I think they do work

so do i sweet heart. lol.and if they can get a remedy to stop chicken pox itching, from the plant cammomile, then why wouldn't Doc leaves work? a very apt name as well.

Take it from an ex nurse dock leaves do work!!

Work to do what? And Calamine lotion is mainly zinc oxide plus 0.5% iron oxide, not obtained from the cammomile herb. Now I'm confused.

oh! so am i now. thought it was cammomile. but isn't that a tea that you take to settle your stomach, or something like that, anyway no-one can argue that we don't get a lot of remedies from nature, so why not the doc leaf to relieve the sting from the nettle.

Yes. Cammomile tea is what Hercule Poirot would call 'a petit tisanne' (or 'erbal tea if you live round here). It is a good 'digestif' and a mild anti-anxiety drug.

I was told at medical school (when Hippocrates was still practicing) that dock leaves are a placebo. When you get stung the pain only lasts a short while so if you busy the person by getting them to look for dock leaves it takes their mind off the pain. As the most common irritant in the common nettle is formic acid (the stuff that ants use in higher concentrations) then you are better off using a solution of baking soda.

Maybe Connor means does dock work as a liquid fertiliser? Then yes - but comfrey is miles better.

Connor welcome to GoY I suspect from your question that you are a young person... dock leaves do work. As April has said a lot of our medicine is plant based in fact at one time it was all planted based before chemists worked out how to synthesise the ingredients.

April camomile tea will help to settle an upset stomach and used to be given to nursing mothers so that it went into the milk and helped to settle the babies tum too.

what a wonderful answer.thanks

I must have had a senior moment.. I was thinking we had to vote whether doc leaves work or not (was thinking "well if doc wants to leave work it's up to him".Sad to be getting old....:o(

lol loads, me aqnd connor

April is my mum and I am getting an allotment soon so right now I am sharing a garden with April

Dock leaves DO work - because Moon grower says so, so it must be right. As a retired doctor though I can assure you that there is no empirical evidence to support this rather strange theory. But placebos work. If you think something will work then it will. I know, I've prescribed placebos for hysterical patients during my time as a consultant, and, yes, they work.

It is only now that homeopathy is being looked at more closely because there is no evidence that it works, except Prince Charles says it does. And if Moon grower were to say that it does as well then that would be the end of the matter.

Why did I spend 8 years at university? What a waste of time. I could have just asked on here.

Sarraceniac that you for sharing... whether they work as a placebo or for real is, in a way, beside the point! I actually typed and posted at the same time as you so had not seen your posting pointing out they are actually a placebo until after I posted. If you want to take offence it is your choice!

We humans 'think' we know why all sorts of things work but when it comes right down to it we don't. I used to use self hypnosis when having a tooth filled and I didn't feel the pain - how did it work... no idea really. Why are pregnant women in third world countries able to walk of the field where they have been working, squat down and give birth with minimal fuss and intervention (and yes I do know they have a high infant mortality rate) whilst western medicine has declared that giving birth is a major incident requiring lord knows how many procedures...

I do not claim to know everything and I certainly do not feel that if I agree with something or someone that everyone else has to do so, and why did you decide to have a go at me when Great had also said that rubbing dock leaves on nettle stings works - after all she is an ex-nurse?

Maybe you should, quoting empirical evidence...had you been around and asked Hippocraties about all of the bacteria running around all over his body he would have surely argued the same thing. no microscopes my dear, so no empirical evidence on that score! and prior to Capurnican didn't they believe that the sun revolved around the earth, so very,very dogmatic don't you think. i'm with Moon grower on this, there are still i believe many many things that even qualified doctors don't know. as for placebos, yes some do work, although there are quite a few illnesses that are or can be triggered pshycosomatically as a result the same could be true for either thier cure or with the alleviation of symptoms. However there is also alot that is yet unkown or yet to be proven. Eg. MS sufferers are now only just being given a proper diagnosis because they have only just discovered a diagnostic test, prior to that, no empirical evidence.

On a lighter note, I still think my answer was the best.....:o)

So do I Dylan. This Doc certainly left work 4 years ago and now just potters around his garden hitting the army of manual labourers with sticks of rhubarb. I am a great admirer of nurses and their professional abilities but they have not received the greatest clinical training. Otherwise it would take 12 years to train a nurse to the point where they can even start work.

he's a youngster and is just starting to become interested in gardening, i really didn't think that such an innocent question could have caused so much difference of Opinion. Maybe a little bit of encouragment and enthusiasm would be a bit more beneficial to all. Apologies.....

Let's just forget all this and carry on answering questions

And can you call me a child or kid because youngster is embaressing

Whilst dock leaves are thought to have mild antihystamine (spelling?) properties this has not yet been proven so it could be said that they are a placebo. What is wrong with that? If a patient recovers after taking a perscribed medication, be it a placebo or a chemical from one of the drug companies, then the medication was sucessful, surely?

THEY STILL WORK

yey to that. and yeah Dylandog's answer was by far the better....we couldn't stop laughing. which we haven't done in a long time due to ill health...hhrmmm anyone know a doc at all?

If a patient recovers from it rather than them just thinking they have recovered then it is not a placebo

Mum can you call me a kid instead of youngster though?

They always seemed to work when we were kids. Especially on nettle stings. This is purely an empirical observation. I was trained, when giving legal advice, to give options. Don't use docks it..... can't work or ,if you can find a dock, try it it might work. Or go to chemist and buy Anthisan ....that might not work too!!!! Or don't bother at alll and put up with the discomfort.

Who is still here anyway

am also now in trouble for calling connor a youngster! this question did the same in this household as well...some for, some against. but thanks to all for the entertainment value alone..

Hi Connor, nice to see you back in on this hornets' nest you have stirred up. I should point out to you that a placebo DOES work. That is the whole point of it. It is a bit difficult to explain to a non medically trained person but it is not just a case of making you think that it works. In clinical terms a placebo does not alter anything physically. But psychological changes (which you can't measure) mean that a mild symptom can disappear. I am not advocating placebos for any cancer or similar serious complaint but I suppose, having now examined the empirical evidence, I could say, 'yes dock leaves work if you believe they do'. They work because so many people are convinced that they work. Try rubbing stings with geranium leaves. I believe that they work too.

The power of belief is so far unmeasured in 'normal' western medicine but if somebody is totally thick and is convinced that they are super intelligent and says so loudly enough then they will convince other people. Just look at the General Election. Unfortunately there are no smilies on this forum or I would have put on a smiley with a huge grin there.

Anda big smiley to you to Sarraceniac... I used to be the chief cardiological technician for a large London teaching hospital so I do understand :-)

Connor - keep asking questions it is the only way any of us learns anything. I did not know until today that sheep will eat leaves of shrubs as I had been told, and my own observation was, that they are grazers not browsers. Doesn't matter if you are 16 or, like me, in your 60s you can still learn.

Ah. My thing MG. Triple by-passes were done between breakfast and elevenses.

By the way Doriac and Bulbaholic, antihistamines DO work but are possibly a bit extreme unless you have an allergy.

Look We aren't geting any where with this argumet so lets just forget it all and carry on

ah the debate as to how the mental interacts with the physical no wont go there, april's tired, signing off.......but be warned connor i wil 'bee keeping' an eye on you, and no more posting any questions that have a 'sting' in their tail, ok child...

welcome to goy connor kid ..! ...doc leaves work for me..

Welcome from me aswell
Doc leaves work for me.

Interesting Moongrower, I am a cardiac tech too.

Oh crumpets guys and gals... I've not worked in that trade for nigh on 40 years! Since then my view on life and how we can/'should' live has changed immeasurably. Still love my garden, still love all the plants!

Connor, I don't know whether dock leaves work or not, never tried it - but I tell you what I've discovered - if you get stung by a nettle, DON'T touch it, don't rub it, don't scratch it, just wave your hand over whatever around in the air, let nothing touch it, jump up and down, scream, whatever, don't touch it with anything - for about 5 or ten minutes, till it stops hurting. And that's it, it's over - if you touch it or rub it in the first few minutes, it will continue to sting on and off for some hours. I speak from experience, lol!

I'd love to see you jumping up and down Bamboo 'cause you got nettle stings... not sure my knees would take it!

doubt I could manage to jump up and down, that was more a suggestion for someone younger and fitter, MG, lol

lol

Only way to find out is for someone to kneel on a nettle (both knees) then close your eyes & get someone else to rub doc leaf on one & a different leaf on the other. Then after a while report on which knee if any is feeling better. :-o

Last time i got nettled I looked on wicipedia & read that nettles have two opposit toxins in their stings so the remedy was: stickytape to remove any stinging hairs from the skin then rinse skin with lemon juice then mix some baking soda with a little water & put that on the stung area. (or use toothpaste if you got no baking powder.)
Though I was still in pain the following day, so I can't say this method works. :-(

no, i disagree, kneeling on both knees etc, might not be able to prove it either! there maybe other factors involved, like, time lapse between sting and application of the doc leaf. also the age of the doc leaf might or might not affect whether or not it works!
april would also like to see Bamboo jumping up and down, most especially if its in the sun or rain with an umbrella:)
and why is it that some say that if there is no pyhsical proof that it works it must all be in the mind!!! where then is the proof that the mind exists, its an invalid arguement. you can't have one without the other.
and it sounds like Agent orange is making a cake rather than trying to treat a nettle sting. wierd i remember times when they did work and times when they didn't seem to work.
maybe even this is true....
Both can of course be proved SCIENTIFICALLY...
this one is for Dylandog...1).DOC LEAVES WORK.....and 2) DOC doesn't LEAVE WORK..
1. the sensation of rubbing gets to the brain before the stinging sensation, thereby blocking the pain signal, also the lesf may well remove some of the stinging hairs, so sarancenia (or however you spell it a geranium migtht as well to an extent) And there migth be benefial, not necesarily antihistamin, maybe analgesic properties in the doc! Where else do the chemists, pyhsicians get thier? stuff from, other than nature.
And 2. leaving it alone and not letting anything touch it, whilst you jump aroun and all of that would work as well. the skin that has the sting in will swell and seal ofF the sting thereby reducing the amount of sting tha enters the skin, and your body, by jumping around etc, wil increase blood flow, produce adrenalin, endorphines, etc which will also alleviate the smptoms. And it looks alot funnier than moaning about the sting....All of witch means of course that ony the Doc has the answer...and maybe it decides weather or not it leaves work.......

Yes they do work and where you find stinging nettles growing wild you will find docks nearby. Nature often puts the problem and the cure side by side its just we have lost a lot of that knowledge.
The stinging hairs of most nettle species contain formic acid, serotonin and histamine so anti histamine may well turn out to be in dock leaves, thus the reason they work?

I'm telling you, if you don't touch it when it first happens, it won't bother you again after ten minutes or so -if you do touch it, it'll still hurt intermittently for up to 24 hours afterwards. Try it next time it happens to any of you.