Energetics:
Bitter, Cool

Common Names:
Wild Lettuce, Acrid Lettuce, Bitter Lettuce, Lactucanum, Poison Lettuce, Poor Man’s Opium, Prickly Lettuce

Latin Name:
Lactuca altissima

Family Name:
Asteraceae - Aster / Sunflower family

Functions:
Analgesic, anodyne, antitussive, diuretic, expectorant, galactagogue, hypnotic, hypoglycemic, sedative

TCM Functions:

1. Relieves pain
   * headaches, muscular pain, visceral pain, colic
2. Calms the mind and relieves anxiety & irritability
   * insomnia, anxiety, irritability in all conditions, esp. Heart Yin deficiency
   * floating yang: headache, muscle tension, spasms
3. Cools the Lung, activates the Qi, stops cough and relieves pain
   * Lung heat with Qi accumulation, with wheeze, dry cough, chest oppression
   * cough and pain in general
4. Promotes urination and drains water-damp
   * Spleen damp with edema

Therapeutics:
Used for anxiety, bronchitis, cough, hyperactivity, insomnia, pain, restlessness and whooping cough.

Notes:
Wild Lettuce is an excellent pain reliever in that it is safe, effective and non-addictive. Wild Lettuce or “Lettuce opium” was widely used before the advent of synthetic pain medications and still has an excellent place in our pharmacy today. Many modern pain medications have a host of side effects running from constipation and insomnia to long-term liver damage. Clinically, Wild Lettuce is most effective in pain conditions that are accompanied by heat and excess, patients that are hot to the touch and respond negatively to heat. Wild Lettuce has an affinity for the respiratory system that makes it a useful remedy for long-term painful coughs with yellow phlegm.

Contraindications:
Avoid in cases of Allergic Hypersensitivity to plants in the Asteraceae family. Avoid use with sedatives and drugs with sedative effects including alpha-blockers, beta-blockers, anesthetics, analgesics and tricyclic antidepressants. Excessive doses may cause insomnia.