Garlic As An Antibiotic?

Last month, I went through one of the most dreadful experiences a nursing mother faces: I got mastitis.

If you just cringed a little, you're a mom who has not only had mastitis, but can still pretty firmly remember how terrible it is. Unfortunately for me, I was unable to head to the doctor this time because of a mistake my insurance company made, leaving me without coverage for several days.

Although I had read about garlic as an antibiotic before, many of those posts are written on sites that already promote tons of natural remedies, and I wanted to hear about an experience from a neutral standpoint before I went chasing after ingredients for a 'miracle cure'.

After going through my cupboards to see what I had on hand, I decided that it couldn't hurt to try a few of the easier remedies. To my great surprise, everything I tried worked. I'm not sure if it was the combination of everything together, or one home-treatment in particular, but it worked. It wasn't an instant cure-all, mind you... but it got me up and out of bed and I began to feel better by the hour.

I would always recommend going to your doctor first to see what they think, since mastitis can be very serious if left untreated... but if you don't have any other choice you can try the following to relieve your symptoms and possibly get rid of your mastitis altogether.

A disclaimer before you go trying everything you read: I'm not a doctor. I don't have all the facts or answers. Please be aware before you try any alternative methods (whether on my site or someone else's) it's always best to get a physician's opinion of it first. This is just what worked for me, and your results may be much different from mine.

• Chop up some garlic cloves into 7 or 8 small pieces. Toss them back as if they were medicine and flush them down with a good amount of water. Eat a small piece every 2 minutes for as long as you can stand it. (Eating 3-5 whole cloves in all is said to be best.)

• Every hour, take a Vitamin C tablet and then drink a tall glass of water. Vitamin C is non-soluble, so it will pass right through your system if you keep drinking water. This is called 'mega-dosing' and it appears to work, but I would warn against it if you have kidney problems or choose to skip drinking the water. (Seriously, drink the water. I had a migraine afterwards because I didn't drink enough. Pretend you're a fish and drink water until you feel like you're going to float away.)

• Massage the painful area while nursing your child.

• Sleep.

• Drink water, nurse, sleep some more, then repeat the entire process over again.

This is what worked for me, and in less than 12 hours after beginning to try this method, I was feeling well enough to come back out of my room and sit up and do some laundry. I will just say this: I was very skeptical at the beginning that this would actually work, but I'm not skeptical anymore!

I feel that this method is one of those things that works better 'sooner rather than later', so if you feel like you are coming down with a mastitis infection and want to try a home remedy, do it soon.

Have you ever tried garlic to get rid of an infection? How did it work for you? Chat with me in the comments below, I love hearing from my readers!

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Disclosure: I received no compensation for this post and, as always, my opinions are purely my own. And as I stated earlier in this post: I am not a doctor and this post is relating my personal experience only. Always speak with a licensed physician before making any changes or decisions regarding your healthcare.