★★★★★
Castor Oil & Pain:
Call it what you wish, Voodoo, Witchcraft, "BS", whatever, but it DID work for me. Having recently torn the cartilage in my left knee, simultaneously diagnosed "with a little arthritis" in the same, and swelling behind the knee. My Sport's Ortho said that the swelling was common with the torn cartilage but should go down in time. I began searching on the Web for a magical pain relief remedy (other than my already supplementation of Glucosamine Sulfate, Chondrotin, Taurine, Collagen, HA, Cats Claw, Bromelain, MSM, etc., etc., etc - .all of which I have been taking for years due to 27 yrs of cycling but at almost 68yo, something had to give). One subject that kept surfacing on the Searches was an old time remedy of Castor Oil. I'm not in terrible pain, but it is a 24/7 aggravation, as anyone who has similar discomforts can attest to. I decided to give it a try; purchased a package of ladies' cosmetic, cleansing pads (~3"x4") and a small bottle of Castor Oil (CO), I placed a pad on a saucer, saturated the pad with CO (not dripping) and popped it into the microwave for about 35 secs. I, then placed the (105F) warm pad on my knee; wrapped my knee-pad with plastic wrap (to keep the CO from staining the heating pad) and then applied a heating pad, set to Med. heat. I left it on for about 1 hour and when I removed everything, I did a "test walk" -not only was my knee not stiff, and the swelling was 95% GONE!! I could walk with 100% less discomfort and this was 10x more effective than the Cortisone or three Hydraluronic Acid injections I had received in a two months period. The other nice thing, is that you don't have to throw the saturated pad away; place in a Ziploc bag for the next application and just add a little more CO.
I generally apply this treatment daily, each time the knee feels better - I know it's not going to remedy the situation 100%, but has made my life much better.
Castor Oil
★★★★★
I had a calcified bursa on my right shoulder that had become so painful that, after six months of physical therapy, it was no better and I was scheduled for cortisone shots. I did not want them because of the immuno-suppressant tendency of cortisone. One night I had the impression to try a castor oil pack on it, just out of the blue. So I did. I wrapped my shoulder and underarm (after washing it) and left the pack on all night. In the morning the problem was 95% better. I did it four more nights and have not had the problem since. About five years now.
