Eczema--Please help me figure this out?

[becca_howell]

I post this here because everything I read says Eczema is an allergy-related issue. Here's the story... of a lovely lady...

Well, actually a beatiful baby girl. Arianna was born to DH and I on 7/16/07. Back then I was what I affectionately refer to as a "sheep". I followed the mainstream because that's what "everybody" did and that's what my doctor said to do. She was vax'd on the CDC schedule until 12 months when I refused the MMR and Varivax. Around 4 months, we noticed a rough red spot about the size of a dime on her stomach. The doctor said it was a little bit of eczema and that I should switch to Aveeno. So I did, and it didn't change anything. When she was a year old it had gotten a little worse, so I took her to the pediatric dermatologist in town. She gave me a regimen for moisturizing, treating the spots, and suggested allergy testing. We had her tested and she tested positive to eggs and peanuts, two foods she NEVER ate! At 15 months, she got the Prevnar and DTaP. For four weeks after that, she had a knot on her leg the size of a golf ball and an eczema patch the size of a silver dollar for six weeks. Since then her "mild" eczema has gone to a LOT worse.

We've tried almost every cream on the market, prescription, OTC, herbal, homeopathic. We've tried elimination diets to pinpoint an untested/undiscovered food allergy (the biggest ones we avoided was milk and wheat for an entire month with no successfull results). We've bathed her using Aveeno, Dove, Burt's Bees, California Baby. We've moisturized with Eucerin, Aveeno, Aquaphor, Burt's Bees, California baby. We've tried so many steroid creams she should have no skin! The only thing that has shown 100% improvement is a week therapy of Orapred, however we (DH, doctor and I) do not feel comfortable with her being on long-term steroid use.

Her skin is constantly red. Wherever she sits or sleeps (our bed, her carseat, etc.) is covered in skin flakes where she has been scratching. It affects her mood, behavior, happiness, and she doesn't know when to stop scratching. One night, I regretfully forgot to cut her nails (cut twice a week), and we heard her having a tough time in bed. I was going to get her when she met me halfway in the house. Her pajamas, hands and wrist were covered in blood. The poor baby scratched her skin off. OFF!

We've been to three different pediatricians, two different allergists, the best pediatric dermatologist in town (we live near Jacksonville, FL). No one seems to be able to figure this out. I honestly believe this is vaccine related and, pending another round of allergy test results that I should get back tomorrow (testing for "off the wall" food allergies), I will be contacting an attorney. However, no amount of money or time with an attorney will make my beautiful baby girl's skin clear. I've considered contacting the "big name" children's hospitals (St. Jude, Vanderbilt, Shriner's, Shands, Mayo) to see if any doctors would be willing to take her case, but don't know if they can offer me a resolution, or if they will give me the old, "Perhaps she will grow out of it" excuse (like that makes it better).

Any suggestions (creams, oils, accupuncture, standing her on her head) would be greatly appreciated! I'm tired of !!

[Theloose]

Is she nursing? If so, when you cut out foods for her, did you cut them out for yourself as well? Have you tried cutting out gluten, not just wheat? When you say you've tried a bunch of elimination diets, have you kept on eliminating, or just swapped out what you were eliminating? As in, if she were reacting to gluten, dairy, soy *and* eggs (all common triggers), would you have spotted that?

Could there be nutrient deficiencies (I think the answer to that question for just about everyone who hasn't been actively working on it is probably a definite yes). Do you or she have any history of asthma? Seasonal allergies? Do you eat lots of folate? Molybdenum (plant protein, especially beans and lentils)?

[kjbrown92]

Eggs and corn are big ones for eczema, besides dairy and gluten. I agree about taking them out of your diet as well as hers if you're nursing. The fact that the first one was at 4 months, which was probably before solids, leads me to believe it's something that she's sensitive to in your diet. Have you tried switching detergents as well as soaps?

[holyhelianthus]

Oh mama I could have written this about my 3 year old DD!! I am also looking for ANYTHING to help cure my baby.

[becca_howell]

Originally Posted by whoMe

Is she nursing?

No, she was regretfully weaned when I got pregnant with her brother

Originally Posted by whoMe

Have you tried cutting out gluten, not just wheat?

yes

Originally Posted by whoMe

When you say you've tried a bunch of elimination diets, have you kept on eliminating, or just swapped out what you were eliminating? As in, if she were reacting to gluten, dairy, soy *and* eggs (all common triggers), would you have spotted that?

What we did was started eliminating milk (she's allergic to eggs, peanuts and tomatoes, so she doesn't get those foods) last summer. We did that for a month and didn't notice a difference. We put her back on milk, and a few months later we went gluten free for a month. No change. A month later, we went on a full elimination diet (only giving her rice, turkey, squash and pears). This was working for two weeks, until she started throwing up when we gave her squash. Everytime she eats squash she throws up. We found out that she is allergic to potatoes via RAST testing, so maybe eliminating potatoes will help.

Originally Posted by whoMe

Could there be nutrient deficiencies (I think the answer to that question for just about everyone who hasn't been actively working on it is probably a definite yes). Do you or she have any history of asthma? Seasonal allergies? Do you eat lots of folate? Molybdenum (plant protein, especially beans and lentils)?

I don't know about the nutrient deficiencies. She's on a really good multivitamin I order from http://www.beeyoutiful.com. I have asthma and allergies, but she has only tested positive to the eggs, peanuts and potatoes.

[becca_howell]

Originally Posted by kjbrown92

Have you tried switching detergents as well as soaps?

We use a free&clear laundry soap and several different organic/all natural/sensitive skin formula bath soaps.

Thanks for your help. It helps having more minds thinking about this!

[franklin907]

this could be about my son, it is awful. He had the scratch testing done, as well as the allergy patch testing, which is where a lot of his sensitivities showed up- the ones that make his eczema flare. After about 6 weeks of eliminating them from his diet, his skin finally cleared and he was almost "normal" then winter hit and we have been seriously struggling the last five months. We just found out he's allergic to our dogs, so they have been gone for about a month, but he is still miserable. If corn is a culprit, multivits are full of it, as well as everything else. I finally found a calcium supplement that we can use, free of about everything, and I also give him vitamin D, but that's it. We've also started doing bleach baths, there is a new study out on that. I know it's extreme and uncomfortable but when they are this miserable, you'll try anything! I don't have the link handy for it, but I'm sure it'll show up with google. For us, Aveeno caused further problems then we found out my son was sensitive to oats, ahhh the lovely allergy/eczema battle! If you find anything that helps, keep us updated. I am always ready to try something new, I am just hopeful that one of these days I will find something that works.

[Wugmama]

only giving her rice, turkey, squash and pears

You CANNOT do this to a baby. Please don't do this.

If it makes you feel any better, my lo, who is now 20 months old, was NEVER vaxed w/anything, and had super severe eczema for the first 9 months of her life. I tried so many things, saw so many practioners (11), and we even up and bought plane tix one morning and flew to FL in Feb to see if the warm weather would clear her up (we are in MN). We ended up calling 911 for her while there, and later in the week calling a local hospital to see if they'd admit her because she had open, weeping sores on so many places on her body, and her whole face looked like raw hamburger. When we called 911 it was because her lip swelled up right before our eyes when we gave her teething drops, we were in a rental condo and had no benedryl, and were afraid her throat was going to close. Two fireman arrived in a fire truck, they declined to take her to the hospital, we took her to the hospital, they wouldn't even see her in the ER, gave my dh a pamphlet about not abusing the medical system, we went to a walk in clinic, they said they were full for the day and wouldn't see her, we went to a local walmart pharmacy, all the staff gathered around gasping, I was asking how much benedryl was safe for a 5 month old, the pharmacist put his head in his hand and said she needed to be seen by a doctor and I just lost it. We now consider FL a third world state and will never go back, so I feel for you being there, I hope you get better help than we did.
BUT, the last day of our 15 days there, we took her to a Chinese Medicine doc near the Children's Garden. http://www.florida-secrets.com/Flori.../Childrens.htm

She did accupuncture by proxy. She had me have a bit of my milk on a cotton ball and put it in the baby's diaper next to her skin. She had my dh hold the baby, with his hands touching her bare skin. She did accupuncture on my dh. I had to leave (she made me) but came back in time to hear my baby howling. I went rushing back to the tx room and fell to my knees because it looked like my baby was going through an exorcism. The only thing touching my baby was my dh. She was puking up phleghm. The doc said I could take her if I wanted but it would stop the tx working. So I let it finish, sitting on the floor so upset as the baby was lunging for me. when she was finished we took her to the car and she filled her diaper, so we changed her. As we were changing her she started pooping again and pooped and pooped and pooped and pooped, it was really incredible. It was actually that night that I called a local hospital, couldn't take the blood anymore, couldn't get her to sleep. They said I could bring her in and they'd make her comfortable, but then I got her to sleep. The next day we got on a plane, the next morning, it was about 1.5 days since the tx, she was COMPLETELY CLEAR. I wanted to call the pope or something and declare a miracle, I couldn't believe it. Within 24 hours again though, the eczema came back. We couldn't find anyone local in mn to do that again. We started seeing a chinese doc here who wouldn't do it, saying that doc caused a rapid detox, and what we needed to do was heal from the inside out. I am only bringing this story up again because you are in FL and you may be interested in that, i don't know.

My dd is also allergic to tomatoes we know now. Potatoes, all peppers (not black table pepper) eggplant, tomatoes are all in the same family. Paprika is from peppers we found out the hard way as well.

I'd highly suggest cutting out the top 9 plus nightshade for several weeks:
Gluten (wheat, barely....)
Dairy
Corn (xanthan gum, dextrose, table salt, powdered sugar....)
Eggs
Soy
Potatoes
Tomatoes
Peppers
Eggplant
All nuts and seeds
Fish
Shellfish

I might be missing one.

I know for me I made lots of mistakes along the way as stuff is hidden in everything, especially wheat and corn. You will not be able to eat out other than for steak and veggies. You will not be able to buy hardly anything that comes in a bag or box (try the storebought coconut milk yogurt and ice cream though, their dextrose is not from corn). Even minute rice has corn starch in it, you must get the "real" rice that takes a long time to cook.

There are a lot of ideas for things to cook and bake in this forum, in the sticky on top, and at kathysrecipebox.com. Don't be intimidated, you can totally do this. We lived off of McDs and Papa Johns before my 3rd child had all these issues. Now I'm making my own (coconut milk) yogurt!!!

No amount of washing, topicals or steroids is going to fix this problem. The thing that has been most soothing for my lo when we screw up the food and she gets eczema, and back when it was bad, is a heavy lotion w/a lot of zinc. I ordered one on line from a small company that has rosewood in the name or something, the jar is not with me, I could look later and post.

Even just getting a little of a food in the diet will screw up your results. You must be diligent, get it all out.

You should get your lo on the gut healing measures you can find in this forum.

I feel for you, I've been there, I'm so glad we are through the worst of it.

Sorry to give such a rambling, high level overview. There are a lot of knowledgable folks here, stick around, learn, get support, get your lo healed.


Tracy

[Wugmama]

Oh, and if you ate eggs and peanuts during your pregnancy or while nursing her (which most of us do) then that would be how she had gotten exposure.

[holyhelianthus]

Thank you for the info- Wug!

Sorry to hijack the thread but I am wondering if it is possible that us living in the dry desert can be making my DD's eczema worse?

[Theloose]

Originally Posted by becca_howell

I don't know about the nutrient deficiencies. She's on a really good multivitamin I order from http://www.beeyoutiful.com. I have asthma and allergies, but she has only tested positive to the eggs, peanuts and potatoes.

I would look seriously at molybdenum. Funny, that keeps coming up for everyone, it seems. Molybdenum is found in plant protein especially lentils and beans - it's needed for nitrogen fixing. Molybdenum is needed to make the enzyme that converts sulfites into sulfates.

Sulfates are used to detox salicylates. Sulfites are a relatively common food additive, but they can also be naturally occurring, and your body makes them as a step in the processing of sulfur foods. Eggs have a TON of sulfur. A buildup of sulfites is a common root cause of asthma and eczema.

Salicylates are a naturally occurring food chemical that can wreak all sorts of havoc if you're sensitive to them. They can also cause asthma and eczema in addition to a bunch of other issues. As I mentioned earlier, they're detoxed in part by sulfate.

http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.in...ma/asthma1.htm

So a deficiency in molybdenum would create a buildup of both sulfites and salicylates, which would greatly increase your chances of both eczema and asthma. I checked your multi, and it doesn't look like it has molybdenum in it. The RDA is really low, but the upper limit is pretty high. I've been supping myself with pretty high amounts (trying to rebuild my stores after depleting them on elimination diets ) and haven't noticed any toxicity issues. Dd doesn't really get eczema, but has had a couple little patches on her chin. The first was a deficiency of folate, and it disappeared when I started supping that. The second comes and goes, depending on how much molybdenum I can get into her. It's pretty much gone now :

More on molybdenum in the sulfur sensitivity thread

[Wugmama]

I don't know if the desert would make eczema worse or not. We are in MN and here people who suffer from eczema get it worse in the winter. I actually had it on my hands the two winters before this baby was born, but not in the summers, so that is why we up and went to FL.

But, we were seeing someone in MN doing muscle testing (apparently incorrectly) telling me different foods to avoid each time we went in (twice per week) saying the baby had "cleared" the other foods. Well, before we left for FL she said the only thing to avoid was gluten. In FL we were constantly eating at a restaurant near where we were staying and I was ordering the chix fajita salad every time, thinking it would be gluten free - no bread. It was grilled chix but I now know wouldn't have been GF anyways due to the spices that were probably used. But the real issue was the salsa. Plus I had a jar of salsa in the condo and corn chips and was snacking on that constantly. So I had a lot of tomatoes, peppers and corn while we were there, which were just killing my baby - it wasn't the FL heat.

When I say her eczema was severe for the first 9 months, it was, then tapered slowly off at the end. She didn't clear completely until 2 weeks before her 1st birthday. Man, did we have a huge party and celebrate big time, too, after that year. It was her coming out party.

One turning point I noticed, around 9 months, I started taking 2 TBLS of CLO and 2 TBLS flax oil every day. I had been taking CLO capsules and the doc kept insisting I get the liquid. Realized later the capsulses had corn in them, anyways.

~Tracy

[Chinese Pistache]

OP, you should also consider cutting out corn. It's difficult to pinpoint if you don't know what you're looking for. Here's a list of ingredients: http://www.cornallergens.com/list/co...ergen-list.php

Your baby needs lots of fat and protein, so look at ways to get fat into every meal: avocado, coconut oil, etc. I would still eliminate dairy, because until you get to baseline (meaning, her skin is clear) you can't really say that a particular food isn't causing problems. Good luck.