Flaxseed Poultice
★★★★★
Another remedy for boils if bacon does not work is to make a poultice out of ground flaxseed. Add enough hot water (as hot as you can stand it) to make a slightly soupy paste. Apply to skin and cover with a clean cloth. Allow to dry and then soak it off. The flaxseed causes it to come to a head. We used this when I was a child and suffered from carbuncle outbreaks.
(Glenwood, Md)
10/22/2012
★★★★★
The flaxseed option worked within hours. I mixed flaxseed powder with very warm water and put mixture onto a clean cloth then put against the boil, then placed a heating pad underneath and the boil started to go away and took the pain away. This was after I tried the bacon for eight hours that did not work for me. Thanks a bunch for this method. I can get some sleep tonight.
Foods to Avoid
★★★★★
Cure for boils: stop eating sugar! especially corn syrup
I had boils for about 2 & 1/2 years and tried all KINDS of rememdies... internally I took a couple of different antibiotics that didn't help at all, concentrated allicin which helped until I stopped taking it, turmeric helped the most, also tried raw garlic but this was too strong & I couldn't be smelling of garlic at work! Externally, tea tree oil only worked if I caught them very early - most of the time they grew too fast and wouldn't respond to the oil anymore. Colloidal silver was my life saver dropped into the pad of a flexible band-aid many x/day, but sometimes new boils secretly grew under the adhesive...grrrrr
In an experiment to solve a completely different health problem (one I thought was yeast related) I stopped eating ALL sugar including fruit. The only "sweet" things I had were rice milk (TJ's unsweetened), carrots, corn, peas, nuts & nut butters. It didn't help the other problem, but to my surprise no new boils grew and the current ones ran their normal course so within a few weeks I was boil-free. A few months later around Christmas I ate a pretty sweet dessert on several days and the boils returned. About 3 weeks after finishing that dessert (and not eating anymore sugar), they disappeared again. I probably went for a good year & 1/2 like that eventually eating fruit again, which has never been a problem. I eat lots of fruit now. I think it's been over 2 yrs now since they stopped and occasionally I get a tiny boil, but they never itch or grow. I continue to eat very little sugar, but not as strict as before. Every 2 or 3 mos. I'll have dessert on a special occasion as long as it's not really sweet, can't tolerate that anymore anyway! Sugar was always my downfall so, strangely, I'm grateful it all happened. Please email me if you want to know more about the foods I ate [email protected] and curious to know if this works for anyone else since I never saw it as a cure in all the research I did.
(Chennai)
04/24/2015
(Somewhere, Europe)
04/24/2015
Geetha, you will have to "listen to your bones" since every body is different.
You might want to start with eliminating junk foods, and stick to the traditional foods of your area for a bit.
(New Jersey)
05/04/2016
Go on the low carb diet. No sugars in the diet. My skin get clear every time I'm on the diet.
Foods to Avoid
★★★★★
You mentioned chocolate and nuts, but I've had to swear off sugar and oil otherwise I know I'm doomed for a dreaded flair-up. Absolutely anything fried, greasy, or containting syrup (especially high fructose corn syrop, or white sugar, I've discovered are all NO NOs. This may not be true for everyone, but try cutting some of these things out to reduce reccurance. Can't wait to try turmeric, running to Wal-Mart ASAP when I get off work!
Foods to Avoid
★★★★★
Boil Remedies: I'm sooo happy this site is up. I've had bad boils on my behind along the area where my butt cheeks meet for the past 8 years. I would get them every month and went to the doctor and they were no help. I was so embarrassed and ashamed for others to see them and they left ugly black scars that I'm in the process of healing. Well one user posted to stop eating peanuts and chocolate together i.e.-all my favorite candy bars, M&Ms, Snickers, and Reeses, and they also said stop eating things with high fructose corn syrup i.e-soda, juice, ketchup, salad dressings etc. So I did and I haven't gotten a boil in 3 months! Turmeric worked to help reduce the boils but eliminating these foods and products got to the source!!!! Thanks Again!
Foods to Avoid
I noticed I get real bad boils when eating chocolate covered ice-cream, but not the good chocolate smuckers, ya know in the jar, anyway stopped eating that stuff and no more boils around the nose. I thought that the cheaper chocolates might have some kind of chemicals that might be causing the problem.
Foods to Avoid
Thank you, Earth Clinic and Readers. I've never suffered boils before and I didn't even know what it was, but I searched my favorite site (Earth Clinic!) and found out. Also, I would have never, ever connected the peanut/chocolate connection. I guess my latest naughty snack concoction of natural crunchy peanut butter and chocolate syrup is going by the wayside...:) P.S. Like so many have said before, this web site, Ted, and all those who contribute are indeed a blessing. Cheers.
Foods to Avoid
I've been reading all the comments on your website (for future reference) and I'm happy to have found the turmeric cure for boils. I've suffered with them in the past, and like another one of your readers I thought mine may be hormone related since I used to break out prior to my menstral cycle. I asked my endocrinologist on my last visit to have my thyroid levels checked if it could be related (she said "possibly") but she also told me to watch what I ate just prior to getting a boil. She suggested I never eat peanuts and chocolate together (what?). She said separately they are fine, but never eat them together (as in some of my favorite candy bars). I took her suggestion and even tested it later by intentionally eating it... sure enough, within days I could feel the start of old boil sites coming back. I'm happy to say that since I've avoided that combination I don't have any more problems. And yes, I can still eat peanuts and chocolate, as long as it's a few hours apart and they don't hit my stomache at the same time! Other nuts, such as walnuts and pecans don't seem to cause any problems. And you have to admit, chocolate covered walnuts are a pretty darn good substitute for peanuts so I don't feel deprived at all! Also, I just recently asked my dermatologist about the peanut/chocolate connection and she said she knew about that problem personally (she avoids the combo too) but she didn't know it was a widely know belief and was happy to hear it worked for others. Thanks, this really is a great website!
(Swansea, Wales, Uk)
12/04/2010
Yes, but is it really the chocolate and the peanuts - or what they usually come with? Candy bars contain a huge quantity of carbs and sugars - often high-fructose corn syrup - something the body definitely will want rid of. Peanuts can sometimes contain aflatoxins and the body doesn't want those either!
Foods to Avoid
This is a remedy, not a cure so to speak. I was having many problems with large and painful boils on my lower buttocks and the back of my thighs. I was taking clydimycin phosphate gel to relieve them, but they kept coming back. One day my husband suggested that the High Fructose Corn Syrup might be the reason. I started to look it up online and they said the sugar fed the bacteria that is naturally on the body. So I stopped eating it and they went away within a few days. I ate some again to see if it was REALLY related and they came back. So I cut it out of my diet and now read labels more carefully since you can't tell by looking if a food has it or not. I no longer have trouble with them.
I started to get them again in my butt crack, so I'm trying the 40% zinc oxide baby butt cream and it feels better already.
Garlic
★★★☆☆
BETTER BUT WITH SIDE EFFECTS
After reading about garlic as a strong antibiotic I put crushed garlic on a staph boil (I think that's what it was. I had one many years ago in the same place and went to the doctor and that's what he called it- he gave me antibiotics)
I would hold the garlic in place with a sterile pad and an ace bandage, leaving it on for hours at a time. WELL, the boil opened but it also spread! It got worse! I switched to drinking vinegar and tumeric and also rubbbing Caledula oil on it. Immediate improvement. I even did the baking soda a couple times which was cooling. I made a Shea butter salve with Calendula, Usnea, Wormwood and Comfrey. Large red inflamed area almost gone, but it has been almost 10 days (since the garlic). Thanks everyone...
Garlic
★★★★★
I broke out with 6 Staph infections on 1/24/10. These are not my first and I have tried many homeopathic treatments, but always ended up on antibiotics. Not willing to give up, I tried a new regimine. I took raw garlic 3x's a day along with colloidal silver, tumeric, and apple cider vinegar in my water. I also gave up coffee, white sugar and white flour. By the following Sunday all the infections had drained, the corks where out and and I could sit down again. I believe it was the raw garlic that helped fight the infection without antibiotics. I will continue taking raw garlic everyday to avoid further outbreaks. I have been fighting MRSA for a year and a half.
Garlic
My wife's boil popped when garlic was applied to it 1.5 months ago and it wont heal! can someone help? what should we do? have been applying tenula oil to it for a few days, started silver last night, have been doing epsom salts soaks too. any thoughts? we need help quick! please email me
(New York, NY)
02/17/2009
Try applying a turmeric paste to the boil for several days in a row. I imagine that will help.
(Bangalore, India)
02/18/2009
(Bendigo, Australia)
02/18/2009
Perhaps use manuka honey, it works wonders with healing also.
(Houston, TX)
02/21/2009
Try washing with Dial Bar Soap (yellow bar) and Neosporin the (original kind) and cover it at first to absord the drainage. Once it's closed continue to wash and apply the Neosporin but don't cover it. I had the same problem and this worked for me. Dont stop when it gets better, continue to do it until it heals. I still use Dial bar soap daily and it seems to keep the infections away. I hope this helps.
Steve, have you tried locally produced raw or unprocessed honey on that boil yet? If not google for honey's antimicrobial action and read on it. I was just reading on some of it today and their suggestion was to either apply a thin or thick coat of honey and cover with gauze. For deeper wounds the recommendation was to pack it with gauze saturated with honey. The honey prevents it adhering to the wound.
(Whitehorse, Yukon)
12/15/2009
Just to be sure she should get her blood sugar checked, Boils can be a sign of diabetes, as can wounds not healing.
(Garden City, Idaho)
03/13/2010
I have been researching manuka honey and it is supposed to be very good for many different things. I bought manuka honey but later found out it had to have a rating of 16 to be a medicinal honey. Be sure to check the rating before buying.
(Richfield, Oh, Usa)
08/14/2011
It is amazing how many natural cures are suggested for boils - and very few if any modern medicinal treatments. My brother, who is a farrier, uses this on horses feet that are infected all the time and used it recently on a nasty boil and was amazed at the cure time. The boil was already seeping (this might make a difference). He soaked a gauze pad with Betadine liquid, put pure sugar on it until the sugar was red from the betadine - then packed it on the boil and changed it frequently. - Two - three day cure.
Garlic
★★★★★
It seems that ever since hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast we have been battling more and more cases of boils. I have found that GARLIC helps get rid of boils. At any stage in the cycle of the boils if you get the 1000 mg GARLIC capsules and squeeze the gel onto the boil it will get it to come to a head and drain or the boil will disappear completely.It generally takes a few days but it does work to eleviate the swelling and pain and its effective in healing the boils. Its safe for children.At the first signs of even a bump take one gel capsule and sqeeze the gel onto the bump then rub it in aftewards throw away the used capsule and wash your hands. Repeat this at least three times daily until the boil is gone.
Garlic
★★★★★
I have had recurring boils since 1996 under the breast area and over all of the abdominal region and ocassionally on the inner thigh region. Application of active magnesium was helpful but painful. Garlic hi-dose of 20,000mg did reduce and clear but 2 are still stubbornly remaining as scars and do reappear if I stop garlic for a few months. But the recurrence is controlled with ingestion of garlic again. But my abdominal area is covered by the ugly spots and scars.
Garlic
★★★★★
I have studied natural health for many years and was recently contacted by a friend to see if I knew anything about getting rid of boils. i told her to cut a clove of garlic in half and tape it on to the top of the boil. She called me just a few hours later and said the garlic was causing to boil to drain very quickly and the boil was gone almost over night. Barbara
(Las Vegas, Nevada)
03/20/2012
I have had a boil for 3 months and it would get better with garlic then come back and I don't have insurance so I couldn't afford to go to the er. I love this thread and I tried several natural ways to try and cure it. When it wouldn't go away I found this clinic called e study at sunrise hospital and they treated me and checked me out for free, even paid me because the medicine is being tested. Anyways I got a new one and the garlic took care of it two weeks ago and hasn't come back!!
Garlic
★★★★★
I've been getting boils for over a year now. I tried treating them with magic clay, tea tree oil, eucalyptus oil, garlic and heat. Heat works well especially if you can soak the boil in hot water, as hot as you can stand as staph is requires a narrow temperature range to survive. The best remedy by far has been to put some liquid from a freshly crushed garlic clove directly on the boil. This may cause a burning sensation and if it is too much dilute it. Usually it will be gone in 24 hours, at most 48.
(Fukuoka, Japan)
03/12/2009
★★★★★
To Steven from Los Angeles, Barbara from Las Vegas, Nevada.
I am forever in your debt, thank you very very much for your post.
I moved to Japan 5 years ago and since then have been suffering the daily horrors of boils - mostly around my chin.
I tried your tips, both the oil from a crushed garlic clove, which neutralised the pain and over night a sliced clove applied to the boils.
Truly magical. I cant believe how quickly it works. It stings a little when you apply it, but if you can just grit your teeth and remember that the pain comes from the cleansing.
I've tried almost everything else; baking soda that cleansed the boil, but didn't seem to speed up the healing process greatly - an improvement but not much.
From my experience Garlic Oil and Cloves worked best for me.
Thanks again <3