Confirming raw garlic as potent and workable antibiotic
There are a ton of studies on garlic use of course, but I'd like to leave this bit of direct personal experience for anyone who might be searching for a natural antibiotic now or in the future.
Backstory:
March of 2019 I came down with a bacterial infection (genital area). I was put on a week of antibiotics (amoxicillin clavulanate, marketed as augmentin in Europe) and after a week it was gone. At 34yo, it was my first use of antibiotics since probably being a child and my first ever infection of this kind so I was glad to be quickly restored to health and otherwise paid little attention to it. It was out of sight out of mind within a week.
Six months later the infection came back with a vengeance, a lot of swelling and inflammation in the area. Probably sand from a beach visit played a part. This time it required me to go on two different antibiotics for 15 days, plus meloxicam (an NSAID). It was scarier-looking this time so I was even more grateful to be restored to health, by the end of the course however I was feeling gutted by the antibiotics, a very pharma sense in my body, for lack of a better word. By now I was worried about effects on gut microbiome, bacterial resistance, etc. I knew it was not sustainable to be carpet-bombing my body in this way every so often. It didn't help that the doctor could offer no assurances the bacteria had been killed off.
Long story short, this July, 11 months later, the infection came back a third time, mild. I had some antibiotics leftover from last year which took care of it after about six days. Mid-August it came back again. By now I was fed up.
So at the first signs of swelling this time I thought to go after foods known to have natural antibacterial properties. At worst, I would be back at the doctor's after a few days.
So I blitzed in the blender: 1 clove raw garlic (big, about 2-3 small ones in size), 1 onion (another sulfur-containing allium), 1 tbsp fresh ginger, and doused with apple cider vinegar (maybe 1-2 tbsp), lime juice, oregano (dried). Chopped parsley for taste.
Each one of these is known to have antibacterial properties.
Happily, they all go together very well, resulting in a very spicy/acidic-tasting dressing that you can fairly easily take with a meal or tossed with a salad. It's nowhere near what I imagine trying to eat raw garlic alone must be.
I took this twice daily, always with a meal. You probably don't want something this acidic sloshing around in your gastrointestinal tract alone.
I prepared it each time just before a meal. I'm not sure what happens to the active compound of garlic (allicin) if prepared ahead of time or in bulk. Preparation time 5 minutes tops.
Results: already on the second day, swelling had remained the same so I could tell the infection was in check. By day 3, I could see it was going away. After six days it was gone. It simply works.
Side effects: none. Just a sense of heat in the body from all the sulfury/acidic compounds for maybe 30 minutes to an hour that goes away or you adjust to after a few days. Garlic smell, yes. But none of that chemical feeling of antibiotics. Studies report that garlic kills off some types of good bacteria as well but, based on my reading, that's nowhere near the scale of what antibiotics do to the gut. If feelings of subjective wellness are any indication, my experience confirms this. I don't feel like I just finished a course of antibiotics, because of course I didn't.
Added benefits: lower blood pressure, lower blood sugar, liver detox, glowing skin, and the rest.
This is all experiential of course and I would advise you to visit a doctor in case of serious infection (in particular if there's fever involved). But I'm overjoyed at how much it worked.
Garlic supplements alone might be just as effective (I will be adding one to my cabinet) and they would eliminate smell and preparation. Or this might be even more potent with all the ingredients actively working together. Regardless, I am leaving this here for anyone who it might be of use to.
Credit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Supplements/comments/io8b28/confirming_raw_garlic_as_potent_and_workable/
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