A Lesson in Trust

Those that know my history know that my longest battle has been for the health of my lungs. I had to have my lungs collapsed within the first few moments of my life and as a kid there was a limit of how far I could run before my lungs hurt. Ancestrally, my paternal grandmother died from lung cancer long before I was born. I smoked cigarettes for many years, vaped for many as well, before finally quitting in 2021. As a teenager, I smoked cannabis out of tinfoil bowls and scraped resin and plastic out of 2 liter bottle gravity bongs to smoke. I’ve had a chronic cough for years, and last year I had pneumonia during the worst of the air pollution from the Canadian wildfires.

And that’s when this plant got on my radar. Lobelia, a.k.a. Indian Tobacco, a.k.a. Pukeweed. A plant grew up in my garden next to my Skullcap, and then several more grew up a few feet away. I was intrigued because it kinda looked like Skullcap, but was very different at the same time. I used my PictureThis app to identify it as Lobelia and did some online research. But, the title Pukeweed made me weary…

I went to someone’s house for a plant walk and found Lobelia once again, making herself very apparent to me. And then again she showed up in the woods during my camping trip in the Catskills.

“Okay,” I thought, “I hear you.” But I didn’t…

I waited for the Lobelia in my garden to go to seed and harvested all but a few plants (spreading some of the seeds of the plants I picked on the ground). The plants hung in my window longer than I’d like to admit…

“Okay,” I said as I finally prepared the tincture, “I’m ready to begin working with you.” But, I still wasn’t.

The 6 week mark of completion on my calendar was long passed. My lungs have been fine, my cough decreased. “I think I’m free of it.”

HA! This past sickness didn’t even have a cough, or a runny nose, or any respiratory symptoms. That is, until it passed and my body went into recovery. Suddenly my coughing fits became so violent I felt like I popped a blood vessel in my temple, and the muscles around my diaphragm were so sore. Once I started coughing I couldn’t stop and it was so painful! My Feel Better tea would help temporarily, but every night the violent coughing fit would begin again.

And so, I finally took a few drops of the Lobelia tincture. Holy wow, what a feeling! I can breath a full breath, and I’m not sure how long it’s been since I could say that, or if I ever could. She has a very noticeable presence in my body, and it feels good. I still cough, but not in violent fits and the cough feels like it’s getting stuff out.

It took a long time for me to feel brave enough to trust Lobelia’s medicine, but I’m so glad I did!