eczema<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nTracy was a theatre major at nearby DePaul University. She\u2019d always been a sensitive child. Lots of ear infections as a toddler, and lots of antibiotics given in response. Skin rashes throughout childhood came and went and then came back again with daunting persistence. Tracy had been to most of the leading dermatologists in the city as well as getting an audience with the big kahunas over at one of the university hospitals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From her mom: Cortisone. Steroids. That\u2019s all anyone ever gives her. And antihistamines for itching, but those make her too sleepy to think straight. Since she\u2019s been four years old I\u2019ve been slathering Tracy with steroids. And sure, they work fine\u2026until you stop using \u2018em. And they say they\u2019re all harmless, but I can\u2019t believe it doesn\u2019t get into your system. They also offered serious drugs to suppress her immune system, but when I read the side effects\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I smiled and focused on the patient. \u201cTracy,\u201d I began. \u201cYou\u2019ve lived with this for years. Tap in to your factory-installed women\u2019s intuition and start listing everything you know that makes your eczema worse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her mother piped up, \u201cWell, for one thing\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This time Tracy and I spoke in unison, \u201cPlease, let me\/let your daughter do this\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(I made a mental note to discuss family dynamics with mom. I even toyed with a fantasy surgical procedure called a mommy-ectomy.) I motioned for Tracy to continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tracy tells her own story
<\/strong>\u201cWhen I eat junk food, for one,\u201d she started. \u201cThere\u2019s so much of it in the vending machines in the dorm. Oh, and stress. Like when I was assigned a show to direct, which was exciting but so stressful. And my period. I\u2019m pretty sure I have PMS and eczema together.\u201d She paused. \u201cI can\u2019t seem to think of anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cTell me about your eating habits. A typical day. Even the meals you skip, or the snacks you pop down when you get ravenous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tracy rolled her eyes. \u201cOK, this is embarrassing. Especially with her (glancing at her mother) sitting here. Well, first, I usually don\u2019t have time for breakfast, but I sometimes grab a bagel and some coffee on the way to class. When I do eat breakfast, it\u2019s those yucky dehydrated scrambled eggs in the cafeteria. Maybe before lunch, I\u2019ll also have a granola bar or some corn chips or a turkey jerky. The rest of the day I eat in the cafe because of my meal ticket. Burger, fries, spaghetti, pizza. The fried chicken is really good. Never fish, I hate fish. Some cookies or yogurt for dessert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd to drink?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMilk, pop, coffee. I like milk. Sometimes orange juice in the morning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe doctors already tested her for food allergies,\u201d volunteered mom. \u201cThe scratch tests all came back negative.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I explained that the scratch tests done by allergists looked for immediate reactions to foods, like when your lips swell with strawberries or you start itching with shrimp. Food sensitivities, on the other hand, occur more slowly, two or three days after eating a culprit food. First you eat the food, digest and absorb it, and then if you\u2019re sensitive your immune system creates antibodies against it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to look for the antibodies because it\u2019s these antibodies attacking food molecules that are responsible for your eczema.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then I examined Tracy\u2019s skin and hair. It struck me that everything about her was extremely dry. Even the areas of skin not affected by the eczema were flaky, as was her scalp. And her hair was unhealthy looking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reversing eczema
<\/strong>\u201cTracy,\u201d I began again. \u201cIt\u2019s not just that I think your diet is pretty awful, which it is, but I think you might be sensitive to a lot of your daily fare. The usual food sensitivity suspects are dairy, egg, corn, gluten grains, citrus, and even soy. If you look over your typical day, every meal contains something that includes these ingredients.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAlso, eating like you are you probably have some vitamin and mineral deficiencies, as well as deficiencies in what are called essential fatty acids.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I watched as Tracy counted the six common offending foods on her red and itchy fingertips. Then, like a chorus, the two of them, \u201cI\/my daughter can\u2019t stop eating. I\u2019ve\/she\u2019s got to eat!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I continued, \u201cTracy, really, starvation is reserved only for my worst cases. Why don\u2019t you and your mom meet with our nutritionist and she\u2019ll review our food allergy elimination diet. You\u2019ll stop eating the culprits for several weeks and then reintroduce them to see which cause your eczema to flare.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to the food elimination diet, I recommended two important diagnostic tests. First, a blood test that checks for sensitivities to 96 commonly eaten foods, and second, a simple urine test she do at home to determine if she had leaky gut syndrome, also called intestinal hyperpermeability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I wrote out a list of supplements she\u2019d be taking. In addition to some high-potency vitamins to bolster her suboptimal nutrition, I wanted her to start taking herbs for PMS and other herbs to calm her body\u2019s response to stress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finally, we\u2019d introduce her to my associate, Dr. Gemelas, to reverse her sensitivities with a treatment called low-dose immunotherapy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All this is quite different from the type of skin testing she had in the past. And because of all those childhood antibiotics, I also wanted to test Tracy for candida (yeast) overgrowth, a real villain when it comes to leaky gut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Next steps
<\/strong>Our nutritionist walked Tracy and her mom through the food allergy elimination diet, offering all sorts of healthful and tasty substitutions that are rarely linked to any allergic reactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\nA second route to treating chronic skin infections, especially psoriasis but eczema as well, is to work with Mari Stecker using traditional Chinese medicine. Mari has taken postgraduate work in dermatology and prepares individualized herbal formulations that have produced remarkable results. Don\u2019t worry if you\u2019re acupuncture needle-shy. Chinese dermatology is almost exclusively herbal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since a school production was coming up and Tracy would be on stage in a few weeks, it wasn\u2019t too difficult to extract a promise that she\u2019d make every effort to comply with her new way of eating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three weeks later
<\/strong>Three weeks later, mom without Tracy showed up during Tracy\u2019s scheduled return visit to review the food sensitivity blood test and the leaky gut results. Apparently the patient herself had an unexpected rehearsal that coincided with the appointment.<\/p>\n\n\n\nI told her mother that the food sensitivity blood tests clearly showed several culprit foods. In addition, Tracy\u2019s small intestine was, like a sieve, leaking large molecules of incompletely digested food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A photo of Tracy on her mom\u2019s phone showed significant progress in clearing the eczema, this a result of the food elimination diet. Then, apparently for dramatic effect, her mom pulled out a paper bag and dumped onto the examining table 23 twisted sticky tubes of various cortisone creams and six half-empty bottles of antihistamines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mom smiled. \u201cI had to show you what her life had been. Now I can throw them out.\u201d And she swept them all into a nearby wastebasket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHer skin looks great. Something has been irritating her skin all these years. Now, on this elimination diet, when she starts getting a little tired of rice, she looks in the mirror, laughs with sheer pleasure, and asks for a second helping.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd the supplements?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHer ritual, twice a day, never misses a dose.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd how are you doing with all this?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She paused. \u201cWhat can I say? I\u2019m her mother. I used to look at her, at those terrible rashes and my heart would break. She\u2019s\u2026so beautiful, even if I am her mother. When I peeked in and saw her looking in the mirror, touching her cheek and smiling, I realized I\u2019d never seen her do that and I started crying. Then she saw me and we both started crying. She\u2019s very happy. We\u2019re very happy. You\u2019ll come and see her show?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWith pleasure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Be well,
David Edelberg, MD<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"She had wisely trimmed her fingernails to avoid injuring her own skin, but as she sat in my office she continuously rubbed one part of her body or another with the ball of her thumb in order to relieve the itching. Tracy was in her 20s and accompanied by her mother. Although I could see […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2087,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[112,197,28,2,14,1778,531,586,50,226,296,130,3,2342,43],"tags":[1978,2066,2067,364,558,162],"class_list":["post-16471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-acupuncturetraditional-chinese-medicine","category-allergies-food-sensitivities","category-alternative-therapies","category-blog","category-c","category-candida-yeast-and-parasites","category-case-studies","category-dermatology","category-healthy-lifestyle","category-immune-system","category-inflammation","category-integrative-medicine","category-knowledge-base","category-low-does-immunotherapy","category-nutrition-nutritional-supplements-vitamins-herbal-remedies","tag-case-studies","tag-dermatitis","tag-dermatology","tag-eczema","tag-food-sensitivities","tag-nutrition"],"yoast_head":"\r\n
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