Q is for Quarantine (and Quinine)

It has been 20 days since my state (Minnesota) has been in an official state of “shelter in place”.  While some areas of the country are considering lifting their orders, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has extended ours not once, but twice in the last week.  As of now we have until May 4^th.  

Live everyone, I have been spending my time differently. While I can still operate some facets of my business, others have come to a halt. More time at home means more time with family and engaging in simple pleasures such as going for walks and cooking.  I’ve also been listening to old records, working on puzzles, practicing yoga – finding ways to reel things back, slow down and reflect.

Naturally I’m paying extra close attention to the health of those I serve.  I’m exploring new ways of doing business and feeling called to connect on a deeper level. Our current experience is asking us to both learn and adapt as we create new ways of doing and being.  It is also calling for us to wake up, examine our world and the way we live.

I’ve also been drinking a lot of Gin and Tonics......

In a world of uncertainty, full of opinions and agendas – sometimes you just need a nice, stiff drink.  I love a good G and T for many reasons but, before we get into that I have a few other points to make.  Perhaps pour your own beverage and take a seat.

Let’s talk about uncertainty, opinions and agendas, shall we? 

What an interesting time to be alive.  Our globe has effectively shut down in a way that none of us has ever experienced before.  Many people are awakening and paying closer attention to their world as a result, yet others are paralyzed with fear.

In this age, information moves quickly.  With so much coming at us, and much of it conflicting and causing confusion, it takes work to tease out the truth.  Add censorship into the mix and we see that some of the truth never even reaches the people that need it most.

I can relate.  

Upon understanding people are sick I instinctively provide them with information from my professional perspective that I feel are helpful to the cause and to help ease the uncertainty.  Covid or not, this is how I roll, my life's purpose.  I find people feel better and heal faster when they have some control over their health.  How better to empower them than with knowledge on how to care for their immune system during a pandemic?    

And so I shared my knowledge with my networks as I have many times before, citing the work of many great researchers published with the National Institute of Health as it relates to the antiviral, antimicrobial and immune-modulating properties of many essential oils.

As I also encouraged healthy eating, stress reduction and adding in supplements to boost immunity.  Never has there been a better time to focus on one’s health, right?

Apparently, my information hit a nerve. 

Before I knew it, one of my websites was blocked from being shared on Facebook and Instagram and my emails started to give me more trouble.  That’s right.  I’m being censored.  In this time of quarantine (which by the way was historically imposed on the sick, not everyone), a lot of important information is being quarantined, too.  That is, kept locked away so that it cannot spread.

Now, certainly you can argue I shouldn't make treatment claims about my products because that’s in violation of the FDA’s (unnecessarily stringent) laws. And, I would agree.  I don’t want to break any laws, nor did I.

I spent almost two decades working in legal research and writing before turning to my hippy business (my son’s words, ha).  I know laws and how to navigate them.  I have the FDA disclaimer on every page of my website (scroll down, you'll see). I have several lawyers advising me and many of them are my good friends.  I write about my products in such a way as to never make a claim but rather, educate my customer.  Hence, why I provide NIH published research to back up my non-claims.

I understand these platforms are not paid platforms nor are they an institution that must uphold the U.S. Constitution.  Legally, I suppose they can censor me all they want.  However, people on Insta and FB should know this.  Google should inform people when they search othat they are only showing the results they want and everything they do is being tracked.  Transparency.  Gone are the days of SEO when the internet was a free market available to all, I guess. Now we have - thought police. 

I don’t want to digress any further down a political rabbit hole. My only point is that these are interesting times and they call for a sharpening of our intuition and a deeper look into the systems that frame our world.  The information we have access to shapes our thinking - and therefore our life, whether we are aware of it or not.  

Back to my Gin and Tonic.  

Cat Stevens'  Hard-Headed woman is crackling on the record player in the background, reminding me to soften up and get to my point (I can be a little hard-headed at times, truly sorry but keep with me..)

Such a delight born of three simple ingredients:  Gin, Tonic and Lime.  

There is something about the aromatic coniferous notes of Gin that make the aromatherapist in me giddy.  Reminds me of hiking, the North Woods, things I love.  I prefer Gin distilled with spruce but to each their own - that's the beauty of a good Gin.  Minnesota’s own Vikre Distillery (Duluth) makes some amazing Gin from botanicals sourced in the North Woods. Be sure to check them out.

The bubby tonic and alkalizing lime make this cocktail refreshing and bright.  Which reminds me – the tonic water of today by Schweppes is utter rubbish laced with high fructose corn syrup.  Don't buy it.

If you want an authentic Tonic, try something like Q (see photo) which is sweetened with Agave and uses pure Quinine.

Quinine? Why does that word sound familiar Jessica?

Oh yes, finally getting to my point.

Back to the virus.  The President and many others including medic al doctors working in the field, have been promoting the use of hydroxychloroQUINE as a reliable treatment for the coronavirus.  This antimalarial drug has shown to kick the illness, quickly helping people recover. Why the virus responds to antimalarial drugs is not important at this time.  What is important (back to the thought police) is our President has received a lot of criticism for promoting the use of hydroxychloroquine, despite it's record with treating Covid.  Media even attacked him claiming possible side effects should prevent us from using this treatment on patients!

And what, let them die?  Isn't it curious, considering how many side effects there are for just about every pharmaceutical prescribed today (in mass), yet we hardly hear a peep?  

Mmm....Gin and Tonic.  

What I love most about times like this is the truth naturally reveals itself.  I never miss an opportunity to teach the world about the true origins of medicine. I'm not ashamed to admit i'm rubbing my hands together with a little smirk thinking about how I will seize this moment.  This is what I live for.   I even pulled out my antiquated medical texts that are highly relevant and can't wait so share. Hehe.

What do hydroxychloroQUINE and a Gin and Tonic have in common?  Hydroxychloroquine is derived from Quinine.  There’s that word again.  Quinine, like that in authentic tonic water, comes from cinchona trees which are native to areas of South American like Peru.  It has been used medicinally for centuries by the indigenous people and eventually made its way to all of Europe as an effective treatment for malaria.  Are you starting to make the connection? 

In fact, this herbal medicine played a significant role in the colonization of Africa (where Malaria was rampant) by the West. If not for Quinine, Europeans would not have colonized (invaded) these areas with success.

Quinine from Cinchona tree bark was the antimalarial drug of choice until after World War II when modern pharma took over the scene.  Cinocha even earned a heavy place spanning several pages in my own copy of the National Standard Dispensatory published in 1905 (this beautiful book contains the natural history, chemistry, pharmacy, actions, and uses of medicines including those recognized in the pharmacopoeias of the United States, Great Britain, and Germany, with numerous references to other pharmacopoeias).

I really love this book.  

Hydroxychloroquine is simply the modern pharmaceutical version of Quinine from the bark of cinchona trees.  This is just another example of how “folk” medicine was medicine and the treatments that exist today were discovered in the plant and later synthesized and patented into an FDA-approved drug that monopolized the market.  Many people still don’t realize this is how modern pharmaceuticals were born.  They also skip that part in medical school (among other things) and medical professionals are only taught to treat symptoms with drugs.

Isn’t that interesting to ponder during a time when we cannot write about the antiviral properties of essential oils without running the risk of being censored?  Are we starting to see a trend? What else don’t we know?  A lot.

So, exactly how did Quinine make it’s way into the Gin and Tonic?  Well, as it turns out Quinine is quite bitter.  Members of the Army of the British East India Company worked around this by mixing Quinine with gin, sugar and carbonated water.  Thus, the Gin and Tonic was born.  Today, an authentic tonic water should contain real Quinine, the amazing extract from the cinchona tree that not only helps ward off malaria but many other ailments like arthritis, lupus, lymes and even coronavirus.

For the record, Gin and Tonic is not the only medicinal cocktail.  In fact many of the botanical cocktails from before prohibition era served as delivery systems for medicine.  Think those fancy craft cocktails are something new?  Many of them are inspired by classical healing tonics.  

Remember how a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down? Grandma got a shot of brandy when she was sick?  Even cough medicine originated as simply alcohol and expectorant plant constituents in a simple sugar syrup. Wines, spirits and ferments all extract the medicinal properties of plants including the essential oil.  Isn’t that beautiful?  Times were simple and so was medicine, Simple.

I’m not giving medical advice nor am I suggesting you skip the doctor and self-medicate on a G and T if you happen to get sick.  However, I am here to remind you to take advantage of your time at home going back to the simple life, learning simple things including simple medicine. 

Whether you get sick and opt to take the pill or want to keep the natural form on hand makes no difference.  There is always the case that the natural form has a better safety record.  Quinine extract can be purchased online and there are several brands of tonic that contain genuine Quinine. With or without a good Gin, an authentic tonic isn’t a bad thing to have around.  Additional advice per President Trump’s and his experts is to add 250 mgs of zinc (no surprise as zinc has powerful immune system benefits) which works in tandem with the Quinine.

Looking for other ways to approach this naturally? 

Check out this article about 85 patients treated holistically resulting in no hospitalizations and no deaths. 

Also, rumor has it Price Charles was cured by my beloved Ayurveda and homeopathy.

Wow. I don’t know about you but I’m going to rejoice in the fact that the cure is in part, a refreshing Gin and Tonic and go make myself another…

And hey, if nothing else, at least it takes the edge off, right? ;)

(Remember to enjoy in moderation - too much alcohol can contribute to ill health and quickly turn medicine to poison.  And, never drink and drive.)

In health,

Jessica