Simple Natural Treatment for CHILBLAINS
If you had asked me a few days ago what chilblains was, I would not have been able to tell you. I would have said it was something like a minor form of frostbite. And while that might be somewhat true, it really isn't what chilblains is.
My journey into true experiential knowledge of this condition has been short (thankfully) but rather painful. It all started with a sensation. A very unpleasant sensation. About a week ago while I was driving home, the pinky toe on both of my feet started to feel like they were on fire and itched to an incredible degree. As soon as I got home, I kicked off my shoes and saw that those two toes were inflamed and bright red. They looked sort of like this:
My first thought was athlete's foot as I have had that before, but I found it strange that there was no skin peeling or anything - just that same intense itch. However, I figured I would try the same remedy I always use for any sort of foot fungus: vinegar. Well, long story short, it helped with the itch a bit, but the redness and swelling did not abate.
Next, I figured it was my new shoes. Maybe they had rubbed my toe the wrong way. Tried putting on another sock and got back to work. Still no improvement. After a few more days of limping around because it hurt so bad to walk, I figured I would look up the symptoms and see if I could figure out what it was.
As you can now guess, I found out it was chilblains.
Chilblains is said to be caused by going from intense cold to intense heat in a short amount of time. Your capillaries (the smallest of blood vessels) can't handle the rapid change and rupture. This causes inflammation and itchiness...intense itchiness. So, if you have cold feet, it is NOT a good idea to immediately plunge them into really hot water to warm them up. (That is what I did, by the way.)
I looked up in our herbal medicine book what to do, and they had a number of ideas. Soak your feet in a strong ginger solution. Rub garlic on them. Or even slice a potato and apply it to the area.
However, after trying a number of these, I found the most effective treatment to be a poultice of raw onions and salt.
It is VERY easy to make this poultice.
- Chop up a bit of onion (amount depends on size of area needing to be covered).
- Mash up the onion using a mortar and pestle.
- Add a bit of salt.
- Put directly on the inflamed skin (only if the skin is UNBROKEN).
- Leave on for 15-20 minutes.
Then, once you have removed the poultice, rub on a bit of aloe vera for extra soothing power.
And while it is not gone completely, yet, I can say that it helps tremendously. Give it a try and see what you think!
You know what? I don’t want to give this a try. In order to give it a try, I have to give chilblains a try. Since you were kind enough to explain the cause, I’m just going to apply a thick coat of prevention and grill the onions!
Seriously, this is good really good information to store away just in case. Sorry you had to do so much research, but thanks for the post!
Hahahha! Grilling onions sounds much better than putting them on the feet.
I just figured a lot of homesteaders would be able to relate to being cold and then wanting to warm up quickly. Not a good idea!
Nice one man. I read this mainly to know what Chilblains means. Now I know. Interesting.
Lol, I don't need the remedy though, it's very difficult to get Chilblains in Nigeria.
..onions, who would have thought?
Right?!? I had no idea what it was either, but now I do. Hopefully, you never will really know what it is! And, being in Nigeria, you probably are pretty safe. :)
As a side note, onions on the bottom of your feet works really well for fevers, too. That might be more applicable for you.
Chilblains, huh. I've never heard of that. I know that it really hurts if your hands get extremely cold and you run them under hot water. Ouch. I've never experience burst capillaries. Yowzers. @ironshield
I hadn't either. Here I thought having a nice HOT foot bath was a good thing after coming in from the outside...
Wow, just when you thought you knew it all! Never heard of such a thing. And I wouldn't have guessed that cure! Thanks for sharing. I'll keep that in the back of my mind should I ever suffer from that condition.
There are some pretty crazy natural remedies for things. And even stranger is the fact that they actually work!
I've heard the term and made the same assumption you did - mild frostbite. Thanks for correcting that misconception! I'm glad you finally found something that was effective in easing it.
Thanks, @aunt-deb! I just hope that someone else on here can benefit from this if they ever find themselves in a similar boat.
YiKeS!! Never heard of it but praying I don't get it! Hope you recover quickly!
If your feet are ever cold, just let them warm up slowly and you should be fine!
Check!
NowI know why I was always told to warm up cold fingers or toes to start with cool water and gradually move to warm. Sorry your toes are on fire. At least you came up with a solution that works. 🐓🐓
hope it is gone by now!! good information to keep filed away!