Home :: Pareira :: Herbs

Pareira Herb - Uses And Side Effects

Other names :- Pareira brava, Velvetleaf, Butua and pareira radix.

Pareira is the source of curare, a poison that Amazonian and other South American Indians used when hunting. Curare quickly paralyzes an animal hit with a curare tipped dart or spear. Tubocurarine, the modem medicine made from pareira, is used to relax a patient's muscles during surgery and other medical procedures.

Description

A woody vine, climbing a considerable height over trees; very large leaves, often 1 foot long with a silky pubescence, on the inner side grey colour; flowers dioecious in racemes; in the female plant the racemes are longer than the leaves, bearing the flowers in spike fascicles; the berries, first scarlet, then black, are oval, size of large grapes in commerce. The root is cylindrical in varying lengths from 1/2 inch to 5 inches in diameter and from 2 or 3 inches to several feet long; externally blackish brown, longitudinally furrowed, transversed knotty ridges; it is hard, heavy, tough, and when freshly cut has a waxy lustre; interior woody, reddy yellow; transversed section shows several successive eccentric and distinctly radiate concentric zones of projecting secondary bundles fibro-vascular. Stem deeply furrowed; colour grey and covered with patches of lichen; odour, slight, aromatic, sweetish flavour, succeeded by an intense nauseating bitterness, yielding its bitterness and active properties to water or alcohol

Common doses of pareira

Pareira is available as dried roots and stems and as powders or granules. In homeopathic preparations (such as Pareira Complex), it's typically combined with other plant species.

Some experts recommend the following doses:

• For snakebites, drink tea made from roots and apply bruised leaves to the area around the bite.
• For other disorders, take 2 to 4 milliliters of fluid extract orally, 10 to 20 grains of solid extract orally, or 1 to 4 fluid ounces of infusion orally.

Uses of pareira herb

• As an antiseptic
• Chronic urinary tract inflammation
• Constipation
• Fluid retention
• Generaalized swelling
• Gonorrhea
• Kidney stones
• Rheumatism
• Snakebite
• To induce menstruation
• Vaginal discharge

Side effects of pareira

Call your health care practitioner if you experience unusual symptoms while using pareira.

Interactions

Combining herbs with certain drugs may alter their action or produce unwanted side effects. Don't use pareira while taking:

• Amikin
• Garamycin
• Mycifradin
• Nebcin
• Polymyxin B
• Streptomycin
• Xylocaine.

Important paints to remember

• Use pareira only under the close supervision of a health care practitioner.
• Don't use this herb if you've had an allergic reaction to pareira, histamines, or tubocurarine during surgery.
• Avoid this herb if you have a liver, kidney, heart, respiratory, or endocrine disorder.
• Keep pareira away from broken skin or mucous membranes.
• Remember that the oral or topical form of pareira isn't the same as the medication used in surgery.
• Don't take pareira orally if you have ulcers in your mouth, stomach, or duodenum or if you have mouth sores or cuts. The chemicals could get into your blood and cause muscle paralysis. Seek immediate medical attention for such symptoms as blurred
  vision, droopy eyelids, a heavy feeling in your face, and jaw relaxation. The problem may progress to weak neck muscles, inability to raise your head, shallow breathing, and weakness or complete paralysis of your legs, and arms, and spine.

What the research shows

The prescription drug tubocurarine (derived from pareira) has a definite role in modern medicine. However, use of pareira as an herb has little supporting evidence. Its potential risks outweigh any possible but unproven therapeutic benefits.