Help for Eczema
Help for Eczema
My skin was on fire, but nothing seemed to work until a herbalist offered a surprising solution.
When I moved to Sydney from Port Macquarie a few years ago, I was suffering from a runny gut and frequent bouts of diarrhoea thanks to a stubborn Giardia infection. Believe me, moving 600 kilometres and trying to find somewhere to live with a dose of’ ‘Delhi belly’ is not fun!
I quickly found a naturopath / herbalist, Carole Kelly, who fixed my gut problems with slippery elm and the advice to stop drinking coffee and cow’s milk. Then I threw Carole a real doozy - the horrible eczema that had plagued me for several years, destroying my sleep, my figure and my self-confidence. And I’m not talking about a bit of an itchy rash here - I had it all over my legs, arms, back, stomach, and even at times on my face. The itch and the heat were unbearable, and antihistamines had no effect whatsoever. I scratched so much I tore my skin open, especially at night, meaning I often woke with bloodied sheets. At one stage I had huge, oozing golden staph infections on both legs and I was taking high doses of steroids (prednisolone). This made my face swell up like a pumpkin, my stomach was constantly irritated, I was depressed and my nerves were in shreds. That eczema dominated my life.
By the time I saw Carole, prednisolone had conquered the worst of the infection, bud still had the burning rash all over my body, I was still scratching in my sleep, and I was terrified of another major flare up. It took two years and a bit of experimentation, but Carole finally worked out that my eczema was related to dietary problems and aggravated by stress, including the stress of viral infections, hormonal changes due to menopause, and - oh dear -too much coffee.
First up, Carole put me on a nasty tasting herbal mixture containing St John’s wort, to counter my depression, and Echinacea, myrrh, golden seal, sage, dandelion, holy thistle and hawthorn to balance the hormones, purify my blood and counter infection. Three months later, it was time to find out about food intolerances that could be causing the eczema. This entailed going on an extremely limited and bland diet to remove all possible allergens and irritants, before gradually re-introducing them. For two weeks I could eat no ‘deadly nightshades’ (tomatoes, capsicums, chillies, potatoes, eggplants), and no citrus fruits, dairy foods, wheat or corn, nuts, eggs, red meat, seafood, mushrooms, jams, preserves, dried hit, fruit juices, coffee, tea or alcohol (apart from vodka, blessedly safe!). It was the most boring diet imaginable; and I subsisted on rice, sago, chicken, lamb, bananas, pears, a few steamed vegetables, and lots of water. It was immensely good for removing irritants and giving my poor struggling digestive system a rest but, boy was I relieved when the two weeks were over and we could start challenging with possible problem foods. One new food was introduced every second day over the next two weeks. I had dramatic reactions to corn and wheat (palpitations, dizziness, cramps, bloating), and lesser .but noticeable reactions to dairy and all the nightshades. To my relief, I was OK on potatoes, mushrooms and seafood - three of my favourite foods.
Carole developed a diet sheet that gave me meal choices for avoiding wheat, corn, dairy and nightshades. She also suggested avoiding citrus fruits. The hardest thing to give up was pasta - but by now I had such painful reactions on eating beautiful al dente pasta made from durum wheat that I regarded it with fear, and happily replaced both pasta and bread with rice, rice, and more rice. After a few weeks on the new dietary regime, I developed large, painful boils in my armpits as my body got rid of the accumulated toxins from 40 years of the wrong dietary choices. Not fun! To deal with these toxins and to continue balancing my menopausal hormones, I was given another herbal mix. Not quite as nasty-tasting as the earlier one, it was still a challenge to swallow a teaspoon of the mixture of red clover, poke root, astragalus, St John’s wort, liquorice and cleavers, even diluted in a glass of water.
Slowly but surely, things settled down. My hormones stopped playing up, and the itching became less intense, the flare ups less frequent, and the rashes less widespread, to the point where now my eczema’s ‘just a minor irritation. Five years after I met my herbalist/naturopath, I can truly say, “Thank you, Carole; you really have changed my life.”
PORTIA JAMES moved to Sydney from the Mid-North Coast five years ago. A poet and short story writer, she lives and works in the inner-city with her two cats.
