Peaches,

You are right about the many benefits of coconut oil. There are forums devoted to discussing nothing else. Coconut oil is high in lauric, capric and caprylic acid, which have antifungal, antiviral and antibacterial properties. Coconut oil is a strong candida fighter. I take about 6 tablespoons a day. My husband has 2 tablespoons in his daily breakfast smoothie. We use so much that we just bought a five-gallon bucket from Mountain Rose, as they have the best price and their coconut oil tastes wonderful. Interestingly, coconut oil causes weight loss, not weight gain. To read more about coconut oil:
Coconut Oil

kebod

Hi everyone,

Sorry not to have posted for a little while. I have been oil-pulling now for a week and a half (started October 15th) with organic, cold-pressed coconut oil, for 20 minutes every morning. To be honest, I'm not sure yet if it has made a difference: my skin feels a bit smoother, but the bumps are definitely still there, as is the redness (yes, I have bumps and the bumps are red). I am planning to keep at it for a month without doing anything else to see if OPing makes a difference on its own. After a month, I plan to gradually introduce other methods, such as changes to my diet, etc.. to see what works for me. It is tempting to try to do everything at once, as I am so eager to find a solution for myself after discovering this forum a couple of months ago!, but I also want to know what exactly is working and what is not, so this is why I am only doing one thing at a time. I am 26 and have lived with this since adolescence (11 or 12), and it is quite severe on my upper arms, and very embarrassing. Like a lot of others, it has affected my self-esteem and my social life, not to mention my non-existent love life. In any event, I remain hopeful! I think this will be a long process for me to find the best solution for myself (hopefully I can be like some on this forum and have a reduction of 95% or so, which would be amazing!!) So, there's the update! I'll post again once I've been OPing for 3-4 weeks.

Cheers,
DtoB!

P.S. - I did try to take some photos of my kp before I started OPing. As those of you have taken or tried to take photos know, it is surprisingly difficult to get a good photo of the bumps that accurately depicts them and their redness. So I plan on posting mine regardless, but just keep in mind that my kp is more severe than it appears in the photos.

Kebod - I tried uploading them into the gallery section of this forum, and it said that they were not the right MIME file, or something? I don't know how to post them... Could I send them to you and have you post them for me? Just let me know!

Thanks,
DtoB

DtoB,

I admire your determination to figure out what can help your KP. I don't know what kind of diet you have, but when I started OP, I already was on a very clean diet -- no fast food, very little sugar, whole grains, lots of veggies, etc., and had been eating like this for most of my life. Perhaps that is why I saw KP results in just 21 days of oil pulling. If you are already on a clean, healthy diet, great! If not, I would encourage it, even though you want to see what OP can do on its own. Also, lots of water and daily exercise -- they all work together for better health.

kebod

Thanks Kebod. I am pretty determined at this point - I would drink motor oil every day if it would make my kp go away! I have been plagued with this condition for about 15 years now, and it has been so horribly traumatizing that I will do anything, even if I can never have another glass of wine my entire life!

As for my diet, I eat moderately healthy. I eat fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, but not as much as I should, and I eat a lot of dairy and refined carbs (mmm.. cheese, pasta, ice cream). I also have a glass of wine 4-5 times per week. I have a serious weak spot for ice cream and eat it every week - whoops (dairy AND refined sugar together - so bad for kp!!)

In any event, I am looking forward to starting my new diet in mid-November. I actually made a list of all the carb and dairy things I wanted to eat one more time before cutting them out completely, and have been slowly working my way down the list: tortilla chips, spaghetti bolognese, spaghetti carbonara, cheese, etc... Lol! It will be sad not to be able to eat these things again, but not as sad as continuing to suffer from kp! I am getting ahead of myself now, though.. I don't know that the diet will work. We'll have to wait and see.

I will update in a couple of weeks re: OPing, and will let you all know when I commence the anti-KP diet.

Cheers everyone,
DtoB

P.S. - Kebod, could I send you my pics to post? I just can't figure out how to do it! If it is super inconvenient for you, then no worries. I guess it's not that important that I post them. Just let me know.

DtoB,

Once you are able to cut out dairy and refined carbs, I think it will make a big difference in your health, including your skin. Have you taken the spit test for candida? If not, it would be a good idea to do so. I have been on a candida diet since June, so I can sympathise with you about all the favorite foods you want to eliminate. I used to eat ice cream almost every day, also. I had a carton of coconut ice cream in June, and then......no more ice cream, period. It's tough, but I need to kick this candida.

By the way, there have been advances made in the last few years with whole wheat pasta. It isn't gummy and heavy like it used to be. If you tried some, you would be surprised how similar it is to pasta made with processed white flour.

About your photos -- did you try to follow Elsa's directions under her sticky "How to Add Attachments"? I just read through them and they look straight forward. Open two window of the Keratosis Pilaris Forum. On one, click open her directions. On the second, go to this page, our "Cured at Last..." where you are right now. Click "Post Reply" (her first instruction) and go from there. You can go back and forth between the two windows, reading her instructions as you do it.

Let me know if this works. DCook asked about photos yesterday. I should have told her that many of us here are not that literate with digital cameras and uploading, and that may prevent a lot of people from posting photos.

kebod

Kebod,

Does it matter that I cannot get in a whole tablespoon when pulling? Instead I use 1 teaspoon.

I have not thought that it matters, since its still oil and getting swished but at another forum they are talking about measurments.

thanks

Peaches,

The recommended amount is one tablespoon (3 teaspoons). I use 2 teaspoons, because I have a small mouth, and I still have great results. I think it would be better if you could work up to 2 teaspoons. The reason: it is thought we absorb omega oils (essential fatty acids) and other nutrients from the oil. If you are only using 1/3 the recommended amount, you are only exposing your mouth tissue to 1/3 the nutrients.

Even though I just use 2 teaspoon per pull, I pull 2-3 times, back-to-back each morning. This morning I used avocado oil, then olive oil, then coconut oil, 2 teaspoons each. I always finish with coconut oil because it is the best tooth whitener.

kebod

Oh my.

I just dont know if I can do more. Even doing 1 teaspoon, it seems like it doubles by the time I spit.

Peaches,

Oh, it sounds like it isn't the oil that is too much, but the saliva that is produced that makes your mouth too full. Just spit it out as soon as your mouth is full and start again with a new teaspoon.

Actually, this is a good sign. Your body isn't used to this and is producing lots of saliva. On the Oil Pulling Forum, they say that this is how the toxins are being removed (though we don't know for sure -- that is a good guess). Eventually, your body will get used to this, or enough toxins will be pulled out, (whatever explanation you want to accept about this) and you won't produce a mouth full of saliva so quickly.

I still can get a mouthful of saliva very quickly if I eat dairy the night before. I "cheated" on my candida diet about two weeks ago and had one slice of pizza. The next morning, I couldn't believe how full my mouth became so quickly! Lots of junk in my body because of the cheese, I guess. I also produce a lot of saliva when I change oil type. The new oil seems to have a stimulating effect.

kebod

thanks kebod I will try to slowly add more. I think the oregano is making me have a lot of saliva again, I started last week on it since everyone around me is sick with strep again. I swear strep is the menace of my life. So far hubby has not gotten it, he has been on oregano for 2 weeks, praise God, maybe its keeping him safe.

Deathtobumps....as far as food goes here is a couple of substitutions for your faves so you don't go crazy.

for the pasta, besides the alternatives to wheat like rice, quinoa, and kamut, there is spagetti squash that makes a lovely and healthy pasta.

just boil water and add a spagetti squash and boil for approx 12 to 15 min, split open and s****e the noodles out, and top with your favorite red sauce...instead of parmesean, use nutritional yeast (usually in bulk) try and get by red star as they have the important B12 vitamin, and loaded with the rest of the Bvitamins too....it tastes like mild cheddar, and melts like cheese, it is not active yeast so is okay for candida diet.....vegans use this for cheese sauces.

If you are eating fruit, you can puree melons and freeze and makes a great alterantive to ice cream, so is mashed bananas with some vanilaa and cinnamin added...top with shredded coconut.

Goat cheese is really good too, like goat feta, and soft cheese...

there is lots of choices for cheese that aren't cow, there is mozzarella made from buffalo, that I use for lasagna, and I sub the nutritional yeast for for the parmesean...sometimes I use eggplant instead of alternative wheat noodles....

Baronster,

Great suggestions, but what did you do to the spaghetti squash to get it out?
"just boil water and add a spagetti squash and boil for approx 12 to 15 min, split open and s****e the noodles out..."

kebod

I just split in in half, it is very soft then and easy, and use a fork to S C R A P E the noodles out.....the cooking time depend on the size of your squash....for those of you who haven't done this, it looks like spagetti, but obviously super healthy.

I know you can bake it too, but it just takes a lot longer.

I have been oil pulling for approximately three weeks. I have my moments where I feel like my skin is much softer and then the next day I will think, gosh what was I thinking it looks worse than ever. Bottom line I still have bumps and redness.

I have gotten cold sores since I was a teenager, but it seems like the past year or two I barely get them, but since I started oil pulling I have gotten cold sores twice. I woke up with my second one this morning. My last one went away about a week ago. I wonder if this has happened to anyone else??? Maybe it is just a sheer coincidence and has nothing to do with OP. I have had a few stressful times this month????

It seems that anything that can go wrong with skin happens to me. I woke up early on Sunday to go to my sister's marathon at 6 a.m., it was still dark outside and there was mosquitos and no seeums and I am covered in dark red inflammed bites(no one else that was with me has any signs of visible bites) on top of my KP with my beautiful cold sore on my lip. Wow, I'm feeling great this morning!!!!!