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Complementary Medicine / Re: What is the treatment for molluscum contagiosum?
« on: 06/03/2019 19:28:53 »
sorry for the necro, but I read this entire thread (yes entire) when I first came down with MC (around base of penis and one lesion on shaft), and wanted to come back and register just to add my own advice now that I'm through it.
there's some insane advice in here IMO, and many things that will hurt far more than they will help.
background: I am 29, male, white, and caught MC from a pool party at a festival in early september. didn't notice bumps til early october. was scared about genital warts; went to Planned Parenthood and diagnosed with MC. frustrated after learning it can take a year or more to clear up.
after many hours of internet "research" and reading forums, looking for miracle cures, I decided on two paths of action for myself:
1. do NOT touch the MC for any reason
2. keep MC area sanitized
3. try to help my body beat it from the inside
#1. involved self-control, luckily mine never itched too much. I always washed groin last, and dried off groin with paper towel instead of touching it with my towel
#2. after some research, I bought generic Betadine (povidone-iodine) and cotton balls. After every shower, I scrubbed the lesions and surrounding area with Betadine before putting on underwear. sometimes I would do this again after coming home from work, and going to bed. after reading about Betadine, my logic was that it would protect the surrounding skin from getting more lesions, and also would kill the existing MC if it happened to penetrate deeply enough.
#3. I have a fairly rigorous immune system as it is (some years I don't catch a single cold). I eat mostly plant based, with simple ingredients focusing on whole (see: real, unprocessed) foods. My typical vitamin regimen is a once/daily, and cal/mag/zinc. I decided to add some things to my regimen to (ideally) help my body fight the virus once it realized it was there. I took extra vitamin C on and off, along with shots of apple cider vinegar (note: do NOT use this topically, no matter what you read. it is incredibly harsh and chances are it does a lot of damage to your skin instead of helping). something else I took was oil of oregano, a product I use on and off from time to time internally. it is a hot oil, so you mix 1 or 2 drops into a teaspoon or tablespoon of other oil (like olive or almond), and take it like medicine. it is a potent antiviral and antimicrobial, but do not take it internally for more than 10 days.
this is already long so I'll wrap it up. all in all it took about 6 months for the last MC lesion to be gone. there is no way for me to know if anything I did sped up the process at all. I think the sanitation of the area was the best thing I did, because besides the initial lesions I only ever got 1 new one through the entire 6 months. I think this was due to my not touching the MC and sanitizing the area.
note: none of my lesions went away on their own. they each eventually got larger and white, like an angry pimple. that's when they started to itch. within a day or two of that point, I would pop them. this was INCREDIBLY painful to be honest, more than I expected. they do not pop easily like a pimple. the white stuff inside is the virus, and what you absolutely HAVE to remove. my method was to douse my fingers and/or 2 q-tips in betadine, then pop the pimple with them. immediately get rid of the white head, then scrub the inside of the lesion with the betadine q-tip. it will hurt but you wanna make sure you get in there with the betadine to kill any remaining virus. I could never find a bandaid that would stick well to the area (groin) afterwards, but as long as get all the white out and sanitize the area afterward you'll be fine.
my tips in a nutshell:
1. do NOT touch the MC
2. sanitize the area often, I recommend Betadine
3. take some extra supplements, they can't hurt (vitamin C, zinc, apple cider vinegar, oil of oregano)
4. be patient!
please avoid insane advice like attempting to surgically remove every single lesion yourself immediately, and using apple cider vinegar. the more the MC spreads, the longer it will take to heal, so that should be your number one priority.
there's some insane advice in here IMO, and many things that will hurt far more than they will help.
background: I am 29, male, white, and caught MC from a pool party at a festival in early september. didn't notice bumps til early october. was scared about genital warts; went to Planned Parenthood and diagnosed with MC. frustrated after learning it can take a year or more to clear up.
after many hours of internet "research" and reading forums, looking for miracle cures, I decided on two paths of action for myself:
1. do NOT touch the MC for any reason
2. keep MC area sanitized
3. try to help my body beat it from the inside
#1. involved self-control, luckily mine never itched too much. I always washed groin last, and dried off groin with paper towel instead of touching it with my towel
#2. after some research, I bought generic Betadine (povidone-iodine) and cotton balls. After every shower, I scrubbed the lesions and surrounding area with Betadine before putting on underwear. sometimes I would do this again after coming home from work, and going to bed. after reading about Betadine, my logic was that it would protect the surrounding skin from getting more lesions, and also would kill the existing MC if it happened to penetrate deeply enough.
#3. I have a fairly rigorous immune system as it is (some years I don't catch a single cold). I eat mostly plant based, with simple ingredients focusing on whole (see: real, unprocessed) foods. My typical vitamin regimen is a once/daily, and cal/mag/zinc. I decided to add some things to my regimen to (ideally) help my body fight the virus once it realized it was there. I took extra vitamin C on and off, along with shots of apple cider vinegar (note: do NOT use this topically, no matter what you read. it is incredibly harsh and chances are it does a lot of damage to your skin instead of helping). something else I took was oil of oregano, a product I use on and off from time to time internally. it is a hot oil, so you mix 1 or 2 drops into a teaspoon or tablespoon of other oil (like olive or almond), and take it like medicine. it is a potent antiviral and antimicrobial, but do not take it internally for more than 10 days.
this is already long so I'll wrap it up. all in all it took about 6 months for the last MC lesion to be gone. there is no way for me to know if anything I did sped up the process at all. I think the sanitation of the area was the best thing I did, because besides the initial lesions I only ever got 1 new one through the entire 6 months. I think this was due to my not touching the MC and sanitizing the area.
note: none of my lesions went away on their own. they each eventually got larger and white, like an angry pimple. that's when they started to itch. within a day or two of that point, I would pop them. this was INCREDIBLY painful to be honest, more than I expected. they do not pop easily like a pimple. the white stuff inside is the virus, and what you absolutely HAVE to remove. my method was to douse my fingers and/or 2 q-tips in betadine, then pop the pimple with them. immediately get rid of the white head, then scrub the inside of the lesion with the betadine q-tip. it will hurt but you wanna make sure you get in there with the betadine to kill any remaining virus. I could never find a bandaid that would stick well to the area (groin) afterwards, but as long as get all the white out and sanitize the area afterward you'll be fine.
my tips in a nutshell:
1. do NOT touch the MC
2. sanitize the area often, I recommend Betadine
3. take some extra supplements, they can't hurt (vitamin C, zinc, apple cider vinegar, oil of oregano)
4. be patient!
please avoid insane advice like attempting to surgically remove every single lesion yourself immediately, and using apple cider vinegar. the more the MC spreads, the longer it will take to heal, so that should be your number one priority.