Has anyone else tried Aloe Vera? I have read some good things about it online as it is a natural anti-inflammatory.
Have some coming and wondered if anyone else has used or considered it?
Hopefully not making myself look stupid but for arthritis or psoriasis? External or injested suppliment?
Both. :)
Nope, though I used to have an aloe vera plant in the kitchen & when I burned myself while cooking I'd tear a bit off and apply it to the burn. I don't know if it helped or not to be honest but I think it is meant to have some healing effect on wounds.
However .... as I think I've said before about a different product (I am desperate), if it helps your psoriasis even a little bit, please let us know! One of the many things that bugs me about psoriasis is the overwhelming number of potential remedies you hear about for the itch and inflammation. I just don't know how to choose between them so a somewhat detailed recommendation would be very useful. Steroid creams seem to do zilch for me.
Yes, I've used it both ways. It was a long time ago pre-PsA for the liquid supplement which I took when I had IBS issues and I can't really remember whether it helped or not. Like Sybil, I've used a broken off leaf on my skin ... last summer on holiday I got eaten alive by mozzies and reacted really badly.
Nothing that I had in my 'medical' kit helped and one morning hobbling back from breakfast I broke a leaf off an aloe plant (they grow like weeds in Madeira) and rubbed that on the ever swelling, increasingly painful bites. I hasten to add that at this point I was beginning to wonder whether I should be seeing a doctor. Anyway, the relief was almost instant and reapplying throughout that day reduced the discomfort and swelling and I turned the corner with something which was heading somewhere really nasty. So yes, I'd use Aloe again.
Only thing which comes to mind is that twice recently I've had people I know (and I thought had more sense) pushing the allegedly superior products of one particular pyramid selling brand ... so beware!
I'm off to Maderia again in a few weeks where, unsurprisingly, they do make aloe products so I may well buy some topicals and see if they help my resistant psoriasis. With the level of anti-mozzie prep I'm doing I hope I won't need to resort to trashing the aloe plants in the hotel gardens ;-)
By "pyramid selling brand" do mean Forever Living? They are not a pyramid sellers. They do use network marketing to sell their products, but this is not illegal. FL are also members of the DSA in the UK and are a well respected brand. And no, I am not one of their distributors, or a member of any mlm/network marketing company.
Whoa! You asked about aloe vera and that is the original point of the discussion. I made a comment about a supply chain that had recently come to my attention, without bringing any names into the discussion. That is how it will stay. I am always cautious and will always advise caution whenever or wherever anyone buys any form of complementary herbal, vitamin or mineral supplement. Caveat emptor ... it has been proven that many products from unregulated sources are not what or do not do what they say on the packet. That's all!
All I can say is my mother was a hippie and as child all I learned was natural remedies early on in life. She actually had me beleiving karob was chocolate until I went to school, lol. Anyway I found that even 100% aloe did not help my psoriasis at all and have not done any of the new aloe drinks because I have never heard of investing aloe and it working for anyone I know. I do find vitamin E helps my P in the past though better than aloe. The burn assistance properties of aloe are unsurpassed and still use them regularly since I work in a foundry (pour molten metal) and burns happen often in this environment.
Calm down. If you didn't mean Forever Living all well and good. My point was that the majority of mlm companies are legitimate and sell high quality products. Using terms like "pyramid sellers" isn't helpful.
Jules G said:
Whoa! You asked about aloe vera and that is the original point of the discussion. I made a comment about a supply chain that had recently come to my attention, without bringing any names into the discussion. That is how it will stay. I am always cautious and will always advise caution whenever or wherever anyone buys any form of complementary herbal, vitamin or mineral supplement. Caveat emptor ... it has been proven that many products from unregulated sources are not what or do not do what they say on the packet. That's all!
Anyway, trying to fight my way through the dense jungle of psoriasis remedies with a machete. I am beginning to think it's important to get the scales off, especially on the head. I just rely mainly on frequent combing. I mean, I comb my bald patches as well as my hair! Do you do that?
I find that inflammation soars in the evening. Large areas go bright red and then in addition to intense itching there's actual pain. It started like ants, then I suspected wasps, now sometimes it's like hot needles. Got to get the inflammation down & possibly aloe vera applied to the skin could help. I also have an inkling that excessive sugar intake increases the very obvious inflammation so, for the first time ever, I'm giving up the little sugar I do eat. Last week I encountered a large & elaborate brownie, with a chocolate stick thing, ice cream AND chocolate sauce. Did I suffer!