This is another food allergy, right?

[CoBabyMaker]

Uuuh, where to start?  DD is 2.5.  When I was nursing her we figured out that she reacted to dairy (at 2 months), soy (at 4 months though I hadn't really had it before then) and corn through eliminating top 8 plus corn (at 9 months).  So I was off of those while nursing and she has never had them.  A few months she started having some dryness around her nose and on her eyelid which at first we thought was just winter dryness.  We took her off almonds since we had transitioned her from coconut milk to almond milk a few months earlier and it didn't change.  (DH doesn't remember that though so he may have given her some by mistake. ) So, again, we thought it must just be winter dryness.  About 3 weeks ago she got a stomach bug and didn't eat for two days but had water and breast milk.  (She's weaned but will nurse if she is sick or having a terrible day.)  In two days all of the eczema was pretty much gone.  So I am thinking it's another food allergy.  Does that sound right?  I don't think it's detergent or soap because, if anything, she had MORE contact with those while she was sick.  The only other thing I can think of is yeast but I have no idea where to start to even figure out if it's yeast.  We have had her off of peanuts, almonds and oats (we don't really eat other nuts) for almost two weeks.  It's getting better but seems to have reached it's limit and is staying the same now.  Sometimes it looks better and other times it flairs up and there are red, irritated dots.  As of yesterday afternoon we are taking her off of gluten and keeping her off of the peanuts, almonds and oats. 

My family especially has a history of allergies (and I suspect DH's family has some they don't recognize).

We haven't seen a doctor about it yet in part because I don't trust doctors and naturally minded doctors or alternative practitioners are hard to find here.  I did find a NAET practitioner nearly an hour away we could take her too if we can't get this sorted out but it's $120 for the first visit. 

Thoughts?  Suggestions?

[joybird]

I don't have much time right now but I just wanted to say that when my dd was that age her eczema would disappear every time she got sick, not necessarily because she wasn't eating though.  It was like her body was occupied fighting more important things.  Now that she's older its the opposite and it flares when she gets exposed to a virus.  We've had lots of food sensitivity stuff here as well but never had any real luck getting rid of the eczema until we did a serious gut healing regimen.  

[scsigrl]

I am not a fan of pulling foods unnecessarily.  She may be intolerant to those things but it could be a total coincidence. I would hold off on doing anything till she is over being sick and has some time to readjust after the illness.  Also, something like 92% of skin issues/eczema are NOT food related.

[CoBabyMaker]

We've had lots of food sensitivity stuff here as well but never had any real luck getting rid of the eczema until we did a serious gut healing regimen. 

What sort of gut healing regimen did you do?

I would hold off on doing anything till she is over being sick and has some time to readjust after the illness.

She has been better for two or three weeks.

[joybird]

Well, skin issues can be food-related but I think often times it is part of a larger imbalance.  So yes, foods can (and probably are) causing symptoms but the real question is why are certain foods not being tolerated or causing reactions.  With my dd, I would have loved to be able to find the triggers and simply remove them from her diet, but it just didn't work.  She reacted randomly to whatever she ate.  I ended up going on the SCD/GAPS diet and giving her lots and lots of supplements (enzymes, probiotics, CLO, glutamine and many more) to heal her intestinal lining and re-balance her gut flora.  Her reactions slowly started decreasing in frequency and intensity until they disappeared.  It took a while.  I didn't stick with it long enough (I got pg) and things slowly regressed to where we are on the diet again.  Just like the last time, her symptoms raged during the initial detox/die-off phase and are now starting to subside.  This is after about a month back on the diet.  It aims to starve out pathogenic bacteria/yeast in the gut which are causing leaky gut syndrome and to re-colonize the gut with healthy probiotics.  Most holistic practitioners see this as the main cause of allergies/intolerances, but there is a lot of variation in opinion on how to treat it.  It is not easy because we acquire our gut flora during and shortly after birth and the whole gut lining was meant to remain intact.  Antibiotics, birth control pills, prescription/otc meds and modern non-foods have messed up the whole system though.  You might want to check out the GAPS website where you can learn more about it.

I'm also not a fan of removing foods unnecessarily either, which is what brought me to try the diet.  I was getting nowhere with eliminations and I had to start looking toward healing than avoidance.  I was sick to death of being scared by food.  Dd was IgG tested and I kept out her huge allergens (gluten, dairy, egg) while we healed but I didn't remove the others.  I don't know how accurate the test is but I do know that she didn't get better when I eliminated them all.  It wasn't until we did the full-on GAPS that we actually saw healing.

[kjbrown92]

Originally Posted by scsigrl 

I am not a fan of pulling foods unnecessarily.  She may be intolerant to those things but it could be a total coincidence. I would hold off on doing anything till she is over being sick and has some time to readjust after the illness.  Also, something like 92% of skin issues/eczema are NOT food related.

Where is that number from? Eczema is from allergies and intolerances (food a lot of the time, but other things as well, medicine, contact allergies, environmental allergies). 92% sounds like a number from an allergist who doesn't believe in food intolerances or a dermatologist who wants to prescribe steroid creme.
 

[joybird]

Yes.  But again, when we have a situation where something like 20-30% of kids are dealing with allergies/intolerances and the symptoms that go along with that, we really need to be looking further into the epidemic and asking why this is happening at all.  I was never satisfied with the line that 'eczema is a disease', because it is so obviously a symptom of something else gone awry in the body.  And likewise, I am not satisfied with the line that food intolerances are the end answer.  They are also a symptom of some malfunction happening deeper inside the body, and there are logical, scientific reasons for why this might be, even if allergists want us to believe that its all a big mystery and 'just one of those things'.  
 

Originally Posted by kjbrown92 

Where is that number from? Eczema is from allergies and intolerances (food a lot of the time, but other things as well, medicine, contact allergies, environmental allergies). 92% sounds like a number from an allergist who doesn't believe in food intolerances or a dermatologist who wants to prescribe steroid creme.
 

[CoBabyMaker]

JoyBird,

Her face is looking slightly better the last 2 days since she is off gluten but I agree that helping her gut heal would be best.  She had heavy antibiotics at one day old for 2 days and we have always believed that they totally messed her up.  (grrrrrr)

I am looking into the GAPS diet.  I will admit that at first I when I looked at it I thought, "No way!", it's all very overwhelming.  I still have a hard time seeing it be a workable diet long term, primarily in social situations.  I guess allergies aren't that much different but no sugar is going to be REALLY tough with DHs family.  Oh well.  I have a couple  questions if you don't mind.

1. How old is your DD?  Was she able to understand that this was going to help her and how long have you been doing it?  DD loves soup but this will be pushing it.

2. Is there a dairy-free probiotic you would recommend?  

3. Did your DD lose weight?  My DD is so tiny (probably because she isn't absorbing nutrients) so I worry about this.  I guess that longer-term healing is worth it in the long run.

Thanks!

[scsigrl]

Originally Posted by kjbrown92 

Where is that number from?
 

Like you, I have read, re read and over ready many books and journals and seen/talked to many specialist.  I have it in a stack of notes I have taken over the years. 

[joybird]

She just turned 6.  The first time we did the diet she was 3 and I explained to her that it was very healthy and good for her (for us - I did it with her).  I made sure she had things to eat that she liked.  She adjusted very quickly and began eating all kinds of healthy things she wouldn't try before.  It actually turned out to be a blessing for our family because we all started eating healthful, nutrient-dense, whole foods at every meal and I learned a lot about nutrition.  I discovered that I felt a million times better, physically, mentally and emotionally without sugar or grains in my diet.  At that time there was no intro diet recommended so we just went slowly with introducing things.  This time I went very slowly because I'm still nursing dd2.  So we cut out sugar first for a few weeks, then potatoes, then all grains until we were eating the full GAPS diet, and then went on to do a variation of the intro which meant lots of soup but still eating meats/veg/fruits.  It wasn't too hard on dd this time because she's used to not eating what other people eat and she likes healthy food.  I would never let her eat the SAD anyway so she has no idea what a donut is or what Oreos taste like.  We've been GF forever so she has no idea what real bread is.  She has never eaten fast food.

I've been using Kirkman or Klaire labs probiotics but I might look into Custom Probiotics when my stash here runs out.

No, she didn't lose weight.  If anything she started absorbing her food better, which is one of the goals of the diet.  If you use a good digestive enzyme her food will be broken down better so her body will be able to extract nutrients from it properly.  I would really suggest this.  Digestive enzymes are amazing.  I think that we would've been eating soup for a very long time without them.

Yes, it is overwhelming at first but then it gets pretty simple.  Meat/veg for meals, fruit/nuts for snacks.  And eggs and cheese if you can have them, baked goods with nut flour.  I will say that it is very labor-intensive (broth-making, yogurt-making, kefir-making, jerky-making, baking, etc) and you really need to be knowledgable about the science of it and what you are attempting to accomplish with your food choices and be dedicated to doing it for as long as it takes.  Pretty much all convenience and restaurant food is off-limits and you need to take food with you everywhere.  It's a total lifestyle change and it does require a lot of commitment.  Another downside...it is expensive.  Good food costs a lot.  I can say that I've seen it work though so I know I'm not shooting in the dark like I was with eliminations and everything else I tried before this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoBabyMaker 

JoyBird,

Her face is looking slightly better the last 2 days since she is off gluten but I agree that helping her gut heal would be best.  She had heavy antibiotics at one day old for 2 days and we have always believed that they totally messed her up.  (grrrrrr)

I am looking into the GAPS diet.  I will admit that at first I when I looked at it I thought, "No way!", it's all very overwhelming.  I still have a hard time seeing it be a workable diet long term, primarily in social situations.  I guess allergies aren't that much different but no sugar is going to be REALLY tough with DHs family.  Oh well.  I have a couple  questions if you don't mind.

1. How old is your DD?  Was she able to understand that this was going to help her and how long have you been doing it?  DD loves soup but this will be pushing it.

2. Is there a dairy-free probiotic you would recommend?  

3. Did your DD lose weight?  My DD is so tiny (probably because she isn't absorbing nutrients) so I worry about this.  I guess that longer-term healing is worth it in the long run.

Thanks!

[CoBabyMaker]

Thank you for your responses.  I am hoping we can make this work.  I am transitioning her onto the full diet and hopefully in a few weeks we can do the intro.  I think the intro will be valuable for her.  She is currently off, well, everything but meat, veg and fruit so I guess we are mostly there minus probiotics.  DD2 is having some issues too so I am eating the same things which is helpful I suppose.  I wish I could do the intro with her but since I am nursing that is out.   I can't get the book right now so I will just have to do my best with the website and yahoo group.  It will be more expensive since I have been using grains to stretch our meals.   Making things isn't a big issue since I cook all from scratch anyway, I just need to start making yogurt again and get a scoby for kombucha.  Thank you again.  Do you mind if I message you if I have more questions?