Pokeweed is a common weed in the South. It is poisonous to eat as food, but people sometimes use it as a medicine for particular ailments. 
Posted on 05/27/2015 7:02:03 AM PDT by PROCON
Nootropics, the new staple ‘brain enhancers’ in Silicon Valley that purport to increase productivity and perception, exist in an unregulated legal gray area in the U.S. In Colombia, you can pick up even the shadiest kinds over the counter. I did just that.
In the months before a recent trip to Colombia, off to visit an expat friend living there, I had been hearing about nootropics. Or “smart drugs,” as they’re referred to. Brain enhancers. Mental magic.
Depending on which site you’ve read that’s proclaimed them the new “It” drug for bio-hackers of every stripe, all roads lead to the same place. Namely, there is a blossoming cottage industry of wholly non-FDA approved pills and powders that everyone from Wall Street titans to Silicon Valley geniuses have been using to augment their lives.
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...
Isn’t Nerium MLM?
It is real hard to find objective scientific factual information on the various MLM products. You find the company and its promoters, and on the other end of the spectrum an article like this; http://www.lazymanandmoney.com/nerium-scam/
lazyman quotes barefacedtruth.com which is run by a couple of real doctors. Kind of hard to casually blow that off.
I just read “Ralph Carson, the original developer of MonaVie and the company’s chief science officer cautioned that the juice was “expensive flavored water” and that “any claims made are purely hypothetical, unsubstantiated and, quite frankly, bogus.” Carson added that he did not know how much açai was in the product.[9] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MonaVie#Nutritional_value
They sold a billion dollars worth of that flavored water per year.
I have a 21 yr old nephew just getting into Organo Gold coffee. It’s kind of sad to watch him get pumped up thinking he’s going to become “a millionare” selling MLM coffee. Organo’s own income disclosure statement puts that in doubt; http://www.organogold.com/income-disclosure-statement/
Note that 86% of those who get involved do basically nothing. The remaining 14% are “leadership” ranks. Only 1.51% people getting into Organo Gold will make more than 20,000/year. .21% attain the top leadership rank. In order to be at the top your downline wholesale volume has to be 5,000,000 per month!
http://www.healthycoffeebrew.com/organo-gold-legend.php
http://www.healthycoffeebrew.com/organo-gold-ranks.php
MonaVie isn’t much different, here is their income disclosure statement; http://media.monavie.com/pdf/corporate/income_disclosure_statement.pdf
“Silicon Valley’s Eating Up Super Ritalin. I Got the Best of It.”
SSRIs are the culprit for the majority of mass shootings.
There’s always this kind of stuff running around. Ginkgo is very popular. There was some drops, DMsomething or other in the 90s. The problem I always see with that stuff is that for the first few weeks you’re getting a positive effect but eventually your body just gets used to it and now you have to take it to maintain normal.
It’s amazing how many of the “leadership levels in MonaVie and Organo are the same! Like they were thought up by the same people.
And here’s an interesting PubMed article
“Acute Cardiac Toxicity of Nerium Oleander/Indicum Poisoning (Kaner) Poisoning” http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3089829/
The reviews are kind of scary.
Since nerium oleander is toxic I wonder if the products have a botox like effect on the skin?
Complete with more pubmed articles.
For later.
Yep. That’s one of the first ones I hit that freaked me out, until I did more reading. :-)
Keep in mind that a LOT of medications that are effective (and some natural ones for generations) are poisons if taken in the wrong quantity or way.
Heck, Poke is very medicinal and it will also make you sick or even kill you.
I don’t know what “Poke” is. And I’m extremely allergic to MLMs in any form.
There are a LOT of negative reviews on amazon, here’s one;
” By Kylee J. Jordan
This review is from: Nerium Ad - Age Defying Night Cream (30ml) One Bottle (Health and Beauty)
I bought NeriumAD A little over 6 weeks ago. At first it was love at first site. This is hands down the best face cream I’ve ever used. The results were airbrushed looking skin. After 4 weeks of use the love affair started to end, I just didn’t know it yet.
A little background first – I’m a healthy 32 year old woman with no skin allergies or skin issues (other than the beginnings of aging). I have no health issues of any kind.
So 3 weeks ago I began vomiting. It wasn’t every single day, it was every second or third day. I would be EXTREMELY nauseous during the day but would vomit at night. I went to the doctor twice and had multiple blood tests done. My hormones and electrolytes were normal. No bacteria was present, and I was not/am not pregnant. Also, my thyroid function was normal.
I finally connected the dots after reading this article and others. Oh, and after I noticed I began burping up bile within 5 minutes of putting on the night cream. At that point it all came together. I immediately washed my face and within 10 minutes I no longer felt sick.
The reason I was only getting nauseous every couple of days is because I was only using the face cream then. My skin was dry due to the cold weather, so most days I was using my regular Philosophy moisturizer. I only became nauseous and vomited after using NeriumAD! I stopped using the product 1 week ago and haven’t vomited since.
Onto the next issue….while my thyroid function is normal my thyroid was enlarged. An ultrasound confirmed I now have thyroiditis. I’ve never before had thyroid issues. I suspect the inflammation in my thyroid is also due to NeriumAD. I will be discussing it with my endocrinologist.
As an attorney I fully expect to see a products liability case in the next few years when people start seeing the long term side effects.”
Here’s another, when a Doctor posts something like this on a doctor’s blog it means something to me.
I used Nerium AD for about 6 weeks. Loved it. Ended up in the cardiologist office with Bradycardia. It was only through my own research into the pros and cons of the Nerium Company that I discovered the cardioglycoside properties and it’s effects. My heart slowed to 42, had shortness of breath, felt a sense of dread of not being able to wake up. I posted my story in the office and another woman was experiencing the same thing plus gastro issues. She too had been to the heart doctor. We both contacted the company. They lied and said they had not had any complaints. I wanted the company to at least warn their representatives that there might be a link between heart issues and their product. I posted on their FB page and it was removed. Please be careful if you sell the product. If any of your clients die of the unexpected “Big One”–it might be linked. Do not be afraid to speak up. I am a Chiropractor who was considering offering the product out of my office. My results changed my mind.
Posted by Dr. Kim Eastes | February 1, 2015, 6:08 pm
https://drjengunter.wordpress.com/2013/11/04/is-nerium-a-toxin-snake-oil-or-an-anti-aging-marvel/
Here’s a comment to Kim;
Dr. Eastes, I started using Nerium in December and have been complaining of chest pain ever since. I also developed chronic diarrhea. I’m convinced I was suffering the effects of Oleander poisoning. After reading your article, I stopped using Nerium immediately and my symptoms disappeared after 48 hours. My sister had chest pains and shortness of breath after 2 days on Nerium. They claim it is not made from the “toxic” Oleander plant but from a non-toxic one. My daughter is a Nerium rep. Can you please tell me where to find more information on these dangerous side effects? Thank you. Judy Klein
Posted by Judy Klein | February 10, 2015, 2:21 pm
Yes. I saw a couple similar to that one (not that particular one). Thing is, Nerium is like peanuts. As is everything.
It’s better for some than for others. I’ve also noticed that you can choose literally any make and model of car and look up any information you can on the internet regarding the car’s reliability and its being a “lemon” and find lots of people that hate it, many of whom think people should go to prison over it.
Any car.
I can’t remember the name of it, but there is another MLM that was losing a lot of its people to Nerium. They were putting all sorts of stuff on the internet. One of the things I discovered was that a lot of the things I was reading came from some of the managers there.
Poke ia a plant that grows all over the place where I live. Ever hear the song “polk salad annie”?
The plant: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytolacca
I ate some a week ago. It was very good. It’s not really necessary to boil it three times but it can be slightly like puffer fish in that you need to be carefull, the later in the year you pick it.
Pokeweed is a common weed in the South. It is poisonous to eat as food, but people sometimes use it as a medicine for particular ailments.
I have two dogs, rescued as pups from a farm north of Ft. Worth, in Wise County.
All of their siblings died from an episode of eating berries from the poke plant. They had uncontrollable diarrhea until they died.
Yeah, we have to keep our horses from it.
MLMs exhibit religious cult like tendencies. This is a common phenomena with MLMs. It’s highly emotional and usually more about recruiting people and making money than it is about the product. If too many people on the bottom leave the cash cow dies, that’s why the “managers” would get involved.
That looks like what we called nightshade, my mom made pies out of the berries.
To be more accurate we had visitors who called them nightshade, they must not have been nightshade/polk berries if they are that toxic.
Did your mom have a broom that wouldn't stay put?
No.
Sounds like polk berries would be a great ingredient for a facial cream, the fact they are poisonous like Nerium Oleander shouldn’t pose any problems.
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