DEAR DR. GOTT: I saw on a discussion site that you no longer recommend pau d’arco as a cure for athlete’s foot. Well, I have to tell you that years ago when nothing else worked, I used this for my son. Finally, his feet were cured. I used it again when he had eczema and it again worked when nothing else did. I have no idea why it would work on eczema, except maybe the oils in the bark did the trick.

Fast forward ten years, the same young man is now in combat in Afghanistan. First, it is so hot that their boots are soaked every day, then it is freezing all the time. After eight months he came home on a visit and his feet and hands looked like they’d been through their own war. The creams and oils and lotions that we had sent just didn’t help. So once again I went back to the old standby, pau d’arco. At the time that he headed back to war his feet weren’t completely healed, [Read more...]