“In my work as a master pharmacist, I often had to treat with herbs. First, sick kidneys, then gynecological, gastrointestinal, lung diseases. I can proudly boast that with God's help and with my herbs, more than 300 babies have been born in Bulgaria." This is what pharmacist Tsonka Daskalova, manager of an herbal pharmacy, tells us. While we are talking about the herbs and their healing power, a dozen people are lined up in the small office - one with gout, another with diseased kidneys, another simply has increased bad cholesterol, and his weight is also more…
“I have been interested in herbs since I was a child. My gift for healing is hereditary - my grandparents were famous herbalists. And maybe it's a gift from God as compensation for the polio I went through at the age of 3. I have a special feeling for herbs, I know them, I love them, I know where each one grows and when it is best to pick it, what diseases it can cure, Tsonka told himself.
Mrs. Daskalova, do you have a favorite herb?
- Rosemary is my favorite herb, so I named my pharmacy after that. For centuries, one of the most common uses of rosemary in medicine has been to improve memory, not just to flavor food. This spice, and specifically the flower tops, contains antibacterial and antioxidant rosmarinic acid, as well as essential oils such as cineole, camphene, borneol, bornyl acetate and α-pinene, which are known to have anti-inflammatory, antifungal and antiseptic properties. It is used for nervous diseases. For the autonomic nervous system, for limbs in general and for paresis. There really isn't an herb I don't like, but this one is my favorite.
I see they are looking for you for all kinds of ailments - vertigo, insomnia, overweight, kidney disease, enlarged prostate… Can all diseases be treated with herbs?
- I will not lie if I say that many diseases can be treated with herbs. Humanity has treated itself for centuries only with herbs. For about 90-100 years, the pharmaceutical industry has taken over, but that's chemistry. I have been in this field for a long time. I have been a Master Pharmacist for 55 years, 36 of which I have given a lot of myself in this field - the treatment with herbs. Gradually one improves in practice. At first I de alt with more elementary diseases, then I started to enter the field of oncological diseases and saw that the truth is only in the herbs, because they are a gift from God. Every recipe I use has been developed over many years. I also monitor the patient's condition. Blindness should not be treated because herbs are not juice. If a cancer patient comes to me, I apply the herbal treatment in parallel with the appointments of the attending physician.
You have a Master of Pharmacy degree. Did you study the properties of herbs at the institute back in the day?
- Oh yes. For pharmacists, this is a compulsory subject - pharmacognosy and botany. And then I took the state exam. From the first year until we graduate, we study the plants, but we were never told that this recipe is for kidney, for lung diseases… So I started to experience the properties of herbs on myself. I made different mixes, researched their healing effect.
See, back in the day, official medicine denied herbal medicine. People who engaged in this called them "charlatans". It cost me a lot myself, but I had results and that made me ambitious to keep working more and more. In 1986, the Ministry of Public He alth issued me a permit to treat with herbs, and this document saved me from trouble with the authorities.
You yourself had he alth problems that you cured with herbs. Tell us about them?
- In 1968, my left kidney was diagnosed with nephrolithiasis and hydronephrosis. However, after the operation in which stones and slag were removed from the kidney, it stopped working. Before the decision to remove him, Prof. Stoyan Lambrev gave me six months to recover. The bad thing was that due to polio, the right kidney was smaller, underdeveloped and not fully functioning, so I couldn't be left with one kidney.
The hospital prescribed medication for me to be treated at home. I went home to my hometown of Etropole and I kept thinking: How am I going to get by with only these antibiotics? It is impossible. Each drug is reabsorbed in the kidneys and damages them further. Nothing will come of it.”
And I decided: "I will treat myself with herbs!". Then I tried three different herbal combinations on myself, which I alternated every two months. After six months I went to the doctors again. To everyone's amazement, my left kidney had fully recovered - size, function, etc
Then I explained to the professor with what herbal combination I had achieved it. And he: "Let me see the recipes." I gave him the three types of recipes, but I was worried about how he would look at things, because they didn't really trust herbs back then. They didn't believe it, they didn't believe it, but one of them is still circulating in pharmacies today. These were my first steps into herbal medicine
After that I gradually entered other diseases - pulmonary, nervous..
You mentioned that you are also approached by cancer patients. Can this terrible disease really be treated with herbs?
- Maybe, but it depends on the stage, on many things. My first experience in the field of oncology was 32 years ago. A 28-year-old boy from Pazardzhik, who worked at Elatsite in Etropole, came to me. His diagnosis was lung cancer. I thought to myself: "Lord, how am I going to help when I have to make a lung cleansing recipe for the first time?".
But I decided I had to do my best. As I prepared the herbs for him, realizing his hopeless condition, I wept a lot and begged God to help him get well. I made new and new inquiries on phytotherapy, added new plants. The young man was very disciplined, followed exactly the instructions, and after about half a year the miracle happened. The pulmonologist treating him could not believe that the herbs could clear the lung. But we made it. This gave me confidence and I developed recipes for other serious illnesses as well. Thus one progresses with practice.
What are you most wanted for?
- I am most sought after for cancer, pregnancy and diabetes. But there is no disease for which people have not come. Of course, I can't always help and I never deny medicine. I always keep epicrisis, research on hand. What medications is the person taking? What therapies have he been prescribed. With them, I necessarily take into account what herbs I should give. There are many impostor herbalists who say, “You only rely on me! You leave the medicines and other treatments!”. Which is wrong. I like to have results, to enjoy the cured patient. It has given me the confidence to move forward because I am most happy when I bring someone back to life.
The season of viral diseases and colds is coming. How can we protect ourselves from colds?
- The best recipe for colds and viral diseases is: 1 kg of candied honey is dissolved in a water bath. Add 100 g of ginger juice, 100 g of turmeric, 100 g of coriander, 100 g of cinnamon and 200 g of lime juice. Mix everything well and drink 1 teaspoon three times a day.
Useful recipes
For the immune system
To strengthen the immune system, a salad and/or decoction of dandelion and nettle is recommended. Drink syrup from blueberries, blackberries, brambles, etc.
For acute and chronic disorders
Mix 50 g each of rosehip, thistle, blueberry and rind. Pour two tablespoons of the mixture into 800 ml of boiling water and boil for 15 minutes. The decoction is soaked for 15 minutes and filtered. It is drunk for the day.
Toning Recipe
Take 1 teaspoon of ginkgo biloba and one tablespoon each of pacha grass, lemon balm and mint. Boil in 500 ml of water for 10 minutes. The decoction is strained and drunk as warm tea with honey and lemon.
For varicose veins
One tablespoon each of hawthorn, calendula and horsetail is poured into 400 ml of boiling water and boiled for 10 minutes. The decoction is soaked for 30 minutes, filtered and drunk for the day. It is drunk for two months. A compress is made from calendula and crushed horsetail and chestnut paws.
