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Pau D'arco Herb - Uses And Side Effects

Other names :- Apacho, lapachol, lapacho morado, purple lapacho, red lapacho, roxo, taheebo, tajibo, trumpet bush, and trumpet tree.

Pau d'arco, or the inner bark of the Tabebuia avellanedae tree, is native to Brazil, where it is used traditionally to treat a wide range of conditions including pain, arthritis, inflammation of the prostate gland (prostatitis), fever, dysentery, boils and ulcers, and various cancers.

Pau d'arco herbal products come from the tree bark. Researchers have extensively investigated lapachol and xyloidone, compounds in the herb, for antibacterial activity. However, many commercial pau d'arco products don't contain lapachol.

Description

The Tabebuia evergreen tree grows in the warm parts of Central and South America. Most pau d'arco comes from a tree in the Amazon rain forest called Tabebuia avellanedae. It is a broad-leaf evergreen that grows to a height of 125 feet and is distinguished by pink to violet colored flowers. Its extremely hard wood makes it resistant to disease and decay. In recent years, however, there has been an increasing demand for pau d'arco and, as a result, the trees are in danger of becoming extinct.

Common doses of pau d'arco

Pau d'arco comes as:

• capsules ( 460 milligrams)
• tablets
• skin salve
• extract
• tea

Some experts recommend the following doses:

• As capsules, I to 2 capsules taken orally twice daily at meals with water or as a tea, or 3 to 4 capsules taken orally three times daily for no more than 7 days.
• As lapachol (unspecified product), 1 to 2 grams taken daily.
• As lapachol tea, boil 15 to 20 grams of bark in 16 ounces of water for 10 minutes, to make a tea with a lapachol content of about 3%.

Why people use pau d'arco

• AIDS
• Allergies
• Anemia
• Backache
• Bed-wetting
• Boils
• Common cold
• Diabetes
• Dysentery
• Gonorrhea
• Headache
• Hernia
• Lupus
• Smoker's cough
• Snakebite
• Sore throat
• Syphilis
• Toothache
• Warts

Side effects of pau d'arco

Call your health care practitioner if you experience any of these possible side effects of pau d'arco:

• nausea
• pinkish urine
• unusual or excessive bleeding
• vomiting

Interactions

Combining herbs with certain drugs may alter their action or produce unwanted side effects. Don't use pau d'arco while taking blood thinners.

Important paints to remember

• Don't use this herb if you're pregnant or breast-feeding.
• Avoid pau d'arco if you have a blood clotting disorder, such as hemophilia, severe liver disease, von Willebrand's disease, or thrombocytopenia.
• Be aware that some packages don't state how much pau d'arco they contain.
• Know that medical experts caution against using this herb instead of conventional medical treatment.

What the research shows

Researchers have studied only some. of pau d'arco's chemical components-and found no evidence that they have benefits in treating any medical condition. Knowing that some chemicals in this herb could be toxic and that scientific data don't support herbalists' claims, most medical experts don't recommend using this herb.