agitation, depression, mental fatigue, and states of fear. Stimulates mental activity, relieves drowsiness caused by eating too much.
18. It is used to treat cellulite, as it well regulates the level of polyunsaturated fatty acids. Effective for lice, hair loss, baldness.
19. First aid for insect bites.

Dosage

Externally: 7-8 k. per 10 ml of vegetable oil.

Internally: 1-3 k. per 1 tsp. oils 3 times a day after meals.

Bathrooms: 3-5 k.

Inhalations: 1-2 k.

Rinse: 4-5 k. per 10 ml of ethyl alcohol.

Enrichment of cosmetics: 2-3 k. per 10 g of base.

Contraindications. Individual intolerance. Pregnancy (especially the first months), hypertension, epilepsy. Not recommended for children under 7 years of age, as well as for those with cardiac decompensation or very sensitive skin.

Note. An overdose may cause nausea. Incompatible with alcohol.