Siam Longings Unfulfilled: Calamus (Acorus Calamus) for Relief of "Stomach Ills" │ Fenugreek (Trigonella Foenum-Graecum) as a Treatment for Cellulitis

I preceded my wife to bed last night ─ it was 12:30 a.m. She had been busy doing some cooking earlier, and had then sat in her sons' den area with her youngest who was still up and sitting at his computer.

I had noticed that my wife was also enjoying some red (probably merlot) wine.

I now cannot recall if I was still awake when finally she came to bed. As she had yesterday, she would have to work a long day today at her friend's Thai restaurant.

I think that the first time I was to check the time overnight was maybe around 5:28 a.m.; and even though I knew I ought to get up to begin working on the day's content assignment for the post I am constructing at one of my six hosted websites, it took me a few minutes to get myself up.

I felt unwell. Perhaps it was cumulative sleep deficit, but it may also have been a result of dehydration.

The condition was to pass once I was up for awhile and enjoying my day's first hot caffeinated beverage.

My youngest stepson was still up when I had risen, but he soon enough went to bed. His older brother rose around 6:00 a.m. to begin readying for his workday.

Good sense overrode any determination on my part to fulfill the day's website content assignment ─ I deemed further sleep to be much more important.

So after completing half of the assignment, I bedded down here on the floor in front of my computer at 7:30 a.m. ─ I generally bed down here when I wish to avoid disrupting my wife's vital sleep with a return to our bed.

My cellphone's alarm was set for 9:59 a.m.

I do not usually sleep at all well here on the floor in the room next to my bedroom, but dreams attest that there was sleep. And my cellphone's alarm sounded its alert at the due time, although I heard it immediately and thus must not have been deeply asleep at the time.

My wife tends to try and be up from bed around 10:00 a.m. to ready for her long workday ─ and her drive to get to work for her 11:00 a.m. start at the restaurant.

When I emerged from this room, I found that she was already shut up into the bathroom getting herself ready.

I began the trip down the stairs, thinking to fix myself an instant coffee and join my younger brother who is usually watching T.V. in the living room by then.

But the T.V. was not on ─ only the stereo that I had turned on before retiring to the floor at 7:30 a.m. My brother was not there.

It was extremely unusual for him to still be in his bedroom this late ─ he had retired into the midnight hour last night after we had watched some T.V. over the evening (episodes of the series that we follow which I fetch up using our T9 Android 8.1 TV Box).

Since I do not watch T.V. in the daytime ─ I only do so with my brother, for he doesn't know how to operate the Android TV Box ─ I decided to come back upstairs to my computer to bide time until my wife emerged from the bathroom, for she would then smartly be about ready to leave us for the day.

And as I ascended the stairs, for the first time I noticed that my brother's bedroom door was ajar ─ he was not still shut up within after all.

I came back downstairs and looked out to the open-sided carport ─ his van was gone. He had evidently risen and left during the time I was earlier laying upon the floor here before my computer.

Well, upon seeing my wife off on her drive shortly after 10:30 a.m., I returned to our proper bed for a decent nap, and such was to be my enjoyment.

The noon-hour had just begun when I next checked the time. I rose, and upon emerging from my bedroom, I saw that my brother was now shut up into his own bedroom, obviously home from wherever he had gone.

I was to later query him and learned that he had gone over to the Guildford area to check out an apartment rental for his girlfriend Bev ─ she has to vacate her current residence by the end of this month.

She works in Whalley and only has a short walk to get to work, but her situation of many years is no longer tenable ─ everything around the area is far too expensive.

Single bedroom apartments are running around $1,200 a month.

My brother has been encouraging that she is going to have to look at living farther afield, and then busing to work. In view of the fact that a monthly bus pass (Compass Card) for a single zone presently costs $95, then getting an apartment father afield from the Whalley area that is within a reasonable price range despite the added burden of the monthly bus pass would certainly be a workable solution to her 'housing crisis.'

She was at work this morning ─ that was why he ran the errand on his own. As yet he had not let her know of the results of his find. And I don't even know if it was at all encouraging ─ initially that was not my impression.

Anyway, he headed out for the afternoon just after 2:00 p.m., so she will know soon enough whatever it is that he has to tell her.

I had thought this morning that the day was going to turn out to be overcast, but it instead became yet another brilliantly sunny one. There is still lots of snow laying about, but the blanket is shrinking more each day.

Of late in this blog I have been spotlighting a lot of different plants and their health benefits. However, I have to admit that the one being profiled in the following article doesn't sound as tempting when other articles about the same plant's properties are referred to.

The plant is calamus (Acorus calamus) ─ and specifically, its root:

HSIonline.com

Digestive aid calamus not as poisonous as feds claim │ JUNK science used to SUPPRESS this ‘swamp secret’ for upset stomach

I used to suffer lots of dreadful heartburn or indigestion in my younger adult years, but that trouble died out right along with my proclivity for gluttonous eating.

Consequently, I feel no need for anything deemed to be a digestive aid. Nevertheless, with that said, the calamus root has other health benefits ascribed to it.

But is it worth that risk where the compound β-asarone is concerned? There are two versions of asarone (the other is α-asarone), according to Wikipedia; and the former type does have clear recognition as being potentially carcinogenic.

Now, the article touting calamus did its best to minimize the danger, but I would definitely do my research before embracing calamus long-term.

There is a processing method in obtaining calamus oil that is supposed to remove most of the β-asarone ─ but again, do your research!

Here are a few articles for anyone interested:

SophiaHI.com: The Medicinal Benefits of Calamus br Dr. Sarah Carnes
Examine.com: Acorus calamus
WebMD.com: Calamus: Uses, Side Effects, Interactions, Dosage, and Warning
BodyNutrition.org: The benefits and side effects of calamus (acorus calamus)

And normally I try to avoid websites involved in the sale of a specific product that an article they have relates to, but I decided that the information at this one was worthwhile:

HerbCo.com: Using Calamus for Your Stomach Ills

I did an Amazon search at the top of this post using the botanical term "Acorus calamus" just to see what resulted, and get an idea on pricing for products on offer.

A second plant I want to showcase is fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum).

The following article lauds its use in the treatment of cellulitis ─ and I have to admit that I was not even aware of the condition, to my recollection. And initially when I saw the term, I wondered how it was that cellulite could become enflamed ─ but I see now that cellulitis is more than inflammation of unattractive cellulite:

HSIonline.com

Defeat cellulitis with fenugreek seed extract │ Get a leg up on HORRIFYING skin infections with this Egyptian ceremonial herb

Here are a couple of other (mainstream) articles on fenugreek:

WebMD.com: Fenugreek: Uses, Side Effects, Interactions, Dosage, and Warning
Drugs.com: Fenugreek Uses, Benefits & Dosage

And how about one on cellulitis itself?:

TriHealth.Adam.com: Cellulitis

But I wanted a little more than those, so I checked out Mercola.com and can recommend these two articles:

That first Mercola.com article even mentioned a couple of studies wherein men were revealed to have experienced an increase in testosterone.

And in one of those studies involving 600 men aged 25 to 52, most even reported "better sexual function."

However, my suspicions were aroused when I referred to the study and realized that it involved a male enhancement product called Testofen that contained fenugreek.

Still, Wikipedia's article Phytoestrogen has this under a list of plants containing phytoestrogens:

Fenugreek (contains diosgenin, but also used to make Testofen, a compound taken by men to increase testosterone).

I think I may keep an eye out for fenugreek the next time I am in the spice and related areas of the markets I shop at. I cannot say that I have ever noticed any for sale.

And once again, I did an Amazon search ─ this time at the bottom of this post ─ whereby I employed the botanical term "Trigonella foenum-graecum." I am always curious to see just what gets offered when I have so little familiarity with the search subject itself.

I was going to delve into a couple of other topics in the health-related field, but I expended too much time with the calamus and fenugreek research I became embroiled with.

While I was at work, my youngest stepson (21 years old) approached me to ask if I would show him how to complete his own income tax return.

He figures to have a third and final T4 slip (Statement of Remuneration Paid) by tomorrow ─ he had forgotten that he was involved with three different employers over the course of 2018.

Anyway, I reckon I'll be spending some time with the lad mañana.

Well, Google Photos today has yet again gone and created a collage from photos I have in an old Google Photos album ─ these are supposed to specifically relate to March 5, 2013, and thus are commemorating today (March 5):

At that time back in 2013, my wife had returned to her family home in Thailand to visit her mother and other family members, as well as old friends.

I have the original photos, so here they are beginning with the left column. First, though, I will say that the only person I can identify is my wife's Gay friend Daisha ─ he is at the right in the very first photo: