The ACV Effect

Ah, Apple Cider Vinegar.

Where should I begin? You’re the cure-all (like bone broth).  Perhaps you don’t taste quite as good, but that’s probably ‘cos you're just misunderstood and people don't understand that it takes a refined palate to ingest and enjoy your go-go juice.

You’ve been heralded as one who helps prevent diabetes and insulin resistance, promotes weight loss, whisks away acid reflux and heartburn, melts away warts. Among other things. Many, many other things (natural deodorant anyone? Anyone…? Well…).

But dang, sister, those are some braggadocios claims, there. You’re brand isn’t pulling any punches either (Bragg. The spelling doesn’t fool anyone).

But do you actually do what people claim you do?

~oOo~

I first heard about the wonders of Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) a year or so ago from my dear Older Sister (https://christinelife.wordpress.com).

Warts, unsightly, disgusting, horrible, nasty little body invaders, have been a battle for me since I have been in my middle school years. Literature (so scholastic. much knowledge) states “Most go away within months or years.” (Wow, Whimsy, such a reputable reference).

Well, okay, then. It’s been fifteen years. So I guess they could still be right. Frickin’ time frames of ridiculous and unhelpful proportions…

Anyway, I had been complaining (not out of the ordinary) about how this one periungual wart (that’s fancy jargon for finger wart) just wouldn’t go away no matter how many times Dr. Derm(atologist) froze it.

PSA (not the prostate test): freezing around nail beds freaking hurts.

This particular viral bed (the word wart is disgusting and I am disgusted by it) had been frozen no less than six times and I couldn’t stomach going back to have it done again… And again… And again… And—

So I tried duck tape.

I tried carving that sucker off with my mini pocket knife (PSA: I don’t recommend this).

I tried some sort of cream used for skin cancers that Dr. Derm(atologist) prescribed for me. 

And the durn thing wouldn’t go away.

Then, D-Day struck.  A massive offensive. Massive.

A hard area the size of a pea had manifested on my heel and had been rather bothersome to me.

Uh-oh.

Oh, yes.

The Plantar Virus had struck. When my mother used to wax on about the woes of plantar warts, I’m afraid my reaction was mostly “Ma, please” (I never said this to her face).

But now I understood. Viscerally, deeply, personally, I understood.

I was peeved.

I was angry.

I was peeved again.

So Older Sister suggested Bragg’s ACV as a method of clearing up the buggers. And since I was desperate, I tried it.

Here’s the process (my process, that is. I recommend nothing):

-Carve down the wart as much as you can stand with a knife (I still don’t recommend this)

-get part of a cotton ball that exactly matches the size of the growth, moisten with ACV, and squeeze out excess so it is damp just so.

-Cover with bandaid

-If on foot, cover with duck tape; anywhere else, I use silk tape

Lather, rinse, repeat indefinitely.

So basically, months go by. I fell off the bandwagon (because, putting acid on raw skin hurts, you know) and I had made up my mind to ask my PCP for a referral to a Big City Dr. Derm(atologist)  #2 instead of my small town one. The plantar wart had grown from one wart to seven; the peringual was simply and painfully stubborn and was too deep to dig out with my humble pocket knife (let it be known that I, uh, DON'T RECOMMEND THE USE OF KNIVES AROUND FINGERS. That’s, uh, my disclaimer. Is there an echo in here?).
So off to the Big City I go, filled with hopes and dreams of this alien invader finally being blasted from the face of my bod. Or the finger and foot of my bod.

Dr. Derm(atologist) #2 walks in. She looks at my plantar warts. She looks at my finger. She looks at me.

“Well, we can freeze the one on your finger, but can’t do anything about the ones on your heel. You could scrape them down at home, I guess, and maybe use over-the-counter acid.”

………….

Freaking what?

……..

“Dr. Derm(atologist) #2? Are ya kiddin’ me chick?” (I said that in my head)

So we freeze my finger for the seventh time.

“We’ll make a follow-up appointment for a month to see how that is doing.”

“Oh, okay,” says I, intending to do no such thing.

Back to Bragg-adocio I go.

Now, concession number one: the ACV had been helpful to destroy the virus superficially on my finger but couldn’t touch the deeper tissue. This time, the freezing destroyed the deepest parts of the tissue (until now, a year later, but that’s why I’m writing this post ‘cos I’m weaponizing Bragg again).

The plantar warts, however, I resolved to kill with fire. Or at least acid. Okay, a weak acid.

So man did I go at it.

Pocket knife in hand, I dug and scraped off the callouses and applied ACV obsessively, not going a day or night without it unless the sting was too great and I needed a mental rest. I was at it for months.

But, you know what? They went away.

Well, “went away….” Those suckers died and didn’t come back (yet)! Their horrible bodies turned black, burnt to a crisp (Don’t mess with Bragg’s Mother, you…. mother….).

So now to the present.

The familiar spots of broken baby capillaries once again showed up peringually. I attacked it with zest a week ago, skipping only a day or two. And the familiar black of dead, dead, dead, dead wart (or something) has been realized.

Oh, yeah, baby.

~oOo~

So, does it work?

Yes, I would say. But not unequivocally. It isn’t the cure-all to every wart out there, like some swear. BUT. I think it is almost always worth a try to try on things. Most things. Well, some things.

~oOo~

Anecdote Two

Long story short. I have heartburn. I don’t wanna be on Omeprazole (or other PPIs/acid reducers) indefinitely. I was desperate. I heard about ACV as being able to help with heartburn. I was skeptical. I said, “WTH(eck), man” and tried it, a capful every morning and night with 10 oz of water.

And you know what? You know freakin’ what?!

After a week, I felt relief and improvement. Go figure. But I don’t figure with this anymore because it helps when I do it, so…..

Take it, leave it, there’s my story. Can’t argue with that (‘cept you can and some might but you know, whatevs, man).

Much Love!

Anyone try Braggs ACV for their maladies? Did it work, did it not?

                                               Raw. Unfiltered. With the Mother. Well, if the shoe fits.