Does Hidradenitis Suppurativa get better after menopause?
Since hormones can play a role in the development of cystic acne and boils, menopausal women may experience varying degrees of relief from hidradenitis when estrogen levels plummet. I wish I was one of those women. About a year before the onset of menopause, lifelong problems affecting my armpits worsened, and I began to develop new boils in places I had never experienced them. The problems persisted for years until I learned how to control the situation through specific skin routines, proper diet and proper supplementation. There's no getting around the fact that hidradenitis is a lifelong condition with no known cure. I battled this horrifying and debilitating condition for 35 years before I learned how to control it in a profound and lasting way. Below you will find my simple strategies for keeping boils away.
The importance of drawing toxins out of pores
For way too many years, I was stuck on using topical bacteria killers such as alcohol, tea tree oil and eucalyptus oil. These remedies just burned my skin and failed to address inflammation deep below the surface. Hidradentis is primarily a disorder of the sweat glands. Skin lesions develop as a result of infection deep within those glands. Pea- to marble-sized lumps under the skin can become engorged with pus. Unless you can find a way to bring boils to a head and draw toxins out of pores, target areas will keep becoming infected over and over again.
The miracle clay that scored a cult following of more than 18,000 favorable reviews
The mere mention of this product nearly moves me to tears because it played such a profound role in helping the painful cystic acne problem that affected my armpits for more than 35 years. There's a good reason why healing spas around the world use bentonite clay. When hydrated, it acts like a porous sponge because it's a swelling clay. It has long been purported to pull toxins from skin like a magnet. More than 18,000 people adore this specific brand, and their emotional reviews will move you. Mix this healing clay with equal parts of apple cider vinegar or water and let sit for 5-20 minutes to pull the dirt from pores. This is my secret for drawing pus out of active boils and maintaining clear skin when boils aren't present.
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The power of activated charcoal supplements
Activated charcoal has substantial power to absorb toxins from skin and the digestive tract. In fact, activated charcoal powder is routinely administered in hospitals to combat food poisoning, chemical poisoning and drug overdose. When I worked as a disc jockey, I encountered nightclub customers who used activated charcoal after a night of drinking to prevent hangovers. Even if you don't drink, the body needs a little help to absorb toxins from time to time, especially when ingesting bad foods that are known to aggravate your condition. Specific toxins in starchy foods play a significant role in many skin problems, including acne and boils. I'll never forget the Thanksgiving of 2012. After a glorious buffet involving potatoes, stuffing, fresh bread, soda and decadent dessert choices, I took a long nap. A few hours later, I woke up with hard, painful lumps under my arms, beneath my belly and near my bikini line. This horrible, life changing incident taught me that the body can respond to toxins more quickly than I'd ever imagined. I wish I had known about activated charcoal back then! The first time I swallowed activated charcoal pills before an acidic meal, I was shocked to discover that it prevented heartburn. Within just two days of taking the pills, my skin began to clear. When I started giving charcoal to my diabetic husband before meals, it lowered his blood sugar! Be sure to choose charcoal derived from coconut shells rather than hardwood sources. It has more absorption power. Since activated charcoal will also absorb the active ingredients in medications you've taken, be sure take charcoal supplements a few hours apart from taking important prescriptions. I don't take charcoal pills before eating healthy meals because I don't want it to absorb the nutrition in my food. I take charcoal just before eating bad things like pizza, pasta or birthday cake.
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The luxury of activated charcoal masks
When I simply don't have time to mix my own skin masks from bentonite clay, it's handy to have a luxurious product that's already mixed for me. When shopping for the perfect charcoal mask, be sure to read ingredients. Many organic products use more cheap potato starch than charcoal. (Potatoes are well known and well documented to hidradenitis.) I favor the brand at left because the list of ingredients reads like a dream: Dead sea mud, organic shea butter, activated charcoal, organic sunflower oil, organic aloe leaf juice, organic glycerin, organic jojoba seed oil, hickory bark extract, calendula flower oil, water, xanthan gum.
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The importance of choosing a good soap with residual germ killing effects
Skin masks are luxurious treatments to be administered when you have the time. Daily showering is a whole different matter. Without a proper antibacterial soap, drainage from boils can spread across the surface of skin and infect neighboring hair follicles. Hibiclens soap is preferred among surgeons worldwide because it bonds to skin, providing 6 hours of continuous germ killing action and 24 hours of residual action. It's proven to kill viruses, fungi and resilient staph bacteria. Using Hibiclens before contact with contaminated surfaces helps eliminate the risk of transfer. Money Saving Tip: The pump version of this product prevents waste by turning a little liquid into a whole lot of foam. Foaming Hibiclens is hard to find in stores, but it's available online.
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The importance of drinking antibacterial fluids
When we drink water, our bodies use it to produce sweat. When we drink soda or juice, the water used to make sweat is now tainted with sugar, which feeds bacteria and helps boils grow. When we drink water spiked with organic antibacterial drops, our bodies carry the powerful mixture to our pores and sweat glands. I can't stress this enough. No topical product on earth will soak deep down into your sweat glands. The best way to get antibacterial fluids running through your glands is to drink them.
Grapefruit seed extract is prized as an emergency water purifying agent, but it can also be used to fight food poisoning, diarrhea, ear infections and infections of the skin. All over the world, GSE is used for killing salmonella, E.Coli, staph, strep, parasites, viruses and fungi (including Candida). Backpacking enthusiasts often carry grapefruit seed extract to purify water from lakes and streams and make it drinkable.
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The importance of maintaining a diet low in sugar, solanine and lectins
The special foods that promote inflammation and cause boils have been widely recognized for quite a number of years.
- Sugar feeds all types of bacterial infections. It also feeds tumors, cycts, cancer cells and fungal infections.
- Milk contains a protein called casein that stimulates hormones and aggravates hidradenitis. For this reason, folks who suffer from hidradenitis or cystic acne are often encouraged to choose almond or coconut milk. On the bright side, butter and cream contain very little casein, which makes them much less likely to aggravate the condition.
- Solanine is a poisonous compound found in vegetables from the nightshade family. Nightshade vegetables include potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant and peppers. Solanine helps vegetables grow in shady areas.
- Lectins are carbohydrate binding proteins that plants use to defend themselves against animals. Foods rich in lectins include wheat, bread, pasta, beans, legumes, tomatoes, potatoes and corn. These low grade toxins stick to the intestinal lining, causing various digestive problems and promoting a condition known as leaky gut syndrome. Gut permeability is a big issue among victims of hidradenitis, as food toxins can end up in our bloodstream and cause breakouts.
The joy of pressure cooking to reduce lectins and solanine
Pressure cooking makes grains, potatoes and legumes more digestible by reducing phytic acid and lectins. If you love potatoes and beans like I do, note that lectins are reduced far more by pressure cooking than by boiling.
This blockbuster multipurpose cooking machine received more than 28,000 favorable reviews, making it one of the top Amazon items with a cult following. It can be used as a pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, saute/browner, yogurt maker, steamer and more. Where has this beautiful beast been all our lives?
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The importance of keeping a food journal
You don't have to give up everything you love! A food journal proved to be instrumental in helping me to identify the special foods that aggravate my condition. For me, food reactions are generally immediate and severe. As mentioned above, I once took a nap after Thanksgiving dinner and woke up with painful lumps all over my body, including my stomach, armpits and groin. I knew I had experienced some type of toxic overload because my condition had previously been under control for months.
- I find that I can enjoy a few tomato slices on my salads, but I can't tolerate concentrated tomato sauces straight from the jar. I used to dump big handfuls of cherry tomatoes on my salads. I now drop about three or four of them on top.
- I find that I can't tolerate starchy beans or white potatoes unless they're made in a pressure cooker. This is a very common complaint among people who suffer from hidradenitis. Sweet potatoes don't bother me, as they aren't from the nightshade family. Interestingly, research indicates that the lectins in sweet potatoes are very unlikely to cause food sensitivity reactions.
- I find that I can't tolerate bread, pasta, stuffing, baked goods or anything that contains gluten! This is why I have such a hard time with Thanksgiving. I adore stuffing, pie and freshly baked rolls, but I've learned not to eat all of those things in one sitting. A single roll is unlikely to cause a breakout. A roll plus stuffing plus potatoes plus corn will catapult me into misery. Overeating increases toxic overload and brings on symptoms like gangbusters.
- I find that I can tolerate modest portions of fruit. In general, I try not to exceed two pieces a day because the body processes fructose (fruit sugar) just like table sugar.
- I find that I'm not sensitive to chicken, fish, meat or pork. Interestingly, I can eat any type of meat I like, including premium cuts of prime rib from Texas Roadhouse. I'll be fine as long as I skip the bread basket and choose a salad instead of a starchy side dish made from potatoes or pasta.
- Although red meat doesn't aggravate my skin, I'm smart enough to know that I shouldn't consume it everyday. I try to buy organic meat when possible, which I consume about two or three times a week.
- I've come to adore low glycemic and low starch vegetables from the "safe" list. I eat plenty of lettuce, spinach leaves, cucumber, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, water chestnuts and more.
- I don't hesitate to use real butter or cream when making sauces for broccoli and asparagus. It never breaks me out.
- Some folks with hidrdadenitis are sensitive to cheese. Thankfully, I am not. A salad without feta is a salad I don't want. The casein in cow’s milk is often considered more dangerous than the casein in milk of sheep or goats because most cows have far more A1-beta caseins in their milk.
The importance of cutting nicotine intake
I was once a heavy smoker, but I can't necessarily blame cigarettes for causing my lifelong skin disorder, as I battled hidradenitis long before I became addicted to nicotine. When I learned that tobacco is a nightshade plant, I cut my nicotine intake in half. It helped quite a bit. Hidradenitis is a confusing disorder with many different triggers. The toxins we take into our bodies are expelled through the skin, so any positive lifestyle change can help. Avoiding toxic overload is the key. Remember my story about eating one roll instead of a roll plus stuffing plus pie.
The importance of controlling sweat while exercising
Some sources claim that vigorous exercise can help hidradenitis by improving overall health, encouraging deep breathing and flooding skin tissue with oxygen. I wholeheartedly disagree. Hidradenitis is first and foremost a disorder of the sweat glands. You may have already noticed that acne and boil problems tend to become much worse in the summertime or during periods of heavy aerobic activity. I find that when I engage in heavy exercise, it causes immediate and profound breakouts that can last for weeks. For me, the solution is to walk steadily upon a treadmill with a fan blowing near me. Swimming is another great way to get great exercise without sweating! As long as I keep my body cool during physical activity, my sweat glands won't go out of their way to produce perspiration.