The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies – My Honest Review and Whether It’s Worth the Money

While we’ve published many articles about how to grow a survival garden and waxed lyrically about the best herbs for bruises, we’ve barely scraped the surface of what medicinal plants can do for you. This is where The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies comes to the rescue. 

So, if you want to survive in a world where drug stores are a thing of the past and pharmaceutical companies have lost their stronghold on mainstream medicine, you need to know more than just whether comfrey prefers full sun or partial cover.

The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies is a survivalist’s bible detailing which medicinal herbs treat which symptoms and health issues. You can find it on Amazon, where it has a rating of around 4.7/5 with over 5,700 ratings!

This invaluable resource is every survivalist’s first-aid bible containing detailed information about the properties of plants, how to make plant remedies, and which traditional medicines can be used in a health crisis.

What Is The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies?

Drawing on 20 years of experience, Dr. Nicole Apelian’s knowledge of herbs is second to none.

Following her 2019 publication, A Reference Guide to Surviving Nature: Outdoor Preparation and Remedies, The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies provides a comprehensive overview of traditional health cures and how they can combat severe diseases. 

Contents of The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies

The book opens with a table of contents listing hundreds of health conditions and various herbal remedies available to treat them.

Not only do the authors include a wide range of herbal medicines and wild edibles, but they also explore other treatments.

This book can tell you whether a salve or a poultice would be most effective if you got bitten by a rattlesnake or stung by a bullet ant. It can also tell you if the type of herb you’re using is better taken internally or is more suited to external use.

Although a health professional may balk at the idea of using bleach to treat eczema, The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies explores the possibility, advising on the process, dilution, and frequency of use.

In this book, you’ll discover why you should never leave home without a  packet of activated charcoal, how to use woolly lamb’s ear as a wound dressing, and why a little bit of turmeric goes a long way.

Additionally, there are sections on emergency care and poisoning that will be particularly interesting to any survivalist or outdoor adventurer.

Medicinal Herbal Reference Guide

The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies covers various natural treatments and cures for issues such as:

• Bones (inc. breaks, osteoarthritis, and osteoporosis)
• Cancer (inc. prevention and treatment)
• Kids (inc. bedwetting, colic, croup, and teething pain)
• Digestive and intestinal problems (inc. pain, bloating, constipation, food poisoning, Crohn’s disease, and much more)
• Drug addiction (inc. alcohol, nicotine, and opiates)
• Ears (inc. aches, infections, swimmer’s ear, and more)
• Eyes (inflammation, glaucoma, sties, and more)
• Feminine issues (inc. breastfeeding, childbirth, endometriosis, fertility, menopause, menstrual cycle, and much more)
• Glands (adrenal fatigue, thyroid, spleen, and more)
• Heart and circulatory system (inc. anemia, blood pressure, cholesterol, heart attack, varicose veins, and more)
• Immune system (allergies, auto-immune diseases, lupus, MS, and more)
• Infectious diseases (inc chickenpox, colds, flu, malaria, dengue fever, E. coli, fungal infections, herpes, and much more)
• Liver, gallbladder, and spleen (inc. fatty liver, detoxification, hepatitis B, jaundice, and more)
• Male issues (inc. hormones, impotence, prostate, and more)
• Mouth (inc. cavities, cold sores, toothache, bleeding, etc.)
• Muscles and joints (inc. arthritis, joint pain, sprains, rheumatism, carpal tunnel, and more)
• Nervous system (Alzheimer’s, anxiety, depression, dementia, headaches, insomnia, and much more) 
• Diabetes
• Respiratory (asthma, cough, pleurisy, bronchitis, congestion, whooping cough, and more)
• Skin (cuts, acne, boils, bruises, burns, eczema, frostbite, hives, infections, insect bits, and much more)
• Poisons
• Whole body (altitude sickness, anti-oxidants, detox, fatigue, gout, anti-inflammatories, endurance, etc.)
• Emergency care (internal and external bleeding, fever, snake bites, spider bites)

How to Harvest the Healing Power From Plants

In addition to info on how to select medicinal plants depending on the condition you want to treat, this book contains recipes. It’ll teach you:

• How to harvest herbs and how to dry them
• How to make powdered herbs and capsules
• How to make infusions (hot and cold), teas, decoctions, and oil infusions
• Detailed steps to salve-making
• How to make tinctures, extracts, and double-extractions
• Distillation
• Medicinal syrups, poultices, and a fantastic field poultice recipe. 
• A detailed guide to how Nicole manages Multiple Sclerosis 

Backyard Plants

The backyard plants section overviews more than 180 plants and mushrooms. Each plant has 2-4 color photos to help you identify them. 

As the blurb of the book mentions:

The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies has color pictures of over 181 healing plants, lichens, and mushrooms of North America (2-4 pictures/plant for easy identification).

Inside, you’ll also discover 550 powerful natural remedies made from them for every one of your daily needs. Many of these remedies had been used by our forefathers for hundreds of years, while others come from Dr. Nicole’s extensive natural practice.

Each plant has a short introduction, how to identify it, its edible uses, and its medicinal properties.

Also, it includes guidance on each plant’s healing properties and recipes for many of them.

For example, you’ll find instructions for making medicinal sauerkraut, soothing calendula salve, California Poppy infusion, and chamomile liqueur. 

It has a whole section of trees and shrubs as well. As you may have read in our Salad Grows on Trees article, many trees have beneficial properties!

Mushrooms and lichens have a section, too, with instructions on extracting them.

Some mushrooms included are:

• Chaga
• Lion’s Mane
• Lungwort Lichen
• Reishi
• Turkey Tail
• Usnea Lichen (a.k.a. Old Man’s Beard), of which Nicole mentions: “If I had to pick only one medicine to have available to me, this would be the one.”

I particularly love the section on water-loving plants!

If you have a pond full of duckweed, as I do, you’ll learn that you can eat duckweed as a protein-rich vegetable! It’s anti-bacterial and anti-fungal, and its juice is said to help absorb toxins. 

Household Remedies

The book ends with a section on household remedies, like activated charcoal, bleach, boric acid, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, Epsom salts, and much more. 

You’ll learn how to make Warming Ginger Cayenne Massage Oil for muscle pains and sore joints. Some other fabulous recipes include things like Boric Acid Eye Wash, a treatment for jock itch, a tonic to boost your immune system, and cold and flu prevention remedies.

Good Things About The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies

With her co-author, Claude Davis, Nicole Apelian encourages us to become more independent and self-reliant by increasing their readers’ awareness of the following things:

1. Teaches You How to Identify Healing Plants

A full-color picture accompanies each detailed herbal plant description, making each one easier to identify.

Thanks to this book, I’ve just realized that the plant I perceived as a nuisance weed is the potent herb Anise Hyssop.

I plan on harvesting it and adding it to my bath to alleviate the sore muscles I’ve developed trimming my goats’ hooves.

2. Shows You How to Prepare Natural Remedies

I consider myself an expert in making oils and balms, and I can cobble together a herbal poultice and brew a decent cup of echinacea tea. Still, I’m at a complete loss regarding tinctures, plant extracts, and distillations.

At least I was – before I read The Lost Book of Natural Remedies. This book gives detailed information on how to prepare herbal plants to treat various health conditions.

The section on making tinctures, salves, decoctions, and other remedies is handy, and it includes some great recipes you can use for specific issues or general, day-to-day health. 

For survival situations, a pre-prepared tincture is liable to be your best bet. That’s because your body will absorb a tincture faster than any other natural remedy.

Additionally, tinctures can last long periods without decomposing or becoming contaminated.

Knowing how to make a quick field poultice or bandage with herbs will also stand you in good stead for the end of the world as we know it, enabling you to treat traumatic wounds and prevent infection.

3. Advises You on Safe Dosages

We are often complacent about dosage when using herbal cures, assuming that, because they’re natural, they are less potent or potentially dangerous.

However, any herbal remedy program must combine health protection with treatment.

For instance, Thorn Apple leaves have, according to Apelian, “long been smoked in cigarette or pipe form, mixed with tobacco, for the treatment of asthma,” even though an overdose could cause “delirium and hallucinations and even death.”

Subsequently, as The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies states, a tincture is a safer way to access this plant’s health benefits.

4. Not Just Plants – Mushrooms Too

Aside from herbs and backyard plants, Apelian explores the world of mycelium. The book gives detailed descriptions of each mushroom, its appearance, and its potential benefits for health.

Since then, I’ve discovered a proliferation of Turkey Tail mushrooms growing wild in a nearby forest. I am now gearing up to use the double extraction process to access its properties.

I hope it will help alleviate some of the inflammation I experience due to a degenerative back condition.

5. The Recipes Are Simple and Easy To Follow

Whether you’re heading out into the wilderness for fun or because you’re running for your life, Apelian’s field poultice recipe is invaluable.

This poultice uses common backyard weeds to relieve pain, stop bleeding, reduce inflammation, and eliminate toxins. It is an effective treatment for snake bites, wounds, and injuries.

According to this informative book, to make up a field poultice, you could use Plantain alone or mix it with Mullein, which will “enhance the effects of the plantain.”

Mullein will also add its health benefits, which include pain relief and accelerated wound healing.

In addition, you can add Yarrow to your poultice to stop bleeding and for its anti-bacterial properties.

Things I Liked Less About This Book

The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies includes over 180 plants, mushrooms, and trees. That’s a tremendous number of plants. However, with that amount of information comes a downside. 

Limited Background Information About Each Plant

I found that I wanted more detail on the plants. Adding more information about the plants would make the book much too long, but I love diving right into a particular plant. 

My favorite herbal medicine book is How Can I Use Herbs In My Daily Life. This book by Isabell Shipard lists the specific properties of each plant, including constituents, actions, and the vitamins and minerals they contain. 

Over the years, I’ve learned the benefits of constituents like bitters, tannins, and resins and the issues for which the different actions are useful (like analgesic, digestive, tonic, nervine, etc.). I missed that info in The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies – I guess it’s not as “scientific” as I’m used to.

Usually, I like to see research and studies backing up information, and I couldn’t find any in The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies. Still, I know a lot of remedies are passed down from generation to generation. There are often no funds for specific research into herbs. 

But, when there are statements like “Research shows that ashwagandha has anti-tumor effects,” I like to read that specific research. So, a reference to where we might find this research would’ve been great. 

I’m probably nitpicking, and as I mentioned, it would be nearly impossible to go into that much detail for 180+ plants in a guide like this one.

The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies Has Limited Recipes

I also wanted more recipes. But then, I always want more recipes. 

Specific recipes for specific issues are the most helpful thing you can learn. Although there are quite a few in this book, and some (the Field Poultice, in particular) go into detail about how to make them and the different herbs you can use, it doesn’t include detailed recipes for all the herbs. 

Take Ashwagandha as an example. 

The book lists that root extracts, leaf extracts, and tinctures are effective and that you can add powders to food or drinks, though they have a strong taste. It mentions that adding honey can improve the flavor.

Still, I would have loved a recipe for things like Ashwagandha Turmeric Moon Milk, Sleep Tonic, or this very cool Trail Mix in the video below. 

How to Maintain Your Health Status When the SHTF

If you’re anything like me, maintaining your health means relying on pharmaceuticals and varieties of herbs not available in your own garden.

However, when the SHTF, chances are, all those sources are going to dry up, leaving you without the benefits of modern medicine.

But the Lost Book of Herbal Remedies will prepare you for any and every circumstance where you can’t get over-the-counter or prescription medications.

The Lost Book Of Herbal Remedies gives tips on what plants and herbs can help you live a healthier life. However, it also has info on the remedies you can use to stop a virus from spreading, an infection from taking hold, or a life-threatening illness from getting out of control.

For example, say you’re surviving alone in a forest somewhere. A daily dose of Echinacea could help keep you alive by boosting your immune system and fending off nasty viruses.

If you happen to eat something that doesn’t agree with you, ginger could help curb nausea, saving you from dehydration and other complications.

Perhaps you’ve got a photographic memory and can commit the contents of this medicine guidebook to memory. However, if not, leave space for a copy in your bug-out bag.

About the Authors of The Lost Book of Remedies

The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies is written by Nicole Apelian and Claude Davis, whom you might know from Ask a Prepper. It’s a pretty awesome website with info for living a self-sufficient lifestyle.

Nicole Apelian

Nicole explains her story in the video on The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies’ website. She suffers from MS, an auto-immune condition, and her story is truly inspirational – well worth a watch!

She went from being in a wheelchair and having people help her with the most fundamental parts of life to living in the wilderness by herself and living a fulfilled, healthy life. 

All with the help of herbs. 

She explains that many of the common weeds and wild herbs in your backyard contain powerful substances to help us live a healthy, pain-free life.

Claude Davis

Claude is probably best known for his website, Ask a Prepper. He’s an old-fashioned guy, fascinated by the medicines of previous generations.

Claude and his family live in a log cabin he built himself. They cook outside, make their own clothes, and live by what they believe in. He firmly believes that the teachings of our forebears can prepare us for anything life might throw at us.  

For him, the goal of The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies is “to save the most potent remedies that we’ve lost to history and to separate the true cures from the bogus ones that had no effect.”

Should You Buy The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies?

You should buy The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies! This book has been an invaluable resource for me. It has helped me learn how to identify medicinal plants and prepare them into practical, safe, and effective medicines.

In the end, it’s a very valuable field guide that has a tremendous amount of info on the practical uses of medicinal plants and fungi.

There is also plenty of info for your daily life, boosting your immune system, improving endurance levels, etc. I think you’ll get a lot of valuable information from this book, and it’s worth the money. 

The photos make it easy to identify the plants you can use for specific purposes. It also has a good amount of information about over 180 plants, which makes it unique. 

You can buy it from The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies’ website in digital or paper form (which has Nicole’s video) or from Amazon in paperback form. 

Whether you’re sick of popping ineffective pills, bankrupt from costlier treatments, sick of consulting with health professionals, or simply interested in living a healthier lifestyle, The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies is a helpful guide. 

Final Thoughts

The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies contains valuable information about replacing pharmaceuticals with medicinal plants to treat various health issues. It also offers advice on preventative medicines and cures.

With detailed descriptions of each plant, step-by-step tutorials on everything from drying herbs to transforming them into a potent essential oil, and tips on what to apply and when The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies transforms the natural world into an instant first aid kit.

Packed with potentially life-saving information, this fantastic book warrants a space in every prepper’s bug-out bag and every homesteader’s bookshelf.

More on Herbalism, Homesteading, and Self-Sustenance: