DS's eczema

[Vicki Rogers]

Hello
DS almost 3 is currently suffering from patches of eczema on his inner thighs. He has had spates of eczema since he started teething. I am still breastfeeding him with the hope of minimising likelihood of eczema, asthma and hayfever (my husband has these to varying degrees).
I am hoping for some suggestions of things I can add to our diets (and remove, if necessary) and topical preparations that I can use to soothe the inflammation.
We have recently added sour dough bread and milk kefir to our diet (we all had digestive issues with the milk kefir as we introduced it a little too 'passionately' for what our bodies could cope with!) and I'm wondering whether that could have something to do with the outbreak?
Any suggestions gratefully received.
Thanks

[SHALANI MCCRAY]

My daughter (19) has found a huge improvement in her eczema since eliminating sugar from her diet (and remember it's not just in sweet things - most shop bought savoury food like crackers, ketchup etc contain sugar)

[Vicki Rogers]

Thanks Shalani. Does that include more 'natural' sugars like honey and rapadura? Or is it just the heavily processed white sugar that your daughter is avoiding?

[SHALANI MCCRAY]

Eliminating all sugar to begin with would be ideal. The only 'sweet' food my daughter eats is a banana and some strawberries in a raw milk smoothie (no other ingredients). Since coming off sugar she finds sweet food she used to eat is now unpleasantly sweet including her smoothie if the banana is too ripe (almost all my patients have found the same)

Vicki Rogers said:

Thanks Shalani. Does that include more 'natural' sugars like honey and rapadura? Or is it just the heavily processed white sugar that your daughter is avoiding?

[Pat Robinson]

Any big dose of microbials (antibiotics or probiotics) will shift the balance in the gut. So, you could have more displaced microbial toxins moving out through the skin. The skin is a detox pathway.

Just need a teaspoon for HUGE microbial benefits. And then decrease or gradually increase as tolerated. 1/8 teaspoon has more microbials than the most potent bottled probiotic capsule.

The four most common food culprits are pasteurized dairy casein, wheat/gluten, (GMO)soy, (GMO)corn. All dairy is pasteurized unless labeled otherwise. All soy and corn are GMO, unless organic.

Minimizing or eliminating one at a time, for both of you -since nursing (or all at once, if you have substitutes) and doing a food journal is the Gold Standard. It takes about 4 days to see behavioral improvements from completely eliminating dairy casein. Takes about 6 weeks to eliminate all casein from the body to see improvement in eczema (assuming the culprit is eczema). The others will evidence improvement in about 2 weeks with complete elimination. So, eliminating them one at a time takes a longer drawn-out period to see improvement. And you don't know which one is the culprit if one keeps adding back the food and still reacting to it. Do you follow? Wheat/gluten is usually eczema. Behavior/red anus is usually dairy.

"Ideal" is to eliminate those top four foods for a week or two and then add back one at a time, if the eczema is resolved. Waiting four days between adding a new food. There are a million variations on doing an elimination diet. But the big issue is not to do a total elimination diet for a long duration as nutrient deficiencies develop which makes it harder for the body to detox the food intolerances toxins.

Another alternative, is to just ADD healing foods. Or, just avoid the top four food culprits as much as possible, without complete elimination. How you choose to proceed depends upon how limited one's food preferences are, how severe the reaction one is trying to resolve, and how agreeable everyone is to compliance with the elimination diet or healing foods.

Our son doesn't have eczema but he does have behavioral issues related to some foods. We avoid the top four, but not complete elimination. And we add some healing foods which he is agreeable too. If he had more severe issues like green or bloody stool, bleeding itching eczema or asthma, severe behavioral issues, etc. we'd be more aggressive at finding a different solution in order to avoid more completely and add healing foods more consistently.

Hope that helps.

Also, here is a long post with a bunch more ideas and specifics about allergens, environmental issues and alternatives: http://heal-thyself.ning.com/group/asthmafood/forum/topics/boy-do-i-need-some-help-with


Pat

[Vicki Rogers]

That's awesome. Thanks so much, Pat. There's plenty there for us to get our teeth into :o) We're in NZ so we don't have to worry quite us much about the GMO as you guys in the US, but we go organic whenever possible. We're about to get a house cow and a couple of milking goats in the next couple of weeks so hopefully that will make a big difference for us. And I'll make our sour dough using gluten-free grains as well to see if that helps. And certainly ease back a bit on the probiotics - I'm a little nervous about reintroducing the kefir as I'm the one who's still suffering the most with the itchiness! LOL
Many thanks again.
Vicki

[Pat Robinson]

I'd try yogurt or kefir topically to help rebalance the flora. Or coconut oil or Manuka honey topically. A bit of kombucha (if not pregnant/nursing) could help too, I'd do just 50-100ml once or twice to help rebalance the gut.

Sunshine and Omega 3 will help too as both strengthen the immune system. A bit of raw ACV with meals will also help get everything back in balance.

A cow and goats sounds very exciting!

Pat

[Vicki Rogers]

Many thanks to everyone for the suggestions. As quickly as this bout flared up, it has now disappeared. I'll definitely keep more of an eye open for what triggers it off next time and really appreciate the input.