Nod Over Coffee

In desperation, I find myself willing to try anything.  I am not "anti" herbal remedies - but I
am often suspicious.  Tonight, however, I find myself attempting an Ayurvedic medicine cure and hoping for the best.

WARNING:  GROSS, VILE, and plain NASTY story to follow. I'm not exactly sure why I'm posting it - maybe hoping someone else has had this problem and found a solution, or perhaps that someone else has done this particular experiment and had success (or not).

Ever since "The Nair Incident" I have had a problem with recurrent...boils.  Yuk, I know. A quick synopsis of that experience.  I was sick and tired of shaving during the summer of 2006.  I'm not fond of waxing.  So, I decided "What the heck!" and bought a bottle of Sally Hansen Depilatory Cream.  (I called it "The Nair Incident" because that sounds so much better than the Sally Hansen Depilatory Cream Incident - and the idea is basically the same - over the counter hair removal).  I didn't do a patch test but just went for it and slathered the stuff on from the bikini line on down my legs.  It burned.  It smelled horrible.  I didn't mean to but I know I rubbed it in a bit while trying for even coverage.  I kept it on the required time and then showered it off.  I was pink.  I was burning.  I smelled awful.  And darned if there weren't a few stray hairs left here and there.

Within hours I felt miserable.  I applied first aid cream.  It began to itch.  I applied
hydrocortisone cream.  Within two days little pustules were forming all over my inner and outer thighs.  They hurt.  I applied Gold Bond Medicated Powder - it stung like the flames of Hell. Tea Tree Oil, antibotic ointment, burn spray, Lanacane.  You name it - by the time I was done I had probably put 10 different things on it.  The pustules grew.  Somehow the idiot in me still went to the gym (with every wound completely covered & bandaged) - until it became to painful to walk.

 Some of the spots went away - but others grew...and grew.  After about two weeks of misery, I was beginning to get feverish.  My left leg had swollen and I had a raised area bigger than a
salad plate that lifted off my leg like a mesa with sides that looked like wind-rippled sand
dunes.  I knew I was in deep trouble and finally asked to be taken to the Urgent Care. Of course this was a Sunday, things never happen when your doctor is around.  All this time I didn't go because of fear of embarrassment, I didn't want to sheepishly tell anyone that I'd done this to myself with hair remover and playing chemist with a gazillion potions.  

When I got the the Urgent Care, the doctor was horrified that I'd waited so long.  He wanted me to go the emergency room and thought perhaps I should be admitted.  I had developed cellulitis - and very severely at that.  He attempted to lance the largest area (besides the salad plate sized area, there were a couple pancake sized places).  I would not wish that experience (the lancing) on my worst enemy.  

Because I have amazing stamina and a pretty high threshold for pain, I was able to not faint and in my agony I cried out, "Holy Toledo!" which just happened to be where the doctor was originally from.  He was pretty awed by the fact that I didn't yell out anything rougher.  My stamina is what convinced him not to force the hospital issue.  He feared my developing sepsis, and I guess rightly so because my left was swollen from bikini line to knee. I was given a prescription for a large dosage of Clindamyacin and told that if my fever spiked, I acted disoriented or anything appeared even slightly worse I was to be brought to the hospital and put on an IV right away.

The next day however, I was slightly improved - even though I have hard time swallowing pills and each of these horse capsules took me between 20 - 30 minutes to get down.I was also told that from hence forth I would probably be more susceptible to this type of affliction.

Low and behold, two months later I was at the gym and felt something bite me on the back of the thigh.  Within a couple of days, I had a huge welt growing.  I immediately went to the doctor and was put on antibiotics.It happened again and again and again.  This year, between sinus infections and sycosis barbae gone bad, I've been on antibiotics too many times.  I'm allergic to penicillin and cephalosporins which makes it really suck - I don't want to overuse the antibiotics that are available to me.  Just last month, in mid-October, I dealt with it again.  I got past the painful part but the darned wound wouldn't heal and I ended up on a course of antibiotics.

So here I am - and yep, one cropped up on the back of my left thigh...again.  Since Thanksgiving it's been getting worse and it really hurts when I first stand up after getting off a chair or out of a car.  The evil area is draining, thank God, but it's still excruciating (which I'm
pretending it is not so that no one babies me.  The pretending isn't working so well because I
can't seem to control wincing and walking like I have a pole jammed up my spine win the initial moments after standing up).  I'm afraid of ending up at the doctor on Monday and on another round of antibiotics...or worse, at the Urgent Care Center tomorrow.

That brings me to my experiment.  Until now I've been doing warm compresses and Bacitracin.  However, for the past year I've been reading about *other* remedies - one of them being Turmeric.

 Turmeric has been used for a couple of thousand years in India as an antiseptic and antibacterial agent.  A 2005 article in the Wall Street Journal titled, "Common Indian Spice Stirs Hope," says that "research activity into curcumin, the active ingredient in turmeric, is exploding. Two hundred and fifty-six curcumin papers were published in the past year according to a search of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Supplement sales have increased 35% from 2004, and the U.S. National Institutes of Health has four clinical trials underway to study curcumin treatment for pancreatic cancer, multiple myeloma, Alzheimer's, and colo-rectal cancer."

I found dozens upon dozens of reports regarding turmeric's use and one page in particular that
specialized in its use just for boils & Staph infections (using poultices and drinks). 

According to the University of Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland: "Curcumin (another name for turmeric) protects skin by quenching free radicals and reducing inflammation through nuclear factor-KB inhibition. Curcumin treatment also reduced wound-healing time, improved collagen deposition and increased fibroblast and vascular density in wounds thereby enhancing both normal and impaired wound-healing. Curcumin has also been shown to have beneficial effect as a proangiogenic agent in wound-healing by inducing transforming growth factor-beta, which induces both angiogenesis and accumulation of extracellular matrix, which continues through the remodeling phase of wound repair."

I hate when something is billed as a wonder cure for everything - but here are 20 supposed
benefits of Turmeric that I found referred to repeatedly on the web:

1. It is a natural antiseptic and antibacterial agent, useful in disinfecting cuts and burns.

2. When combined with cauliflower, it has shown to prevent prostate cancer and stop the growth of existing prostate cancer.

3. Prevented breast cancer from spreading to the lungs in mice.

4. May prevent melanoma and cause existing melanoma cells to commit suicide.

5. Reduces the risk of childhood leukemia.

6. Is a natural liver detoxifier.

7. May prevent and slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease by removing amyloyd plaque buildup in the brain.

8. May prevent metastases from occurring in many different forms of cancer.

9. It is a potent natural anti-inflammatory that works as well as many anti-inflammatory drugs
but without the side effects.

10. Has shown promise in slowing the progression of multiple sclerosis in mice.

11. Is a natural painkiller and cox-2 inhibitor.

12. May aid in fat metabolism and help in weight management.

13. Has long been used in Chinese medicine as a treatment for depression.

14. Because of its anti-inflammatory properties, it is a natural treatment for arthritis and
rheumatoid arthritis.

15. Boosts the effects of chemo drug paclitaxel and reduces its side effects.

16. Promising studies are underway on the effects of turmeric on pancreatic cancer.

17. Studies are ongoing in the positive effects of turmeric on multiple myeloma.

18. Has been shown to stop the growth of new blood vessels in tumors.

19. Speeds up wound healing and assists in remodeling of damaged skin.

20. May help in the treatment of psoriasis and other inflammatory skin conditions.

Therefore, in a last ditch effort to avoid the Urgent Care Center tomorrow or pay a visit to my
doctor on Monday, I have followed a recipe for a poultice and my leg is currently wearing one
made of Turmeric and Ginger.   I also drank warm water with 1/2 tsp of turmeric and will also do so in the morning (and up to 3X a day).

My doctor - a fantastic guy - also believes in using Ayurvedic medicine along with traditional
medicine.  I'll probably call him on Monday anyhow to tell him what I've done - either to report
success or scream for help.

~o~

Workout - yes, I amazingly made it to the gym for one hour of cardio today.  It doesn't seem to bother me when I'm vertical.  Friday was a rest day - and wonderfully restful it was, except for limping, wincing and the hard-job of pretending nothing was badly wrong.

~o~

I haven't been around to very many pages due to the fact that standing up after sitting here hurts like the dickens.  I'll catch up if this works.