Tropical Ulcer Remedies

Hi Ted, Here is the post I said I would write for the tropical ulcers I got up in Nongkai.

TROPICAL ULCERS
I was living in north Thailand and doing a lot of gardening without boots in rough conditions when some over scratched mosquito bites turned into tropical ulcers.

Not finding any specific remedy for this, and as the symptoms of tropical ulcers are very similar to boils, I thought I would try Nic's turmeric recipe for boils. (see earthclinic)

It worked beautifully. I live a long way from town in Thailand and had no sesame oil, but had some excellent (Bali), organic, cold pressed, virgin coconut oil, which I take everywhere. I combined this with the turmeric as in Nic's recipe and got excellent results.

It took us a few days to get some actual turmeric root and I used the powder as in cooking spice, which in Thailand is called Kummin. (pronounced kurmin).

The wounds on my lower leg were about 1.5 inches/ 4cms across and very swollen with redness spreading out over another inch. If unattended these sorts of ulcers can take weeks to heal and the docs only and always prescribe antibiotics which I never take.

A friend cleaned the wounds thoroughly, using a cotton bud soaked with turmeric, warm water and coconut oil. We placed a bandage over the wounds also with the turmeric and oil on the bandage and cleaned it twice a day. I took the turmeric internally.

Two tablespoons of coconut oil
Five tablespoons of water
Added one teaspoon of turmeric powder and a bit of black pepper.
Warmed slowly for 3-5 minutes, without boiling.
Stirred well and drank.

The taste is surprisingly pleasant. A bit like a soup.

The first night the swelling had almost gone altogether and a lot of the spreading redness.

I drank this twice a day and cleaned and dressed the wound twice a day.

We kept up this regime for three days with similar improvements every day. By the time we acquired some real turmeric root the wounds had almost healed and we started to use dry bandages. The wounds were completely healed in under a week. Very good results for a surf trip to Bali I had planned for a few days later, which would have otherwise been impossible.