The wildflowers of the evening primrose plant open in the evening, hence its name 'evening' primrose. The leaves of the plant were traditionally used by the Native Americans on wounds, haemorrhoids and to help bruising. Evening primrose oil comes from the seeds of the plant. It contains a fatty acid often referred to as GLA which is then turned into the hormone like product prostaglandins.
I developed eczema at six months old. I was prescribed the usual aqueous cream, topical steroids, steroid tablets, antihistamines, antibiotics, special soaps and the list went on. When I was nine years old I was prescribed 'Epogam'. Epogam's main ingredient was evening primrose oil. After a while the terrible itching went and my eczema completely vanished. Unfortunately the manufacturers stopped making Epogam and my eczema returned. I won't repeat the language a GP used, but he made it clear to me that it was the worst case of eczema he had ever seen. Now I get little flare ups occasionally, but I have successfully treated them using holistic therapies and evening primrose oil.
In the past there was some proof that evening primrose oil helped mastalgia (breast pain) as well as eczema. It is also thought that it could help arthritis, high cholesterol, PMS, some menopausal symptoms (such as hot flushes), acne, ADHD and some heart conditions. Whilst there is a possibility that evening primrose oil could aid some of the symptoms of these conditions, there are no current proven studies (that I know of) that claim to cure these symptoms. Evening primrose oil is not suitable for everyone and there can be side effects such as diarrhoea and nausea.
Some say that it could have anti-ageing benefits....I think I will go and bulk buy some now!
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