Anyone here tried turmeric? Some reports say it works similar to the pink powders, drying and encouraging clotting, although with the obvious drawback of turning the treated area that greeny yellow...
OK, so seeing as no-one had, in the interests of testing, I tried turmeric a few days ago. Who am I trying to kid? It was 1am and the flipping thing wouldn't stop weeping/bleeding enough that it wouldn't make a dressing sopping wet in about an hour and I have a low tolerance for limbs sticking to bedsheets. Pharmacies around here are closed and I'm not going to flipping A+E with gravel rash, so what did I have to lose? Nothing suggested it would kill me quickly
Just regular powdered kitchen spice, shaken out into a little pot (I'm not applying it in the kitchen or taking a container that's going to be used in cooking into the bathroom!) and then pinched and put onto the wound. A bonus over the old powders (which I've not used for years or even seen on sale lately, admittedly, so this is from memory) is that it doesn't sting. A drawback is it looks absolutely terrible. I'd read the warnings but they don't really convey how bad. The wound itself went thick and dark red in less than an hour and started crusting up - well enough to tape a large non-stick dressing over that survived fine while I slept. The area was the lurid turmeric yellow for a couple of days (which apparently is enough to alarm bystanders who don't know what you did
) so if you had to see a medic (if it's infected, for example), it's going to be pretty obvious you've been messing with old wives' tales so you'll have to confess
As well as that, I've been floating two drops each of tea tree (controversial/unproven skin healer), lavender oil (reduces itching, for me at least) and lemon oil (mainly to mask the granny-ish smell of lavender, to be honest) onto about 100ml of very warm water, dabbing that onto the area, then drying it with a clean pad, twice a day. I've used that on a patch that wasn't rough and scabbed but not weeping and it's reduced the itching there, which means I don't mindlessly scratch it, which allows it to heal. It works for me, at least. And I've been leaving it open to the air as much as I can, which means I've looked like a stupid hipster in the office in shorts and no socks despite freezing March north winds outside.
Hope that helps someone. Now if you want to tell me how/why I'm crazy, flame away
