Eczema – harmful food additives a known trigger

Eczema has plagued one of my youngest children on and off since birth.  As a baby it was very mild.  Very infrequent.  However, as he grew, it became worse, and constant. Initially, I followed the usual medical advice, using the topical creams and remedies.  We would be prescribed topical steroid creams, this put the fire out, it managed the discomfort, but it didn’t solve the problem as to why the fire was there in the first place.

Impact of eczema

I could see that we weren’t getting anywhere, there would be periods of relief.  However, the intense discomfort, was causing a myriad of problems:

• Sleeping issues – sleep deprivation due to intense discomfort.
• Behavioural issues – unable to get a full nights rest resulted him in being tired, cranky, angry! I didn’t blame the poor little man!
• Impact on family unit – stress trying to get eczema under control, tiredness, exhaustion, helplessness and the guilt, somehow, something I was doing was responsible for his eczema?
• Risk of infection – his legs were so intensely itchy, that he would scratch to the point of bleeding, always having open wounds.

Eczema triggers

I really didn’t want him using steroid creams on a permanent basis so I set our researching.  As I like to do. I had already looked at making sure that the typical items that could aggravate his condition were examined like:

• laundry detergent
• soaps
• creams

I discovered that eczema had to be healed from the inside out.  Eczema is not a skin condition, but is linked to the gut! I was shocked to discover that 80% of your immune system is found in your digestive system! Armed with this knowledge, I had a plan!

Treatment

We removed all foods that could be potential triggers for the eczema:

• Harmful food additives (colours, flavour enhancers, preservatives etc) – luckily I already knew what I was doing here!
• Gluten and diary

We introduced:

• Probiotics  – to re-establish his gut with healthy flora.

Whilst we had made substantial progress by removing the normal triggers and harmful food additives, there was still a little way to go.  Together with the assistance of holistic practitioners we were able to identify that his eczema was also due to other food intolerances.  He was reacting to normal whole foods – fresh fruit and vegetables!

In the end, at the age of 3, we were able to work out that he had fructose malabsorption and intolerances to the nightshade family. Since eliminating all these triggers from his diet, we now have a changed child! He is calm, pleasant, happy and rested. No more eczema!

What to watch out for

Our skin is our largest organ, it often give us our first signals that here is something that requires healing. Please know that eczema is not a skin condition, but a gut condition which needs to be healed from the inside out.

If you need assistance in taking the first step to resolving your child’s eczema by removing harmful food additives in your diet, contact me today.  I understand how hard this is for your child, for you, for your family.  We can help you take the first step!  We have been there, we can save you time!

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