Eczema is an inflammatory condition that can cause distress and discomfort. My first steps with a client with eczema would be to work out where the inflammation is coming from. Immune system? Digestive system? I look thoroughly at the other symptoms and medical history before recommending relevant tests and tweaking the diet to make it more anti-inflammatory.
I met Claudine when my younger son John was two years old and suffering from very bad eczema,
which started when I stopped breastfeeding him, mild at first but getting progressively worse as the
time passed. I was extremely frustrated with the usual GP treatment which is a steroid cream and
antibiotics combination for when the eczema got so bad that John’s skin would get infected, which
started happening more often. I was told repetitively that most toddlers grow out of it by the time they
are three and I need to make sure I put the steroid cream on regularly. I was very unhappy about having
to do that and also aware that I’m actually not treating the cause of his condition, but just dealing with
When Claudine said she could definitely help John I was excited but sceptical at first. Now I know it
was due to my lack of knowledge about nutritional therapy. Claudine quickly worked out that John was
intolerant to quite a few foods and suggested a plan of action. The results were amazing very early
on. It took only a couple of weeks for John’s eczema to get dramatically better. The whole treatment
however took a bit longer, altogether nine months. Following the treatment John is not only completely clear of eczema now, but also can enjoy eating the foods that he was previously intolerant to. Fantastic result and a very happy mother and child. Thank you Claudine!
April 2013. Latest treatments for Eczema:
My recent CPD was “An Orthomolecular Approach to Allergy and
Atopic Disease” by Kara Fitzgerald, an American Naturopath.
If you have allergies or intolerances you have a permeable
lining of your gut (‘leaky gut’) – this needs to be healed. The chemicals
released by the body upon antigen exposure further damage the gut permeability.
In atopic individuals the immune system reacts
inappropriately to perceived antigens, whether this is environmental for example
dust mites, pollen or mould, or a food particle. The immune system becomes biased
to Th2 dominance.
One of the aims of treatment is to restore the balance of
the immune system and strengthen the Th1 response whilst reducing the Th2
response. Another aim is to heal the barriers.
Treatment Goals using Nutritional Therapy
Steroid creams weaken the skin barrier by 70% within 2-3
days, perpetuating the problem. If the cream HAS to be used I recommend first
applying a base of Evening Primrose Oil to the skin and then applying the cream
very sparingly over the top. You may then only have to apply the steroid cream
a couple of times.
Avoid the following possible trigger foods:
As well as sugar and alcohol, peanut butter and meat (all
inflammatory foods). After a while of avoiding the above they can be gradually
reintroduced to see if they are tolerated.
Detoxification and/or fasting can help as well as avoiding
allergic/intolerant foods (based on testing or elimination diet).
