Dietary Changes for Hidradenitis Suppurativa

I'd like to add that I found other foods that trigger breakouts. Basically anything that contains solanine. Nightshades are high in solanine. But certain other foods contain it too such as apples, cherries, beets. I am still breakout free. The good news is that I have been able to re-introduce a few nightshades into my diet without any issues by doing the DNRS protocol. This program is designed to overcome food sensitivities and involves retraining the brain with visualizations. I ate french fries twice last week with no breakout. I should mention this was not an overnight fix but took a couple months of training.

I eliminated all nightshades (potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, etc.) being careful not to have a single trace in my diet. HS is now completely gone.

One thing I noticed about boils and hidradenitis suppurativa is they tend to come when I eat a lot of sugar and am sedentary so the blood sugar doesn't get burned up. I know people here get a lot of relief using castor oil on is and turmeric with HS. Castor oil and turmeric are both said to reduce blood sugar and help with insulin resistance. SO maybe for a lasting solution some will find limiting sugar in the diet and maybe enjoying curry (with turmeric) dishes regularly in the diet. And if you do get a boil use a castor oil-tumeric paste.

First time in 5 years I have ever heard someone express the hell that I'm feeling. I'm going to try this. Thank you for posting. Dee

Hi everyone,

I am also suffering from HS. It runs in my family, and some of my siblings also have it. I have been on the paleo diet for about two years now, and it has helped me enormously with this problem. I haven't had any breakout for about a year and a half now, and my acne has decreased a lot! I started eating regular white potato about two weeks ago (because I need more calories), and now I have a huge irritated boil... I wonder if I'm sensitive to potato.

Anyway, I really recommend everyone to try Paleo diet! That means, dump all dairy products, grains, additives, sugar, cooking oils and processed foods. Also avoid chemicals such as pesticides and additives (choose organic). The foods I mentioned are inflammatory and makes your body prone to things like HS. Instead, eat clean whole foods like veggies(above ground), meat, fish, nuts and seeds. I also recommend drinking applecider vinegar, lemon water and eating fermented foods. These foods removes bad acidity from the body.

Do this, you will not regret it!

/Tove

After 20 years, I may have found my cure for hidradenitis suppurativa. I've been grain free for 5 days, and 8-month-old lesion is gone!!! Yes, I've been fighting that breakout for 8 months, and thought it would never go away, but it's gone. And it didn't take long once I quit eating all grains. Now I have to find out which grains I can add back into my diet.

Dear Ace, Thank you so much for repeating the message that HS was a disorder directly affiliated with our diet. I couldn't afford to see a Naturopath, however I systematically removed all possible offending groups and reintroduced them one by one. When I finally found the offending food group (Nightshades) and removed them from my diet, I stopped having the lesions. The ones that I had either ruptured and weeped or went flat. All I have now is the scars and I can live with that. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for never letting up. You saved my life. God bless you. Catherine

The first time that I had read that HS might be due to a food allergy, I remember thinking, "Oh sure" The best doctors in the world can't figure this thing out, and I am supposed to believe that I get these miserable lesions because of what I eat. But I kept reading a post that had been generated through out Earth Clinic by a woman who had gone to see a Naturopath. She went, was tested for food sensitivities, found out the offending food and her HS went into remission and she has not had a problem with it since. It couldn't be that easy.... Could it?

But after trying everything by the book -- antibiotics, topicals, washing with a specific soap, trying to de- stress my life. Losing weight - and I lost 50 pounds. And finally the most invasive of all, surgical removal of tissue - I was no closer to a cure than when I started.

It was time for me to do the research. Articles, I read everything I could get my hands on. I read blog after blog and came up with some amazing information. In essence our bodies are screaming at us through the HS lesions. We have and are consuming a food group whether it be gluten or nightshades or dairy or eggs that are making our bodies attack themselves. Simple. Find out what the offending food is and remove it. Either by going to see a Naturopath for an IgE and an IeE food sensitivity tests. Or if you financially aren't able to do that, then simply put yourself on a diet of protein, simple salads and green vegetables. Once you have done that, introduce one food group at a time and wait to see if you flare. No flare. Wonderful, now try another and another until you isolate the group that causes you to flare. Be vigilant at looking at labels. Because I was sensitive to nightshades, I had to look out for paprika and it is in so many different foods. Vigilance.

If you are like me, you have lived with the fear of this disease on a day to day basis. You have kept yourself isolated for fear that someone might find out. The pain is so intolerable as is the stigma of this disease. But you can take your life back. You can be happy again. It is a process and it will take time and diligence. You deserve a chance at living a normal life. God be with you.

This is in response to the few comments made on dietary changes having an impact on HS. My daughter has sufferred from this desease for 2 years now, and through many hours of research and reading forums and blogs such as this one, we, as a family, decided to cut out certain food groups as another desperate attempt to get my little girls life back. We cut out all "night Shade" veggies I. E potatos, peppers, tomatoes.... We started this at the end of July during a bad breakout, and quite honestly had little belief there would be any improvement. She has been SPOT FREE for 10 weeks now, nothing, nothing under the skin, no sores, no pus, no pain.. Just the remaing scars that may never go away. As of this message, she is also no longer taking ANY medication (2 weeks so far) something we thought would never happen as heavy anibiotics have been a staple for her the entire time since it was identified as HS. I am not a doctor, nor can I say what we are experiencing is an answer to all, I justed needed to share our news.

Our next step is to add foods back in to find, hopefully, the trigger food, but we are too scared to do this quickly as these past weeks have been a godsend to the whole family.

I first discovered that I had hidradentis suppurativa 8 years ago when I was in my early 30's. Some boils popped up in my groin area after I had taken some hormones in order to try to get pregnant. At the time there wasn't nearly as much information on the internet as there is now regarding natural treatments but I wasn't about to let my doctor lance them. I started taking some turmeric capsules that I made and also applied tea tree oil to the boils. I also went commando and wore lots of skirts as to not further irritate the area. After a few months the boils shrunk and then for over 7 years the only reminder I had of them was a few little black seeds down there and some faint scars. (Actually, I do remember them being tender and barely swollen about once every other year or so around the time of my period though. )

Then a couple of months ago, a new boil popped up along my bikini line. It grew really quickly into a golf sized ball (a couple of days). It was super, super painful which made it hard to walk or sit normally. I started taking warm baths in tea tree oil and epsom salts, twice per day, and I began taking the turmeric capsules again along with upping my daily water intake. This didn't appear to help much if any at this point. And I was super discouraged, tired and weepy at nothing. Hidradentis suppurativa is just awful.

Then I began to look at my diet. I already ate a pretty clean diet - no artificial chemicals, no gluten, lots of fresh veggies and fruits - but I was in so much pain that I decided to take things a step further, believing that food can heal. I started eating Paleo - no grains at all (including white potatoes and corn), no dairy, no sugar, nothing processed. Basically, meat (grass-fed when I can afford it), veggies and fruits along with coconut and olive oils. Within a few days of eating this way, my boil popped and began to ever-so-slowly leak puss mixed with blood. I still soaked in the tub twice per day with tea tree oil and that helped to loosen things up, which I think has been important in the healing process. Then about a week later, the blood and pus changed to a white liquid that came out of the boil when I pressed on it very gently.

Anyhow, it sucks to have to give up pasta, cheese and my beloved chocolate... But it's totally worth it to be pain and boil free! I really believe that hidradentis suppurativa is an autoimmune disease of somesort. I also have pcos and endometriosis along with keloid scarring, which I also believe have an autoimmune connection. My hope is that by eating this way my body will continue to heal itself.

Google "hidradenitis suppurativa paleo diet".

I have had HS for 16 years. I have had medical doctors ignore my pleas for help and only prescribe antibiotics - which incindentally, made the issue worse.

I have tried apple cider vinegar, coconut oil, antibacterial soaps, no soap... I can't even remember all of the things I've tried. Nothing worked. For years, I had no hope. The breakouts had gotten worse and the scars kept me in sleeves even in the summertime.

Then I found that HS is an autoimmune condition... Just like my Hypothyroidism, back and joint pain, etc. The puzzle pieces started coming together.

The best/easiest/cheapest treatment I've found is to change your diet to a paleo diet: meats, seafood, lots of veggies, fruit, nuts, seeds and quality fats. Since starting the paleo diet over a year ago I have not only lost 30 pounds effortlessly and kept it off, but I rarely get an HS breakout. If I do, it's generally very minimal and Turmeric, 2-3 times a day, in pill form usually clears it up in a day or two! Gluten tends to be the biggest trigger for a breakout, so I try to make sure my diet is completely gluten-free.

I honestly never thought I would be HS free! I thought I would live with this forever. But now, after just one year, my scars are starting to fade and I even have a couple of sleeveless tops that I like to wear!

There are so many people who have nearly erradicated their breakouts (including myself) by eliminating all grains, sugar, legumes and dairy from their diets - only to find other health benefits as well.

I'm so happy to be able to share this information with you all as I know what it's like to have lost hope for a treatment, let alone a cure! I urge you to do the research and give the diet/lifestyle a try for just 1 month and if you don't feel any better or notice a change (I bet you will, tho) then you've lost nothing.

It's feels so wonderful and amazing to have made it to the other side of this painful and embarrassing condition! Good luck to you all.

Hi,

I thought I'd share my story in hopes that my experience will help others.

I've been suffering from this horrible condition since I was 18 - I am 36. I went through the vicious cycle of antibiotics (many different kinds) and lancings with little success. My aliens were all in the groin area. At first, this process did help with flare ups. I would go for several months and somtimes over a year without serious flare-ups - the condition was manageable, minimal discomfort and pain that would heal quickly. it stopped being manageable about 8 years ago.

During this period I was partying often (drinking, smoking, etc. ), not sleeping much, eating very poorly (I have never been overweight, a bit underweight... just eating a lot of fast and processed foods) and not exercising much if at all.

Several years back it got really bad (constant pain and discomfort, it was painful getting out of bed). I had sores that constantly drained, never healing. I did some serious googling on remedies and ran into this site among other sites that provided information that I was looking for.

I tried remedies looking for a quick fix still maintaining the lifestyle drinking, smoking, poor sleep, bad food, etc. without any improvement. Acv, turmeric, vitamins, tea tree oil, epsom salt baths, etc were all in the mix. I was pretty down as there was minimal improvement. I did this for a few months.

I then read posts about detoxing with raw organic foods. So I gave it a try. I went 100% raw for about a week and continued at about 90% for a month - I also added probiotics to the regimen and ate some cooked foods, but removed processed foods almost completely. I was also continued the other remedies. I was still smoking but drinking much less with my sleep slightly improving. I don't exactly remember the progress or when everything clicked, but I remember waking up one morning and noticed the pain and the draining coming to a complete stop. Everything flattened out! I continued the strict diet for a few more months with zero flare-ups. I then began adding bad foods back into the diet and increasing the partying forgetting how horrible things were. The aliens did reappear but would go away quickly, nothing like it used to be. Zero medication during this period.

Thinking I was in the clear, I discontinued the strict diet completely. I was eating poorly , but still taking the probitics and other remedies mentioned. At this point I quit smoking but continued to drink. I was good for about a year. flare-ups did occur but they healed quickly with minimal discomfort - more like zits instead of cysts.

About 2 months ago an angry alien came to visit and has not left. It is in a new area and has been very painful. It grew and continued to drain. I've been back on the strict diet (95% raw, daily green juices, no processed foods, etc) for about a week now as I've been rudely reminded of this horrible condition I have and will likely always have. I've also quit smoking and have limited the drinking. I'm also trying to rest as much as possible. The alien has, today, stopped hurting and is flattening out with minimal drainage. From previous experience, I'm confident the sore will heal as long as I continue the lifestyle change.

Your body does a good job of telling you when something is wrong and I believe, from experience, what we ingest plays the biggest role is HS. All the processed foods we ingest, I believe, act like poisons to our system. From my research, medical conditions have increased dramatically since processed foods were introduced. These foods do not have any nutrients and not having the balance by consuming nutrient rich, raw, living foods results in our bodies breaking down. if you really think about it, it makes sense and I suggest all of you to do your own research.

A dramatic change in food required a huge lifestyle change for me and I think it will be for most of you, but it's so worth it. As I've found and as many of you already know, there isn't a cure or a simple fix for HS, but I believe there is a long term solution that will keep me symptom free. This is my experiece for those suffering. I tried most everything and I feel that I've found what works for me and I hope this helps with many of you suffering.

I definitely agree that caffeine is a big factor in HS. I am in the process of getting Laser Hair Removal. I have done 4 treatments and I am very happy with the results. I did have one issue when one of the hairs grew back under a keloid scar from a previous HS flare up, but after the swelling and inflammation went down, the hair was able to come out and I have had no problems since. At first, my dermatologist didn't believe the LHR would help my condition, but he has since found a recent study that supports my research and treatment. Also, for those of you who would like to save money on this procedure (as this is not for cosmetic purposes), look into going to a Plastic Surgeon that specializes in Lasers instead of going to a commercial business because your insurance might cover it that way. Mine did! =)

I was advised by my acupuncturist last year, after having been diagnosed with hidradentis suppurtiva (basically means recurring boils in areas around hair follicles and sweat glands...all the fun spots)to eliminate caffeine. I did, and for the past year, I have had no boils. Recently, I started drinking caffeine in small quantities and now have a new boil. Nothing else in my diet changed, so the connection is pretty clear.

No more caffeine for me.

I am trying the tumeric remedy now for the current boil as I detox from caffeine again.

Also, laser hair removal in areas like the armpits has been advised, the theory being eliminate the hair follicle, reduce the likelihood of a boil from an ingrown hair. I will be trying this.

Giving up coffee gave me back some control of the size of my sores.

I have suffered with HS for a long time and had to have an operation on my armpit 8 years ago but was not actually diagnosed until much later. Once I knew what I was dealing with I started to use tea tree oil and echinacea. But to be honest, particularly when I was stressed, the painful sores would still emerge. Finally a dear friend read on the net that coffee can have a massive effect on sufferers. So I gave up coffee (was on 3 or 4 large expresso's a day). And it worked. I'd occasionally get the odd little murmur of an outbreak but was able to control it with a dab or Tea Tree and up until this weekend, I'd been clear of any real offending sores.

Unfortunately I realise that I've been gradually reintroducing coffee into my diet over the last year (hubby got a coffee machine for Christmas) and I am now suffering for it. Safe to say, I'm off coffee again and will try the Turmeric and the other suggestions to deal with my current and extremely uncomfortable sore. I've also changed my deodorant and now use crystal spray which has been great. What a wonderful site. Thank you all for sharing and making me feel less of an outsider.