Ixcanan

Ixcanan is a Mayan word that is pronounced like Ish as in fish and Canan almost like canon but with an ahhh sound for the a letters, as if someone was looking at your tonsils. Ixcanan. Or at least that is the way it is pronounced here.




Elsewhere it is pronounced Hamelia patens, but I have never heard those words in speech, so to say the name of the plant I only know how to pronounce Ixcanan.



Ixcanan grows where the Chachalaca bird goes. In fact the Chachalaca bird eats it's berries when they are blue-black ripe. It is what they call an opportunist species that grows readily in disturbed ground. It is called the guardian of the forest, but there are lots of things called that here. Ixcanan is perhaps somewhat unique in the class of things called guardians of the forest as it's name apparently actually means "Guardian of the Forest". The seeds pass through the bird and so where the Chachalaca bird goes, there the Ixcanan soon grows.



It also grows in my yard. A lot of important plants grow wild in my yard. Most seem to presage a use I will have for them. But Ixcanan has been growing here for a long time in great abundance. I didn't have a use for it, but I didn't pull them out because they attract humming birds and butterflies. Also, I expected I might eventually need Ixcanan for something.



So I am wanting to wash this dog. I have pills from a vet that were given to me to treat bacterial dermatitis and I am giving those, but I want to do better. I went out into the yard, looking for piles of poo actually, as I am trying to build this dog up and I want to know whats coming out of him.



There in the yard I see the Ixcanan plants that grow for me and they have a strange light, I don't generally try to describe it, it doesn't make sense. Anyway I remember from long ago, "oh, that is, I don't know how you say it, but we call that Ixcanan, it is good for the skin, we use it for, well I don't know how you call it, but we use it anytime there is a problem with the skin." And I remember, "oh, we boil it and make like a tea and bath with that", and "oh, yes, some people drink it, but I don't know what for, I don't know what it cures to drink it." I don't rely on any one thing, I check as many ways of knowing things as I can. Information on the internet confirms these uses, and scientific papers confirm that there are active principles in this plant that are being studied.

Now, I often do things that I don't really tell about much. I use a lot of plants, and so far this has worked well for me. I don't say much because even here there are laws against saying something is medicine or can cure this or that.

The most extreme case of this was last year when one of my sons went through what was a serious medical emergency. This was very difficult for me, because, I knew what to do, but all of our friends said we should take him to the hospital. And I knew that would be a mistake. I spoke with a pharmacist, and learned that they would give him Tylenol to bring down the fever.

But I knew that the fever was caused by his loss of regulation of his body temperature while other fevers, the ones Tylenol is good for, are caused because the body wants to make the fever. So we kept him here and tended to him ourselves. Rebecca has always seemed to have more confidence in me than I do, and she seemed comfortable with this decision even when I pointed out what could happen if I was wrong. For me it was very hard, because I was constantly aware that if I was wrong, my son might die.

Later when he was better, I got on the internet looking for information that would tend to justify my actions in hindsight. I found a number of studies that indicated that fever reducing drugs are not effective during heat stroke and I found that the Dept. of the Army believed that they could increase the chance of kidney failure due to Rhabdomyolysis. So I felt like I had done the right thing. But still, I never mentioned it to anyone until now, a year later.

What I am saying is that I take what seem to be big chances. I trust in something that I don't really understand. So far, it seems that I have not been wrong to do so. Though I want to share these things, I almost never do.

But here is a case where I can talk about what I am doing. This dog has some bad complications due to starvation. Although I am told he does not have mange, I still believe that he does, and I believe that he has a lot of secondary infections due to mange, flea bites, red ants and other insect bites. And I think I know how to make it better. But I don't know for sure. I never know for sure.

But in this, I can share, because about half the people I know probably think, oh that poor animal ought to be put down, and the other half probably think that it is good that I am trying to help the dog. Also here, in Belize there are no legal issues about treating a dog with plant medicines. No one can say bad about this here, because most would not try so hard to help a dog.

The only thing that tends to keep me quiet is that if I fail in this, if somehow this does bad to the dog, I am going to feel really bad for a lot of reasons. And I am not inclined to publicly share such emotions.

So first I gather the Ixcanan. This grows also in the South of the US, so, some of you can find this plant if you ever want to. It is called Fire Bush and Firecracker bush and lots of other things there, but Hamelia patens should help you find it. It is very beautiful and it feeds hummingbirds and butterflies.



Then I boiled the Ixcanan with water. I used leaves, stems, flowers and berries, in no particular proportion, just what I broke off the plant. I think all the parts of the plant are the same for my purposes. I brought all this to a boil, and then turned the fire off and covered it and let it steep for several hours. I did all this with aluminum pots. I don't think that matters.



I strained the liquid out and threw the plant material back into the yard from where it came. This liquid is a dark clear reddish color. It was initially a bright yellow color, but after steeping it was very much like the color of sassafras tea.



I poured this into a different pot so it would cool faster. Then I poured it into a bottle to store it temporarily and also into a spray bottle I cleaned out well. The spray bottle had previously contained vinegar, and though I washed it out good, this probably was not necessary, as I might actually add vinegar to this stuff at some point. For now though I want to use lone Ixcanan tea.



Aside from possibly adding a small amount ascorbic acid in the form of lime juice as a natural preservative, or vinegar for intuitive reasons I haven't puzzled out yet, there are other things that I might do. If I decide I want the liquid to be thicker or slimy I might add aloe juice to it. If I want it to be stronger, I might add yellow ginger or turmeric to it. Though turmeric would make a dye and would stain anything it comes in contact with, this might be good as it would show on the dog's skin what had been treated and what had not. Also, I think as it is this would act as a dye and stain things.

I started making this this afternoon, and it is taking a long time to cool down sufficiently. It is already early evening, and I don't want to wet the dog just before dark. So I am going to use this tomorrow around noon when it is hot and the dog will not be so pestered by being sprayed with liquid.

This is a good thing, because it allows me to do one more check. A dog can't tell me, "oh, that is starting to burn", or "I really think this should be washed off", or "oh, my skin is getting all numb". So before I do animal testing with this plant I should check it.

After asking for volunteers it turns out that I will be the test subject. So I am going to wash my feet with this, and my underarms and also elsewhere. This will give me a chance to see if it will do any bad fast as the skin is thin in such places, and also possibly a way to check to see if it has any good effect. This is a very humid climate and I have several minor complaints that this could possibly fix. So this could be a good test.

Ok, so now the next day: I used the Ixcanan myself, and it did not do me any bad that I can tell. I have a really bad heat rash around my neck, and while it did not change the appearance of this, the discomfort of the rash went away almost immediately. This was on me over night and when I showered, I reapplied it. I am using a lot of it because it makes things better, and also, I want to push hard to see if there is any negative effects.

So I sprayed the dog with this, and he did not much like it. I made several mistakes, I used his name, and I said "come here". I know not to ever do these things with a dog when about to do something unpleasant, so I sprayed the dog down with this but as he became more and more agitated, I stopped. I will in the next day or so remember not to use his name or call him and go to him. And I will not use the spray bottle but rather just pour it on him and work it around with my hands. The dog likes to be touched, he does not like to be sprayed.

So far, the Ixcanan seems to help me with heat rash, and the dog does not smell as bad. He also seems happier, of course it is hard to tell if that is from the Ixcanan or the giant beef bone at his feet.



Now I am writing a week later than the above. I wash the dog with a rag from a basin, this aggravates him the least. He almost likes this, especially in the hottest part of the day. The Ixcanan seems very strong. So I intend to limit using it to once a week. In my case just using it for a short while has eliminated the discomfort of heat rash for many days after using it. The heat rash, in me, a human, appears to be clearing up. To be fair, the nights have been a bit cooler. But the discomfort relief was very sudden and very much seemed due to the Ixcanan.

In the case of the dog, he had large hairless areas where the hair had either fallen out, been scratched or bitten off. About the third day after using the Ixcanan on the dog, I noticed hair was coming in all over the dogs body. Now that seems very very fast, so I am inclined to think that whatever medicine the vet gave him the first day killed whatever skin parasites he might have had and the skin was recovering for several days when I applied the Ixcanan. Still I feel the Ixcanan helped the dogs skin, better than the veterinary medicines alone might have done, though, I am not familiar with the effectiveness of those medicines. Nor am I familiar with how fast a starved dog regrows hair.

I will continue to find out more about Ixcanan. Also, I will continue to wash the dog with Ixcanan at least once weekly. Further I will continue to use this on myself whenever I have any skin complaint.