Earlier tonight, Frank and I decided to go out for sushi. Man, do I LOVE me some sushi. A lot of times, I’ll make-shift some sashimi bowls at home to save money, but when we go out, it’s a real treat.
We purposefully ignore all the “unhealthy” things involved with eating out. Bad oils, cooking with aluminum…In this case, farm-raised fish (fed corn, soy, antibiotics, food coloring, etc.), soy sauce (probably GMO, although sometimes we bring our own at Frank’s insistence fermented soy sauce when we remember), pickled ginger sweetened with aspartame (which I don’t eat actually since it gives me sharp pains in my side).
I sound like I’m just falling apart, don’t I? It’s really not that bad, visibly, but I have delayed reactions later.
Generally, I hear people in the real food community say they eat “80/20”—that is, 80% real food, 20% prepared/processed food. For Frank and I, it’s really more like 95/5. No joke. The reason?
I’m a canary.
That’s what Frank calls me, at least. You know? The canary in the mine?
Anyway, so tonight, we went out to eat a nice sushi dinner. I avoided the aspartame-sweetened ginger, we requested our cooked roll NOT be baked in aluminum foil, and we only used the teensiest bit of soy sauce!
But when we got home, my right eye started poofing up.
I honestly don’t know if it was something in the food, something the food touched, a perfume someone was wearing, the nail salon we passed on the way to the restaurant that made me retch for 60 seconds. Maybe it was something I touched and then rubbed on my eye accidentally.
I DON’T KNOW. All I know is that this kind of thing happens way more often than I’d like. The last time I wore eyeliner, one eye was swollen closed for a WEEK.
Luckily, I have an entire arsenal of natural remedies just waiting in my kitchen!
Frank was quick to say, “Baby! Let’s put something on that! What do you have that can fix it???”
What did I have?
Probiotics: Milk kefir (buy here)
The Most Powerful Anti-inflammatory Ever: Turmeric (buy here)
Starch to make a paste: Arrowroot powder (buy here)
Berkey Fluoride-Free Filtered Water (buy here)
How to get rid of a stye
Very quickly, I mixed together 1/4 tsp turmeric, 1/4 tsp arrowroot powder, and 1/2 tsp of milk kefir. Stir with a very tiny utensil, like a toothpick or a chopstick. Then, I added one drop of water at a time until the mixture became a thick paste. I applied the paste to the effected area with a clean finger, and let it dry.
After it dried, it felt very tingly, but the swelling went down almost immediately. Within 5 minutes, the swelling had reduced by half, and within 20 minutes, it was completely gone.
I think it was really important that I applied the paste as soon as possible.
If you don’t have any kefir, I think the paste would work just as well with just water. If you have milk, that’s even better because there is some sort of reaction turmeric has with milk that’s good. I don’t know enough to explain it… But either way, it’s the turmeric that helps with the swelling! I just like the idea of using kefir where-ever possible, since it’s such a superfood!
Anyway, hope this helps you next time you get a stye! Worked wonders for me!!
P.S. Eye styes can be caused by infections or by allergic reactions. The beauty of using turmeric is that it *should* work for both! It reduces inflammation AND cleanses the blood from toxins! Yay!
Hah! I call myself a canary for the same reason. Canary buddies!
Sometimes I think I am doing better and can tolerate more things, then whoops.
Im scared of getting tumeric in my eye.Will it sting ?
It’s pasty and dries fast, so it’s unlikely you will get it in your eye. Even so, I don’t think it will sting. Turmeric isn’t “spicy.”
When I came to your article I was so happy to find a remedy for a stye. Mine is on my eyelid right by my eyelashes so it hurts when I blink. I only habe turmeric powder so I mixed with water but it did not work even tho I left on for 30 mins. Maybe the other ingredients you used could have worked along. :(
Thank you so much for this post.. I’ve gotten my first stye ever at 29 years old. I bought turmeric yesterday because I read adding to milk would help get rid of the stye. I read your article today and immediately tried this. I cannot believe the difference. I have just reapplied for the second time today. I wish knew of this trick yesterday to have gotten it on sooner!! Thank you!!
a few years ago, my husband and 4 kids all had pink eye. nothing seemed to help. i was nursing at the time and had heard good things about the “medicine chest” of treatments with breast milk. i expressed milk and used an eye dropper to put it in their eyes. it worked FAST! they felt immediate relief and it only took a couple of applications to banish the infection. my husband was reluctant to try it at first, but after a few days, he was so uncomfortable that he decided that it couldn’t hurt. he was very happy with the quick cure!
I get stys on the outside if my lid, so I wonder how I would apply this…hmmm
I don’t have any kefir, but would yogurt work?
As long as there is no added sugar.
You are the first person I have found to have the same reaction I did. About a year ago, I got the first and worst eye sty I’ve ever had and then I kept getting one every few weeks. I finally connected it to eating some type of asian food. I live in Argentina and haven’t eaten much asian food since it isn’t available here and after returning for a vacation to the U.S. eating as much thai, chinese, japanese etc. that I could get my hands on, I finally realized I am allergic to MSG. Doctors said you can’t get a sty from allergic reaction, it’s dirt build up, but I listened to my own body and I know what it is. Usually, it’s in the soy sauce that’s used in restaurants. Thanks for the turmeric tip, I hated the medicine the doctors gave me because it is an antibiotic but if I don’t catch it with a heat compress in time, I haven’t found any other way to reduce the swelling. Thanks!
How do you get the yellow stain off of your skin? Turmeric stains pretty badly!
It has never stained my skin, just my clothes! ;)
Thank you thank you for this natural remedy I would defenetly try it