Find out the reason for your EC

I just wanted to say I am following a dietary protocol to heal my leaky gut.I've not been active on this board for some time.

I would suggest everyone with peeling lips gets a comprehensive stool analysis which includes a fecal secretory IgA, calprotein, Eosinophil Protein test. Why are these tests important? They are important because they let you know the health of your gut, and you want all three to be within normal range.

You want to be celiac tested, this is done via a blood test. Why? Because you want to know if you are gluten sensitive or gluten intolerant. A gut healing plan will eliminate gluten in both cases because it is pro-inflammatory. If you are gluten sensitive the hope is that you may one day reduce this sensitivity by healing your gut.

Another factor is the biodiversity of your gut bacteria. Research has linked lower diversity to increased dysbiosis, and higher diversity to reduced dysbiosis. The correlation is strong. So this means you will need to introduce probiotics into your diet in the form of homemade fermented foods and drinks, and perhaps some supplements as well, but only in addition to natural forms and good diet. You will need to eliminate gluten but the other changes are specific to you, and there is a lot of confusing and contradictory information on the web about the right foods to eat. The right foods for you are the ones that don't cause your symptoms to flare. It is very important that you pay close attention to how your body reacts to foods, do you get itching anywhere after you eat? Do your lips dry out harsher than normal? Do you have diarrhea, cramping or bloating? Does a rash reappear? It's important to pay close attention to all this so that you can identify any triggers and remove them.

The majority of my diet is meat and vegetables with fruit in small amounts. I am on a supplement regime for the gut, and have noticed some problems from supplements so I'm monitoring all the factors carefully. Of the foods I currently eat I get no reaction and through doing this I am able to manage my lips.


The key thing to remember is that changes will take time. If you have the above tests and come back with abnormal readings on any of them, it is safe to say your lip peeling is because of your gut dysbiosis. Finding the root cause is the golden ticket, and it's what I was searching for in 15+ years of having exfoliative cheilitis.

In addition, if you have fordyce spots on your lips (most commonly the upper lip), this is likely the body's attempt to compensate for the repeated drying cycles your lips undergo due to being inflamed all the time. It will likely reduce in severity once you seal the gut. Avoiding processed foods and drink is a must, and of course Antibiotics , pain killers, pretty much every medication prescribed by a western doctor. These are not designed to treat the route cause, only the symptoms, and they very seldom achieve that in fact.

It is important to remove harsh chemical hygiene products, commonly in shampoos and toothpaste. Try to find products which are organic and non-abrasive. I use a shampoo bar which is made from organic oils.

Some other things I have tried and that have failed:

- leaving alone moisture method

- applying certain herbs, creams, ointments to the lips (all failed) it is not a SKIN problem it is a GUT problem

- lyme disease treatment (it is very questionable as to whether I really have this, there is not enough evidence to suggest I do)

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