[YEA]  09/20/2006: Sue from Oregon: "I have been using a Castor oil pack for years. I just apply the oil to my stomach area and cover with plastic, then put a heating pad, set on low, over the area for 1/2 hour a day. I have gotten relief this way for hiatel hernia, indigestion, and constipation. I have also used this method for for healing joint injuries and to gain relief and healing in arthritic joints."

07/03/2009: Merilee from Guelph, Ontario, Canada: "I have a Castor Oil application idea that I would like to share:

I have suffered from pain for years - first endometriosis, and now full-blown fibromyalgia, neck (both muscle and lymph), gall, and kidney pain (which I now know all stems from Lyme infection of 15 years...). Ever since using a heating pad for the debilitating monthly cramps in my teens, I have found heat to be an aid. In addition to the over-used hot water bottle, I also use a _____ heat lamp that a Chinese Medicine Practitioner gave me, which I place over whichever organ/area I wish to treat (he uses one to increase the effectiveness of acupuncture). Is's about 8-10" in diameter and has a swing-arm stand, which holds the light about 8-12" from my body, resulting in an approx. 12" treatment area.

This has been very helpful to me. Apparently the ___ wavelength of light penetrates a couple inches into the body, vibrating at a wavelength that resonates with fat cells (the water in them?), and can cause them to mobilize and excrete toxins (much of our toxic load is attached to fat cells, and hard to remove). It has a greater impact on my pain than the water bottle (greater muscle relaxation, I think), and I find it soothing, especially as it does not have to be particularly hot to work (it works because of its particular wavelength of light, not just the heat).

The reason for my post: I have recently been using the lamp as a means of Castor Oil application, with the thought that it might produce deeper penetration (and much less mess) than simple Castor Oil packs. I just slap some on my skin and apply the light for 20min-1hr, then wipe/wash it off. I have nothing to compare its effectiveness to (I never tried castor oil packs after a few messy, unhelpful PMS cramp-releif attempts in my teens), but it does seem to ease my uterine and gall bladder pain, and my sore/swollen groin-area glands. As both therapies are purported to mobilize toxins, I'd like to think they potentiate each other, and together pull out some of the stuff that is giving me trouble.

I would be interested in hearing what someone with more Castor Oil know-how thinks of my practice, and perhaps other ____ lamp owners could give it a try."

EC: More Knee Pain Remedies here.

[YEA]  01/26/2008: Merk from Seattle, USA: "I have used Castor Oil many times for treating Pink Eye, put 1-2 drops in each eye two times a day, eyes will get better with in one day but keep using for 4-5 days. Always treat both eyes. After putting in eyes they will blur some from oil but will not sting at all and will be very soothing, castor oil is antimicrobal and a very healing oil."

[YEA]  08/21/2007: Angie from Sparta, MO: "I have been taking the herb vitex for my pms and it has helped so much. I used to get severe pms. recently in the past couple of months the pms has acted up again. It has made me feel to so bad thats its been hard to think&function. I wondered what was going on. One night it dawned on me that my liver may be congested, so I got out a piece of flannel and soaked it in castor oil and applied it over my liver area with a heating pad. My pms improved greatly, so it hardly bothered me. Then yesterday it happened again, I did the same thing again with the castor oil pack and the pms has went away again. I hope this testimony will help someone else too going through the same problem."

[QUESTION]  12/22/2010: Christinet from Scarborough, Ontario, Canada: "So I can't use the castor oil on my scar tissue from c-section if I am breastfeeding? Is there anything else I can use instead?"

[YEA]  08/11/2009: Junglegirl from Haiku, Hawaii: "Shingles treatment: My mother used a high quality pure castor oil slathered on the worst spots. She applied it most heavily at night and wore old pajamas because it's messy, but it worked immediately for her. We found the remedy somewhere online, years ago, so I can't reference it. But it worked."

[YEA]  03/17/2009: Gautam Desai from Vadara, Gujarat, India: "i had severe problem of sinus coupled with loss of smell. Doctors suggested this is dsue to polyps and i had them removed about 5 years.

this surgery has given temporary relief but the loss of slell continued.

some of my friend suggested use of castor oil.

i put one drop of luke warm castor oil in morning and one drop before i sleep.

this i am doing for last 10 days and to my surprise i got rid of my sinus problem and smelling sense is gradually coming back"

EC: Thank you for this feedback! We take it you mean 1 drop of warmed castor oil in each nostril?

[QUESTION]  01/12/2009: Lynne from Sedona, Arizona, USA: "skin cancer of the lip: Has anyone ever heard of using Castor Oil Packs on skin cancer???"

[YEA]  01/13/2009: Carolyn from Northwest, OH replies: "Yes, use castor oil on your lips! It was a major ingredient in lipsticks for years and years and is perfectly safe. As for it's effect on skin cancers, one case was specifically mentioned in the book, "The Oil that Heals" where a man had a tumor on his ear which disappeared after using castor oil topically daily. I always keep a bottle on hand and never ingest it--just use it topically."

08/08/2010: Matt from Springfield, Il replies: "I read somewhere Iodine tincture as a good remedy for skin cancers."

10/23/2010: Jules from Denver, Colorado, Usa replies: "I've used a bloodroot paste twice successfully on abnormal moles. I've also seen it used on animals and other people with success. The product I use is actually sold only to vets and it's made locally in Colorado. Bloodroot is fairly well studied and a web search will probably bring up several sources."

[YEA]  12/30/2009: Aurelia from Pittsburgh, Pa: "I have found that a good quality castor oil rubbed into the foot for about 5 minutes will relieve foot soreness temporarily. Hope this is helpful."

12/26/2011: Diabetesguy from London, United Kingdom replies: "Castor Oil really works on Sore Feet and Burning Feet - I am diabetic and I massage Castor Oil into the bottom of my feet when sore after walking or exercise.

I also massage Castor Oil at nights to stop BURNING feet - It really works- Hope this helps."

[YEA]  12/09/2008: Shelley from St Jean sur Richilieu, Quebec, Canada: "I have suffered with Spine of Lenoir for 2 years now. A friend of mine told me to use caster oil a year ago. It sounded a little far fetched to me so I ignored her. Two weeks ago she brought it up again so I decided to give it a try. I massaged some in and used one of those foot massegers. I also used the hot packs. I was shocked that it worked. It is now a staple in my house. I am trying out other uses that I have read on here and other sites."

EC: Thanks, Shelley. Is there another translation for Spine of Lenoir? We can't find the condition on Google search, just the following on Wikipedia:

"If spelled Lenoir, Lenoire (sometimes LeNoir in the US) it is pronounced "Luh-nwar". It is French in origin and means "The Black"." Wikipedia

10/19/2010: Gem from Brisbane, Queensland Australia replies: "Reply to "Spine of Lenoir". Could it be - "pine de lenoir and plantar fasciitis?
It's a bone spur caused by an excessive tension on the attachment of the plantar fascia at the heel level. This tension can be related to a previous trauma to the ankle creating stiffness or by the shrinkage of the calf muscles. The spine may be painless or very painful. You will feel the pain in the morning following the first steps of the day. The plantar fasciitis is the inflammation of the skin layer tissues of the foot sole all the way to the heel and toe phalanx helping the foot muscles support the plantar arch."

[YEA]  03/22/2010: Jen from R: "hey ec just wanted to let u know that castor oil works! i fell last sunday. landed on my hand/wrist and thought 4 sure it was broke. swollen, blue, blood blisters, everything. i kept ice on it all night and when i woke up it was worse. so i went monday morn to have it xrayed. to everyones surprise it was not broke so i went and bought castor oil. 5.99 and wrapped my hand before bed. i fell asleep and woke up 3 hrs later took the wrap off and to my suprise i could open my hand all the way and had no swelling and no pain. i could nt believe it! i went and turned on the light to check for the bruising. it was still there but it looked like a week old. u know when it starts to turn brown. so i did it again the next night. and only left it on for an hour. the bruise was almost gone. and its now monday of the next week and you would never know that a week ago i was being xrayed for broken bones.

i posted a question lastweek asking about castor oil for hyperthyroid and no one answered but im going for it. with amazing results on my hand i have figured i will try and let u know what happens. i have never used this before last monday but im a firm believer now. thanks ec. thanks edgar cayce. thanks God!"

03/15/2011: D from Minneapolis, Mn replies: "I also used castor oil for my sons sprain, he could not put any pressure on the foot without it hurting badly. I put a castor oil wrap on it for the night and he woke up walking. It started hurting later in the day and I did the same thing and he never complained again. That all no tylonol or pain med, just castor oil on flannel with saran wrap to keep it on. I thought of this because I had tried it with my 5 yr old who had a hyperextended knee. She could not use it for a week so I finally tried a castor oil wrap. Left it on for 24hrs. And when I took it off she still wouldn't try use it, I bribed her with a trip to the store and within 20 min. She was walking. So I'm not sure if it was the castor oil or the trip to the store, up until then she would only crawl or scoot. "

06/26/2011: Carrie from Jacksonville, Fl replies: "Just wondering if the castor oil packs helped at all for your thyroid condition?"

[YEA]  09/26/2009: Bee from Mo, Usa: "I just wanted to share my success with using castor oil for stys. I frequently get little bumps around my eyes that look like whiteheads, had some particularly irritating ones just on the edge of the eyelid that rubbed the eye. Ouch! I tried the baby shampoo which got rid of most, but some stubborn ones remained so I tried castor oil. First of all it's very soothing and didn't bother my eyes like the shampoo, especially since it was unavoidable to get in the eye bc of location. I just used a qtip and smoothed it over both lash lines and around the eyelid and let it sit overnight. My stys cleared up around 24-48 hours. I kept at it a little longer, it feels nice and hopefully will prevent anymore."

[YEA]  03/07/2012: Mona from Marietta, Georgia replies: "I felt my lower eye lid getting sore one afternoon last week and by 10 pm it was REALLY sore. I pulled back my eyelid. It was red and I could see the bump on my lid above the lashes. I took a q-tip and dipped in in Castor oil then rubbed it over the area letting some of the oil go into my eye. Almost immediately I got relief. I repeated this about 4 of 5 times before I went to sleep about every twenty minutes or so. My eye was not sore all night. The next morning upon wakening I could feel that under my eye it was swollen but no soreness and it was rather itchy. The sty had come to a head and I could see the white bump. I ran another Castored Q-tip over it with a light pressure and the sty drained. That was it! I had a bit of a dark spot (bluish) under my eye. The swelling went away within an hour and the dark spot was completely gone by next day. I've had miserable stys before that have lasted for days where my eye has swollen shut so this was nothing short of amazing!"

[YEA]  08/26/2008: Sharon from Redding, California: "My daughter sunburned the shin's on both legs. They had 3rd degree burns. Big yellow blisters. She could walk for about 3 days. I was told by an elderly man to soak gauze in Caster Oil and wrap her legs with the gauze and leave it for 3 days. The next day my daughter was able to walk. The 3rd day I removed the gauze and she was healed. Blisters gone. Her legs we just a shade pink. It left no scars. Awesome stuff."