I am focusing this post on allergic eczema because that’s my field of experience. There are other triggers, most notably: toxin overload, insufficient diet, severe emotional trauma, multiple chemical sensitivity. You can also check my other posts below for more information and my “Who We Are” page. Other eczema related posts:

Wishes and Goals

Dairy Allergies and Fermented Foods

April 2009 summary

If you are dealing with eczema today, you have my sympathies. It’s a miserable scourge, attacking young and old and making sweet babies miserable. My youngest developed allergic eczema before her first birthday when we moved from Southern California to the Pacific Northwest. We had no idea she was allergic to juniper when we moved into the house surrounded by a hedge of it. We didn’t know she was allergic to pine when we relocated into a national forest full of it. We’d never even heard of dust mite allergy when we moved into a 150-year-old house with 40-year-old carpeting. If we’d known the extent of her sensitivity to mold, we probably wouldn’t have put her in a carpeted basement bedroom in the southeast where we live now. It’s a real moving target for us: finding out what causes the rash, avoiding the allergen, fixing the rash. Eczema is called “the itch that rashes.” For us it’s very true that the itch comes first, then the rash. It’s hard to tell a youngster or adult, “Don’t scratch! That makes it worse!” But telling it to a baby or toddler is just so much wasted breath.

As for causes, there are as many causes as there are allergens. Eczema can erupt from an allergen you breathe, eat, drink or touch. And because the affected body is exhibiting allergies through the skin already, prick allergy tests can be almost useless by giving false positives on nearly every tested allergen.

My first line of defense is different with eczema than with other health problems. For most health issues, we believe in using the smallest possible “gun” first, relying on nutrition and lifestyle refinements and saving the bigger guns (OTC drugs and prescriptions) in case the situation worsens. But when Rose tells me she itches, we go right for the Benadryl first. Allowing the itch to live on her skin increases the odds she will scratch, rash and worsen. Steroids do knock out the problem fairly quickly, but are also very strong drugs. We try to avoid steroids, even topically, unless the rash is covering a large part of her body and not healing after several weeks of home intervention. We have tried every lotion available and they all sting her skin, so we don’t put anything on the rash. Oatmeal baths actually made her worse, and for a time we suspected an oat allergy. We were able to rule that out later, and still don’t know why her skin reacts negatively to oatmeal baths.

Ow, that's nasty!In this photo, you can see how the skin on Rose’s neck is oozing, a very distressing symptom of eczema. You can also see the red rash on her arms, chin and chest. I took this photo for comparison. If the rash didn’t show significant improvement in 48 hours I would take her to the doctor. This open skin is very susceptible to infection, and once infected, the skin can suffer permanent damage and scarring. With a combination of compresses, dietary intervention and filtered air, she did show improvement within 24 hours.

As for what works, that’s also a moving target. Sometimes a cool bath takes the itch out enough. Sunshine helps sometimes and worsens it others. Benadryl helps a little, but not nearly as much as one would hope. Topically, aloe gel helps sometimes, as does clay (like the kind used in a facial). Calendula cream in a choline base (available from health food stores) can help if applied soon enough, but once the rash starts, it just stings. A decoction of marshmallow root can prevent infection on an open, weeping area. Witch hazel works nearly as well as over-the-counter hydrocortisone cream and doesn’t have the nasty side effects. If they work for you, forskolin tablets (also available at health food stores) can be a good substitute for Benadryl.

Food suggestions include cold water wild caught salmon for its EPA content. There’s a good EPA supplement called Coromega that our kids take. It’s pricey, but they will take it. Cod liver oil is also very helpful, and capsules are available. Sufficient zinc is important in any skin condition, and good sources include beef, grains, lima beans and peanuts. Berries (blackberries, blueberries, cherries and raspberries) have wonderful anti-inflammatory compounds to take swelling down deliciously. Rose has long had a habit of eating an apple (or more) every day. In doing some research on her eczema, I learned that apples have a good dose of Quercitin, a compound that helps the body with inflammatory issues like allergies.

If your child has eczema and asthma, check your house carefully for molds and dust mites. These two allergens and reactions often go hand-in-hand.

I strongly recommend keeping a diary for eczema-prone children. Where did they play? What did they eat? What’s the pollen count and major pollen source (available at the Weather Channel website)? What did you try? Did it help? Because eczema has so many causes, keeping it all written down could help you identify triggers that would remain a mystery otherwise. It took journaling and internet research for me to discover the cause of the outbreak Rose suffered an hour after jumping on the bed (hello, dust mites!) But if I wasn’t journaling, I’d probably have missed it.

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