Hello,

An eczema reaction is the body's way of releasing toxins that have found their way into your blood stream. In essence, when your skin developes an eczema reaction, the body's natural healing process is taking place. A flushing of the toxins that have found their way into your system is what your body is trying to rid itself of. Where the problem arises is in our reaction to the skin reaction. We can either aide the skin in the healing process or impede the healing process with medications that promote further suffering. Unfortunately, the latter option has been the case with most eczema sufferers.

I'm 38 years old and can count my eczema skin flareups over my life span on one hand. My eczema flareups occurred when I made contact with poison ivy. Ignorantly, I referred to the flareups as poison ivy, not eczema (I didn't realize that this was eczema); and therefore simply used calamine lotion to dry the patches and soothe the itch while the natural healing process would take place. I suffered itchy nights for about two weeks with each bout, but considered it a part of the healing process that would be over shortly. Although the two weeks were miserable, I endured them because I knew that my body was healing and that the suffering would soon end. Now, had I used symptom suppressing eczema medications to treat my flareup, I would have perpetuated a cycle of suffering that would have been longterm. My ignorance of a poison ivy reaction as a form of eczema, called contact allergic eczema, actually worked to my benefit. However, it was my personal experience with the miserable itch suffered as a result of the flareups that pushed me to ensure that my nieces would not suffer in the same manner when they were diagnosed with eczema. Because I knew of the effects of longterm eczema suffering; due to my mother's years of eczema suffering as a result of harmful steroid/corticosteroid medications, I wasn't about to let that be the case for my nieces. I knew that if you worked with the body in the healing process, good results would be achieved.

I did a quick study of the skin (its function and its needs) and the immune system to get an understanding of how to go about healing the body of the eczema. From my studies, I determined that treating three specific areas simultaneously would bring about the healing results that I desired for my nieces. Those areas were internal (restoration of the immune health through the proper nutrition), external (rehydration of the skin with a good all natural skin care system), and foreign (identification & removal of the allergen/irritant). These are what I call common sense (wisdom) approaches to healing; and is what I found to be lacking in the medical community. Once we addressed all three of those issues in my niece, a severe (total body) eczema flareup was completely gone and skin healed (no scarring) in two weeks. My approach to healing eczema has been tested three times over with the birth of each niece (all three diagnosed with eczema). Each time the results are successful. Because we have an understanding of the skin disorder and what the body is messaging, we don't fear a breakout. We simply consider it as the body's warning signal to alert us to the invasion of a toxin into their system.

My oldest niece has been eczema free for six years and the middle niece had been eczema free for four years until about a month ago. My oldest niece attends school and had developed strep throat. As a result, the doctors prescribed Antibiotics for her and her sisters as well. I warned my family to be cautious of the fact that Antibiotics promote eczema flareups due to their promotion of candida overgrowth. Just as had been expected, a yeast infection had been detected by their mother in the youngest child, while changing pampers. Quickly, the mother called the nurse at our local hospital (not conferring with her mother who is a registered nurse) and inquired of what she should do about the yeast infection. The nurse suggested that she apply Lotrimen to the area. Of course, when I heard of the suggestion I warned against the use of the product. But, yet again, I was ignored due to my lack of a medical degree. Consequently, the jock itch ointment was applied to all three of my nieces; and my middle niece developed an extremely allergic reaction. I was livid; and the next day, I and my sister had to fix the mess. Coincidentally, my sister-in-laws mother was visiting the coming weekend. She confirmed to her daughter what we had said; and was available to nurse my niece back to health through those first rough days. We/they applied calamine lotion to my nieces skin throughout the healing process, and allowed the body to recover on its own. We bathed her skin using the same skin care regimen that has been found to be successful for our family: the Burt's Bees Baby Bee product line. In addition, we added the Burt's Bees Vitamin E bath oil to their baths. Again, the healing process took about two weeks to completion. I've often said that if my nieces were to ever have another eczema flareup, we wouldn't fear it; we would simply handle it because we know what to do. In this case, we knew immediately what the irritants were and, therefore, knew what to do about it. Just for your information, the manifestation of the yeast candida in the urine was the body's way of flushing out the candida. In addition, an increase in my nieces fiber intake would have also remedied the problem. There was no need for the Lotrimen application (which I don't at all recommend using on children).

Eczema signals the following deficiencies: beta carotene, zinc, quercetin, essential fatty acids (omega-3, omega-6, omega-9, & GLA), vitamin C, vitamin E, and as the more recent posts have shown, vitamin D may also be significantly deficient. Replenishing these deficiencies is best done through diet, with the exception of vitamin D which the skin naturally absorbs from the sun. To find out what foods contain these essential nutrients, check out the http://www.wholehealthmd.com website (healing eczema with what you eat section) and the http://abundanthealth.ws/ftnm.htm website. Addressing those deficiencies through your diet will greatly improve your immune health, resulting in your good skin health.

There are several natural alternatives to the eczema medications available. You can check out these websites for references: http://www.multistrength.com, http://www.merryclinic.com, http://www.earthwormherbals.com, http://www.eczemasite.com.au
You may have already found a sufficient alternative. More than anything, you will want to find good skin care that benefits your skin for the longterm.

The chlorine/fluoride is a major eczema irritant; therefore, I am happy to hear that you've addressed that issue with water purification systems.

I hope this enligtens you a bit regarding eczema and provides you with more hope; rather than fear.

aunty