Pleurisy.
The name describes a historical hope, not an action. The material behind it is pleurisy root, a North American milkweed that carries heart active cardenolides.
- Category
- Herb
What Pleurisy is, and what it does.
- Does it work
- This one suits people working with a trained herbalist who can identify the plant and control the preparation. Anyone on heart or potassium affecting medicines should ask a clinician first.
- How much to take
- No dose figure is on record, and labels carry no cardenolide assay, so batch strength is unknown. This is a root to use only under professional guidance.
- Time to feel it
- Nobody has measured a time to effect for this root in controlled human research. Traditional use was short and supervised by a practitioner.
- The first dose
- Day one can bring nausea or stomach upset, which is the documented response to milkweed material rather than a sign of something working.
- With regular use
- There is no long term human research on this root. Cardenolide bearing plants are not used continuously, and traditional practice kept the courses short.
- How well tolerated
- This is the caution one. Milkweed cardenolides act on the heart's sodium potassium pump, low potassium or magnesium raises that risk, and the sap irritates skin.
- How it feels
- Bitter and acrid. Most accounts describe stomach upset rather than anything pleasant, which is why practitioners used small amounts for short periods.
- The overlooked benefit
- It's a naming lesson worth carrying: a plant named for a condition records what people once hoped, so the botanical name on the label is the only real information.
The proof, claim by claim.
These words describe the research, not the molecule's worth. Research strength is how much work stands behind one claim, and it is never a product score.
- Historical use as a respiratory herbNarrative review
- Cardenolide cardiac glycoside content of Asclepias speciesNarrative review
- Livestock poisoning from Asclepias ingestionNarrative review
- Contact irritation from milkweed latexNarrative review
No pairing data for Pleurisy yet.
Nothing on file for Pleurisy, either from a combination trial or from settled biochemistry. When either lands, it appears here with its source.
Stitching two separate single-ingredient studies into a pairing is the one thing this engine will not do. When a study of the combination itself holds up at source, it lands here with its citation.
No invented synergy. Where actives were studied on their own rather than together, each shows on its own evidence, never a combined effect no trial measured.
Research strength. Research strength says how much work stands behind the combination. It is never a product score.
Independent record. Every finding is cited to a named trial, dated, and never written by the brand.
24 pairings are live across the library today. Checked 25 August 2026.
Nothing specific on file for Pleurisy. Match the label to the daily amount above, and tell your doctor what you take.
Not medical advice. Show the label to your pharmacist.What Pleurisy actually does.
This isn't itself a supplement ingredient, the name points to a milkweed root named for old folk use around chest-lining irritation, not for any established effect on that state.
Like other plants in its genus, this one contains heart-acting glycoside compounds, the same class as a well-known heart medication, which work by blocking a pump that cells use to move sodium and potassium.
Plants with these heart-acting compounds have a narrow gap between an effect and toxicity because blocking that pump directly affects heart rhythm, which is why plants in this genus are documented causes of livestock poisoning.
Low potassium or low magnesium levels make these heart-acting compounds more dangerous, since both affect how the compounds bind their target, which makes anything that lowers potassium worth considering alongside this plant.
Where Pleurisy comes from.
The name here is a medical condition, not a plant, which is the first problem. It almost certainly means pleurisy root, an American milkweed named for what people used to use it for. Milkweeds carry heart-active compounds in the same family as digitalis, and there is no assay on the label telling you how much. That is a real caution, not a formality.
Made from a plant. What ends up in the capsule tracks the harvest, so batch testing and a stated marker matter more here than with a made molecule.
Butterfly weed, a North American milkweed of dry prairie and roadside habitat. The root is the part named in traditional use. The identification is inferred from the common name pleurisy root, because the slug itself names a condition rather than a plant.
Roots are lifted, washed and dried. Traditional practice used decoction of the dried root.
Traditional preparations were decoctions and tinctures. Modern commercial availability is limited.
No accepted marker assay exists in commerce, which is the central quality problem for a plant carrying cardenolides.
Sold, where sold at all, as a traditional botanical rather than as a characterised extract.
The forms it comes in.
The studies, linked.
5 sources behind our Pleurisy verdict: peer-reviewed studies and registered clinical trials. Every one links straight to PubMed, the journal, or ClinicalTrials.gov. Read them yourself.
- Clinical trialA Multicenter, Placebo-Controlled, Double-Blind, Randomized Clinical Trial to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Corticosteroids for Treatment of Patients With Tuberculous PleurisyClinicalTrials.gov ↗1,500 participants, Completed
- Clinical trialManagement of Parapneumonic Pleurisy Guided by an Early Pleural UltrasoundClinicalTrials.gov ↗115 participants, Completed
- Clinical trialEvaluating the Diagnostic Validity of Inflammation-associated Markers for Tuberculous PleurisyClinicalTrials.gov ↗200 participants, Unknown
- Clinical trialComparison the Level of CTGF Protein and Related Cytokine in Pleural Effusion Among Tuberculous Pleurisy and Malignant Pleural Effusion PatientsClinicalTrials.gov ↗80 participants, Unknown
- Clinical trialA Phase 1 Randomized, Double-Blind, Multicenter Study to Evaluate the Safety, Tolerability, and Preliminary Efficacy of OsrhCT Administered Intrathoracically in Single and Multiple Doses in Patients With PleurisyClinicalTrials.gov ↗Phase 1, 72 participants, Unknown
Evidence surfaced via Semantic Scholar (Allen Institute for AI) and ClinicalTrials.gov. Ranked by study type and citation weight, not cherry-picked.
FDA Disclaimer: These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Consult your healthcare provider before starting any supplement regimen.