Cayenne: a stimulant herb

By Dr. John R. Christopher

Cayenne is one of God’s wonderful herbal creations that never ceases to amaze! Lecturing recently [1970s], we heard the following story:

One told how he had cut deeply with a sharp instrument the inside of his hand, fingers and palm. The blood spurted out in streams. He poured a large amount of cayenne pepper into the wound, and within seconds the blood flow slowed down to congealed dripping and the bleeding stopped entirely before many seconds had passed.

With a goodly amount of cayenne covering the wound, he then wrapped it. He was so excited about the rapid results he could hardly wait for the regular herb meeting. But, as he said, the “punch line” was lost, because instead of a nasty ragged scar to show how severely he had been hurt, the area was healed and there was no scar.

Many of the old herbalists claim that in cases of severe cuts, gunshot wounds, etc., cayenne can be taken internally as a tea and the bleeding will stop by the time, in most cases, you can count to ten.

Cayenne goes immediately into the bloodstream and adjusts the blood pressure from the top of the head, to the bottom of the feet, equalizing pressure over the whole body. This takes the high pressure, which causes rapid bleeding, away from the wound and clotting starts immediately.

Cayenne has been accepted by some of the orthodox medical profession, as mentioned in Merck Index, Materia Medica and Pharmocology and other standard volumes.

Let’s go into more detail. In the first place cayenne is classified as a “stimulant.” Stimulants are herbal agents that quicken, excite and increase nervous sensibility, thereby stimulating the functional activity and energy of the body. These herbs (stimulants) are natural sanative substances (Remember that alcohol is not a stimulant, but an irritant and a depressant). Stimulants increase the power of the pulse and carry the blood to all parts of the body, tending to equalize and restore the balance of circulation in all parts.

Cayenne has been used for ages to aid stomach ulcer cases. We have seen some of the extremely painful cases given relief, and then healed by using cayenne faithfully each day over a period of weeks or months. It should be used until pains are gone and permanent relief is assured.

A story flashes back to my mind of an interesting case of stomach ulcers. A lady had been attending our herbal lecture series for some time. One day she told us about her husband’s severe case of stomach ulcers. The recommendation from their doctor was to have part of his stomach removed, but he said he would rather suffer the pain than risk such an operation. He also refused his wife’s suggestion to try cayenne, ridiculing her studies.

When he would see me in town, he would bellow, “Hello, Doc! Killed anybody with cayenne, today?” He became so obnoxious, I avoided him when I could. Months went by and one day I saw him coming down the street toward me. I tried to avoid him, but he came, “head on.” This time I was amazed, because there was not cutting remarks or sarcasm. In fact, he was very apologetic and asked if he could talk to me for a minute, and then told me this story.

He had come home from work one night, “sick enough to die,” with stomach ulcers.

His wife was not home. He was in such pain he wanted to commit suicide. He went to the medicine cabinet to find some kind of medicine poisonous and deadly enough to kill him. But he discovered his wife had thrown out the old bottles of pharmaceutical medicine. All that was left in the medicine cupboard were some herbs and a large container of cayenne pepper. He was so angry that, upon seeing the cayenne, figured it, in a large dose, would kill him by burning him up.

He took a heaping tablespoon of the cayenne in a glass of hot water, gulped it down and rushed into the bedroom. He fell upon the bed and covered his head with a pillow so the neighbors couldn’t hear his “dying screams.”

The next thing he knew, his wife was shaking him awake the next morning. She told him he had slept all night (instead of being up every half hour for anti-acid tablets). To his amazement he discovered that the pain was gone, for the first time in months. He continued using cayenne three times a day faithfully.

I have had a very interesting life watching thousands of people receive successful results with the use of herbs. Many calls and letters come from people who say their lives have been changed to healthier and more pleasant living through the use of herbs.

Cayenne is one of the finest healing, nutritional herbs known to mankind. It is not a drug, it is a food of the highest value. I personally have used it faithfully for well over thirty years. This is one reason I have the strength and energy to lecture in 40 to 50 cities a year all over the United States and Canada, i.e., one week on the west coast, next week in Canada, and the following week Ohio or New York!

With natural living, the use of cayenne and other herbs, I, at my age, have been fortunate enough to not suffer “jet lag” with all this year ’round traveling.

I praise the Lord for the knowledge of herbology and hope its words will spread rapidly. ~

The Late Dr. Christopher is revered by physicians and health practitioners of many disciplines all over the world as the father of modern herbology. Though he is no longer with us, the works of this wonderful man still serve to better the lives of ordinary people in teaching them how to take better care of themselves by using the tools God gave us — our own minds and the plants of the earth.

Cayenne Pepper: The #1 herb for today’s illnesses

by Ingri Cassel

Cayenne, or capsicum anum, has been used for over 7,000 years as a food, a condiment, and a medicine. The plant originated in the Americas where it was used by natives south of the Mexican border and South America. Cayenne was introduced into Europe, India and Asia via the early trade merchants who dealt in spices during the 15th and 16th centuries. The use of cayenne as a medicine was first recorded by Columbus’s physician, Dr. Chanca. From there its medicinal value was brought to light in some of the early European herbal books. By the 19th century, cayenne was well-known in many apothecaries in the United States and abroad.

During the early part of the 19th century, Dr. Samuel Thomson taught a group of physicians how to use cayenne successfully in their practices. These early naturopaths were known as Thomsonians and they employed cayenne for all cases of poor circulation, debility, indigestion, constipation, rheumatism, paralysis and general swelling in the joints.

Over sixty years ago Dr. John R. Christopher, the father of American herbology, was taught the value of cayenne by his teacher at Dominion Herbal College in British Columbia, Dr. H. Nowell. He relates the following story in a newsletter he wrote on cayenne:

I sat in class and Dr. Nowell said, “We will now study today cayenne, which is actually called capsicum.” I raised my hand and said, “Dr. Nowell, why are we studying cayenne? It will burn the lining out of your stomach.”

Everyone in class laughed except Dr. Nowell. He said, “By the way, where did you get your information?”

I said my mother told me and then everybody laughed except Dr. Nowell. He said, “Just what was her herbal degree?”

Well, I guess she had none at all. “Well, that’s interesting,” he said. “Could I see you after class?” After class in his car he drove me around Vancouver, British Columbia, and introduced me to at least a dozen people whose lives had been saved with cayenne — some with heart attacks, some with asthmatic conditions and various other things. He didn’t have to do this, but he was a great teacher, and he took the time to show me how great cayenne could be, used properly on the human body. Well, I never forgot this, and as I started in the practice myself, I prescribed cayenne very extensively.

Dr. Christopher then shared in his newsletter his own powerful testimony:

I had hardening of the arteries, during my 20 and 30 year span, to a point that it was very severe. No insurance company at this time, would even take me for a $1,000 policy. So you can tell how bad a condition I was in. I was quite concerned about it, and started using cayenne.

I worked up to a teaspoon three times a day, and I continued on from the time I was 35 and am still using it. It was amazing! By the time I was 45 years of age, ten years after I started using cayenne, a group wanted me to have a $100,000 policy to insure them on a business deal we were working out. I went for the examination.

Being this large a policy, the insurance company required two medical doctors, each to give two physical exams at various times (being four times to have physicals with these two doctors). I took the examination and one medical doctor when he got through, said, “Well, this is astounding. I see your age is forty-five years, but you have the venous structure of a teenage boy.” He said, “This is excellent,” and gave me a clean bill of health.

I went to the other doctor and on his second examination he did the blood pressure test on my arm. He pumped his equipment up five different times and my arm was getting irritated by it, and I was getting a little perturbed, and I said, “What’s the matter, doesn’t your equipment work?” “Oh yes, it always has up until now, but I keep looking at your chart and it says you are 45 years of age and yet your systolic over your diastolic is absolutely perfect. I cannot comprehend it.”

I said, “That’s correct. It is perfect.” And he also gave me a clean bill of health. So I passed at 45 years of age for a $100,000 policy with a good blood pressure showing, thanks to cayenne.

I have been told by medical doctors that because of my arthritis, hardening of the arteries, stomach ulcers and some auto accidents that banged me up pretty badly, that I couldn’t live past my 40th year. Yet, at 45 years I was pronounced in good condition.

This, to me, was one of my biggest sales points on cayenne. If it could help me, it could help anybody. I have seen it used so many times over the years with such success, that I feel that it is one of our great herbs. In 35 years of practice, and working with the people and teaching, I have never on house calls lost one heart attack patient and the reason is, whenever I go — if they are still breathing — I pour down them one cup of cayenne tea (a teaspoon of cayenne in a cup of hot water, and within minutes they are up and around). This is one of the fastest acting aids we could ever give the heart, because it feeds the heart muscle immediately.

Cayenne is possibly the single most wonderful, beneficial plant to grow and have on hand (the granulated form) in case of emergencies. I have witnessed countless experiences of its virtues when I have shared how to use it with my friends. One lady who went to Mexico every winter had complained to me that despite being very careful about only drinking bottled water and restricting her diet, she still experienced “Montezuma’s Revenge” on every trip. All her precautions were of no avail. I told her that the natives eat very spicy food and that she should follow their example. If she didn’t like hot food, she should take a couple bottles of cayenne pepper capsules with her. I encouraged her to start taking cayenne with every meal before she goes so that she gets used to it. While in Mexico, she ate at restaurants she wouldn’t have considered before and did not limit her fluid intake to bottled water only. She took 10-12 cayenne pepper capsules daily and was ecstatic to discover that she had normal stools and boundless energy.

When I lived in Arizona in 1985, my great uncle was scheduled for heart bypass surgery the following week. I told him about cayenne pepper. I also told him the value of feeding the heart muscle with hawthorne berries, a natural form of vitamin E and minerals. He had to eliminate all refined sugars and synthetic sweeteners from his diet and add psyllium husks to his regimen since his lifestyle was what had created his heart condition in the first place. He stuck with the program and when he went to see his doctor five days later, he received a clean bill of health and his surgery was canceled. The cayenne pepper was the most important aspect of his regimen that led to the immediate and positive results he achieved.

Cayenne pepper should be in everyone’s first aid kit. If you have a severe cut which is bleeding profusely, apply cayenne pepper, a powerful styptic, directly into the wound. The cayenne will equalize the blood pressure and start the coagulating of blood immediately. It is a powerful disinfectant so there is no need to worry about infection setting in. My family has been using cayenne in this manner for years and, as a result, take what others consider miraculous results for granted.

Cayenne can also be used in conjunction with CPR in the event of a heart attack. For this application, mix a teaspoon of cayenne in a 4 ounces of warm water and pour it down the patient’s throat. This is a sure way to revive the person and is much more successful than CPR alone. People with heart and blood pressure conditions should consider incorporating appropriate amounts of cayenne pepper into their dietary regimens.

Cayenne is the remedy of choice for gangrene, frostbite and any condition which calls for increased blood flow and better circulation. Cayenne can even be placed in boots to help keep feet warm.

Cayenne acts as a catalyst, carrying all other herbs and supplements quickly to the place in the body where they are needed and increasing their effectiveness. It is also high in vitamin C and useful in the treatment of colds, sinus problems and respiratory ailments.

When purchasing cayenne, avoid buying it from the spice department in your grocery store. Most herbs and spices are irradiated, rendering them ineffective medicinally. Instead, go to your local health food store and purchase a full pound of 30,000 to 40,000 BTU (British Thermal Units) or HU (heat units) cayenne pepper from Frontier Herbs or some other company which guarantees that their products are not irradiated. As you get used to taking it regularly, you may want to increase to 60,000 or 90,000 HU cayenne pepper. Start out by taking a quarter teaspoon in a glass of pure water three times a day. After a week, increase the amount of cayenne pepper to half a teaspoon three times a day. The optimal therapeutic dose is one teaspoon in water three times a day. If this is rough for you, try taking capsules with your meals.

A formula that we take at the first sign of a sore throat is called the Master Cleanser. This consists of the juice of a fresh lemon, cayenne pepper and pure water. Unrefined, grade B maple syrup is added to taste. The resulting mixture tastes like a hot, spicy form of lemonade. Even our editor appreciates the results he experiences from drinking this concoction which performs the all important function of alkalinizing an over-acidic body.

I am continually amazed at the persistent belief that the only aspect of today’s medical model that is of value is if you are in an accident where you need a surgeon to set a bone or repair a body part that has been mutilated or severed. Due to this belief, we feel compelled to share with you a few stories regarding the application of cayenne in such emergency situations followed by testimonies of the value of comfrey root. Although we do not recommend that you avoid consultation with a medical doctor concerning a severe injury, we do suggest that you test out the power of these herbs on minor injuries such as a cut from a kitchen knife. Our personal experience has given our family complete confidence in the power of cayenne and comfrey in wound healing, saving us from the financial burden incurred from emergency room visits. We hope you will be likewise inspired to have these herbs in your herbal medicine chest for such minor family emergencies. But first, we will start out where we left off with the value of cayenne for the heart muscle. The following is a continuation from Dr. John Christopher’s newsletter Cayenne, Volume 1, Number 12:

“Most hearts are suffering from malnutrition because of the processed foods we are eating, but here it gets a good powerful dose of real food [cayenne tea — 1 teaspoon of cayenne in a cup of warm water]. This is something that everyone should know how great it is, because a heart attack can come to your friends or loved ones at anytime. And even yourself. The warm tea is faster working than capsules or cold tea because the warm tea opens up the cell structure — makes it expand and accept the cayenne that much faster, and it goes directly to the heart, through the artery system, and feeds it in powerful food.”

To show what a wonderful heart food cayenne is, a few doctors on the east coast put some live heart tissue into a sterile beaker filled with distilled water, and fed it nothing but cayenne pepper, cleaning off sediments periodically and adding nothing but additional distilled water, since it needed to be replaced periodically due to evaporation. During the time they were feeding the heart tissue, they would have to trim it every few days because it would grow so rapidly. Having no control glands such as pituitary and pineal glands, the tissue kept growing. The doctors and associates kept this tissue alive for over 15 years, before they decided to destroy it so they could do further research on it. This shows the high food value that cayenne gives specifically to the heart muscle. This is the reason behind so many seemingly miraculous recoveries from heart attacks after the victim receives just one cup of cayenne tea. The heart hasn’t had a decent meal for so long that it is practically starved. The cayenne tea provides the heart with needed nutrition instead of whipping it into gear with nitroglycerine, digitalis or some other type of drug to force it to beat rapidly, neglecting to provide the heart muscle with the food it needs to operate on its own.

One of my favorite cayenne testimonies comes from a student of Dr. Christopher who had recently learned from the good doctor the value of cayenne as a styptic or herb that equalizes blood pressure and effectively stops hemorrhaging or excessive bleeding.

She was home when she heard the sound of a gun next door and panicked when she realized that two young boys were over there alone. She ran next door to find that her neighbor’s boy had gotten into his father’s guns and had accidentally shot his playmate. There he lay in a pool of blood. She impulsively searched the spice cabinet for cayenne pepper, found it, and poured most of the contents into the wound before calling 911. When the ambulance arrived, the paramedics asked what in the world was in the wound, thinking she could have made the injury worse. When she told them it was cayenne, they truly thought she was crazy, and berated her for believing herbal folklore would help such a severe wound. Later that day, after the boy had been safely transported to the hospital, the paramedic called her and apologized. While in the ambulance and after taking the boy’s vital stats, he and his partner realized that this boy would have lost too much blood and been dead before they arrived if it were not for the cayenne pepper. It was reported that for several years after this incident, the paramedics of Provo, Utah always carried cayenne pepper with them along with their other emergency supplies.

Our family uses cayenne on all our cuts and wounds to not only stop the bleeding but to insure against infection. But to me one of the most valuable aspects of cayenne to know about, especially if you live up north where it gets cold, is its ability to reverse frostbite, even the most severe kinds where the doctors of today see amputation as the only remedy. The following story is from Pridy Meek’s journal from the mid 1800s as recorded in Dr. John R. Christopher’s book, Capsicum:

“An incident took place in Parowan, Iron County, the same winter that Colonel Johnston came against Salt Lake City with the Untied States Army. There was a teamster by the name of James McCann, a young man, started to go back to the states by way of California. He reached Parowan with both feet frozen above his ankles. He was left with me to have both feet amputated as it was thought there was no possible way to save his life without amputation. I was at my wits end to know what to do. I saw no possible chance for amputation. An impulse seemed to strike my mind as tho by inspiration that I would give him cayenne pepper inwardly and see what effect that would have on the frozen feet.

“I commenced by giving him rather small doses at first, about three times a day. It increased the warmth and power of action in the blood to such a degree that it gave him such pain and misery in his legs that he could not bear it. He lay down on his back and elevated his feet up against the wall for three or four days and then he could sit up in a chair. The frozen flesh would rot and rope down from his foot when it would be on his knee, clear down to the floor, just like a buck-wheat batter, and the new flesh would form as fast as the dead flesh would get out of the way. In fact the new flesh would seem to crowd the dead flesh to make room for the new flesh.

“That was all the medical treatment he had and to my astonishment and to everyone else that knew of the circumstances, the sixteenth day after I gave him the first dose of pepper he walked nine miles, or from Parowan to Red Creek and back, and said that he could have walked as far again. He lost but five toe nails all told.

“Now the healing power of nature is in the blood and to accelerate the blood is to accelerate the healing power of nature and I am convinced that there is nothing will do this like cayenne pepper; you will find it applicable in all cases of sickness.” ~Utah Historical Quarterly, Vol. 10, 1942, p. 207

Dan Pilla, Sr., author of the Freedom Calendar and numerous freedom tracts, inspired me to take cayenne tea on a daily basis. Dan has been drinking cayenne tea three times a day for the past several years and has been reaping the health benefits. He hasn’t gotten sick since he began this regimen and feels 20 years younger. He is now in his late 80s and still has a sharp mind, quick wit and is extremely healthy in 2017!

After publishing this article on the Humbleweed.net website, I was informed of yet another use for cayenne pepper: As an amazing treatment for stimulating hair growth. The article at HairLossRevolution.com discusses both the scientific reasons capsicum anum stimulates hair growth and offers suggestions and recipes for both ingesting and applying cayenne externally to the scalp. The direct link to the article is here: https://www.hairlossrevolution.com/cayenne-pepper-for-hair-growth

I have received numerous calls over the years from friends and former subscribers to our monthly newspaper from people who were suffering from health problems that could easily be resolved through the daily use of cayenne. Most of these people were taking pharmaceutical drugs to alleviate their problems – high blood pressure medication, heart medication and medication to minimize the symptoms of internal bleeding ulcers. We need to remember that pharmaceutical drugs never cure the condition but, instead, create a dependence on their product for manageability of symptoms.

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