Healing wounds after surgery

This Week In The HSI Forum

When a health problem is addressed with surgery, each patient is faced with a new health challenge: Caring for incisions while they heal. In an HSI Forum thread titled “Healing wounds after surgery,” an HSI member named Gadamska poses this question: “Could somebody give me advice what I should do to speed healing the cut the surgeon made on my neck taking out swollen gland/biopsy?”

“MSM cream should do it easily,” is the suggestion from a member named Jerry. Another member, Kathy, says that emu oil (an anti-inflammatory) has worked for her: “You will find that you will heal up faster and with little or no scars. It is close to our PH & our skin will absorb it totally.”

I expected to see honey among the list of suggestions, and it is. Elaine writes: “The best least expensive method is HONEY. It helps prevent infection and speed healing better than everything I tried.” But not just any honey will do: Only raw, unprocessed honey has the protective enzymes intact that will assist healing.

A member named Benelle suggests an amino acid that I’ve written about in several e-Alerts: “Glutamine is a wound healer, among other things. It is an amino acid, very pleasant and bland tasting, and can be mixed in with anything cool. Heat kills glutamine. Taking manganese with glutamine might be a good precaution because many people are manganese deficient and manganese is required for glutamine to assimilate properly.”

An accident with a power saw gave a member named Loyd a deep cut that healed quickly after his wife wrapped his finger with a sliced aloe leaf and gauze. And a member with the initials HJB adds: “I can further attest to the suggestion that Aloe Vera gel works very well. As a preventative, prior to surgery, take for several days: Zinc 30 mg and Vitamin C 1 gram. Continue for 1-2 weeks. This will aid overall recovery, not just wound healing.”

HJB is on the right track with vitamin C, but I would caution against using C in the days preceding any surgery that requires general anesthetic. As HSI Panelist Allan Spreen, M.D., has noted in previous e-Alerts, high doses of vitamin C before surgery can compromise anesthesia. But he recommends large doses immediately following surgery to help with healing.

The one scar-healing agent that gets the most attention in this thread is vitamin E. A member named Martha writes: “Vitamin E will work miracles on a scar!” And Eloise agrees, saying, “The fresher the scar, the faster it works. Do it with the capsules, as the Vitamin E oils contain very little Vitamin E. Check labels. Just puncture the capsule with a sterile pin or needle. It works on old scars as well. Most helpful with my C-section scar.”

This thread contains much more information on the use of vitamin E, as well as other natural methods for giving the body a little help in the healing of incisions.

Other topics on the HSI Forum this week include:

• Help for clogged arteries
• Back – disc problems
• Homogenized milk and heart disease
• Chelation
• Migraine headaches
• Cholesterol is up, need advice please

You can easily reach the Forum on our web site at www.hsionline.com. Just click on “Forum,” and join in with any of the dozens of discussions about nutrition and natural health care.

To Your Good Health,

Jenny Thompson

Health Sciences Institute