How long for ezcema to heal?

[BabySmurf]

DS has had eczema since about 3-4 months old, and I have found various food related allergies that we have been able to eliminate from our diet.  The eczema seems better, but it's still not gone yet....it's been probably at least three weeks since our last food challenge (we failed).  I know it will take a little time for it too get better, but how long should I wait before I start looking for other triggers? TIA!

[kjbrown92]

For us, the eczema was completely gone 3-4 days after eliminating the trigger (DD2 only had one trigger: corn) so you may have another culprit. Have you looked at environmental triggers as well as food?

[scsigrl]

Eczema is typically environmentally related.  I hate it, but after battling for a long long time, we resorted to daily allergy meds and Vanicream slathered on daily.  Minimal baths, pat dry.  We are still not 100% but getting there.  We did try bleach baths which I HATED because it is so counter to my "hippy" ways but I am thinking we may go back to that because I think it was a combo of all three that helped.  Yeah, so not hippy but she looks tons better and is sleeping at night and not waking 100x a night scratching herself to death.

[BabySmurf]

Originally Posted by kjbrown92 

For us, the eczema was completely gone 3-4 days after eliminating the trigger (DD2 only had one trigger: corn) so you may have another culprit. Have you looked at environmental triggers as well as food?

Wow, that's quick! I haven't even started considering environmental triggers - the food issues have been so all consuming!  I figured I may have to consider it, but I have no idea where to start!

Originally Posted by scsigrl 

Eczema is typically environmentally related.  I hate it, but after battling for a long long time, we resorted to daily allergy meds and Vanicream slathered on daily.  Minimal baths, pat dry.  We are still not 100% but getting there.  We did try bleach baths which I HATED because it is so counter to my "hippy" ways but I am thinking we may go back to that because I think it was a combo of all three that helped.  Yeah, so not hippy but she looks tons better and is sleeping at night and not waking 100x a night scratching herself to death.

:(  That's tough.  Lucky for us, DS's eczema isn't horrible, just persistent.  It is the areas right behind his ears, and so far I haven't made a connection to the itchiness waking him up at night, although he does wake an awful lot.  I hope we can both figure out what the issues are!

[kjbrown92]

I don't know if one can say that eczema is "typically" environmental. It's environmental allergies, food allergies, or food intolerances. I know of more people with food triggers than environmental triggers, so I personally would say that food is the more likely culprit. But I don't have any stats to say which is for sure, especially since most doctors don't even acknowledge that eczema can be from food!

[franklin907]

Ds1 had horrible eczema starting about 15 months & it was a combination of things, but his environmental allergens didn't really affect it- those affect his asthma. Food was definitely the biggest trigger, we also treated him for yeast overgrowth which really helped, did LDA which helped & what finally healed him was Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). He now gets very mild flare-ups from time to time, but his asthma/cough is main symptom now. We also did bleach baths which helped cut down on his recurrent staph infections (his skin was always cracked open somewhere). For the last year or so, he's preferred to take showers & following the TCM, he didnt get an infection for 6 months. Prior to trying our alternative routes, we did all the standard Western stuff- changing detergent, topical prescriptions, antihistamines, antibiotics, steroids, etc all with hopeless results. It was a bad a couple of years, but so relieved to have him in better health now.

[BabySmurf]

Wow, it's amazing to see what our lifestyles/environment can do to us! It strikes me that everything that I eliminate to help DS feel better, makes me feel better too, it makes me wonder how I would have felt had I eliminated this stuff earlier in my life.....I have heard a lot of good things about more Traditional healing methods - I've never been much for taking a lot of medicine (unless needed of course) anyway.  And looking into the yeast issues has been (scary) fascinating as well.

I'm working on finding a more Holistic practitioner for our family...I guess in the mean time it's back to keeping a food diary, and maybe adding in a column for external irritants! I'm wondering if DS's eczema is something other than food, since all of the other food triggers have had obvious digestive signs as well....unless it's a toy...or the fact that DS likes to lick everything in his path still.....

How about the location of LO's eczema? If it's an environmental trigger, has anyone been able to make a connection between the location of the eczema and the trigger?