Cellulitis - Editor's Choice

Over the years, Earth Clinic readers have sent us many reports about their treatments for Cellulitis. The editors at Earth Clinic consider the below posts to be some of the most helpful and informative and have named them 'Editor's Choice'. We hope that you will find this useful.

Bread and Milk Poultice

Posted by baddiver (Wisconsin) on 05/16/2023
★★★★★

Bread and Milk Poultice for Cellulitis

I got an infection in my left foot. Didn't realize it was cellulitis at first. Treated with hot compresses, betadine, garlic and honey. It continued to get worse. I then got it in my right foot and found out it was cellulitis. I can't take antibiotics so started searching for ideas. I remembered a poultice that helped with a spider bite that was potato based and searched for poultices. I ran across the bread and milk poultice and it just seemed worth a try. I packed both feet overnight with the bread and milk poultice and saw 80% improvement overnight. The right foot which had just became infected resolved in 2 days. The left foot took about 4 days of the poultice every night but has resolved completely. My wife who is an RN who has treated many patients with cellulitis was amazed at the results. You warm milk up to below scalding then add white bread to make the poultice.


Garlic

Posted by Valerie (Oklahoma City, Ok) on 03/19/2018
★★★★★

Dog bite & terrible infection wouldn't heal even after 6 days in hospital & on 3 antibiotics by IV.

At home, it took a month still on antibiotics, skin was literally rotting. Each day new rot would form under & around a 1/4 inch humongous scab. Smelled like green rotten meat. Cellulitus/staph arm 3 times swollen.

I minced a couple of cloves of garlic placed it on wound AND OVERNIGHT IT KILLED THE INFECTION NEXT DAY I KEPT PLACING FRESH MINCED GARLIC. KNOCKED IT ALL OUT!!!!!!!

U can place minced FRESH garlic any place on your body, open wound or not. It will absorb thru skin.


Multiple Remedies

Posted by Jerome (New York, Ny) on 08/29/2016 7 posts
★★★★★

CELLULITIS: I recently developed cellulitis in my feet and ankles for the second time in my life. The first time my ankles swelled up like an elephant's after my cousin's cat rubbed up against my bare legs and I went to the emergency room (I was only 23). They pumped me full of high dose IV antibiotics and after a few days it went away.

This last time I developed the same problem again 15 years later after rubbing a dog with my bare feet. My ankles again swelled up and I realized it was cellulitis exactly as I had years ago. This time, however, I didn't want to go through with the antibiotics again since the first time they messed up my digestion bad and it never fully recovered. So I tried to go the natural route with oral colloidal silver (1100ppm), GSE, olive leaf, etc. This seemed to keep it from spreading for a few days but it wouldn't heal. Then I got a colloidal silver topical first aid gel which you can buy in any Vitamin Shoppe or major vitamin webseller. I applied it, let it dry for a few hours, rinsed my feet off then applied it again, for a total of about 4x/day. The silver gel combined with the oral stuff reversed the infection on the tops of my feet and shins dramatically, but though it was receding it was very slow and stubborn in my ankles and heels.

So I began researching online again and found a medical paper from a hospital that showed that giving cellulitis patients 400mg of ibuprofen every 6 hours for 10 days together with antibiotics resulted in much faster healing than with antibiotics alone. I had my wife pick up a bottle of ibuprofen at the drug store and began taking it. By that night with the silver gel, oral silver, GSE, olive leaf, myrrh and a few other basic things (vit C, echinacea, etc.), the cellulitis was 80-90% gone. I also took proteolytic enzymes which may have helped too.

After the second full day of the above regimen, including the ibuprofen, the cellulitis was basically healed. Oh and one more crucial thing if you're dealing with cellulitis of the legs or feet: ELEVATE THEM!!! They will not heal if you don't keep them elevated, HIGH! I sat on a lounge chair with my feet high on the wall for almost three days straight. Take breaks and walk around every hour or so but try to keep them elevated for the whole day. Sounds crazy but I was not going to get those IV antibiotics which destroyed my gut again if I could help it.

In sum what I did was this:

  • Oral colloidal silver 1100 ppm, 3 droppers a day
  • Silver gel applied 4-5x a day
  • Oral GSE, olive leaf, myrrh, and some other immune boosting supplements
  • Ibuprofen 400mg every six hours
  • Keep feet elevated

Jerome

*UPDATE*

July 04, 2018: I had a recurrence of the cellulitis and hit upon something that worked brilliantly: BETADINE. I applied straight Betadine to my feet and ankles with a cotton ball every few hours for a couple days and kept my feet elevated. Worked like a charm. I recommend trying Betadine as soon as the signs of cellulitis rear their head.


Soap, Iodine, Fasting

Posted by Raychil (Chiang Mai) on 12/31/2015
★★★★★

Woke up yesterday to realise that I had 20-30 cellulitis pustules on my thigh and some were draining. The area was also really swollen. It started from an insect bite I scratched the head off a few days ago and didn't think much of it but it must have got infected.

Anyway it got so much worse during the day and I was getting really worried. I applied iodine to the area maybe 3 times in the day but it kept getting worse. Then the next day I woke up and it looked awful and probably worse, so I decided to get really serious and water fast all day, applied hot then cold then hot then cold etc. water for few mins with shower head, washed the area well with soap and then apply iodine when dry. I went out to shops to buy bandages etc. and when I got back about 2 hrs later it was so much better I didn't need them - it was amazing!

I washed with soap and when dry applied iodine again and changed clothes (In case it got dirty outside house) and reapplied iodine again in evening, and now it is so much better! No swelling, no drainage and bumps are so much smaller. I expect will be gone now in couple days.

I have had it once before in past from insect bite again but it was really serious before I realised what was happening and I resorted to loads of antibiotics. But I still found washing area with soap thoroughly and applying hot/cold/hot/cold water with shower head very effective at healing it, I would see big improvement after showers doing this. And again I would apply iodine after shower when dry, and couple more times a day.

I think the water fasting, soap and hot/cold/hot/cold water and iodine was an amazing combination. Truly miraculous how fast it turned around.

Hope this helps someone :)



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