Mexican Papaya

** Originally posted by DrDoc **

My wife and I were traveling in Mexico and a Mexican Indian noticed the severe pustualar psoriasis on my legs, during a particularly bad flare. At the time I was toward the end of a cycle of Remicade and not using any topicals. I had about four Remicade infusions prior to that, and I believe the last one caused the flare in Mexico. The Indian told me to put the skin of a freshly peeled papaya on my skin while relaxing in a chair. I did two such treatments of about 20 minutes each while in Mexico on a test area of my leg, and saw only minimal improvement at the time in the area of skin I tested. When I returned home (about three days later), I went off Remicade, got onto Enbrel and Clobex lotion. This cleared the flare pretty much. Subsequently, I have had some other flares, not as bad, but NEVER any pustuales on the area treated with the Papaya skin. I am going to apply this technique on my hands when I next have a flare. I don't know what correlates with what here, but it does seem to work. Hint: Use the Mexican Papaya as they are larger and give you more skin to use.

By npf-527 (Inactive)
Reply 1550925
June 29, 2006 at 10:29 am
Report post

** Originally posted by SuzanneT **

Sound like it's worth a try - I've definitely put a lot worse on the PPPP on my hands and feet than papaya! And............ I'm assuming that you can eat the papaya first? :D

By npf-6322 (Inactive)
Reply 1550926 · In reply to 1550925 by npf-527
June 29, 2006 at 4:11 pm
Report post

** Originally posted by DrDoc **

Yes, of course you can eat the papaya, but a word of caution. What most people think is Montezuma's Revenge actually comes from eating too much papaya when your system is not used to it. So, enjoy the fruit, but take it easy.

By npf-153 (Inactive)
Reply 1550927 · In reply to 1550926 by npf-6322
June 29, 2006 at 7:17 pm
Report post

** Originally posted by GitOverIt **

Papaya and mangos are two of my favorite fruits...well pineapple and watermelon........ oh heck! I just like fruits...

one thing we always keep in our kitchen pharmacy is papaya enzymes! get mine at the health stores....they are great for heartburn or acid reflux (forget the purple pill)
we have used Papaya enzymes for over 20 years....I use them if I feel to full after a meal......my husband and son use them for heartburn....from spicy foods.

By npf-527 (Inactive)
Reply 1550928 · In reply to 1550927 by npf-153
May 30, 2007 at 9:35 pm
Report post

** Originally posted by SuzanneT **

Dr. Doc........... are you still here?

I found Mexican Papayas in the store today, and bought one. I'm going to try this, but I'm not sure if the papaya should be really, really ripe, or if I should try it now - they're probably grown locally here, since I'm not far from the Mexican border..... but I think it's pretty unripe at this point

Anybody here try this? I'm guessing that I just peel the papaya, and slap in on my foot and just sit around for a while?

:cool: :D

Sue :)

By npf-153 (Inactive)
Reply 1550930 · In reply to 1550929 by PAOARA
May 30, 2007 at 10:53 pm
Report post

** Originally posted by GitOverIt **

I think you should wait til it's ripe...something about the enzymes in the fruit...which is probably one of the things that is helping......I put avocadoes in a brown paper bag to ripen...wonder if it would work for papaya...

if you want to ripen it faster put an apple in the bag with the papaya...the ethlene hastens the ripening.

By npf-527 (Inactive)
Reply 1550931 · In reply to 1550930 by npf-153
May 30, 2007 at 11:11 pm
Report post

** Originally posted by SuzanneT **

Hmmmm.... I just found this............

"Medicinal Properties: The ripe fruit is tasty; astringent to the bowels, aphrodisiac; increases "kapha" and "vata"; removes biliousness; cures insanity (Ayurveda). The ripe fruit is stomachic, appetiser, digestive, carminative, diuretic; cures inflammations, enlargement of spleen; removes urinary concretions; relieves obesity; used in haemoptysis, bleeding piles, wounds of urinary tracts; useful in ringworm, skin diseases, psoriasis (Yunani)."

Source: http://nation.ittefaq.com/artman/exec/view.cgi/56/30985

By npf-527 (Inactive)
Reply 1550932 · In reply to 1550931 by npf-527
May 30, 2007 at 11:15 pm
Report post

** Originally posted by SuzanneT **

Sally, I do the same thing with avocados, and did you know that if you put the (unused) half in a baggie WITH the pit, that it will not turn brown? The secret is to leave the pit with that half. I had a Mexican friend tell me that, and it really works. Although, in my last house I had an avocado tree and couldn't get rid of all the avocados! The dogs used to eat what fell off the tree that I didn't pick up or give away in time. :)

By npf-203 (Inactive)
Reply 1550933 · In reply to 1550932 by npf-527
May 31, 2007 at 2:26 am
Report post

** Originally posted by partial **

Maybe a ph thing with the skin? My derm was talking one day about how the skin likes water that is slightly acidic rather than basic.

By Skeezix
Reply 1550934 · In reply to 1550933 by npf-203
May 31, 2007 at 4:09 pm
Report post

** Originally posted by Dulane **

I bet you it would be the papaya enzymes too.

I've tried bromelain (from pineapple) and honey as a descaler. It worked. Just a bit messy is all.

Good luck on this, and let us know how it goes!

:)

By npf-153 (Inactive)
Reply 1550935 · In reply to 1550934 by Skeezix
May 31, 2007 at 4:33 pm
Report post

** Originally posted by GitOverIt **

Suzanne...wish I were your neighbor...our whole family loves avocados
avocado dip
soup
on tacos...I give...have to check google

http://whatscookingamerica.net/AvocadoRecipes.htm
back to papaya.......

By twinieten
Reply 1550936 · In reply to 1550935 by npf-153
June 1, 2007 at 9:25 pm
Report post

** Originally posted by twinieten **

I can't wait to hear how this experiment works! I was thinking it must have something to do with the enzymes. Sally already mentioned it's use as a digestive enzyme. I know that if you put a peice of fruit in a bag with a banana, it will ripen faster. Another thing you can try.

By npf-527 (Inactive)
Reply 1550937 · In reply to 1550936 by twinieten
June 1, 2007 at 9:43 pm
Report post

** Originally posted by SuzanneT **

Sally, I wish you were my neighbor, too - the rest of my family doesn't like avocados, even tho I love them :)

Well, I looked at the papaya last night, and debated whether or not it was ripe. It was still pretty hard on the outside, but I cut it open, and it was just perfect! I ate some of it, and tried to figure out how I was going to put it on my foot :confused: , but then I remembered that the seeds needed to be crushed (at least that's what I read somewhere), so I put a bunch of seeds in a bowl and tried to mash then with a fork. Ha! No way :(. So I put a few slices (minus skin) and seeds in the blender. Wow, are those seeds tough :eek: I finally put some water in with it, and ended up with a paste. I put some on my foot with a plastic bag over it, but it really made a gooey mess. The rest is in the fridge, but I think I might just try a slice of papaya tonite instead. I left in on for half an hour, and when I took it off, my foot was soft like a baby, and the redness (I think my foot gets a bit edermic?) was gone! I felt a little stinging for a while, but no big deal (as my daughter said "Hey Mom, what do you expect, you just put meat tenderizer on your foot!" I'm going to try again tonight, and I'll post back here. And for anyone who is interested, I thought it was kinda funny that the regular papayas were $2.99 / lb and the Mexican papayas were $0.69 / lb. (Dr. Doc said that it's best to use the Mexican papayas.)

"Papain is an enzyme extracted from the papaya skin and is primarily used in the meat industry as a tenderizer. The papaya (Carica papaya) fruit is very rich in papain. The greener the fruit the more active is the papain. This protein-digesting (proteolytic) enzyme is very abundant in green, unripe fruits. This unique quality of papaya makes it an excellent natural meat tenderizer"

Source: http://www.2747.com/2747/food/papaya/
Sue :)

By twinieten
Reply 1550938 · In reply to 1550937 by npf-527
June 1, 2007 at 10:15 pm
Report post

** Originally posted by twinieten **

Wow! I'm glad it worked! I might just have to try that on my son's hand. I'm thinking he won't be impressed. You could try a coffee grinder to crush the seeds. If you take a bit of bread and grind it, it'll clean up any coffee that's in it (not perfectly, but good enough).

By npf-527 (Inactive)
Reply 1550939 · In reply to 1550938 by twinieten
June 1, 2007 at 10:53 pm
Report post

** Originally posted by SuzanneT **

Drea, the only coffee grinder I have is my great grandmother's antique coffee grinder - see below. Hey, I'm not going to stick papaya seeds in here, I'll never get them out!!!! :) any other ideas??? :confused:

By twinieten
Reply 1550940 · In reply to 1550939 by npf-527
June 1, 2007 at 11:18 pm
Report post

** Originally posted by twinieten **

Oh my! Wow! :D I guess you could buy a little electric do-dad next time you're at Target if you decide that you really must have one!

By npf-7135 (Inactive)
Reply 1550941 · In reply to 1550940 by twinieten
June 2, 2007 at 12:36 am
Report post

** Originally posted by bean07 **

I read an article in our paper under Dr. Peter Gott, that someone wrote in that they tried banana peel, by rubbing the banana peel on the p about a half hour later they cleaned the stuff of p and they state the p was almost completely gone!

Has anyone else tried this one too?

Jill

By npf-821 (Inactive)
Reply 1550942 · In reply to 1550941 by npf-7135
June 2, 2007 at 11:41 pm
Report post

** Originally posted by daytonaflyer **

Yeah, I tried the banana peel thing. It did absolutely nothing. Figures!

17 replies

Things you can do

Support the National Psoriasis Foundation

Discussion topics

Additional resources

NPF on Twitter

Community leaders