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Battling Eczema • Jan. 28, 2008
We have a darling girl in our home whom we once dubbed "Crabby Abby". Oh my. I'd never had nor been around a grumpier, more unhappy baby in my life. She cried for the first 15 months of her life, until we finally could put our finger on the source of the problem-- painful eczema caused by allergies to citrus and eggs.
The hardest thing for me to learn in regards to eczema is that it doesn't have a cure. One of the first people I spoke to told me wisely, "You'll never beat it, you just have to learn to manage it." Once I came to grips with that fact, I set to work trying to make Abby's life as comfortable as possible.
First, the allergies. I wanted to get to the root of the problem rather than just slap some steroids onto her skin. She was a baby, after all, and I knew there had to be a better way. We took her to an allergist who pin-pointed the trouble-makers as citrus and eggs. We immediately eliminated all sources of citrus in her diet, including citric acid which is a preservative used in just. about. everything. It wasn't easy. When she was around five years old, she announced that she wanted to eat eggs and so we told her she could, but that she had to realize what the consequences might be. That really was a turning point in her care because she took the reigns and has nicely managed it on her own ever since.
In addition to eliminating and now allowing her to choose when and if to eat the foods that tend to cause her to flare up, we've made a few other changes. She sleeps with a humidifier going all winter long, because the cold, dry weather exacerbates the issue. I put a few drops of tea tree oil in the water to keep the humidifier sanitized, too.
We used pure coconut oil for several years on her patches of eczema, but this past year we've used Miracle Skin Salve exclusively. The coconut oil was soothing but the Miracle Skin Salve not only soothes, it heals. Amazing. We passed some on to my mother-in-law who has suffered from eczema for 75 years and she has raved about it, too.
We can't use regular laundry soap, so we use Charlie's Soap. All natural, no dyes or perfumes, and extremely economical. No fabric softeners, either-- we put vinegar in the washer's spin basket and not only does it soften, but it doesn't leave a scent at all.
Lastly, we try very hard to limit the time Abby is in hot water, and we don't use soap. The combination of the two sends her into scratching fits that can be heard down the hall from her bedroom. Again, she manages this and aside from a gentle reminder every once in awhile from me, I really don't tell her how long she should bathe or how hot the water should be. It looks as if eczema will always be a part of her life, and the better she becomes at managing it herself, the easier it will be to live with. |
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Beating Eczema - Jan. 28, 2008
Intolerances won't show up in a skin test and are much trickier to track down.
You can read more about them by googling "Sue Dengate" and "failsafe" and reading about the diet which eliminates salicylates, amines, msg and artifical colourings etc
If I were going to do this again, however, I would do the Feingold diet as it allows you to add food back into the diet much more quickly and easily. Except I would do their phase one for longer than two weeks.
Sorry this is rushed, hope it may be a help to you even if you don't need it at the moment.