HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Prickly pear/nopal

Support Forums
>
Ulcerative Colitis
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 9/8/2016 3:46 AM (GMT 0)
So I know there were people on the site who posted claims that Nopal "cured" their UC etc, but I just wanted to see whether regular people on the forum had tried nopal and what their experience was with it? I'm in Australia and am considering getting some (it's considered a pest here) and trying it mainly because it's cheap and I have nothing to lose. But I just wanted to get people's feelings and thoughts on it first and whether I'm wasting my time
Posted 9/8/2016 9:49 AM (GMT 0)
It worked for me for a long time and it was just enough along with Asacol HD to get me into remission for over a year. Then I stopped drinking it because I had a new job where I was travelling a lot and a couple months later I started flaring again and even though I started drinking it again it didn't help anymore. Wish I had never stopped drinking it!

Only the original poster ever said it "cured" their UC and even he backed off the word "cure". Do a search and you will find several threads about people who used it -- some successfully and others it didn't do anything. My experience with it was that it worked slowly and I'm not sure that if you are flaring badly it will do anything at all. It's easy, cheap and worth a try though. Give it 2 weeks and if you don't see even a small improvement then cross it off your list of things to try.

Clean the cactus pads, cut up about 4-5 ounces of pads into pieces and soak in 2 qts of water overnight in the refrigerator. Keep the pieces in the water as you drink it. The water will get thicker but not real thick and kinda tasted like cucumbers to me. I drank 16 oz in the AM and 8 oz in the PM at the beginning. Once I was in remission I cut that back to 8 oz in the AM & 8 oz PM.

Good luck!
Posted 9/8/2016 12:35 PM (GMT 0)
I think you should give it a try, because it is fairly easy to prepare once you find a pad (Mexican/Hispanic market) and if you have annoying symptoms you can stop it right away with little problems. Make sure if you find it wild it is not next to a road where pollutants can be an issue and careful not to get the fine prickly outside bits in your skin when you scrape them off. They are painful and can cause problems.

That said, I tried nopal water and at first it seemed very helpful but the second or third day my gut said no. In my case it is probably a fiber issue which gut hates and IIRC caused constipation. Some people might like that effect of slow-down in digestion but not my gut. What fiber? you might say because the nopal water is mostly clear. I think the fiber is there just mostly invisible gel.

I've tried many many alternatives/supplements that were worse. Wish it had worked for me.
Posted 9/9/2016 12:20 AM (GMT 0)
Just purchased some clippings off eBay - wish me luck and God bless eBay :)!
Posted 9/9/2016 12:33 AM (GMT 0)
Good luck! I tried without luck, but my UC was always pretty severe and nothing worked. Really, there is no harm in trying.
Posted 9/9/2016 2:13 AM (GMT 0)
Just to clarify as I've never seen it before, I am to cut the pads in pieces, then split them and scoop out the middle and add both to water and allow to stand. Is it easy to simply scrape of the prickles i.e. Are they large and easily visible? I don't want to inadvertently drink any!
Posted 9/9/2016 11:43 AM (GMT 0)
CCinPA is the expert so PM her if she doesn't see this right away.
I bought my pads in a Hispanic market where the prickles had been removed already. But being cautious I also put heavy rubber gloves on and scrubbed the outside with a Dobie pad before cutting them up and letting them sit in water overnight.

Been over a year so can't remember whether I scraped out the insides or just cut them in quarter-sized pieces with skin on to soak (I think the latter because I remember removing pieces next morning).
Posted 9/9/2016 4:17 PM (GMT 0)
I just cut the pads into 1"-2" pieces -- no scraping. I also kept the pieces in the water until I drank it all -- sometimes I even added more water after I drank a few glasses to stretch the time between making batches.

Most of the time I also bought the pads already cleaned but sometimes they didn't have any of the cleaned pads and I had to buy the ones that still had the thorns. It's not really hard to clean the pads -- just use a sharp knife and scrape them off. I used heavy leather work gloves when I handled them to avoid getting pricked by any of the thorns.

Good luck!! Let us know how you make out
Posted 9/9/2016 5:20 PM (GMT 0)
I bought them at a Latin grocery store. I live in the southwest, these cactus grow here, so they are easy to find. The ones I got were somewhat plucked free of prickly pieces, but they weren't 100% free of them. The prickleys I found were really sharp if they poked you. I cut the pads and scraped the goo out into the water, then I think I may have dropped the whole pieces into the pitcher with the goo. By the morning, it was thicker. As you got toward the bottom, it was like gel. The taste is pretty subtle, kind of like cucumber water, not as good as cucumber water, and the thick consistency is a little off-putting, but it's definitely tolerable. I always worried that there may be a loose pricker in the bottom that I would swallow, but it didn't happen to me luckily. I think you would have to do your best to make sure it's free of prickers before you make the water. I drank it for a couple weeks, then it was clear my condition wasn't improving and I stopped.
Posted 9/9/2016 10:39 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks guys!!! CCinPA did you notice it worked? How long before you started to notice a difference if so?
Posted 9/10/2016 2:16 AM (GMT 0)
Repeating from above:

It worked for me for a long time and it was just enough along with Asacol HD to get me into remission for over a year. Then I stopped drinking it because I had a new job where I was travelling a lot and a couple months later I started flaring again and even though I started drinking it again it didn't help anymore. Wish I had never stopped drinking it!

Only the original poster ever said it "cured" their UC and even he backed off the word "cure". Do a search and you will find several threads about people who used it -- some successfully and others it didn't do anything. My experience with it was that it worked slowly and I'm not sure that if you are flaring badly it will do anything at all. It's easy, cheap and worth a try though. Give it 2 weeks and if you don't see even a small improvement then cross it off your list of things to try.

Clean the cactus pads, cut up about 4-5 ounces of pads into pieces and soak in 2 qts of water overnight in the refrigerator. Keep the pieces in the water as you drink it. The water will get thicker but not real thick and kinda tasted like cucumbers to me. I drank 16 oz in the AM and 8 oz in the PM at the beginning. Once I was in remission I cut that back to 8 oz in the AM & 8 oz PM.

Good luck!
Posted 9/13/2016 2:28 PM (GMT 0)
Hello, I recently started taking nopal water as well; I essentially followed the same method of cutting up the nopal and letting it soak in water over night. I also added some chia seeds to it. Its been a week of me drinking 4 oz in the morning and 4 oz at night and I have seen some significant improvements though not sure if I can attribute them to the nopal water alone. I may increase my intake to 8oz in the morning and night to see if it gets better. So far I am down to 2 BMs a day (one in the morning and one in the evening); for 3 days my BMs were completely normal, then the 4th day the morning one was spotted with small traces of blood. I'll continue to take the nopal water in hopes to achieve remission.

On a separate note, my original thread I had posted with my story got locked, I assume due to a debate it sparked. I just wanted to say that while I was diagnosed in 2009 with just colitis, I never returned to my GI because I didn't find anything he suggested or said to be helpful. I wish my condition was temporary but I have had several flares throughout the years, albeit they usually didn't last longer than a week. I am currently in my longest flare since I was diagnosed in 2009; its been a month since my flare started and I am only now returning to normalish BMs.
Posted 9/13/2016 2:58 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Abberant Abe,
Thanks for sharing, my nopal cuttings still haven't arrived yet but they should any day and I'm hanging out as I am right at that tipping point of a flare where it can go either way.
Regarding your improvement, were you already starting to come out of your flare and the nopal helped it along or do you think it helped pull you out of the flare? How long did it take to work before you noticed a difference?
Kind regards,
Jordana
Posted 9/13/2016 3:25 PM (GMT 0)
Hi there,
I would say I was getting incrementally better already; I had started taking psyllium seed powder and noticed it helped solidify my stools and limit BMs. After two days of nopal consisting of 2 x 4oz dosses (morning and night), the 3rd day in the morning, I had a normal BM with no blood at all. Its honestly been somewhat sporadic for me which is frustrating when attempting to figure out whats working. For the most part, I've been having normal BMs with some mornings with spotting.
Posted 9/13/2016 8:37 PM (GMT 0)
Fingers crossed it works for me, although I tend to introduce so many things during a flare to try and get it under control it can be hard to tell what's caused the improvement!
Posted 9/15/2016 12:46 AM (GMT 0)
WorriedUCer, hah, I'm the same way. I go to extreme measures and take anything I can during even the slightest sign of a flare in an attempt to stop it before it gets worse. So far, I've been doing relatively okay, only 2 BMs a day and just slight cramps before BMs. I still see small spots of blood every other day but I'm continuing to take the cactus, along with all the stuff at the bottom of my signature. I increased my cactus water to 8oz in the morning and 8oz at night on an empty stomach, I also got some Slippery Elm I just started taking at night, hope it helps.
Posted 9/15/2016 1:08 AM (GMT 0)
It worked very slowly for me.... I would do good for several days and then go backwards for a couple days, but looking at things on a week by week basis instead of day by day I made slow but steady improvement. It took about 2-3 months until I completely stopped seeing any trace of blood (blood is always my last symptom to go away), but it was probably just 2-4 weeks until I was having formed stool most of the time.

Be patient and good luck!!
Posted 9/15/2016 3:06 AM (GMT 0)
Hooray, the clippings have arrived today!!! How long do they last for before they start to rot generally?
Posted 9/15/2016 3:09 AM (GMT 0)
No idea. I bought mine every 2 weeks and kept them in the refrigerator. If they turn brown or are completely dried out don't use them,
Posted 9/15/2016 5:13 AM (GMT 0)
I tried it for about a month; no obvious effect.
Posted 9/15/2016 7:26 PM (GMT 0)
CCinPA, I agree, blood is always the last thing to go away. I was doing very well for 4 days then I got small streaks of blood and now my BMs are increasing though nothing in my diet or supplements has changed. It is certainly frustrating; I'm drinking 16oz of nopal water a day to see if I can offset this flare. To date, this has been my longest flare, over a month now :( I'm certainly doing better than at the start but I wish my colon would just stop being inflamed.
Posted 9/17/2016 10:44 AM (GMT 0)
Have started the Nopal this morning and was thick as described and tasted like not unpleasant cucumber water. I don't have blood or mucus anymore, but my symptom is watery diarrhoea so I'm hoping the Nopal can resolve that. I find that is generally the longest symptom to go with me and can stretch on for over a month. I have been feeling better the last few days, one liquid stool in the morning and then fine for the rest of the day but I'm only eating one piece of steamed fish at night. Last night I branched out and ate a mango as well, and this morning thought I had a partly solid BM but looked down and I obviously am not digesting food :( I felt a little bit more unsettled today but have started reintroducing food so always tend to notice an increase in symptoms when I do that.
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply