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Dietary Changes for Hidradenitis Suppurativa

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Berry (Tampa, Florida) on 11/16/2020
5 out of 5 stars

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.

Berry (Tampa, Fl) on 11/15/2018
5 out of 5 stars

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

Lilaki (Nashville, Tn) on 02/05/2018
5 out of 5 stars

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.

Deidre (Washington, Dc) on 03/01/2015
5 out of 5 stars

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

Tove (Seattle, WA) on 10/20/2014
5 out of 5 stars

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

Mary (Memphis, Tn) on 11/18/2013
5 out of 5 stars

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.

Catherine435 (Georgia, Us) on 04/09/2013
5 out of 5 stars

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

Catherine435 (Georgia, Us) on 03/25/2013
5 out of 5 stars

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.

Rob (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) on 10/29/2012
5 out of 5 stars

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.

Momma2boys (Pacific Nw, Oregon) on 09/22/2012
5 out of 5 stars

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.

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