Natural Remedy: Sage

As a self proclaimed faux hippie I thought it would be prudent to find a natural remedy to tackle my hyperhidrosis. But let's be real here. I am VERY skeptical that an herb treatment can calm my crazy sweats.

Through basic web based research Sage presented itself multiple times through various sources as the solution for excessive sweating.

The active substance of the sage – possibly mainly its ethereal oil – regulates the secretion of the sweat to a normal stage and also regulates the central nervous system, which is responsible for the control of the sweat glands.  So says sweating-help.com

Stage ONE

Not into the idea of sage tea baths (my bathtub is useless at holding water) and not willing to invest in herbal teas (the ones I saw seemed a little high to me) I went for sage capsules.

Just under $15

Verdict? Save your fifteen dollars. I took the capsules religiously for a few weeks in the morning and at night and did not see any reduction in sweating.

Stage TWO

Not ready to give up I continued to read that steeping sage for tea was successful for some helping reduce sweating by 50%. While writing and researching this post at the library yesterday I realized I was just down the street from a local health food store. I packed up my laptop and marched right on to see if they had any sage products.

I first peeked at the dry seasoning aisle. They had some derivitive of sage that I just couldn't imagine how I would soak in hot water. I then proceeded to the cosmetic aisle where I thought my brain was going to explode from sensory overload. SO many options and no idea what ingredients are in the products. I then peered into the tea aisle and low behold I found this:

Sage tea bags for $2.99!

I immediately felt like an idiot for not checking this out sooner. I could certainly splurge three dollars for this experiment.

I followed eHow's guide for sage tea: http://www.ehow.com/way_5457392_much-should-taken-excessive-sweating.html

1. Boil a cup of water
2. Pour boiled water on tea bag and let it steep for 4-5 minutes
3. DO NOT steep for more than 5 minutes. This will cause the sage to lose active ingredients meant to stop sweating and it can make it poisonous. Yikes!
4. The tea is very "earthy" smelling. Meaning it smells like shit so squeeze a wedge of lemon and bit of honey to taste. 
5. Let cool and drink!

Drinking it now it's not bad at all with the lemon and honey. My plan moving forward is to make every morning and let cool while I take my morning shower. 

I also rubbed the tea on my feet. To keep things easy I am going to focus on my feet for now and if it works move on to other areas.

Tea treat for my feet.

I recommend making a separate cup of tea that you dab your sponge or wash cloth in and another that you drink. I'm not thrilled at the extra dishes and cloths I'll need to wash but they are small sacrifices.

This experiment will take a few weeks. I'll be sure to report out if I do in fact see any results.

If you have a recipe you've found successful please share in the comments!