
Cayenne is NOT unsafe per one of your feedback customers. I recently found your website in some research I am doing on Cayenne and Lymph but was a little disconcerted to see that you published someone's testimonial warning others not to use cayenne if they do not want their blood thinned.
Posted by Amy (New Haven, CT) on 02/18/2007: Love your site but wanted to let you know that the reason you are supposed to stop taking cayenne pepper before surgery has nothing whatsoever to do with inflammation (which in most cases it doesn't cause anyhow). The reason is that Cayenne Pepper is a very effective blood thinner and so, like aspirin, you don't take it prior to surgery, to ensure minimal blood loss.
Cayenne is used in midwifery and in other instances when needed to stop hemorrhaging, and has the ability to correct and balance both ends of many circulation issues. It will assist in dissolving clots as well as stopping bleeding, and it will -- over time -- correct both high and low blood pressure.
I suggest to all readers that when it comes to benefits and contraindications of herbs and medications, that they exhaustive research, or at least more than they think is necessary, to discover what they need to know for their particular situation or those for whom they are caring.

I had Athletes' Foot between 2 toes that sit against each other. I had it off and on for years. It was hard to dry them after a shower, and when in a rush, I don't think I did it that well, and then sitting against each other, I would probably really have to, and sweating probably cause it also. I only applied cayenne in salt water one time, and it has been gone for years. Usually it has to stay in place for a while on skin surfaces, so I soak the gauze on a bandaid, but since my toes touch, I didn't have to.
Cayenne Contraindications
You have a lot going on and a lot of meds that could be messing you up. Lasix ALONE will cause mineral deficiencies, not just potassium, it throws all of them out. First, go to Youtube and watch Dead Doctors Don't Lie by Joel Wallach, and Somebody Needs to go To Jail, by Joel Wallach. That should get you a good footing. If you get junk mail vitamin Catalogues, save one and read it. It's like a little encyclopedia on what nutrients do. And no it's not all BS. That's how I started and years later got straight A's in Anatomy and physiology (two 5 unit classes) and biology, and organic chemistry. Because I already had a good foundation from understanding the vitamins and minerals and fatty acids, so those classes were just building on what I already knew. (I'm a nurse now, and MOST nurses I have worked with did not have that detailed knowledge and ordered the useless OTC supplements for house stock because of their lack of understanding, (E for example, has to be the natural form to be usable by the body, otherwise it is just going into the toilet. But she didn't know. I had to explain to a veteran nurse my first year out of school.)Anyway, you don't have to buy Wallach's products but you DO have to learn about the nutrients and make sure you get your 90 essentials including your 60 minerals. (Cheat sheet, I found a knock off brand called Tropical Oasis for $20, vs his $70) Compare the labels, know how to read your labels. He also has a book called Let's Play Doctor where he teaches people how to be responsible for their own health.
Multiple Cures

I have suffered with bleeding hemorrhoids for a few years, plus bleeding gums. I commenced taking Cayenne Pepper daily for Heart Arrhythmia -and over the course of a few months have noticed my gums are healthy and I no longer have bleeding hemorrhoids!!! I find taking Cayenne Pepper& Black strap Molasses has helped my heart significantly, not cured, but improved very much. I also use Ylang Ylang essential oil in a carrier oil & apply to my chest after taking a shower.
Euphoria

I just discovered that ACV, baking soda, and cayenne produces an almost instantaneous state of euphoria! I have been taking acv for years, more recently acv and baking soda, but never with the cayenne. I always felt very energized from acv, but didn't feel like it was adjusting my brain chemistry. This remedy does. This is going to sound strange, but it makes me feel closer to God. I don't know how else to explain the sensation.
This is what I do:
2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar,
1/8th teaspoon of baking soda and
5 shakes of cayenne pepper
in a glass of hot water.
Be careful not to stand too close to the glass after adding the cayenne or you will inhale it, especially once those acv and baking soda bubbles get activated. Sip slowly, stirring the cayenne every so often. When the drink cools down, add more hot water. Drink on an empty stomach, if possible. I usually take it in the late afternoon, when I am feeling sleepy.
I hope others will try it to and let me know if they are experiencing the same results.
Multiple Cures

A friend told me about cayenne for cuts and infections. I added salt to it, because that's what I used to use and I liked the taste with salt, and it has cured everything I have used it on. I even broke up completely blocked sinuses with the mix, squirting it in my nose. Go easy and dilute it a lot more than for gargling, since it is Hot, but it works SO fast, and the burn doesn't last very long.
I have used it on so many infections, and had a hound that had some chronic digestive problems. I had cured most of them with yogurt and tripe, but he still wasn't right. When he got diarrhea and it was in to its 5th day and Nothing was working, I thought, maybe he had been harboring some bad bacteria all the yrs, and they increased. I had been giving him rice so mixed some cayenne in. It was a funny scene as he took a bite, shook his head, snorted, and walked around the yard, always coming back to eat more till he finished it. The next day his stools were firm!! I made up 2 capsules and gave them just to make sure the cayenne got into his intestines, but I don't think they were needed. His food sensitivities disappeared AND what had been a Very Skiddish animal after a bad scare when I first got him, and he had many before, became brave, and he became a normal, confident animal that I was always trying to create, and Believe Me, I am a Master at desensitizing scared animals, and in minutes, but this guy was a Real challenge. His problem was he never felt well enough to be bold, and he would go aggressive when he felt threatened.
Try cayenne And salt for Any and every infection, or what you think may be one. Boil it and drink it for urinary tract ones. Vince F
Vision

Vision improvment
I have been taking 3 cayenne pepper caps a day and I cannot believe how i can see better. I am typing away without glasses this evening. My vision is +2.5 on the left and +2.00 on the right.
Also I suffer from a bad cocxyx (tail bone pain) since I started the caps my pain has halved. I read somewhere it heals nerves I think its true.
I am telling everyone about it.I take a capsule with everymeal.Its working. I had a brand new wart which became sore so I mixed cayenne pepper with a drop of water to make a little paste and put it on the wart. Put a bandaid on it and now its gone. Try it.
Multiple Cures

I found cayenne a great cure for pretty much everything some time ago. It wasn't long ago that I came down with a bad sinus infection, cough, and fatigue. I decided to boil water on the stove, and add cayenne (open 3 capsules and pour them in), crushed garlic (4 cloves), half an onion, and grated ginger. THIS COMBINATION IS AMAZING. It is SO powerful. The most vital ingredients are the cayenne and garlic, but the onion and ginger are also very helpful. Make sure and boil everything until the onion is mushy, and the garlic is too. Keep a lid on, but every so often inhale the steam from the boiling remedy.. very soothing! Pour it into a glass and drink the whole thing. It is very potent, so what I do is add honey to it and it really tastes like liquid food- like a soup base or something.
Another remedy that I use is cayenne tea- just put a tea bag of your favorite tea in boiling water, and add a capsule of cayenne & some honey. Since I have been using cayenne in tea, and orally, and drinking the onion ginger garlic tincture, I rarely get sick.. and when I do, I can kick it within 3 days maximum.
Cayenne is also extremely helpful for menstrual cramps.
I've just started using the cayenne powder/spice today. After trying 1 teaspoon in warm water, I'm gonna take a lesson from the Aztecs and start drinking mine in Hot Cocoa. This way I'll be able to look forward to it everyday cuz I LOOOOOOOVE CHOCOLATE!!! I found my cayenne at the Amish store, so it should be fine. The Amish are very smart about what they put in their bodies. Evidently, the Aztecs were pretty smart people also. Hope this helps someone. Big thanks to everyone on this site that's continually helpin' me : )
Cayenne Tips

Mix the cayenne pepper with tomato juice or vegetable juice. It goes down much easier than mixing it with water.
Cayenne Tips

To the person who had extreme side effects after taking cayenne capsules:
The reason you had this over reaction to the cayenne pepper pills is because you should never take anything that tastes hot in a pill form. The body needs to sense that some thing as hot as cayenne pepper is on its way down to the stomache and the stomache is then prepared with the appropriate digestive acids to accept the cayenne pepper to handle it and digest it without any reaction.
You may have been told by the people who sold you the pills that it's okay to take cayenne pepper in this form, but I will assure you it is not. Please listen to my advice or better yet do your own research on this and you will see I am telling you the truth.
Good luck,
Ellen
P. S. It is very easy to get cayenne into your diet and it is so cheap too. I put my cayenne in a glass of lemon juice which was freshly squeezed (and it needs to be an actual lemon, the fake plastic lemon juice dose nothing to help your health) and put a little cayenne pepper in and sweeten it with liquid stevia. It tastes refreshing and it is health promoting.
High Blood Pressure

I began reading about cayenne pepper and acv after realizing the pills i take for my heart, high bp, circulation and high colesterol were not working. B4 i started drinking the cayenne pepper tea i could not walk a half a block. Now, i can walk for one mile and my leg does not hurt. I have had heart attack, two leg by-pass surgeries. My energy level is great and I just can't believe my leg does not hurt. I also went to the doctor after not taking my bp medicine for 5 days and drinking the tea 2-3 times a day. Usually if i go that long w/out my medicine, my bp is sky high. This time my bp was norman. I mean normal. I was amazed. I still take my fluid pill to release those fluids but I feel great. thx ever so much
Colds and Flu

Well, where to begin.
I got up Sunday with a tickle in my throat. I was suppose to sing at church and by the time I arrive could not. By half time of Superbowl the sore throat an congestion had set in.
Worked Mon, Tues and Wed thinking I could get through it, but after not sleeping Tues and Wed, I was simply put exhausted and tired of being sick.
Called in sick Thurs, figuring I really needed to rest to beat this, since I had not been this sick in 5 years. Missed work again Fri. By Fri evening I decided to look online for natural remedies.
My symptoms, sore (strep throat), hard packed congestion, coughing up the vilest green/yellow crap I have ever seen.
Having diagnosed myself with strep throat, I search Dogpile with ("strep throat" "natural cures"). This is how I found the Earthclinic website, of which I consider myself blessed to have found.
Under the "sore throat" section I read the "Penny's cayenne pepper remedy". I thought to myself, you have got to be kidding me.
However, I was so miserable I figured what do I have to loose. So I sprinkled some cayenne in a glass, mixed in some warm water and gargled about 5 times (swallowing only a very small amount each time).
By the time I was done, I could tell there was something good happening. I waited 15 minutes and repeated the same procedure. When I finished I just couldn't believe it. My swollen sore glands were all but gone and the thick green/yellow was breaking up.
I said "praise God", took a Melatonin (for sleeping) and crashed. I woke up about 3 hours later, hawked a few loogies (no where near as bad as before), gargled again and went back to sleep.
When I got up in the morning I simply could not believe how good my throat felt, so I gargled again thinking if what I did makes me feel this good, doing it again will make me feel even better. However, my sinuses were still pretty packed and discharge still fairly green/yellow.
By now Doris, my wife, had arose around 6:00 a.m. (she had the same thing prior to my getting it and still had not fully recovered now almost 2 weeks after it started). I told her the above, she then asked where did I get the info and what do they say about sinus infections.
We both looked at the site this morning and saw the info about Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV). We looked at each other in amazement, looked at the ACV on the top of the stove and made a couple of ACV cocktails for breakfast.
Within an hour I had no more green/yellow snot. It is now 10:30 a.m. and my nose still runs abit but clear discharge verses the vile stuff previously mentioned. I simply cannot put into words how much better my throat feels. 12 hours earlier I told my wife the best thing I could use for my throat would be a knife. :-)
I am still coughing a little but nothing like the 4 days prior that make your head ache and pound. Even sitting here finishing this script, I keep saying outloud to myself, "I can't believe how good my throat feels! I can't believe how good my throat feels! ..."
I am a skeptic who has been turned into an advocate. The only thing you have to loose is sleepless nights and a smaller pay check. Are you with me??
Heart Attack Recovery

I had a heart attack 3 years ago [2 stents inserted]. I had slacked off on the Pauling protocol that I had been using after I stopped meds a few months after the heart attack, and last Christmas day I got the same pain and sweaty feeling as when my heart attack happened.
I put 2 tablespoons of cayenne pepper in a quarter cup of apple cider vinegar, drank it, and in 5 minutes was back to normal. I am careful now to maintain the Linus Pauling protocol. No further problems. Saved $100,000 that my first heart attack cost. This remedy was given by Dr. Daniels of turpentine remedy fame.
KATIE, ORH here, and you are giving good advice. I have carried Cayanne Extract in my gun bag for some 20 years and only in the last few years have had to use it when my pulse got over 180 and they wanted to put me in the ER. From your post, your problem is pluggage. EDTA Chelation will take care of your problem. My problem is electrical and my crimped Vagus vein prevents an ablation. So I take supplements and a blood thinner. Stopped the other rot gut Rx that makes you fell so bad. If you are not familiar with EDTA Chleation, then research and make a decision. I have had close to 100 and had no plaque around my heart at age 77. Did not plan on this electrical thing. I have lived a full life and still above ground. The Lord calls the shots. ====ORH====
Wounds

Had a 3/4 inch gash in my palm where the fat cells were protruding. Cleaned with alcohol (only stung for about 4 seconds), then poured on Cayenne (which barely burned), then bandaged and it is no longer bleeding and seems to be in great shape. Thanks to all for saving me $1000+ at the ER.
Increases Energy

This afternoon I was driving home and I was really sleepy. I was thinking about all I had to do when I got home and...so I started to think about coffee. Yum. I figured that would perk me up to do what needed doing. At the same time, I notice that my gall bladder area was just a bit off. The last thing it needed was coffee. :(
When I got home I put 1/2 a teaspoon of cayenne pepper into a mug with grape juice and drank it up.
I have to admit, I think it worked as well as coffee. I was able to do what needed to be done and didn't feel tired. And I didn't aggravate my gall bladder. But, alas, I have to admit that cayenne pepper in grape juice is not nearly so delicious as a good cup of coffee would have been...
~Mama to Many~
Cayenne Pepper Side Effects
Thanks folks, I have backed off to 1/4 teaspoon of Cayenne in Hot Water with Manuka Honey to sweeten it. My BP is now 122/75 in the morning, my pulse about 60. I do not have the large spike in BP after taking the Cayenne and I am losing weight, have more energy and I really think my eyes are better(my computer screen seems sharper). I think you really need to start off small and build up, I would guess my 1/4 tsp is about right.