Hidradenitis Suppurativa is a pain in the ass. You know that to be true if you’re suffering from this skin disease, regardless of how long you’ve had it or have been suffering from it.
With this skin disease being so rare and misdiagnosed often, most people don’t even know they have it and lack the self-awareness of what to do about it.
That said, there is some limited science and data about the carnivore diet being a solution to these problems, taken from The National Library Of Medicine.
47-month case study
I’ll skip past the irrelevant details for this post, and share the CONCLUSION of the study involving a 29 year old woman over a 47-month case study.
Results:
“Despite current literature that informs clinicians to utilize antifungal azole derivatives in the treatment of mucocutaneous Candida spp. infection and surgical removal for the management of vulvar hidradenitis suppurativa, this case study describes long-term successful management of both with a zero-carbohydrate nutritional strategy without the use of medication or invasive surgery.
Possible mechanisms by which an all-meat ketogenic diet might reduce Candida spp. growth and eliminate symptoms of vulvar Hidradenitis are discussed in the remainder of this paper. An all-meat ketogenic diet was successfully utilized to treat Candida vulvovaginitis and vulvar hidradenitis suppurativa.
Further studies will be needed to test this hypothesis in other patients diagnosed with Candida vulvovaginitis and vulvar hidradenitis suppurativa.”
Now keep in mind, “Vulva” relates to female privates. It’s not the usual Hidradenitis Suppurativa that affects skin from the head, face, neck, back, etc.
This one in the study is more specific. But with that said, seeing as going on a carnivore diet helped fix this woman’s issues along with Candida overgrowth (a related disease for Hidradenitis), it stands to reason that it will improve Hidradenitis Suppurativa in general.
That’s the assumption anyway. Both are connected and even one and the same. Vulva just targets a different body part (that’s how you can think of it).
This study is also independent making it isolated as there are no others to make comparisons with, meaning there’s weak evidence even if it works in practice.
Hidradenitis Suppurativa disappeared in 43 days
Quote:
“Nutritional intervention in the form of an all-meat ketogenic diet may be considered therapy in the management of both diseases, as successfully seen in this case report.
The patient refused standard of care with oral fluconazole for Candida vulvovaginitis and surgical removal for Hidradenitis suppurativa, and instead consumed a zero-carbohydrate all-meat ketogenic diet mostly of beef with strict adherence to the diet for 43 days in which symptoms ceased.”
Source: National Library Of Medicine H.S
As shown by this section of the study, the woman in question ate mostly beef when she went carnivore, meaning the minority of food she ate was other meats like Chicken, Pork, and maybe seafood.
Beef is a strong indicator here as far as her recovery from Hidradenitis Suppurativa, and possibly the speed at how fast she recovered from it. But meat in general made a difference.
Anecdotes from Coach bobby
Doing my research relating to the carnivore diet, coach bobby shows up both on YouTube and Google. He specifically healed Hidradenitis Suppurativa by following the carnivore diet.
That’s not the only problem that was solved:
“In addition to being overweight, Bobby suffered from asthma, high blood pressure, athlete’s foot, and hidradenitis suppurativa, a painful skin condition that results in abscesses and scarring in areas where sweat glands are present.”
The website continues:
“Thankfully, Bobby’s skin issues are 90% resolved on a carnivore diet, and no longer cause him discomfort throughout the day. His doctor also is weaning him off or has already removed his blood pressure, allergy, and asthma medications since his symptoms have significantly improved.”
I know some of the text is a little cringey (if you read the actual source in detail), but it’s relevant and an important point to consider if you’re looking for solutions.
Personal experience
As we speak, I’m in the middle of doing carnivore. Before this, I was eating minimal amounts of veg (Okra and Spinach), and the majority of my diet was meat, seafood, eggs, and dairy.
During that time my skin cleared up a LOT. But it’s a slow process that I expect to be cleared up long before 2023 comes to an end.
Now though it’s meat, eggs, and seafood all the way with dairy, and this should speed things up even more (Spinach gave me stomach pain, etc).
Depending on what happens in the next 2 weeks or so, I’ll update this again but the results seem to correlate with the study and anecdotes already with me going full carnivore.
Keep in mind I still drink peppermint tea, lemon tea, and have turmeric and garlic. But the foods I eat are otherwise carnivore based.
If you have experience with this, share it.