Off-Grid ‘Kitchen Cures’ When Antibiotics Won’t Work

If you’re wary of using conventional antibiotics to treat common infections, there are numerous alternative remedies you could consider.  I discovered the power of naturopathy when I treated my family’s recent staph and viral infections using healing foods right out of my kitchen.

My 12-year-old son contracted a skin infection from a playmate, developing a boil on his leg the size of a small pea. It was pink, inflamed and had pus in the center, which is characteristic of a staph infection. First we treated it with iodine, thinking it was minor and would go away in a few days. But when one became two, then three, and multiplying up to eight, I was petrified! I tried calendula and colloidal silver, to no avail.

Eventually, I picked it up, too. And so did my 10-year-old daughter, who has eczema on her legs.  Because her skin was already compromised, she became more ill than the rest of us. She developed a fever and on the third day she had distinctive pustules filled with yellowish-white pus. (I wish I could show you photographs, but you wouldn’t want to see them – they’re horrifying and difficult to view). Although I’m a stickler for natural treatments, I caved in and rushed her to a doctor. As expected, the dermatologist prescribed a round of oral antibiotics, combined with topical steroids. For my son and me, she prescribed an anti-bacterial cream.

Within a few days of medical treatment, we recovered. But after her oral dose ended, my daughter’s infection came back. That’s when I suspected the bug was methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus or MRSA, which is a strain of bacteria that’s developed resistance to common antibiotics. Either that or the strain that attacked us just mutated after a round of Augmentin (amoxicillin) and developed into a stronger form.

I was afraid that if I took my child back to the doctor, she would just be given another round of antibiotics, possibly a stronger one. And knowing that pharmaceutical antibiotics kill both bad and good bacteria in the gut, causing microbial imbalance – a problem most eczema sufferers are known to have – I resolved not to take her back. I searched instead for more effective natural treatments and that was when I discovered the potency of garlic, honey and high doses of vitamin C.

Though my research yielded a variety of natural alternatives for treating MRSA, the ones I used were garlic, honey and lime — simply because I had plenty of them at home.  A clove or about a teaspoon of chopped raw garlic with wild honey, every five to six hours, didn’t elicit protests from my daughter. Especially if it was downed with freshly made lime-o-nade, with the same raw honey to sweeten it. (I used calamondins, our local variety; but I’m sure you can use lemons).  I also gave her 250mg of ascorbic acid twice a day, to augment the vitamin C in the lime. To finish the job, I applied garlic oil – crushed raw garlic steeped in virgin coconut oil – twice daily on the boils. I used a dropper and a cotton ball to spread it. Within four days, all traces of the recurring staph were gone. For good. No additional trip to the doctor was made, no extra dollar spent and no worries about toxic side effects.

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Garlic is a proven, plant-based antibiotic with the ability to combat a broad spectrum of bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa, yeasts, molds and various parasites. People around the world have been using it for centuries to treat all types of infections, from cancer to tuberculosis. For a comprehensive list of illnesses it is used for, click here.

Unlike synthetic antibiotics, which are simple in their chemical composition, garlic is highly complex. It has over 27 known active ingredients and dozens more that work in yet undiscovered ways. This makes it difficult for bacteria to contend with and overcome. In fact, European scientists who studied and proved garlic’s potency against 10 different microbes found a “complete absence of development resistance” in garlic. According to drugs.com, the potency of garlic is such that one milligram is equivalent to 15 Oxford units of penicillin.

To make ingesting garlic easier, especially for children, coat it in honey – which also happens to be a potent antibiotic.  (I’m sure chocolate syrup would work, but honey is far more beneficial.)  You’ll have to use fresh garlic, though. Allicin, the most potent chemical that’s released once a clove is sliced or crushed, oxidizes easily so try to take it within 15 minutes of chopping.

And like conventional antibiotics and anti-virals, you’ll have to take garlic for a minimum of one week or you’ll run the risk of having a relapse. I made that mistake when I used the same treatment for a viral infection. I was so convinced of the power of my garlic-honey-lime remedy that I used it to treat the swollen, painful lymph nodes that my kids developed.  Because they also were running a high fever, indicative of a full-blown infection, I increased the dose to one clove/tsp. every three hours. Each time, I also smothered garlic oil on their necks below the ears where the nodes were sore, and on the soles of their feet twice a day as a trans-dermal therapy.  The treatment was effective, but once the symptoms improved, I brought the dose down immediately to three times per day or every eight hours. The kids suffered a rebound. For a systemic, high-grade infection like that, I would recommend administering a dose six to eight times a day. Increase the time between doses by an hour as soon as symptoms improve – most likely on the third or fourth day – until you’re down to just three times a day.

Please be aware that I have no medical background whatsoever. I’m only recommending this as an alternative for those who, like me, want to avoid pharmaceutical antibiotics and their known side effects.

The minimum number of days I’d advise anyone to take garlic, for medicinal purposes, is seven days. Extend up to 10 if you want to be guaranteed of zero relapse. My family continues to take it twice a day to boost our immune systems and take care of possible candida overgrowth in our guts that may have developed from previous doses of antibiotics.

One important reminder, too. Garlic is known to be an anti-coagulant, so don’t do this treatment if you’re already taking blood thinners or are recovering from surgery. Take care against possible allergic reactions, or slight irritation in the mouth or the stomach lining. If your tummy gets easily upset, don’t ingest raw garlic on an empty stomach. There have been reports of bloating, gas and slight nausea in people who can’t tolerate it easily. But other than those, the only other unpleasant side effect most healthy people can expect from eating this amazing allium is bad breath and body odor.

Editor’s note: If you have a health concern, consult with your primary health care provider for a proper diagnosis.

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