Old wives’ remedy helped arthritis pain.

Q: Several years ago, I read about a study done at Cardiff University in Wales. The scientists gave patients scheduled for knee-replacement surgery either 1,000 milligrams of cod-liver oil or placebo. The volunteers took these pills for 10 to 12 weeks and then had their surgery.

Samples of cartilage and joint tissue at the time of surgery showed that 86 percent of the patients on cod-liver oil produced less of a cartilage-eroding enzyme or none of it. The pills also reduced levels of other enzymes that cause pain.

I decided to try adding cod-liver oil pills to the glucosamine and chondroitin I was taking already. I marked my calendar, as I’d decided that if I had no reduction in pain in 10 to 12 weeks, I’d discontinue the cod-liver oil. My pain was so bad that it would wake me from a sound sleep every night, and I would be up for hours. Nothing helped. I felt it was just a matter of time until I would need to have the knee replaced.

One morning, I realized that I had slept through the night with no pain! I checked the calendar and discovered that it had been only 21 days since I started the cod-liver oil.

I have recommended this to many people who have gotten the same wonderful results. I wonder how many knee-replacement surgeries could be avoided if people tried taking cod-liver oil first.

A:

Thank you for alerting us to an interesting, though small, study. It included 31 people and was presented at the Third Congress of the European Federation for the Science and Technology of Lipids.

Many doctors perceive the use of cod-liver oil for joint pain as an old wives’ tale. It is a shame that there has not been more research to investigate the potential benefits of cod-liver oil for osteoarthritis.

Anyone who is interested in nondrug approaches to easing joint pain may be interested in our online electronic resource, “Alternatives for Arthritis.” Links to the product may be found at peoplespharmacy.com.

Q: I grabbed a very large, very hot curling iron by the barrel. Immediately, all four fingertips and the palm directly under the fingers started to swell. The pain was incredible.

Then I remembered your advice about soy sauce and poured a quantity into a pie plate. As soon as I immersed my hand in it, the pain ceased! At first, it looked as if all areas would form blisters, but after additional soakings (at the first sign of discomfort) over the next four hours, there was no further discomfort. A week later, there is no evidence of injury at all. This is just amazing.

A:

You’re not the first reader to report success with this burn remedy.

We have no good explanation for why so many people find that cold soy sauce both eases the pain of a burn and prevents blistering. Of course, any bad burn requires prompt medical attention.

Q: I use either coconut milk or coconut oil. I originally put it on to see if it helped protect me from the sun. I think it helped, though I have no proof.

I then noticed I had no ticks, even though my yard is overrun with them. In addition, no mosquitoes were biting. They hover, but they don’t land.

A:

Coconut oil does not have strong sun protection activity.

The few scientific studies that have looked at coconut oil to repel mosquitoes used it as a base for other essential oils. Neem oil (2 percent) in coconut oil is quite effective ( Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association, September 1993). In addition, ylang-ylang (Canaga odorata) extract in coconut oil is useful, though not as effective in preventing mosquito bites as DEET (Acta Tropica, February 2015).

When mosquitoes carry dangerous diseases such as West Nile virus, we urge people to use a proven effective repellent such as lemon eucalyptus oil, picaridin or even DEET.