nettles and dock leaves

[skinnyblue]

Will a dock leaf really relieve a nettle sting? I have believed this my entire life, and all the times it hasn't worked thought i must not know what a dock leaf looks like!

[Robinia]

I can't say it's ever worked for me either!  A single nettle sting seems to hurt for hours after.  I think calenula ointment is supposed to be good or a paste of bicarbonate of soda & water.  here is a pic of dock leaves so that you'll be sure next time!

[ludwig]

I always did this as a kid and it worked for me. I assume it's something like the dock leaf has an alkaline substance which netralises the acid in the nettle or vice versa - same as a bee/wasp sting. Can't remember which way round it goes but you can alleviate a beestring with lemon juice and a waspsting with bicarb on the same principle.

[skinnyblue]

thank you! the picture of dock leaves in my head was wrong, thanks for clearing that up, and I look forward to saving the day with lemon juice this summer. thanks again!

[Gilli]

It's always worked for me ..... maybe it was the power of suggestion ?

I was always told you should crush the dock leaf (as though screwing up a tissue) in order to release whatever it is inside that relieves the nettle sting.

[kaktus]

When I was a kid, I always used greater plantain (I think it's called in English) on nettle sting. As far as I recall it helped. According to this site is has many purposes. I just used to crush it as gili suggest and rub in on the nettle sting.

[Jules001]

Just to add to Ludwig's post it is bicarb for bees and Vinegar for Vasps - that's how I always remember it (sorry I can't edit font and underline)

[AngelofDeath]

There are a couple of old rhymes about docks:-

The Dock
Come here, son: look: that leaf is dock,
Beside the dandelion clock.

Wherever stinging nettle grows
There, too, the healing dock leaf blows

As if to show some grand Design
Of Mother Nature, all benign,

Who suffers with her children's pain
And longs to make them well again:

Who cannot but provide relief
As in this sting­removing leaf.

*

And is it ever thus? Does food
Wait on the starving multitude,

Or building­leaves grow round about
When earthquakes put a town to rout?

And are there rain clouds standing by
When forest fires light up the sky,

Or are there flowers that can abate
The pain when people love, or hate?

No: men and towns to dust return:
The fires drink up the clouds, and burn.

Oh no, relief is never there.
Come, we must go: and son, beware,

For where the balmy dock leaves stand
Are stinging nettles close at hand. 

&

 �Nettle in, dock out, dock rub, nettle out�

The dock leaf must be crushed first before applying to the sting. Some say yellow dock leaves should be used and others curling leaves of dock. Some researchers have suggested that the cooling effect of applying the leaf is what helps and that a lettuce leaf would be as effective. Many other herbalists still advise the use of dock on nettle stings.

[AngelofDeath]

I have googled for an authoritive answer to this question and have found the following:-

Does rubbing a dock leaf onto a nettle sting help alleviate the pain, and are there any other plants that can help to ease other
types of pain?
Yes rubbing a dock leaf onto a nettle sting releases a natural antihistamine, which helps to relief the irritation. However, merely rubbing the site of the sting would also help. There are other plants that alleviate irritation such as the oil from Evening Primrose, which can be used to treat eczema.

(This was found at) http://www.chic.org.uk/chicmco/pressoffice/2000/3.htm

There is also an interesting article here:-

http://tinyurl.com/cblwc
Click on the link and scroll down to just off the bottom of the page.

You might also find this link interesting:-

http://tinyurl.com/9tgw2

[funkychicken]

It worked for me when I was younger, only thing was had to walk about half a mile to find a dock leaf!

[Gef]

For bees and wasps just remember VW (same as the car).
Vinegar for Wasps etc.

[AngelofDeath]

I always remember bicarbonate for bees & vinegar for vasps.

[thikasabrik]

Last year I was watching a programme on TV by one of those guys who goes off and lives off the land. He said that rubbing a dock leaf on a nettle sting does not work. He then took a huge  handful, mashed them up with his hands until some juice ran out of the dock leaves and applied the juice to the sting. I tried it myself and it did work.

[heather craw]

Nettles sting you with formic acid so adding lemon juice will not solve the problem.  You need an alkali solution.

The bee and wasp story is

Wasp sting - apply vinigar or lemon juice

Bee sting - apply bicarp or milk and make sure you take out the whole sting.

[carolynqk]

always knew as a child that if i got nettle sting which happened quite a lot i just looked nearby for a dock leaf squished it a bit and rubbed on the sting til the juice made my leg a bit green. it works wonderfully. mother nature is marvellous. carolyn.

[carolynqk]

whenever i got nettle stung as a child which happened frequently i would immediately look for a dock leaf nearby. squidge it a bit and rub it hard onto the sting til the green came out onto my skin. fantastic. all us kids knew to do that. isnt nature wonderful!. carolyn.