As a parent, there’s nothing worse than seeing your child suffer. For the past 22 months, my son (Cody) has been suffering from horrible eczema on his hands.
It started in the summer of 2017. I don’t know what triggered it, but small dry patches started appearing in-between a couple of his fingers. I figured it was the summer heat and told him to be diligent in keeping lotion on his hands.
By the end of the summer, the dry patches had spread across all of his fingers, on both hands, and was starting to spread up his fingers as well. He was complaining that it was hurting and itching, so I scheduled him an appointment with the doctor. She told us it looked like a fungal infection and she prescribed him an anti-fungal cream.
It turned out to NOT be a fungal infection (he showed zero improvement with the cream), so back to the doctor we went. I will spare you the details of every single doctor appointment we went to because there were way too many. It started with problem solving with his pediatrician, trying different creams and lotions. Most were over the counter: cetaphil, Aveeno, Dove, Eucerin, etc. When none of those creams/lotions worked, I asked for a referral to a dermatologist. We experimented with several more creams, including prescription and steroid lotions. Nothing worked. I asked her if food could possibly be a trigger. She said it was unlikely and unnecessary to go on any elimination diets, but gave us a referral to an allergist.
The allergist tested on the skin for food and outdoor allergies. No food allergies showed up, but he was allergic to almost everything outside. The allergist told him to cover his hands with gloves while outside playing (my boys are outside climbing trees and playing every day).
On our way we went, going back and forth between specialists, trying this and trying that. Meanwhile, Cody’s hands didn’t improve in the least. In fact, they were only getting worse. He was constantly in the nurse’s office at school because his hands were in so much pain; I’m pretty sure the health aide had me on speed dial. I felt helpless and I felt like a terrible mom for his hands looking so bad (even though I was trying everything the doctors said!)
By the 18 month mark, Cody’s hands were beyond horrible. They were constantly bright red, cracked and bleeding. Every time I looked at them, I wanted to cry. Cody shed plenty of tears himself. I don’t think this picture even shows how bad they really were. If you zoom in you might be able to see the cracks and the peeling.
By November, I decided I was done with our clinic doctors and I told his pediatrician that I wanted a referral to Loma Linda University Dermatology (Loma Linda specializes in children’s health issues). In December, the referral finally went through and I called to make the appointment. They couldn’t fit me in until MAY! I was in tears. How could I let my child suffer for another six months??
While I was waiting for the referral, I posted a picture of Cody’s hands on my facebook page and that post blew up with over 200 comments!! A lot of the suggestions were things we had already tried. I had friends sending me samples of their creams that were supposed to help with eczema. Nothing worked. Two friends sent me messages telling me about a doctor (the same doctor) who they believed could help Cody. They said he was able to clear up many of their issues, including eczema. They didn’t really tell me what kind of doctor he was, so I figured he was some kind of naturopathic doctor. I have learned a lot over the past few years (through my own health/autoimmune issues) about healing oneself holistically through diet and other supplementation by addressing root causes. When medicine had failed me, I myself had turned to a naturopathic doctor and seen good results. Throughout this whole journey, I felt, in the back of my mind, that there was some kind of underlying issue inside Cody’s body that needed to be addressed. Everyone in the medical profession would roll their eyes at me when I suggested this idea; clearly it was a skin issue and it just needed the right ointment to heal. Yet, they had all failed to heal him, so I gave this doctor a call and set an appointment.
When I arrived to his office, I discovered that he was a chiropractor who also practices energy work. Right away, the skepticism crept in. My sister had gone to this sort of doctor and if I’m just putting this all out there and being honest, it sounded a little hokey to me. I didn’t believe that this would really work, but I was already there and had nothing to lose, so I went forward with the appointment.
I don’t know how to describe the methods they use without it sounding a little kooky, so if you’ve never heard of this method of healing, it’s probably better to do some research on it rather than leaving it to me to describe for you. But just to give you a very basic idea, they do muscle testing to test different systems in your body to see which systems are weak. They can test emotions, immune system, gut, organs, etc. After going through all of his body’s systems, Dr. Brian concluded that there was some kind of a bacterial infection happening inside his body and his approach was to clear up that infection and focus on strengthening the immune system, which was testing a little weak. Dr. Brian also did that same muscle testing method to see which supplements Cody’s body would respond best to. After selecting the right ones, he came up with a supplement regiment and sent us home with instructions on when to take them and told us to be prepared that it would take some time for this to heal. Skin, especially, takes a long time to heal and he said it would most likely get worse before it would get better. That scared me because how could it get any worse? My poor guy was already miserable enough! He explained that it was actually a good sign if it got worse because it meant that the body and liver were doing it’s job to expel the toxins. Be patient, he said.
We went home and started the supplements (he also gave him a topical ointment) and I was hoping and praying this would work, but I wasn’t holding my breath that it would. I had gotten used to disappointment by this time, but I couldn’t simply sit around waiting for the next six months to pass.
As predicted, Cody’s hands got worse over the next few weeks. Even though I’d been warned, I was still frustrated and wanted to quit, thinking I’d been given phony baloney pills. But, we stuck with it. By the 4th week, they were finally starting to look a tiny bit better; was it my imagination? We pressed on for another couple of weeks and suddenly, the bright red hands were fading into a soft pink. Over the next several weeks, we continued to check in with Dr. Brian. Cody’s immune system was testing stronger and the bacterial infection seemed to have resolved. The deep cracks and bleeding were healing. Although his skin still looked a little dry and pink, it was clear that whatever we were doing was working. By March, they looked about 80% healed from where we were just a few months earlier.
That remaining 20% was frustrating, though. I wanted his hands to be completely normal. Since his immune system was testing strong, we turned our focus to healing and supporting his gut. Dr. Brian added in a high quality pro(and pre)biotic supplement. He also told us we should consider eliminating dairy. Even though Cody’s allergy and muscle testing didn’t show a problem with dairy, dairy is a known trigger for eczema. Cody is a cheese addict; his favorite things to eat are nachos, macaroni and cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches, quesadillas…this wasn’t going to be easy and even though I’d tried eliminating dairy before, it didn’t last for long because he couldn’t handle it! Having Dr. Brian talk with him about it helped though; it wasn’t just mom giving crazy suggestions.
For the first few weeks we only eliminated the obvious dairy: milk, cheese, ice cream. When that wasn’t showing enough improvement, we went full force. It was hard, I’m not going to lie. I had to train Cody to read all labels to make sure that it didn’t contain milk. We had to completely change his diet, which has been no easy task for a ten-year-old, but he’s really taken it like a champ! And it seemed like it was working! His hands continued to show improvement.
And then…just as we thought we had things under control, we went to his friend’s birthday party. The menu was pizza and in a moment of weakness, we decided to let him have some pizza. I supposed it would be very telling to see how he reacted after he ate it. I had my doubts that a couple pieces of pizza, after having no dairy for a couple of weeks, would really trigger any serious reaction.
I couldn’t have been more wrong. By Monday morning, his hands were red and itchy and he was in the nurse’s office for the first time since we’d started working with Dr. Brian. Poor Cody was miserable! The one good thing it did teach him was not to give in when he had a hankering for dairy.
Since the party, we have been very strict about keeping him dairy free. Cody himself is the strictest of all. In moments where I’m feeling bad of depriving him of goodies, he makes the decision for himself that it’s not worth it. I’ve stocked the freezer with dairy free ice cream and always keep a brownie mix in my cupboard (dairy free) for times of emergency. I’ve been planning our menus and snacks and treats to be dairy free; really, dairy isn’t great for any of us, so it’s been a healthy change. It hasn’t been easy, but it has been worth it, because…..
…..for the first time in nearly 22 months, Cody’s hands LOOK NORMAL!!!! We paused to get a good look at them this week and I nearly cried tears of joy. I know that sounds dramatic but this has been such a long and frustrating road that I am overjoyed to have my baby’s hands healed up!! Here’s what they look like today:
In two weeks, he has his appointment with Loma Linda and I am proud to march in there and tell them that we were able to heal his hands with alternative medicine! I was a complete skeptic with this energy healing method, but the results speak for themselves. I can’t make this stuff up! You can see and compare for yourself.
I think it’s worth mentioning that I also switched over all of our toxic household products (soaps, lotions, cleaners, detergents, etc) to non-toxic products. While I don’t think that was the cure to Cody’s skin condition, I do think that these have been positive, healthy changes and have helped.
Whether or not Cody will be able to have dairy again…I don’t know. We may be able to slowly start reintroducing it as time goes on, but none of us are in any hurry to do that right now.
If you have skin issues or really any issues that a traditional doctor is not able to help you with, I highly suggest finding a naturopath or someone who focuses on whole body wellness and finding the root cause for your ailment. It is not a quick fix; finding and treating the root cause takes time and effort, but it is effective! Medicine definitely has it’s time and place (I’m not knocking traditional doctors or medicine; I’m grateful for both), but most times medicine is really just a band-aid; they don’t address what is causing sickness. You can click here for Dr. Brian’s website, but if you don’t live in this area, I’m sure that with a little research you can find a place nearby to help you!
