MOUTH SORES...they are like a portal to Chemo HELL, but what if they could be not just treated but prevented? Oil Pulling is the magical answer, plus its cheap and easy.
First, I must confess my love for trying random holistic remedies which I never stick to with any regularity. Sour Sop Tea, let’s do it…one time. Drinking raw Aloe, hell yes…for a week. I never do it long enough to really see the benefits. I get distracted, am fickle, and inconsistent. But since starting chemo I have found one remedy that I have stuck to... OIL PULLING.
I have oil pulled off and on over the last few years but I never could “Prove” that it did anything more than whiten my teeth a little. An ancient ayurvedic technique of taking oil and swishing it in your mouth for 20 minutes everyday to remove toxins from the body. Sounds like fun right? My husband refuses to even try it. To him it is a disgusting form of torture on the same level as pulling weeds and he doesn’t see why anyone would voluntarily do it.
Oil Pulling isn’t a choice for me anymore, it is something I HAVE to do. I am on chemo and one of the side effects are MOUTH SORES, an open wound that forms in your mouth. My first one showed up a week after my first chemo treatment on Christmas morning, what a gift! My internet chemo buddies told me that I could get “Magic Mouthwash” prescribed by my doctor and it would help, but tasted like crap and makes your mouth numb. So out of laziness, because I didn’t want to go to the pharmacy, I decided to try oil pulling again. By the next day my mouth was healed. Every morning since I have been oil pulling and have not had a single mouth sore now two and a half months into my treatment.
Here is what I use:
1 teaspoon Organic coconut oil
3-4 drops Organic clove oil
1/2 cup warm salt water (for rinsing)
I prefer coconut oil but you can also use sesame or sunflower. Costco sells “pure, unrefined, cold pressed, 100% organic extra virgin coconut oil” - with that many adjectives you know its good- in a 54oz jug for about $17. Dr. Mehta, the integrative medicine doctor at UM Sylvester, suggested that I add several drops of clove oil to my oil pulling. Clove oil and coconut oil both have antiseptic properties and the clove oil has a huge list of added benefits. Dr. Mehta also explained to me why oil pulling works, come to find out its not magic. During chemo my cells are exploding and leaving all their toxic waste floating in my body. By drinking water I flush the water soluble parts out but the fat soluble bits are stuck. With oil pulling, I give a place for those fat soluble toxins to go and then I quickly spit them out. Whahla! The magic of our bodies.
As soon as I get out of bed I put a teaspoon of coconut oil with a few drops of clove oil in my mouth and I start gently swishing. If you are finding that your mouth is cramping up, use less oil. Then do your morning ritual, use the bathroom, make the bed, shower, feed the cats, meditate, etc. 20 minutes is the optimum time to get the full benefits and it will go by before you know it. You want to do it for a full 20 minutes. Its long enough to break through the mucus membrane and short enough not to have the toxin seep back in. Spit the oil into the trash, you don’t want to clog your drains. Then rinse with salt water. DONE.