Nettle was believed to be a galactagogue – a substance that promotes lactation. Urtication, or flogging with nettles is the process of deliberately applying stinging nettles to the skin to provoke inflammation. An agent thus used was considered to be a rubefacient (something that causes redness), used as a folk remedy for treating rheumatism. Chastisement
In indigenous justice systems in Ecuador, urtication was used as punishment for severe crimes in 2010. The sentenced perpetrator of a crime was flogged with stinging nettle, in public, naked, whilst being showered with freezing cold water. Textiles and fibre
Nettle stems contain a bast fibre that has been traditionally used for the same purposes as linen and is produced by a similar retting process. Unlike cotton, nettles grow easily without pesticides. The fibres are coarser, however.Historically, nettles have been used to make clothing for almost 3,000 years, as ancient nettle textiles from the Bronze Age have been found in Denmark. It is widely believed that German Army uniforms were almost all made from nettle during World War I due to a potential shortage of cotton, although there is little evidence to support this. More recently, companies in Austria, Germany, and Italy have started to produce commercial nettle textiles.The fibre content in nettle shows a high variability and reaches from below 1% to 17%. Under middle-European conditions, stems yield typically between 45 and 55 dt / ha (decitons per hectare), which is comparable to flax stem yield.
Mechanism
The term compensatory is largely misleading, as it indicates that there is a compensatory mechanism that takes effect after sympathectomy, in which the body redirects the sweating from the palms or face to other areas of the body. Sweating after sympathetic surgery is a reflex cycle between the sympathetic system and the anterior portion of the hypothalamus. Reflex sweating will not happen if hand sweating can be stopped without interrupting sympathetic tone to the human brain.Compensatory hyperhidrosis is aberrant sympathetic nervous system functioning. The only study evaluating the total body sweat prior and shortly after sympathectomy concluded that patients produce more sweat after the surgery, just not so much in the areas treated by the surgery. Epidemiology
Of people that have a sympathectomy, it is impossible to predict who will end up with a more severe version of this disorder, as there is no link to gender, age or weight. There is no test or screening process that would enable doctors to predict who is more susceptible. == References ==