Hello, I would like to introduce myself as Jay. The sole purpose of this blog is to help anyone who is currently battling with the skin disease known as Tinea Versicolor (TV). I would like to mention a very unpopular and practically unheard of solution to significantly relieve the symptoms of TV. I can make you read through a long blog post or get you to sign-up to an email list to get the answer, but that is not my goal. I am not here trying to sell you any product but if you find interest in anything I mention, please consider helping out by using the affiliate links. So if you would like to cut to the chase, based on my experience, the best and most effective way to treat Tinea Versicolor is to take a fiber known as psyllium husk (P.H.). You can skip down to the end to see which specific brands I take and how I take them, but if you would like to briefly know about my TV journey and all remedies I have tried, please read everything in-between. :-)
I would like to start off by saying that I am a 28 year old male living in the north eastern region of the U.S. My ethnic background is South Asian - Indian.
Just to give you a brief background, I first saw signs of this condition sometime around 2005-2006, around the age of 15. So I have spent about 13 years of my life with TV. My Tinea Versicolor skin patches have always been brown; however, for other people it can be shades of white, pink, or red. I have been to the dermatologist 3 times for this condition. The first time the dermatologist took a sample of my skin and looked at it under a microscope. At the time he diagnosed it as being something other than tinea versicolor, it was a long name which I no longer have access to. For that he gave me an oral medication, pills that I had to take for 90 days. Surprisingly this got rid of the TV, but only for a short time. I believe it was only a few months later that the TV came back. About 5-6 years later I visited another dermatologist and he diagnosed my condition as being Tinea Versicolor. He gave me an ointment to put on the areas, which was my neck and stomach. I gave it a try for a few months and only found that it absolutely did nothing.
During this time (2011-12) I discovered that my diet was causing the flair outs. Mainly gluten and sugar rich foods caused my TV to get worse. So after watching a lot of youtube videos and doing extensive online research, I adjusted my diet to reduce the TV. If you are interested in the diet I followed, take a look at the Kaufmann Diet . This made a huge difference, so I highly recommend checking it out. However, in the past few years, my skin went through a cycle of improvement and diminishment because I lacked to control my diet. Sometimes I go through phases where I crave unhealthy food and eat without any limit, like pizza and candy! It is hard to resist at times!
During these years I tried a number of things to help treat the TV. Here is just a list of few things I have done:
- apply anti-fungal creams and powders like Lotrimin
- apply Selsun Blue and Head & Shoulders
- apply and orally take apple cider vinegar (2 teaspoons with 1 glass of water)
- take 2 drops of oregano oil with 1 glass of water
- drink lot of water
- make a topical solution (3oz witch hazel, 10 drops of pure oregano oil, 10 drops of tea tree oil, and 1 drop of clove oil) and spray it all over the effected areas 2 times a day
- use anti-fungal body wash, my 2 favorite brands are ArtNaturals (I use every day) and TheraTree
- take a bunch of vitamins (D3, E, C)
- eat healthy, exercise, and keep good hygiene
While I did have some success with the mentioned remedies, I found none of them to be as effective as taking the fiber called psyllium husk (P.H.). And this discovery was made by pure accident. In all of my years doing online research, I never came across any video, blog post, or article mentioning the effects of psyllium husk on Tinea Versicolor.
This was a happy accident but what led up to it wasn't all that fun for me. About 3 months ago, I was visiting India and ended up with a bad case of traveler's diarrhea towards the end of the trip. For nearly 4 weeks my stomach was upset. Right from the start my family suggested taking psyllium husk (a popular remedy in India) to help ease the upset stomach. So during this period of recovery, I was taking P.H. on a daily basis. I should also not that during my travel and even after returning back home, I was eating a lot of food containing gluten and sugar. And even drinking alcohol. With the amount I was consuming, I knew, without a doubt, that my TV would breakout with darker spots. However, surprisingly, I noticed the opposite. My spots were actually starting to become less noticeable! This includes my neck, arm, and front torso. At first this didn't make any sense but eventually it boiled down to 2 possible factors: It could have either been related to the stomach sickness or the psyllium husk. To figure out the main factor, I continued to take the P.H. after my stomach got better. I also continued to eat a normal diet including gluten and sugar. I was surprised to see that my skin condition didn't get worse and remained the same. The TV didn't completely disappear, but surely it was in the best condition I have seen it while eating foods with gluten and sugar. So I came to a conclusion that it wasn't the stomach sickness but the P.H. that caused my TV symptoms to reduce significantly.
Additionally, I performed 2 more tests to verify that the P.H. was the main factor . First I stopped taking P.H. for about 1 week, while continuing to eat gluten and sugar. The result was that the Tinea Versicolor condition got worse, darker spots started to appear. Second, I switched my psyllium husk product (mentioned below) to a psyllium seed powder by the brand name Metamucil. I took Metamucil for 1 week, while keeping my diet the same. The result was that my TV got slightly darker. Perhaps because Metamucil is not in pure husk form. The following week, when I switched back to the original P.H. product, I noticed that my TV started to reduce again. So these tests confirmed that it was the pure psyllium husk that was treating my tinea versicolor.
From everything I have tried, I believe PH is the best remedy out there for TV. Not only has it been very effective but also allowed me to reintroduce gluten and sugar back into my diet; however, I still try to limit my intake because at the end of the day, diet has an impact on the TV. But now I don't have to worry about any major breakout. When I do consume gluten and sugar, I do notice a minor TV flair out, but it's significantly less than before. So keep in mind that PH isn't a cure but a wonderful remedy, especially when combined with a proper diet.
Additionally, I performed 2 more tests to verify that the P.H. was the main factor . First I stopped taking P.H. for about 1 week, while continuing to eat gluten and sugar. The result was that the Tinea Versicolor condition got worse, darker spots started to appear. Second, I switched my psyllium husk product (mentioned below) to a psyllium seed powder by the brand name Metamucil. I took Metamucil for 1 week, while keeping my diet the same. The result was that my TV got slightly darker. Perhaps because Metamucil is not in pure husk form. The following week, when I switched back to the original P.H. product, I noticed that my TV started to reduce again. So these tests confirmed that it was the pure psyllium husk that was treating my tinea versicolor.
From everything I have tried, I believe PH is the best remedy out there for TV. Not only has it been very effective but also allowed me to reintroduce gluten and sugar back into my diet; however, I still try to limit my intake because at the end of the day, diet has an impact on the TV. But now I don't have to worry about any major breakout. When I do consume gluten and sugar, I do notice a minor TV flair out, but it's significantly less than before. So keep in mind that PH isn't a cure but a wonderful remedy, especially when combined with a proper diet.
Direction & Dosage
***NOTE: People who are taking medications should wait at least 2 hours before or after taking any psyllium product. I am not a medical expert, so if you have any medical conditions, please consult your doctor before taking anything. Also note that psyllium acts as a laxative, so it will definitely make you go!
Take 1-2 teaspoons of pure psyllium husk with a full glass of water , 2 times a day (usually once after lunch, and once after dinner or before bed). I take a trusted Indian brand called Telephone Sat-isabgol . For the first 1-2 weeks take only 1 teaspoon per serving, until your stomach adjusts to it. And then you can increase the serving up to 2 teaspoons. Also make sure to drink it down immediately because this stuff turns into gel quickly.
Another option is to mix 1 teaspoon of pure psyllium husk, Telephone Sat-isabgol with 1 teaspoon of psyllium seed powder, Metamucil. After testing the Metamucil by itself, for a week, I found that it is not necessary and not as effective in treating TV. However when mixed with Telephone Sat-isabgol , it gets the job done and adds a little kick of orange flavor to your drink. If you don't care about flavor, then option 1 is the way to go.
Another option is to mix 1 teaspoon of pure psyllium husk, Telephone Sat-isabgol with 1 teaspoon of psyllium seed powder, Metamucil. After testing the Metamucil by itself, for a week, I found that it is not necessary and not as effective in treating TV. However when mixed with Telephone Sat-isabgol , it gets the job done and adds a little kick of orange flavor to your drink. If you don't care about flavor, then option 1 is the way to go.
Feed Back
I would love to hear about your results after taking the psyllium husk for 1-2 months. Please send me an email : versicolor.tinea@gmail.com
Also if you found this content helpful, please give it a share!
Thank you & Much Love
Jay
Thanks for the information. I really like the way you express complex topics in lucid way. It really helps me understand it much better way. psyllium husk powder
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