Turmeric - Editor's Choice

Over the years, Earth Clinic readers have sent us many reports about their treatments for Turmeric. The editors at Earth Clinic consider the below posts to be some of the most helpful and informative and have named them 'Editor's Choice'. We hope that you will find this useful.

Allergies

Posted by Brooklyn Baby (Brooklyn Ny) on 03/23/2018 10 posts
★★★★★

Editor's Choice I started taking turmeric mixed with coconut oil and black pepper diligently two months ago to help me with the inflammation in my body. I figured it couldn't hurt to try it.

All of my life I have been extremely allergic to cats whereas I was unable to stay in anyone's house who had a cat longer then 5 minutes before I started to sneeze, eyes started to water and ultimately ending in an asthma attack.

Something very interesting happened last week when I went into my neighbor's house. She has two cats. I am never able to step over the threshold but on this day I did to help her move a piece of furniture.

I was in there for a while before I noticed that I was not suffering. So when I got back home I went over the major changes that I had made in my life and the turmeric concoction was the only one that surfaced. So, Yes, it does work and for that I am GRATEFUL! I have suffered for 35 years with horrific allergies and now I am at peace.....


Broad Benefits

Posted by Holly (Toronto, Canada) on 03/09/2017
★★★★★

Editor's Choice In response to a post from 2012:

Posted by Emma (Europe) on 11/08/2012
Does anybody know how much is safe to take of tumeric for inflammation. I see you can get 400mg tablets/capsules. Also would it be safe to take with medication.Thanks

I've use Turmeric powder for years with huge success for numerous health reasons.

I use it for inflammation, pain, to detox my liver, eye ( macular degeneration ), cancer prevention ( had 2 previous cancers ), neuroprotective agent, H. PYLORI, anti-oxidant properties, anti-bacterial properties, indigestion, sleep deprivation, colds and flu cure and prevention.... just to name a few.

As for the dosage.....well in my opinion that depends on a person's blood pressure levels.

Typically my daily dosage needed is only 1/4 tsp along with 1/8 tsp of black pepper ( black pepper increases the bio availability ) as turmeric is not easily absorbed into the body without it and you would need a ton for it to actualy be effective in any way otherwise.

However, if I caught a cold or flu then I would take the dosage two times per day, once in am then once in pm ( basically 12 hours apart ) along with a pinch of pink Himalayan sea salt ( will explain salt in a bit ).

The best way for me to take it has been in a bit of warm low fat lactose free milk, but I also love it in mashed potatoes, soups especially cream of mushroom along with 2 cloves of garlic ( always waiting 15 mins after crushing the garlic to release the allicin which is the actual healing good stuff ) .

I won't take capsule form due to the fact that it's less expensive in powder form, I like to put it in lactose free milk or soup or mashed potatoes, capsule form doesn't include the much needed pepper for bio availability either.

When I first started taking turmeric, about 10 years ago...I started with 1 tsp. ( some times more ) and for me I had no beneficial results and instead felt lightheaded and generally unwell but kept taking it thinking it needed more time to work. I was wrong, turns out that less is more and not only that but it turns out that it was considerably bringing down my already low blood pressure which is why I had been having all the lightheadness and general unwell feeling because for me it was bringing my blood pressure to dangerously low levels.

Now the reason I add a pinch of pink Himalayan sea salt to each dosage is if I catch a cold, flu or my body is in some type of viral crisis and I need to take 2 daily dosages so then to ensure my blood pressure doesn't bottom out I add the salt.

I found all this out the hard way, so if you are one of the rare ones like me with low blood pressure then I wouldn't suggest exceeding the daily dosage of 1/4 tsp along with 1/8 tsp of black pepper.

If however, I do get high blood pressure in the future then I will at least now know to increase the dosage in order to bring it back down but otherwise I will keep it at the same effective and safe daily dosage for me.

As for the drug interactions question, this is what I have found: Medications that slow blood clotting (Anticoagulant / Antiplatelet drugs) interacts with TURMERIC
Turmeric might slow blood clotting. Taking turmeric along with medications that also slow clotting might increase the chances of bruising and bleeding.
Some medications that slow blood clotting include aspirin, clopidogrel (Plavix), diclofenac (Voltaren, Cataflam, others), ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin, others), naproxen (Anaprox, Naprosyn, others), dalteparin (Fragmin), enoxaparin (Lovenox), heparin, warfarin (Coumadin), and others.

I personally would also be concerned with any blood pressure lowering drugs and/or supplements, herbs that lower blood pressure when taking turmeric in too large of dosage.

Hope this helps to answer your questions.


Wounds

Posted by Ric (California) on 07/30/2016
★★★★★

Editor's Choice Today, I had an old injury come back to revisit me and finally say goodbye. Four days ago I started taking Turmeric, I had read under cures for gray hair one of the readers reporting her hair color coming back after treating herself for MRSA with turmeric. So I had some turmeric and decided to use it all up. Twice a day, morning and evening, I started taking 1/4 teaspoon Turmeric mixed with black pepper, flax milk and also 1 tablespoon Black Strap Molasses, also a gray hair cure, followed by a spoonfull of some kind of fat like coconut oil or peanut butter.

Something unexpected happened on the 4th day, 23 years ago I had a small firearms accident, where a .22 bullet blew up as I was trying to chamber it. A small piece of metal shrapnel embedded in my skin on my belly and the injury healed over with the metal inside. Today, the small piece of metal worked its way out to the surface. Turmeric or coincidence? 23 years and no improvement, I start one of my alternative treatments and I started noticing my old injury after the 2nd day. On the fourth day I noticed like a big pimple over the old injury. I squeezed it and it opened up. I cleaned out the area and the tiny fragment of metal came out with it. I have no answer for this but Turmeric does have anti-inflammatory properties. Maybe the Turmeric aided in the shrapnel in finally working its way out of my skin? Or was it just a coincidence?


How to Take Turmeric

Posted by Ed2010 (Canada) on 08/18/2013

Editor's Choice Ok I will give a recipe to drink Turmeric Powder, a delicioius drink.

Ingredients:

  • 1 Tsp - Turmeric Powder
  • 250 ml - Butter Milk (incase you don't get butter milk, make your own by mixing 100 ml yoghurt and 150 ml of water)
  • 1/2 tsp - Cumin Powder - Optional
  • 1/4 tsp - Black Pepper Powder - Optional
  • Salt to taste

Mix everything throughly, so flavours of all the herbs blends well. Sprinkle finely chopped Coriander Leaves. Delicious drink is ready. You can change the ratios according to the desired taste.

Get Well Soon.


Gangrene, Gout, MRSA

Posted by Steve (Cleveland, Ohio, United States) on 05/13/2013
★★★★★

Editor's Choice I understand that everyone is unique and someone may be adversely affected by anything. I can't recall ever hearing of turmeric causing any harm. My daughter, who is in poor health, diabetic, blind etc. Never took care of herself and took the toxic poisons her doctor prescribed, developed gout in her foot, which turned into osteomyelitis, and MRSA, and gangrene which became life threatening. A doctor who I can't name insisted that part of her foot must be removed or she would die of the infection. I had reached a point of frustraion with the so called medical field that I cannot begin to describe. I literally researched 24-7 for natural remedies and for my daughters specific case, came up with the following. "SOUP"! Any vegetable soup, 1 heaping teaspoon of Turmeric, 1 heaping teaspoon of crushed oregano leaves, 1 medium to large "HEAD" of garlic sliced by hand no more than 1 hour prior to consumption (the allicin loses it's potency rather quickly), 1/8 cup of freshly ground golden flax seed (all organic). This was eaten every day! Along with the soup, she used oil of oregano 4 drops in a little water 3 times a day, (70% carvacrol content). Be careful not to slosh the water around so the oil stays pooled in one place. Drink it down quickly without disturbing the oil, it is very spicy.

We also soaked her foot in hot water with lots of betadine for an hour a day. We fortunately found a doctor who was willing to work with us. A pic line was put in for antibiotic administration. The antibiotics that could be used were limited because my daughter had terrible reactions to many of them. We were told the antibiotic therapy, (if it worked at all), would take six months or longer. Within a month an MRI showed it wasn't gangrene any more but osteomyelitis. A couple of weeks later, it was gout, and MRSA. A month later her white blood cell count had gone down and the pic line was removed. She was on oral antibiotics for another month and then a topical ointment to heal the skin on her foot. As an aside, DON'T SMOKE! Smoking drastically reduces the amount of oxygen in your bloodstream and hampers healing. Most bad bugs are anaerobic and do not survive in the presence of adequate oxygen. No more MRSA, her primary doc stopped lisinopril ( it causes gout). Hope this helps someone. The BIBLE tells us, all plants are for food and for medicine, and it DOESN'T say, no salt.


Arthritis and Joint Pain

Posted by Louise (Southampton, Ny) on 06/05/2011
★★★★★

Editor's Choice Turmeric has changed my life in just 2 weeks! I have had extremely painful arthritis of the hands for about 2 years, that prevented me from sewing, gardening, housework, many things I previously enjoyed. I could barely hold a book or a glass. I started taking 1 tsp of turmeric root powder a day which I put into empty capsules I bought at the health food store and it is an absolute miracle! The pain is 80 -90% gone. I have strength back in my hands and can do normal activities again.

Another plus is a scalp condition I have had for about 20 years seems to have cleared up completely! All this after only two weeks of taking turmeric root powder!


Sandy's Turmeric Compilation

Posted by Sandy (Sandhya) (Bangalore, India) on 06/13/2009

Editor's Choice Dear Earthclinic, Based on all feedback received for turmeric so far (as seen on your turmeric pages), I have created the following list of cures by turmeric:
(Note that I have included only those cures that readers have EXPERIENCED, and not included the cures that readers have just heard of, or read about.)

Turmeric Cures:
1. cured allergies,
2. cured hayfever,
3. breathing became free, sneezing eliminated,
4. arthritis cured in 7 days by taking 3 capsules a day, (people have combined turmeric with ginger or with flax oil for relief from arthritis), joint pains cured, body pains relieved, sciatic pain subsided,
5. healed boils,
6. healed MRSA boils,
7. eczema healed,
8. menopause symptoms calmed down,
9. provided relief in thrombocythemia,
10. cured asthma,
11. cured Heal Spurs (Plantar Fasciitis),
12. when applied on skin cured skin infections, cleared up acne with taken orally,
13. dry turmeric rubbed on bunion healed the pain,
14. turmeric with ginger, pepper, honey etc cured cold, cured cough,
15. cleared cystic acne,
16. cyst cured,
17. diabetic's experience: taking 2 caps of turmeric with each meal dropped blood sugar levels to normal after 2 hours of eating-so was able to stop medication gradually,
18. cured loose stools (1 tsp of turmeric in a glass of warm water), cured diarrhea, cured intestinal bleeding, cured gas, cured inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), relieved IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome),
19. turmeric and honey mixture stopped stomach ache,
20. overcome fatigue, energizes, elevates mood, mental fog lifted,
21. using turmeric powder with toothpaste while brushing turned dark gums into pink colored gums, teeth including front veneers brightened, strengthened gums and teeth,
22. kept inflammation/swelling way down,
23. became goiter-free,
24. cured puffy eyes,
25. melanoma disappeared,
26. eliminated PMS, menstrual cramps relieved within 10 minutes of drinking turmeric +milk,
27. swelling/inflammation of injury decreased,
28. sinus cleared,
29. prevented/stopped migraine, prevented headaches,
30. lost weight,
31. overcame pain and itch due to spider bite,
32. shrank bone bruise,
33. Used turmeric instead of ibuprofen during dental procedure-swirled turmeric in mouth after brushing teeth, letting it reach all gums, then swallowed it-gum pain eliminated and gum became totally healthy.

Side effects of excessive turmeric consumption: too much turmeric may lead to constipation or sweating (counter this by drinking plenty of water), accelerated heart beats, thinning of blood (not good for people on blood thinners)


Allergies

Posted by Carolyn (Northwest, Ohio) on 09/08/2008
★★★★★

Editor's Choice I vote "yea" for Turmeric as a cure for allergies:

I suffered from hayfever type allergies seemingly constantly since we moved to our new house in Jan of '07. During that summer, my symptoms were so severe I couldn't be outside for 5 minutes without having a severe hayfever attack. I took OTC meds daily but they were getting harder to buy as they all got moved behind the pharmacy counter, plus they took hours to start working.

I sought out earth clinic and wrote down my top 5 cures for allergies, thinking I would start trying them in the spring of '08. But in the Winter of '07 I rescued a rabbit that needed to eat hay twice a day. Of course I was allergic! I decided to try Turmeric as it was the cheapest remedy. I started taking 2 capsules a day (720 mg caps) in February '08. Within 5 days I noticed a great improvement. After a few months with this regime, I started noticing my allergies getting less severe and less frequent. After 4 months, my husband told me, "You don't have allergies anymore!"

Now, 7 full months later (and past pollen season), I am down to 1 capsule per day as maintenance, and take an extra one if I have congestion. I am so thankful for this simple cure! The world is open to me again: I can go outside without bringing a snot rag. I can brush my cats daily with no symptoms. I can clean the cat litter without having a reaction to the dust. I can feed my rabbit and not suffer. I was able to bring my feather bed back out of storage and use it with confidence cause I'm not allergic to it anymore! I do still have problems with mold when it rains, but just clogged sinuses not the severe reaction I used to get. An extra turmeric capsule and I'm fine. Gotta love it!


Cysts/MRSA

Posted by Steve (Pretoria, South Africa) on 02/02/2008
★★★★★

Editor's Choice I have been fighting a battle with boils/cysts since February 2007. From Feb to Apr 2007 I have been lanced in the operating theater 3 times, and 5 times in the surgeons consultation rooms.

The cysts would appear on the right loin, lanced, then another would appear on the left loin.

I have seen an urologist, internist, ear, nose and throat specialist, and surgeon whose answer to everything was lance it.

It was a battle which started to effect my work, personal life. Within 48 hours the boil will start, and then grow till ready to burst. I couldn't plan any holidays, trips.

Then after May 2007 it went away, and I was ecstatic about this "remission" as it turned out. Lo and behold October 2007 it can back with a vengeance. Which I had once again lanced. This seems to correspond with Earth Clinic's theory on rain and MRSA because no boil appeared during these winter months.

Then I decided to take my health into my own hands and made an appointment with a natural health practitioner. He did help a lot in reversing free radical damage, etc but he said to cut caffeine and aspartame. Which I did, but the boils re-appeared. My GP said that the medical profession can't help my further.

I then went Cyberhunting and came upon earthclinic.com. I have read the testimonies of almost everybody and decided to give turmeric a run for its money. I also decided not to report back within a couple of days to ensure tried results before any feedback.

2 Boils started to appear on my left loin. In less than a day the boils were red and inflamed. I immediately went to the nearest supermarket to purchase turmeric. Within a couple of hours the pain seemed less. The next morning the pain was CONSIDERABLY less and the boils shrunk to 1/3 of its original size. And on day 3 zip, gone, nothing, nada.

I have been using Turmeric for 1.5 months and it is still gone.

I want to thank earthclinic and Ted for their efforts and I would like to state today that you guys have saved my life, literally. I was on my way to fournier's gangrene and I do not think I would've survived that.

Some comments on the Turmeric journey:

It does give you constipation and dehydrate you. Drink plenty water and buy some extra electrolytes.

For the padded problem try Milk of Magnesium, 2 teaspoons should turn on Niagara falls.

I am currently experiencing with dosage, and I am currently running on 1 half teaspoon morning and night. Remember we are all different so test what works best for you.

I wish you well.


Boils

Posted by Shery (Paris, France) on 01/23/2008
★★★★★

Editor's Choice I always believed in magic and you proved it today. I have had a big ugly and terribly painful boil on my stomach for a few days. I know this must be because of hair follicle infection as well as fat (yeah yeah, stomach with loads of fat, and hair on it too. hmmm not nice but real). It has been very painful and I am on mission in Nepal of all places. So I googled "boils" this morning to make sure they were not cancerous, and I fall on your website and the turmeric suggestion. Since I do happen to be in Nepal where everyone believes in ayurvedic medicine, I went to the hotel kitchen and asked for turmeric, and drank a full glass of water with a tablespoon of it. Yuck but the waiters were telling me that they drink this with milk to cure their sore throats. I went back to my room and forgot it although I smelled quite bad. 4 hours later, padam, the front of my pants got totally wet with blood and pus. The boil burst open and I burst out laughing. Your remedy WORKS; I thank you so much and will keep this website bookmarked for life.

EC: Read hundreds more testimonials like this one on our boil remedies page!