Damiana nourishes yang, invigorates the brain and nerves, regulates the pituitary gland, and promotes physical endurance.
The bitter principle, damianin, stimulates the nervous system and genitals and allows nerve messages to more readily spread through the body.
Damiana was used by the Mayans and Aztecs as a sexual stimulant and to treat respiratory disorders.
It was listed in the U.S. National Formulary from 1888 to 1947.
Today, damiana is used to treat anxiety, asthma, bedwetting, catarrh, constipation, coughs, debility, depres- sion, dysentery, dyspepsia, emphysema, erectile dysfunction, exhaustion, hangover, headache, hot flashes, infertility, low libido, Lou Gehrig’s disease, malaria, menstrual cramps, Parkinson’s disease, prostatitis, urinary tract infection, venereal disease, and vertigo.
It has been used as a tea to help teenagers
overcome the shyness and self-consciousness that sometimes accompanies puberty, and it can also be used to help adults overcome sexual “performance anxiety.”
As a flower essence, damiana diminishes feelings of inadequacy and re- stores feelings of sensuality and energy.
