Coconut Oil and No Chicken Pox?

I am amazed sometimes at how long it takes for me to catch on to an idea. I know that coconut oil is anti-microbial, but I did not link our consumption of it to the potential difficulty we are having in getting Colson to contract some chicken pox. I have been complaining about finding wild chicken pox (wild pox do not result from vaccination) for Colson to catch. He has had one exposure to what may have been wild pox. He and his friend ate the same banana, he wore his friend’s unwashed poxy pajamas to bed, and he played with his friend for a couple of hours. All that and no chicken pox! We even joined a chicken pox group where parents report when their kids have it and offer to make their kids available for exposure. Unfortunately, this happens very little because there does not seem to be much wild chicken pox anymore.

How does coconut possibly play a role? Because it is anti-microbial. Rather than try to repeat or paraphrase all of the writing done on it, I recommend reading these articles (the first is short and the second much more detailed): http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/coconut-antimicrobial.html and http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/coconut_oil.html. Doing your own search will reveal much of the same information, although not presented in the comprehensive science-based manner that Mary Enig presents it.

My family consumes gobs of coconut oil (usually at least two tablespoons a day each), and perhaps this plus a nutrient dense diet will prevent Colson from contracting the chicken pox. In another year I will have his titers run to see if he has been exposed and developed immunity and we didn’t even know it.

Comments

[Erica]

I too have been eating more coconut oil lately, as I have stopped focusing on butter as much. It is helping to heal the cracks in my finger tips. Plus, I love the way it tastes in my tea!

[mahndisa]

My little son has chicken pox now and I will say that I feed him coconut oil in his bottle every other day. He still got the pox, but I've been rubbing coconut oil on his skin and you would be amazed at how quickly it mitigates itching AND the actual pox. My little guy has barely scratched at all and when he tried, I massaged him with more oil and he is alright. I think you are onto something; the cool thing about coconut oil is that it also acts as an antifungal; it is one of the only things to help my fungal issues on my hands and fingers coupled to raw milk:) Since you wrote this piece last year, I wonder if you ever got your son's titers run?

[doxycycline]

My little son has chicken pox now and I will say that I feed him coconut oil in his bottle every other day. He still got the pox, but I've been rubbing coconut oil on his skin and you would be amazed at how quickly it mitigates itching AND the actual pox. My little guy has barely scratched at all and when he tried, I massaged him with more oil and he is alright. I think you are onto something; the cool thing about coconut oil is that it also acts as an antifungal; it is one of the only things to help my fungal issues on my hands and fingers coupled to raw milk:) Since you wrote this piece last year, I wonder if you ever got your son's titers run?

[Adelyn]

Coconut oil DOES work on chicken pox. My 4-year-old is on day #4 and they are already healing. As soon as she started getting itchy I started applying coconut oil. As soon as I started the oil, the spots became far less angry looking and even shrunk in size. Any time she became itchy I would just rub a little oil on her and it took the itch away. WONDERFUL!