Our story
 

“If only I would have known” is a phrase that often comes up when I tell people the story of our eczema journey.  With the clarity of hindsight, how much of my childrens’ suffering could I have avoided if I knew then what I know now?  I determined that if I could help other parents avoid the pain we went through, it would make our hard-won experience all worthwhile.  Although all four of my children have had different journeys with food allergies and eczema, it is Miss L’s story I tell most often.  

My second child Miss L was born healthy with beautiful skin.  But at six months, she developed a bright red rash all over her body.  It went from nothing to full body within 2-3 weeks. I took her to a GP who diagnosed eczema and prescribed antibiotics, anti-fungals, and mild hydrocortisone steroid creams.  As she wasn’t any better a week later – in fact worse – the doctor put her onto a steroid cream classed as “potent.” This calmed down the symptoms of her eczema so we kept using it as instructed when she repeatedly flared up over and over again. Steroid creams however did not cure her eczema or get rid of the problem – they simply managed and suppressed the symptoms of inflammation, redness, and itch.  The package insert recommends no more than four weeks use for children. Unfortunately Miss L used this cream for two years, before worsening and being put on a second steroid cream of higher potency for another two years. During this time, I was learning all about gut health and natural skin creams, reducing the chemical load in my house and laundry, changing our family’s diet, and trialling different elimination diets to identify the allergens.  

Unfortunately it was too little, too late, as Miss L’s body had become both addicted to and allergic to her overused steroid creams (a condition known as Topical Steroid Addiction, Topical Steroid Withdrawal, or Red Skin Syndrome).  She had out of control full-body moderate to severe eczema, and a raft of other systemic symptoms.  When we discovered this condition at age four, we stopped all steroid creams and she went through an excruciating year-long withdrawal process, followed by a year of steady healing.  She spent the first year with extremely severe full body eczema, repeated skin infections, a cycle of oozing and flaking bright red skin, severely disrupted sleep, thinning hair, swollen glands, and body temperature disregulation. The second year she steadily improved and her eczema and allergy symptoms slowly decreased.  By the time she was six, she was 99% eczema-free, with just dry patches behind her knees. Her gut was mostly healed, and she avoided her identified allergens/eczema triggers of dairy, wheat, and peanuts, and she no longer needed strict infection control measures. Now her skin integrity has returned and she has smooth, blemish, itch, and crack-free skin.

If only I would have known…. When her issues first arose at six months, I would have removed the top ten allergens, commenced a gut healing regime, purged my house of all fragrances and chemicals, and instigated a strict infection control regime.  I would have declined those scripts for antibiotics, anti-fungals, and steroid creams, and bought or made my own gentle soothing skin treatments.  I can’t go back in time and make this choice – but I offer you the opportunity to do so with my hard-won experience and knowledge.  I believe prescription creams have their place in eczema treatment – but as a last resort, not a first port of call. I invite you to learn how to treat Eczema, Naturally.