Mumps: One Mump or Two?

Best Single Herb: Mullein

Best Combinations: Mullein; lobelia; white oak bark; echinacea, golden seal; garlic

Other Helpful Supplements: Vitamin C

Possible Cause: Exposure

Complementary Help: Mullein, lobelia, and white oak bark fomentations; hot footbaths

Mumps is a common childhood viral infection characterized by swelling of the glands in the neck, fever, headache, and sometimes vomiting. The affected person usually feels sick for three to five days but remains infectious until the swelling of the glands has completely gone away.

If you did not have mumps as a child, catching the illness in adulthood is more serious and needs to be treated immediately. Mumps in adults can cause sterility in men. Some children get the mumps even when they have been vaccinated against it, but you can still help your child with some herbal remedies.

Mullein: Good to the Last Mump

Mullein (Verbascum thapsus) is a common herb that’s also quite recognizable. This herb grows up to eight feet tall and has stalks that are conical in shape. It has small, yellow flowers that bloom a few at a time and sit close to the stalk. Mullein can be found along most roadsides where it is dry, warm, and open and where the soil has been disturbed. In a pinch, a dried stalk of mullein dipped in pine pitch may be lit and used as a torch.

Native Americans used to smoke the dried leaves of this plant for relief of coughs. The tea also can be drunk, or an infusion can be made and applied to the chest to help break up mucus congestion quickly.

Herb Lore: information related to holistic health

Native American women used to drink mullein tea to temporarily arrest their menstrual periods. Women who were “on their moon” (as the menstrual bleeding time was referred to), were thought to be closer to the spirit world at that time. The spiritual activity thought to be surrounding the woman at this time was believed to distract from the concentration of the medicine man and others during ceremonies. Therefore, the women could not (and in traditional tribes still cannot) take part in ritualistic ceremonies such as dances, sweat lodges, and other healing ceremonies during this time. Therefore, mullein came in handy since it offered women some control over their periods.

That’s all nice and fine, but what can it do for the mumps, you ask? Historically, mullein has been used internally to treat mumps because of its affinity for the glands. You can take it or administer it internally to help with any childhood illness because it is a safe and mild herb. Apply a cooled fomentation of a mixture of mullein, lobelia, and white oak bark externally directly over the swollen lymph glands.

Mullein also has an affinity for the sinuses and can break up congestion. The herb is very soothing to the mucus membranes, which makes it useful for dry, hot, irritated, and hacking coughs. Think of mullein for any type of chest or glandular afflictions.

Speed Mumps

Of course, with any illness due to viral infection, you will want to keep the immune system boosted to help you prevent and recover from the illness. As always, golden seal, echinacea, vitamin C, and garlic are all good remedies taken internally to help fight infections and are all safe for children.

If you have any fomentation left from the previously mentioned remedy, add it to a hot footbath. The heat will bring the blood away from the upper body and down to the feet and may help reduce swelling of those mumps lumps.

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