Natural Bedsore Cures

My mother was bedridden the last 6 months or so of her life. She developed a bedsore. One of the hospice nurses told her home care givers to put honey on the wound. (And they just used stuff from the grocery store that was likely pasteurized.) They did use this a couple of times a day. It did help the sore improve some and it never got infected, though my mother's health was very poor.

I tend to think that raw honey would have been better, but was thrilled to hear of success with honey whatever the type.

I love that this is a remedy that is inexpensive, safe, and available to people all over the world.

~Mama to Many~

Tassi: Do note that Zinc & Vit-A (cod liver oil) work together very well. When I was bedridden (with chronic diaheria) for 6mo+ the nurses put all sorts of prescription creams on, but none were near good enough. When I got home and applied some C.L.O., booom! Pain & rash gone. The Vit-E, as you attested, is very good for strengthening the skin or dermal. Note that Vit-E works best in combination w/Selenium, and CoQ10.

If I might add, concerning long-term care, only a few months after I began a brief career in nursing, an old school guy was the director of respiratory dept. at our little hometown hospital, and a good fella. Somehow some enthusiasm was generated to help some of the most severe bed-sore patience; and he began O2 (oxygen) topical administration w/ some improvement but not enough. He soon began applying heat lamp (light) therapy on the sores with much improvement. It may have been the combination of both treatments that resulted in some drastic improvement of people who had been yrs in bed and now getting up in chairs and becoming active; it was something almost miraculous and unfortunately not altogether welcomed by administrators.

I take care of my 93 year old mother who has alzheimers and cannot move most of her body. Once she reached this stage, she started getting bedsores and we began a routine of shifting her in the bed every few hours, sometimes every 2 hours. I discovered a couple of things that make a difference. First, to cure a bedsore, the best thing is honey, Manukka honey if you can get it. The odd thing was that the two jars of it I bought, both the same brand but one with twice the "power" rating as the other were reversed in effect, I mean the lower power one cured faster than the one that was twice as expensive. (Note that I read that New Zealand produces a lot less Manukka honey than it sells -- IE, it is not all the 'real thing, ' so be careful.)

OK, best is to prevent bedsores in the first place. The thing I discovered first was zinc picolinate. Eight 25 mg tablets a day (crushed because of swallowing issues). That made her skin stronger and stopped the bedsores. This worked for about a year, but meanwhile her overall condition worsened
and she could no longer chew and eat regular food (or drink water) without choking. Her diet became very restricted and good nutrition became a problem (she has had only applesauce to "drink" for almost a year now). This is when we had to really move her body every two hours or pre-bedsore areas would form, even though I increased the zinc picolinate to 12 or more pills per day. But recently I read that 2500 IU of d-alpha tocopherol vitamin E is good for people with alzheimers, and then I discovered after giving her that for a couple of weeks that her skin no longer is forming those pre-bedsore blisters, and her skin seems stronger and not as thin.

So I thought I would try to pass on this important information in case it might help others.

Usually malnutrition is caused from parasites, they eat and we get the empty tummy. I tried a great remedy for not only parasites but a few other issues going on with me such as mold this is by no means a cure but it has kept me from staying in bed 24/7 as sick as I was. I found that pine needle tea is a great remedy and a great tasting tea on ice on a hot day, there are no side affects what-so-ever I go in my back yard and gather any fresh green pine needles, I wash then in a strainer or collander then steam them on the stove for approx. An hour or more, then I run it through the strainer again while the pan is pouring the hot tea into another container such as an old milk bottle, or juice bottle wash good before using any containers. Good luck loving life again. :)

Someone had posted not too long ago looking for remedies for bedsores. I came across this article today and thought I would pass it along... http://www.doctoryourself.com/bedsores.html. Basically, he thinks malnutrition is the primary cause of bedsores.

~Mama to Many~

Dear Dee, Manuka honey is used successfully to heal open wounds.

If you can get a hold of John Keim's book, "Comfort for the Burned and Wounded," it would be so helpful to you. He developed a way to heal serious burn wounds with simple herbs. We have used his methods to heal wounds (burn wounds and other wounds). Not only do the wounds heal wonderfully, his method is so helpful for pain. My son recently cut his finger to the bone with a sledgehammer. We apply an herbal powder to stop the bleeding and used the method in John's book to dress the wound. (We scalded a dry plantain leaf and then cooled it in water. We used that as a bandage. It stopped the pain. ) The beauty of it is that the leaf will not stick to the healing wound and it aids healing. Comfrey leaves and burdock leaves are also very effective. John's method is so much easier on the patient to heal wounds and also wounds heal much faster.

A quart of comfrey leaf tea taken internally each day would help speed healing. It causes cell proliferation. (It is not recommended for cancer patients. ) A cup of fresh carrot juice would also be very helpful to speed healing. This could be done in conjunction with any other thing you try.

Let us know what you find that helps! I have seen patients in nursing homes with sores that won't heal and it is so sad. I think there are a lot of things that might help people but it is not part of normal medical protocol. However, at this season in my life, I am mostly treating children and don't have experience with helping the elderly with wounds. But I know that there must be some ways to help them heal faster and better.

~Mama to Many~

Dear Dee, Here is a link to a story where someone documented the use of activated charcoal to heal a bedsore. I think with consistent use, it would have healed faster. http://www.charcoalremedies.com/pressure_sore

That website also tells just how to make a charcoal poultice: http://www.charcoalremedies.com/poultice

I am wondering if Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, added to the diet internally, would help prevent them as it is nourishing to the skin. 1 T. twice a day.

Bless you for caring for the elderly in care centers! I will check my books for some herbal solutions that could be tried as well.

~Mama to Many~

Will someone please give a prevention/remedy for bed sores for old folks in the hospital or nursing home? Thank you!