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See the end of this post for an exciting update!

This post is part of the Natural Cures Blog Carnival, hosted by Hartkeisonline.

Kate, my middle daughter, has dyshidrosis. Sometimes it’s called dyshidrotic eczema, pompholyx, acute vesiculobullous hand eczema, and dyshidrotic dermatitis. It’s an allergic reaction that starts like tiny blisters. The blisters pop and crust, then bleed and a hard shell forms on her hand. It’s ugly, uncomfortable, easily infected and embarrassing. Some people think it looks just like leprosy, although having never seen leprosy myself, I couldn’t say. One of the worst parts about dyshidrosis is that it tends to be chronic, and each outbreak further thickens and toughens the skin. At its worst point it covered three fingers and half her palm. Affecting only 20 of 100,000 people in the US, it is not a common condition.

In my search to help her, I first looked to diet. My initial diagnostic flowchart looked like: Skin—>zinc—>Omega oils. Allergy—>gut flora—>trigger?

Skin

When dealing with skin, I tend to think of the mineral zinc and the Omega complex oils first. The best sources of zinc include beef, lamb, pork, crabmeat, turkey, chicken, lobster, clams and salmon. She has a particular fondness of wild caught Pacific salmon. Although far from being a local food, it is still better medicine than the strong steroids the doctor wanted to prescribe. Beef, lamb and chicken are on our weekly rotation. Meat sources of zinc are better absorbed than vegetable sources because the phytic acid content in vegetable sources bind the zinc, making it unavailable to the body. It is also recommended that zinc be taken in conjunction with vitamins C and E. Red bell peppers and steamed broccoli are very high in vitamin C and are locally available. Papaya is an even better source of C, but not available locally, and often not organically in my area. Nuts are an excellent source of vitamin E, and we consume some type of nut almost daily.

In the world of Omega fats, flax is king among vegetable sources. There are warnings about excess flax consumption, so we add flax oil to our weekly smoothies but don’t supplement with flax otherwise. Other great sources include that wild caught Pacific Salmon she loves, and walnuts. And in any discussion of Omega fats, a good amount of research into coconut oil is warranted. We use coconut oil for all our heated oil needs.

Allergies

Of course, nourishing her skin is only half the battle. The condition itself is often related to allergies, and until we find the trigger and deal directly with the allergies, we are only putting a nutritional “bandaid” on the problem. Knowing that allergies can be worsened by deficient gut flora and “leaky gut syndrome,” I addressed that issue next. I already knew that poor diet is a major cause of leaky gut, with lack of enzymes and intake of processed foods being the two worst offenders. This knowledge strengthened my belief that the traditional diet put forth in Nourishing Traditions could only benefit her.

Kate and I spent a full day brainstorming every possible trigger. We estimated the date of onset using photographs and her diary to help us. We noted all the body care products she used. At the end of the day, it was the diary that gave us our biggest clue, the first blister appeared on her hand one week after having braces put on. After more research, I found that dyshidrosis is frequently a symptom of nickel allergy. I called the orthodontist, and sure enough, nickel is a large part of the metal in her mouth. It is also present in beans, buckwheat, chocolate, dried fruit, figs, lettuce, licorice, linseed, millet, nuts, oats, onions, peas, pineapple, prunes, raspberries, salmon, shellfish, soy powder, spinach, tea, tomato, wheat, and other food sources. Nickel is used in the “buttery spread” industry as a catalyst and is present in the finished product. We immediately cut back on the chocolate consumption while I did further research. During the next appointment with the orthodontist, I learned that nickel allergy is on the rise and his office receives many calls like mine. When Kate’s braces come off, her retainer will be made from titanium. It is more expensive, but is non-reactive. We also discussed an accelerated treatment plan for her to remove the braces as soon as possible.

For foods to support the removal of nickel in her body, my research turned up cilantro, garlic and sea salt to be most beneficial. Mmm, sounds like pesto to me!

Now, you will notice that salmon appears on all the lists above. It was unclear from my research if the salmon that tests high in nickel is wild caught Pacific salmon. The sources I researched for Omega and zinc were specific that the salmon should not be farmed or from the Atlantic Ocean. The research on nickel provided no such specificity. Because of this, I have not removed it from her diet.

Kate is healing well, progressing slowly but surely. This week there are no bleeding spots on her hand at all. We are continuing to do research and seek out foods that support her body while it continues under the stress of the metal in her mouth.

April 11, 2009 UPDATE!

On April 4, Kate’s body had enough of the braces and her tongue, lips and gums started swelling, blistering and bleeding. We took her to have the braces removed at the orthodontist’s first availability, on April 7. Within 24 hours, the swelling in her mouth was gone. Two days after the braces were removed all the sores in her mouth were completely healed. By April 11, only four days later, the last open, oozing spot on her hand was completely healed. We are continuing our detox protocol with her, and I am doing research on the regeneration of healthy tissue on her hand to see if we can minimize the scarring that has already happened.