Turmeric

Hi Jenn, I take a heaped teaspoon dissolved in a 'shot' of boiled water, let it cool a bit then drink it down in one as it really is disgusting. I have a glass of water at the ready to gargle and rinse my mouth out immediately after a shot.  When I'm in the middle of an outbreak, twice a day, otherwise once a day.

Curcumin is the active ingredient in turmeric that you need, but regular turmeric root or powder only contains about 4-5% curcumin which isn't enough. I accidentally bought normal turmeric powder capsules in the past and to get an effective dose of it I had to take 9 capsules a day (3 caps 3 times a day). I got an effective dose, but it was mightily inconvenient taking those big capsules all the time and they don't taste great either.

Instead, be sure to look for turmeric that says it has been 'standardized to 95% curcumin'. The pills that I'm now on are sold be pureclinica on Amazon UK and contain 1000mg of Turmeric which, because the turmeric contains 95% curcumin, each tablet contains 950mg of curcumin, so two tablets are 1900mg which is a good daily dosage. You don't want to go higher than that if you're taking them long term because very high doses can be toxic, and you don't want to go lower or you won't get enough of a dose. These are tablets as opposed to the capsules I accidently bought in the past and they are smaller than the low quality ones and don't have the bad taste or smell either.

There is a big problem with turmeric absorption in the body so even if you have a very high dose it won't be absorbed correctly unless it has something to help it along. It needs to be taken with black pepper or some kind of black pepper extract which will be included in any good quality turmeric/curcumin pills that you buy. It could be referred to as 'black pepper extract', 'black pepperine', or 'bioperine' on the label. It's usually about 5% which is all that's needed. Any good pill MUST include this.

If you take it from the root, make 'golden milk' by adding turmeric powder and black pepper to milk. There are lots of recipes online for this to make it taste better, but bear in mind that normal turmeric is only 4-5% curcumin so it would be difficult to get a really good dosage from that. It actually tastes pretty good though, so I don't know why Rachel is taking it with water when it obviously tastes terrible. Dissolving it in boiling water will also reduce it's effectiveness because it will damage the nutrients in it.

I haven't noticed any improvement in my HS, but I definitely feel it's anti-inflammatory effect because I have hip bursitis and it helps with that.

For anti-inflammatories they need to be taken regularly and consistently. If it were ibuprofen, you would need to take ibuprofen 3 times a day to get the full anti-inflammatory effect, for example.

Be very very careful and really examine what you're buying because there are so many crappy products out there and it's honestly just a waste of time and money if you buy the wrong thing. Really make sure that you're buying the right product and make sure that the ingredient label states that it contains a specific dosage of CURCUMIN, not turmeric. If it only labels something like 'Turmeric = 1000mg' and says nothing about the curcumin dosage, don't buy it. Very specifically look for standardized doses with included black pepper extract. I've bought the wrong thing a couple of times because the labels can be really confusing.

Hope that helps! I made a post a few weeks ago on what I do to control my HS if you're looking for any ideas. I fully believe that the best thing to do is sweat profusely either from exercise or a sauna etc, because it clears the pores and prevents them from being clogged up and getting infected. Hope the turmeric helps you.

Hi Jenn,

Last week I found this forum and saw a lot about turmeric. 

I started trying it. I thought what the hell I will just give it a go. I been having HS for over 15 years now and had so much pain that I'm willing to try everything at this point. 

One of my 2 armpints have been open for over half a year now. Every 2 weeks or so I get an outbreak. I'm in pain for a week. it opens and then it gets a little more better. This has been going on for 6 months now maybe longer. I'm not sure. The other armpit is not really bad at the moment. I get some boils. Not really big.

I started last week with 1 teaspoon in hot water 2 times a day. within a couple hours i felt like the armpit that is the worst opened quickly and after a couple of days of using it, it is still open. The lumps got a little smaller. And the pain is also somewho better. But not lifechanging. 

After 3 days of curcuma that you get a crocery store I recieved some curcurma pills from my father in law that uses it for pain in his fingers. 

Yesterday my wife came home with something she found. 

It's called Royal Green, tumeric complex. 

It contains: 400MG curcuma, 320MG Ginger & 50MG black pepper. 

It was pretty expensive, I believe 20 EUR per 60 caps. 

Its says you need to take 2 a day. 

I going to try this for some while and will let you know the outcome.

If I read skelitors post I will be on a low side with 800MG a day. I don't want to rush things so I try this out first.