The first picture on the upper left was taken on May 9th during one of his worst flares we have ever experienced. We were at the peak of his topical steroid withdrawal, and he was having what we think was a reaction to his new mattress. As you move to the right, you can see the progression in just under 3 months.

The picture on the bottom left was taken at the end of May, and moving to the right brings us to how his skin is currently. The progress that we have made has been life changing for him and us. We went from not being able to leave the house, flares lasting 30 minutes or longer, up screaming many many times in the night— to having daytime flares be rare, almost sleeping through the night, getting his energy back and being able to leave the house again. His skin looks better than it did while we were consistently using steroids. We are going longer and longer in between steroid use, and using less and less each time- and his skin is getting better and better. 12/18*we are now completely steroid free and his body continues to clear. There is a little bit on his feet and ankles but he continuing to heal. Praise God!

People have asked what we think it is that is helping, and while we implemented many things around the same time in desperation, there are a few things that I can see have made an INCREDIBLE difference in him. But first of all, we are just so thankful to be making progress and know that we have so many amazing people behind us praying for him everyday. This journey has increased our faith and helped us rely on God in a way we never had before. Okay- back to the practicals. This is my longest blog post by far— but I really wanted to lay out what we have been doing for him. We have come up with this regimen using a few different things.

*The Erasing Eczema Facebook group has been pivotal in learning how to treat his skin topically, and coming up with a rough supplement order and routine. I will link the Erasing Eczema Group Here. There are just a few questions you need to answer because its a private group that has 40,000 thousand other women and moms trying to navigate life with eczema!! Its amazing. Working with our chiropractor has also been huge in helping us identify food triggers, doing adjustments, and helping with supplements and dosage. We are also working with a homeopath who has been helping us for close to a year now, so we have guidance with dosage and kinds of homeopathic medicine. I would love to help if you are looking for guidance on where to start. This is what has been working for us but is not medical advice.*

1. Biofulvic and Humic Minerals. This has been HUGE for him. Minerals play a very important role in our body, and often times when our guts are out of whack we don’t absorb our nutrients very well, and that goes for minerals as well. Most of the time eczema kids are low in minerals. Some things that make these minerals stand apart from adding for example, a good sea salt to your water is what this mineral does. Below are benefits of Biofulvic and humic minerals based on research and testimonies. Click Here for full website

   -Increase your Body's Hydration

   -Increase Cellular Conductivity through electron volume

   -Replenish Electrolytes

   -Improve your Energy Levels

   -Boost Mental Focus and Memory

   -Enable Deeper Sleep (Better REM Cycle) & increase occurrence of dreams

   -Enable Uninterrupted Sleep by diminishing need for nigh-time Urination 

   -Improve Quality of Skin, Nails & Hair

   -Reduce Skin problems like Psoriasis, Sores, Keritosis Pilaris & Acne

   -Gently Detoxifies the Body and inhibits Parasite Activity

   -Speed Wound Healing

   -Improve Nutrient Absorption & Assimilation 

   -Increase Metabolism while reducing sugar cravings

   -Improve Eyesight

   -Help Heal Leaky Gut

   -Fight Infection & Viral outbreaks

   -Reduce Pain and inflammation in joints and from

   Lactic Acid buildup

   -Strengthen your overall Immune System

   -Reduce Acid Reflux 

   -Increase and stabilize Beneficial Micro-Organisms in our digestive tract

   -Enhance Longevity (made evident through bioassay

   testing)
   

2. Digestive Enzyme. There are many reasons why digestion is so important for overall health, but the reasons that stick out to me are the ability to absorb nutrients, the ability to break down food so that you dont feel bloated and gassy, and to stay regular and keep food moving through so that food doesn’t ferment in your intestines or having stool leak toxins back into your body. Our son went from bloating with a very distended belly and complaining of a pretty consistent stomach age, to rarely complaining of stomach ache and a massive decrease in bloating. Ive read in the past about why some of us dont have the enzymes we need, and while I hope to eventually get him to the point where he doesn’t need this, it is working so well and we are so thankful. We use this digestive enzyme by Seeking Health.

3. Dairy Free Colostrum (Mega IgG). This product has been a game changer for our family. We are big fans of raw milk and the healing benefits of colostrum. What I have learned along the way is that dairy, especially raw has amazing health benefits-but its only as beneficial as long as our bodies and immune systems can tolerate it. Not every super food is a super food for every person. Sometimes our bodies might even need a natural break from certain foods during just a healing phase, but that doesn’t mean it has to be out forever. I don’t like demonizing any food- except for food dyes— those can be demonized :)

   Here are some health benefits of Mega IgG:

   -Mega IgG 2000 can help an irritated gut lining by reducing gut inflammation and removing pathogens.

   -Mega IgG 2000 works by “tagging” potentially dangerous viruses, bacteria, fungi, and proteins.

   -Mega IgG 2000 is a bovine immunoglobulin supplement that seeks out pathogens and is more of a biotoxin binder.

   Here are some signs that Mega IgG could be useful for you:

   -Leaky gut

   -Bloating

   -Weak immune system

   -Autoimmunity

   -Mold toxicity

   -Acute stomach flu

   -Loose or frequent bowel movement

   4. Chiropractic work and diet changes: We are working with our trusted chiropractor who we have also learned to trust doing muscle testing with our son. She helps us identify food triggers outside of the classic inflammatory foods and trigger foods for those with eczema. He is on a fairly limited diet for the time being, but we know it is temporary and seeing how quickly he is healing testifies to the fact that his body needed a little break from certain things. She helps with adjustments which helps his nervous system, and has helped us figure out our supplement routine. We have made lots of lifestyle changes along the way in the past four years and many of those things I write about in this blog. Anywhere from changing detergents, to baths, to cleaning products, air filters and purifiers, clothes, mold— you name it and we have probably at least thought of it! We dont want this sort of thing to rule our life and become a source of such stress that it takes away our joy, so we do what we can and let go of the rest. God and our marriage always comes first and we try and make the decisions about what is best for our family together. Switching things up can be hard, and especially when things cost more than what you previously spent, so we stay in constant communication about our plan and what we are able to do at the present moment.

   5. Castor Oil Packs: This has been a surprising one for me. I dont know why it took me so long to try castor oil, it always seemed overwhelming to me, and there are kits out there that are sold for so much money! Finally, while we were in the thick of it, I decided it was worth a try if it could help my son. I found an organic castor oil on amazon. I searched for an organic, expeller pressed, hexane free castor oil which was not hard to find. I then just looked up an inexpensive pack and I use the adult neck wrap that came with it for his torso. Not only does his skin respond really well to the castor oil, it noticeably helps him. Since we are working on getting rid of toxins with the gentle detoxing (minerals and Mega IgG do a gentle detox, the castor oil helps the liver process and get rid of the toxins).

   6. Reducing Histamines: We had him start De-hist Jr. which I write about in more detail on other blog posts, but that has been a really helpful tool in helping him manage histamines. We cut out a lot of the high histamine foods like avocados, tomatoes, and we cut almonds and bananas. There was a massive correlation with itching before bedtime and bananas. We are going to start him on homeopathic histamine medicine soon, since the homeopath we work with recommended it and see how that helps his itching as well. If you are looking for a great homeopath, I’d love to share more about who we work with, she is amazing and helps a lot of eczema families!

   7. Chinese Skullcap: I think this might be my favorite medicinal herb right now. The benefits of this herb are endless, and I could write a whole blog post just on this herb, but I have noticed it helps calm his nervous system, helps him sleep, and has helped with the candida in his gut. Liam tested high for candida in his gut test, and then showed a positive allergy to candida in an allergy test, making him allergic to something he has an overgrowth of. I think this herb along with the other supplements is helping tackle some of that candida overgrowth.

There is so much I could write about here, but these are the things that stick out to me that have made a massive difference for him. We still have a long way to go in our healing journey but my goodness kids are so resilient and watching him heal has been an incredible experience. I would love to connect with you if you are going through something similar!