Eczema Cure
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010
What is eczema?
• Eczema is a group of skin conditions sometimes also known as dermatitis.
• There are many types of eczema, but the most common is atopic eczema, which tends to run in families and mainly affects children.
• The causes and severity of the condition vary greatly- however, for most people eczema means a never-ending itch-scratch cycle, incredibly sore skin and social embarrassment.
• The usual course of treatment is prescribed steroid creams and moisturisers, which can ease the skin in the short time, however they does not treat the eczema in the long term.
ECZEMA CURE is written by Barbora Barnard, and documents how she cured her son's acute eczema, a feat which her GP told her was impossible.
The first signs of Alex's condition came when Barbora started weening him at four months ‘as soon as I started him on solids, red, dry, itchy patches started appearing behind his knees, on his ankles and in the elbow creases of his arms,' which initially she treated with conventional Vaseline and Aqueous Creams. Things took a turn for the worse when Barbora had to cancel Alex's 1st Birthday Party due to a reaction to some chocolate spread she had given him as a treat- flaring up his red patches for a week, and no amount of lotion could soothe them. ‘After this, things just seemed to go from bad to worse. He started to get a couple of really bad patches on his ankles, which he would scratch by rubbing them on the carpet...giving himself a couple of really nasty and sore carpet burns on top of the eczema.' Alex's condition then began to effect everyday childhood things- he could not go on the grass in the garden as within 15 minutes of contact his skin would flare up, or if anything wet or juicy go onto his face or neck he would rub it incessantly, making the flare up even worse, and making it difficult to heal.
It was then that Barbora took the logical step of going to her GP, fearing that she could no longer cope without some professional help. ‘When I got to the doctor and explained about the food problem, which I thought was the cause of Alex's eczema, I got a horrible shock. The doctor just replied that only about 5% of people's eczema is caused by food allergies and without even as much as looking at him, he prescribed Hydrocortisone. We were in the surgery for about three minutes!' Barbora is not alone in the dismissal of her natural maternal instincts by her GP, who often have a lot of patients to get through and therefore do not have the time to dig any deeper, but followed his advice. Whilst this treatment did ease the eczema at first, it could not keep it at bay and was not a viable long-term solution.
Alex's eczema was also affecting his sleep as he was scratching, then crying in pain, and was often inconsolable to both Barbora and her husband. ‘I was really beginning to feel very upset and angry about the whole situation. By this time I was also pregnant with my second child and you know how emotional you can be when pregnant. Sometimes I wished someone would just pick on me in the street, so that they would give me a reason to punch them.'
As Alex began to approach ‘the terrible two's' his behaviour became unnaturally bad- attempting to hurt the other children around him, drawing blood by biting one little girl, and leaving his parents having to curb his socialising with other children out of fear and embarrassment. Alex's discomfort and lack of sleep was now affecting more and more aspects of his childhood, with the causes of his eczema still not pin-pointed. Another time he came out in a very bad red symmetrical rash on his face and body, the doctor, after asking for a second opinion, decided it must be a virus. At this time Barbora and her family were in despair ‘Sure, eczema is not a life threatening condition and I should have been grateful that he didn't have anything worse, but our lives were made really miserable by it.'
By chance Barbora found out about a local Clinic of Complementary Medicine, an avenue she had not considered before, which offered food sensitivity tests. Allergy testing had not been suggested by her GP, but she decided to give it a try and see if her maternal instincts were on the right track. They gave him a very thorough examination, asking Barbora to bring any creams, washing powders and unusual foods he was eating, but also having prepared over 80 common foods and substances to test. They used a Vega allergy-testing machine, which passes a current through the body, whilst different substances are placed into the machine, which is comprehensive and also painless.
The results showed that Barbora was very much on the right track. Sensitivities to egg yolk, citrus fruits, tomatoes, potatoes, bananas and yeast showed up, as well as grass pollen, and even Fairy non-bio- all things part of an average diet and life style. The practitioner suggested alternatives for the foods, supplements which were free from chemicals, products like Ecover, Surcare and Ecoballs for washing clothes, and oils such a grape seed oil rather than moisturisers. She also supported Babora's belief that steroid creams were not good in the long term, highlighting the fact that they force the body to find an alternative way of pushing out the allergens, often resulting in asthma.
Barbora started the strict new diet straight away, replacing potatoes with yams, and white bread with soda bread, but Alex's skin did not improve as extensively as she had hoped. With the arrival of baby Lucy in 2001 the pressure was really on, not only dealing with Alex's problems, by trying to prevent Lucy from suffering too- which thankfully she never did. In the spring Barbora decided to take Alex back to the clinic for a follow up appointment, and discovered that on top of everything else he was now allergic to dairy to. ‘I got really upset on the way home about the new development, because I just felt that it was very unfair Alex having to miss out on ice-cream, chocolate, cheese, yoghurt...... all the things he loved at that time. The next day I went to our local supermarket and discovered that actually there was quite a lot of choice in dairy free products and that it wasn't the end of the world.'
It was then that Barbora decided to go really back to basic and cut out all artificial foods and certain E numbers, cooking everything from scratch. Worried about the lack of calcium and fat in his diet Barbora went to see a different GP, and was referred to a nutritionist. ‘I have to say that I wasn't impressed when we saw the nutritionist, because she said that
she had never heard of anyone being allergic to potatoes, that I had been wasting my money on these alternative tests and that I should have just gone to the doctors, stuck to the Hydrocortisone and all would have been well.' Despite this negativity, the nutritionist did affirm Barbora's belief that the calcium in his soya milk, and the pure lard she was using to cook his food, were giving him sufficient calcium and fat. Barbora also looked into potatoes: ‘Potatoes are actually a member of the deadly nightshade family, same as tomatoes, so it's really not that surprising that some people might have a problem with them.'
When Alex was about two and a half, he caught chicken pox: a toxic combination with eczema leaving him itching and in pain. At this point Barbora joined a local eczema support group- ‘I found it very helpful, because it is always good to meet people who are in the same situation as you and you don't feel so alone.' She also applied for the Disability Living Allowance, and refused to give up until they succeeded. The money was used for all those extra things Barbora had to consider- for example the amount of grease being applied to Alex's skin meant that towels and clothes had to be replaced often, and some of the mums experienced problems with their washing machines to.
The new even stricter regime was finally paying off! ‘I couldn't believe it, that after about 18 months of misery, we were finally seeing some positive results. His skin wasn't completely eczema free, but honestly compared to what it had been, it was just wonderful.' Barbora also found new ways around some of Alex's problems: like applying a thick layer of Vaseline before he went into the sea, buying suntan lotion which contains no chemicals or parabens, giving him his own food to take to parties and juicing. About three months after they started juicing, just after his third Birthday, Alex's eczema was gone. ‘I couldn't believe it, but it was finally and truly gone. I was just so happy.' Since then, Barbora has been able to re-introduce all the foods that Alex was intolerant to, and he is now a happy and healthy 10 year old, who hardly remembers that he had eczema.
