Be forewarned! This is a DISGUSTING topic, but when I was spending years searching through medical journals, websites and blogs, I swore to myself, if I figured this thing out, I would share it with others. If you have never had a wart or have a small one that you haven't been too worried about, this might not seem too pressing.  However if, like me, you have struggled for years, gone to multiple doctors, were completely compliant with treatment, and only ended up with it getting worse, you may be freaking out right about now. Take a deep breath. It's going to be ok.

There is a TON of information out there on what a wart is, so I am not going to spend a lot of time elaborating on that. It's a strand of the HPV virus. There are a ton of strands and most of them are NOT STD's so don't panic! My experience is with plantar warts or warts that are on the soles of the feet. It's important to remember that your wart IS contagious but most people's immune systems are equipped to fight it off. I shared a shower with my husband for years before I knew that I could pass it on and he never caught it. Once I learned that I could pass it on to others, I was very careful to keep it covered, to wear water shoes at pools and in showers, and to bleach my shower EVERY time I got out. Some of this was for me too. I am susceptible, so through not being careful, it started to spread.

I was a buyer at a water park for a year and I'm 99.9% sure that's where I caught the virus. I went to a dermatologist who froze it repeatedly and then eventually told me that it wasn't responding to treatment and we could try to cut it out or leave it alone and let it resolve on its own. I'd had it for a year at that point. She seemed confident that it wasn't going to be a problem so after reading up on all the horror stories from people that had tried to cut them out, I decided to leave it alone. Since it's a virus, if they don't get EVERY cell, it can grow back with vengeance. Read up on it before you let someone cut into your foot!

2 years later it was still there AND it starting spreading. This is when I started panicking! For 5 years, I have researched and tried many home remedies. I will list below what didn't work for me but with each of these remedies I religiously followed the instructions, never missed a treatment and gave each remedy 90 days. If I didn't see improvement in 90 days I moved on, except with Apple Cider Vinegar. I tried multiple rounds of ACV. It did work but the warts kept growing back. I kept going because it was the only remedy that I saw marginal success with and I was afraid to stop. It's very painful and when they came back a couple months ago, I started looking again to see if I might have missed or overlooked a treatment when I came across this study.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3274422/

In this study, they pricked a  25,000 IU vitamin A capsules and applied the vitamin A capsule directly to the warts and her smaller warts were gone in 70 days and a large one in 6 months. I came across several other comments on blogs supporting their findings but only a few, so I decided to give it a try. It was easy and pain free! 

Within three weeks, my warts were drying up and flaking off. In six weeks, they were almost invisible.  I have not had a re-occurrence but I will update my blog post if I do. I am NOT a doctor and any time you decide to try a home remedy, it is a good idea to check with your physician before attempting something yourself. In my research, I did read that it's important not to put high doses of Vitamin A directly in the blood stream so be careful of open wounds.  Please be responsible and do your own research! When I started the vitamin A, I was using ACV which is why the warts are white and swollen in the first image.

Some tips as you get started:

1. DO NOT CUT THE WART!!! At one point, I read that you should cut the top off with a nail clipper before starting the ACV and I did and all hell broke loose! It started spreading more when I damaged the surrounding skin. Under no circumstances should you cut it, it only makes it worse!

2.Be consistent. No matter what you try, don't miss treatments. You aren't going to be able to tell if something is working if you are sporadic about treating it.

3. Boost your immune system! 2 years ago, I realized that my immune system must be struggling and when I took a look at my nutrition and what my body needed from me in order to heal, I took action.  Look at this weakness in your body as a wake up call. It's not getting what it needs from you to heal itself. I'm grateful for this experience because it woke me up! When we aren't having issues we feel pretty invisible but we aren't and we need to take care of ourselves! If you'd like to learn more, friend me on Facebook and I will send you some more info!------>click here

Other remedies that did NOT work for me below. I will say this though, from all my research and meeting people along the way that were fighting warts as well, different home remedies work for different people. Just because they didn't work for me, doesn't mean they won't work for you! I simply wanted to put this information out there because there wasn't much info on Vitamin A during the time I was desperately looking. 

Apple Cider Vinegar: It helped but did not shed the all the cells to permanent get rid of the wart

Garlic: Did nothing

Essential oils: Frankincense, Oregano, Lavender, Lemon, Thieves, Purification, Melrose, Tea Tree oil and did nothing ( Though I have seen it work for others)  The picture below was shared with me from someone I met as I was looking for answers. We were both trying Frankincense and Oregano essential oils. She had great success and I had none! I checked with her today and she has had no re-occurence in over a year and the skin returned to normal as well, no scar.

I have been hearing the buzz about the benefits of Elderberry syrup! I started doing some research and there is evidence that elderberries fight the flu, boosts your immune system and can even reduce cancer cells in your body. They contain trace minerals and have more vitamin C than oranges.

They syrup also contains cloves, cinnamon, raw honey which have medicinal qualities, and you can also add ginger. ( I did not this time because I wasn't sure my kids would drink it.)

RECIPE:
1/2 c. organic elderberries
1 cinnamon stick
1 T. fresh chopped ginger (optional)
5 whole cloves
2 c. water
1 c. raw local honey

Add berries, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and water together in a pot. Bring to a boil and then cover and reduce to simmer. Simmer until liquid reduces by one half, usually 30-45 minutes. Strain the berries in a fine mesh strainer over a glass bowl. Smash the berries down to extract all the extra juice. Let cool slightly, add the honey, stir to mix. Store in a glass container with lid. Keep refrigerated.

The syrup is much thinner than I expected which makes it easier to consume and has a very pleasant taste! It's been easy getting my kids ( and husband) to take it. I've read some different dose opinions, but it sounds like the standard dose is ½ tsp to 1 tsp for kids and ½ Tbsp to 1 Tbsp for adults. If the flu does strike, take the normal dose every 2-3 hours instead of once a day until symptoms disappear. Obviously, I am not a doctor so please do the research for yourself! 

Here is a link to where I purchased my elderberries. I have made three batches and probably have enough elderberries to make at least 6 more, so this will last you awhile! I stored my extra berries in a glass jar in the refrigerator.

http://www.amazon.com/Elder-Berries-Whole-Organic-Frontier/dp/B000UVUHXY/ref=sr_1_1?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1440896680&sr=1-1&keywords=frontier+elderberries
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