If you’re looking for a versatile painkiller that you can make yourself and have on hand when SHTF, consider making a feverfew tincture. Feverfew is a widely available perennial in the daisy family that you can grow on your own or find in the wild.
Making a tincture out of feverfew flowers provides you with a remedy that can be used in place of a painkiller that you may not have access to during an emergency situation.
Not to mention, feverfew has fewer side effects than pharmaceutical painkillers, which can be addictive and harmful to your health.
What Is Feverfew?
Feverfew, Tanacetum partheniu, is a plant that is native to southeastern Europe and the Balkans, although today you can find it almost everywhere in the world, including all of Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia.
It is a member of the daisy family and is sometimes referred to as wild chamomiles. Feverfew often grows alongside roads and near wooded areas.
You can recognize it by its small white flowers and yellow-green leaves that are arranged alternately along the round stem.
The stems may reach a height of about three feet and are topped with flowers that bloom towards the end of the summer season. The flowers are smaller than daisies and have yellow centers consisting of tightly-bunched tubular florets surrounded by creamy white petals.
Feverfew has been used for centuries to treat pain and other issues. There is evidence that Ancient Greek and Roman physicians used it for a wide range of medicinal purposes.
Feverfew Benefits
In the 1600s, feverfew became a common remedy for migraines and headaches. Used regularly, feverfew has been shown to reduce the frequency and severity of migraines even when no other remedy was able to help.
In the 1700s it was being used for everything from opium overdose recovery to the treatment of fevers. It was believed to aid in digestive issues, childbirth, alcohol withdrawal, sciatica, and even mild depression.
⇒ “Nature’s Prozac” Or The Instant Anxiety Relief Plant That Could Be Growing Near Your House
One thing that it never failed to help was pain – regardless of its origin. Since then, there has been a lot of research done on feverfew to understand how it works.
Research shows that it’s great at reducing inflammation, relieving spasms, dilating blood vessels, reducing fever, and reducing pain from migraines, arthritis, toothaches, and periods.
Feverfew Painkiller Tincture Recipe
Feverfew can be used in the form of a tea, a poultice, or a tincture. We love making a tincture with it because it’s easy. The resulting tincture is very potent and doesn’t take up much space while providing us with a powerful long-lasting remedy.
Making a tincture requires minimal supplies. Here is everything you’ll need:
- small glass jar (4 oz.) with a lid
- brown glass tincture bottle with a dropper
- at least 2 oz. of feverfew, dried works best
- 80 proof alcohol (e.g. vodka)
- cheesecloth or fine strainer
When it comes to the supplies, work with what you have around the house. For example, we didn’t have our usual 4 oz. mason jars available, so I used another jar that had a cork lid. All that matters is that the jar is made out of glass and can fit your ingredients.
As far as the alcohol goes, you can use any 80-proof alcohol. Vodka is versatile and works well with all plants. You can buy dry feverfew from a supplier to save you some time.
However, there’s nothing more satisfying than foraging or growing your own feverfew for this recipe.
⇒ Buy Here Feverfew Seeds And Other Seeds You Need To Start Your Medicinal Herb Garden
If you choose to go that route, make sure to harvest it when it is in full bloom, late summer. Cut the stems about one-third of the way down and hang them upside down in a paper bag in a cool and dry place.
After a few weeks, the herbs should be dry enough to go into your tincture.
Directions:
Once you have all of your supplies, follow the steps below. The total time to make a feverfew tincture is 4-6 weeks, but you’ll only spend about 10 minutes of active work.
1. Start by placing your dried feverfew herbs into your jar. Make sure to pack the dry material well so that you can fit more.
2. Once the jar is just over halfway full, pour your alcohol over it gently, all the way to the top of the jar.
Gently mix the herbs and the alcohol. You can seal the lid and shake it or use a spoon to mix everything together before sealing it.
3. Put today’s date on the jar so you know when you prepared it. Now place it in a cool dark place. It will live here for the next 4-6 weeks. Your herbs cabinet is a perfect place for it.
4. After 4-6 weeks, your tincture is ready! The only thing left to do is to strain it and pour it into a tincture bottle.
We use brown glass tincture jars because they protect the contents from sunlight, extending their effects much longer.
You can use a cheesecloth or a fine strainer to pour the contents of the jar into a tincture bottle.
Make sure to mark the tincture bottle to make it clear what is in it and when to use it. This little bottle can fit into your bug-out bag, car, or medicine cabinet. It will last you years.
How To Use Your Feverfew Tincture
Whenever you’re feeling like you need to use your tincture for your pains, aches, and fevers, start with a few drops under the tongue.
Simply fill the dropper with the tincture and drop it directly in your mouth.
Feverfew tends to have a bitter flavor, so if that bothers you, you can add it to your food or drinks to mask the flavor. If you need more, feel free to increase your dose up to two full droppers twice a day.
A few extra info & notes on its use: Tanacetum parthenium
Thank you, Anastasia, for an excellent article.
Thank you, Zed, for some very useful information adding to this article. And a website I bookmarked for more reading.
Pain relief and possible insecticide to help in the gardens, awesome.
Self-seeding perennial in zone 5 or better, nice.
Articles like this and comments like zed’s is why I bother reading this site.
Meadow sweet, white willow bark capsules and
Corydalis capsules are also very effective vs pain.
Additionally, for arthritis pain, Boswellia Serrata is outstanding!
Hey Hey Hey, whu-cha doin BooBoo! I just throw the weeds away and drink the Vodka/alcahol 2mins pain gone! lol! Good ol home-made shine works wonders,,, haa
Vodka also can serve an effective (albeit expensive) natural disinfectant.
You can use a cheesecloth or a fine strainer to pour the contents of the jar into a tincture bottle.
Oregano eye drops cure migraines
Thank you Megatron, good info
Lol oregano eyedrops? Yeah right i keep those right next to my Cayenne nose spray.
?
Megatron, I question putting oregano drops into your eyes. Oregano is powerful and burns, putting it directly into your eyes could cause serious eye injury. What are your sources for this statement?
Have a few slugs of my M.Shine and you won’t feel the pain in M yonder eyes! ol
Any pain is just your body’s detoxification process.
Doterra is a pure natural product.
Swell article. I do like tinctures. Personally, I would also suggest stocking up on feminized OG kush seeds. Actual medicine. And they can withstand extremely cold nights. (Think mountains of Afghanistan)
Very hardy plants that will provide you with needed relief. Not legal in your state, you say? Well, in a SHTF scenario…who gives an F? For all those that say growing cannabis will attract unwanted attention from zombie hoards…ok, granted. If you live in the burbs and not the country, grow it now, extract the oil and preserve it until needed.
*Close minded boomers who fell for the Reagan era war on drugs, please feel free to downvote me immediately.
It’s easy to grow a couple plants indoors under T5 fluorescent bulbs, pretty cheap and low energy use. Feminized White Widow is another good one. My girlfriend has some neuromuscular issues which are helped by medicinal pot and Texas will be the last state to legalize.
Somebody said 80 proof liquor is antiseptic, that is wrong, you need a bottle of 151, 75% alcohol, Bacardi or Everclear. Everclear is great mixed with tequila in margaritas, failproof cure for sobriety.
I tried feverfew for migraine years ago, didn’t help. Everybody’s system is in some ways different, and there are many types of migraines. You just have to try the different natural remedies to find what works for you.
80-proof is antiseptic, but it takes longer, so if you are out of isopropyl and need to sterilize something like a scalpel, forceps, and/or suture needle, then soaking in 80-proof or higher for a while will sanitize, just soak for about ten minutes or longer, SANITIZE YOUR HANDS AS WELL, then proceed with your ministrations. You can also boil the instruments just like sanitizing water for drinking, but then you have to keep them sterile while cooling off before using so you don’t burn your fingers or the “patient”.
Try magnesium for migraines….seems to help me.
Thanks F.D. Somebody has been needing to say it! I love in one of those states, just gotta be sneaky! Lol oh pharma ain’t ever gonna go along with it. It’ll take all that $$$$$ they are lining the pockets of themselves and their politicians! Sad, sad, so very sad! Land of the free right! Have a good one hoss. Got my seeds put back hope others will too!
We had feverfew in our garden, my mother used it as a tea, growing up.
I need some advice… I live in an apartment and would like to grow a few medicinal herbs. What would be the best way to do this? I’ve read about different methods but I’m not sure my plants would last long without a real garden. Any help would be appreciated!
What kinda plants are you going to grow?
Tanacetum, achillea millefolium, filipendula, calendula, taraxacum…
Mark,
Look into one of the many “container garden” options that abound on the internet. We’ve used a pretty cheap plastic tower container that has multiple little pockets for growing herbs on our balcony. This is handy because it’s very portable for moving into sunlight, protecting from weather, etc. Less handy but also extremely cheap, we took lengths of rain gutter and attached them to the balcony railings; they make great planters as they are lightweight and waterproof. Make sure you arrange for drainage holes of some type to avoid overwatering. My father used to buy large plastic trash cans and create a diy growing tower for strawberries by cutting divots in the sides and pulling out the plastic just enough to create reasonably spaced pouches all up and down the entire thing. Fill with potting soil and water from the top just like any commercial growing tower.
Container gardening on your porch or balcony is not only quite efficient, it can also save quite a bit of the labor of traditional gardens by cutting down on weeding and the labor of bending and stooping a lot. It also helps really liven up small living areas if you have the misfortune to be stuck living in a city with no nature around you. You’d be surprised at the amount of food you can grow, as well. We have tons of produce we grow in a more traditional garden because we have the room, but the herbs are right on the balcony, as well as sometimes “starter” plants intended to be transplanted later. All of our “houseplants” are not only decorative and/or pleasant smelling, they are also all edible or medicinal.
Hiai,
thanks a lot for your comment. Yes, I do have “the misfortune to be stuck living in a city with no nature around”! I’ll try container gardening for my new herbs, and hopefully my black thumb doesn’t kill them 🙂
Thanks again
looking forward to trying this
Awwww, Pain killer In A Jar… I thought it would be about moonshine…..?
What are some good home remedies I can make for my small very young grandchildren great grandchildren. I have a 18 month old granddaughter born with extremely weak lungs. She hast to have breathing treatments and oxygen at night. We hope she grows out of it but it seems to be an ongoing problem.. in the event that medicine was to become hard to find, especially for her what can I make to have on hand to help her…. with her breathing and getting the phlegm and mucus out of her lungs if we can’t get her albuterol