Turpentine Side Effects

While turpentine is a natural remedy and has been found to be safe and effective for many people for generations, medicinal use of turpentine can have side effects. Side effects include headaches, digestive problems, coughing, wheezing, dizziness and brain fog.

Sometimes the side effects are caused by using too much turpentine. Gigi found that, "On my third dosage, though, I got the measuring spoons mixed up and not thinking I used a tablespoon of gum spirits. Ended up taking more then a teaspoon but not quite the whole tablespoon. I ended up feeling a little drunk, but other then that, nothing terrible."

Rarely is more than a teaspoon of turpentine recommended at one time.

Mary from Saskatchewan, CA, says, "I have been using turpentine successfully for some time. Now when I take it my teeth turn a black tinge and my tongue turns the same in the middle. Also its like the cells on my tongue get a little longer. its weird and disturbing. Also, it takes about a week without turpentine for it to go away. I don't want to stop as the results were spectacular."

Earth Clinic readers have also reported experiencing depression symptoms after using turpentine. Others have experienced an increase in arthritis symptoms, diarrhea, and headaches.

What is Causing Side Effects with Turpentine?

Earth Clinic's Bill Thompson says, "If you have serious systemic candida and other pathogenic infections in your body and if you take turpentine for the first time, you will usually always get a Herx reaction which is caused by heavy die-off of pathogens with release of poisons.

"Turpentine also removes biofilms with consequent large release of stored heavy metals into the body also causing other strange symptoms. When candida in particular is killed in large numbers by the turpentine, there is an even heavier release of candida poisons into the body."

Sometimes side effects are caused by taking too much turpentine at once.

Side effects may be caused by using a poor quality of turpentine. Please be sure to use a good-quality turpentine that is truly the distilled resin of pine trees.

How to Avoid Side Effects with Turpentine

• If you experience side effects with turpentine, please take a few days off and take a smaller dose when you resume the remedy. 
• Take turpentine right before meals and not on an empty stomach.
• It is always best to start with the smallest dose and increase slowly so you can monitor your own personal response to turpentine. 
• It is prudent to take only one new remedy at a time so you can be sure a remedy agrees with you. If you start taking turpentine with several other remedies at once, you will have a hard time knowing which remedy is causing you difficulty.

Continue reading to see what side effects our readers have experienced.

Have you experienced side effects from the medicinal use of turpentine? Please share your story with us!