Periwinkle is an evergreen creeping subshrub or herbaceous plant with rather large flowers. It belongs to the periwinkle family. You can meet him in oak or beech forests, along the roadsides, often forming whole thickets. A huge number of myths and legends are associated with this interesting plant. Currently, the flower has lost its mystical fame and acquired the value of an ornamental and healing plant.
Today, periwinkle is widely used in both folk and official medicine. Although all its useful properties have not yet been fully studied. Pharmacists still continue to create new recipes from this plant. These drugs are used for leukemia and lymphogranulomatosis.
One of the varieties of this plant is pink periwinkle. It contains substances that can have a cytostatic effect on the cells of the body - antitumor alkaloids. These include vinorelbine, vinblastine, vincristine - all these are vital drugs. Modern pharmaceuticals are able to synthesize them artificially, creating on their basis immunosuppressants and anticancer drugs that are highly effective.
For medicinal purposes, they use both the ground part of the plant - leaves, stems and flowers, and the underground, i.e. rhizomes. Medicinal raw materials are collected during the flowering period, which lasts from May to June.
The dried raw materials continue to retain their healing properties for two years.
Before using medications based on periwinkle, you should consult your doctor. This plant is used for hypertension, migraine, arrhythmias, vascular spasms, vitamin deficiency, diarrhea, pulmonary emphysema, nosebleeds, colitis, diabetes, and rashes. A decoction of periwinkle has a positive effect in the treatment of certain gynecological diseases, in particular infertility, profuse discharge, as well as in dentistry as a rinse for inflammatory processes on the mucous membranes, with bad breath, with pain in the teeth. In addition, it is useful to wash purulent and bleeding wounds with such a decoction. Decoction lotions are effective for eczema, and regular washing with the same decoction will significantly improve the appearance of the skin.
Alcohol tincture of periwinkle is indicated in the treatment of leukemia. It is prepared from chopped grass, poured with vodka in the proportion: a third of a half-liter can of raw materials, everything else is topped up with vodka. The mixture is infused for nine days. Then the finished tincture is filtered and 7 drops are taken, diluted in 50 ml of drinking water, in the morning and in the evening.
An aqueous infusion is used for leukemia, it is prepared at the rate of a teaspoon of crushed periwinkle in a glass of boiling water. After 20 minutes, the medicine is ready for use. Take it in a tablespoon three times a day.
For external use for skin itching, eczema, rash, purulent ulcers, wounds and dental diseases, a decoction of periwinkle is used. To do this, a tablespoon of raw materials is boiled in a glass of hot water for a minute, then insisted for half an hour and filtered. Drink it a tablespoon two to three times a day, before meals.
Alcoholic broth strengthens masculine strength and cures impotence. A teaspoon of leaves is poured into a glass of alcohol or vodka, everything is boiled for five minutes and infused for a day in a place inaccessible to sunlight. Then the infusion is also filtered and 10 drops are drunk in the morning and in the evening for four days. After that, a two-day break is taken and the treatment is repeated again.
Alcohol tinctures and decoctions of periwinkle are contraindicated in case of high blood pressure.
The pharmaceutical industry has created preparations based on periwinkle extract - "Devinkan", "Vinkaton", "Vincadrex", "Vincapan". They are prescribed for headaches caused by atherosclerosis, increased intracranial pressure, osteochondrosis, depression, encephalitis, hypertension, neuritis and polyneuritis. An overdose of periwinkle drugs can adversely affect cardiac activity.
