Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Ouch!

Much to our disappointment, leaving Alberta has not helped Sebby's eczema much. In fact, he's had two terrible flare ups since arriving back in Ontario. Thankfully we were able to figure out the environmental irritants causing his eczema to flare up. First, he reacted to the laundry detergent that Darren's parents were using and the eczema spread all over his body. Second, he reacted to a new olive oil based cream that we were applying to his face and the eczema became red hot and bumpy. Ouch! That flare up just happened on Monday evening and he's still recovering from it.



In an effort to get to the bottom of of what is causing the eczema, we saw a Naturopathic Doctor on Monday. She prescribed a probiotic for Sebby and recommended slowing down the introduction of new foods but most of the recommendations were for me. She said that I am likely allergic to a few things as well, even though my body can handle them alright. I'm now on...

1. 1 tablespoon of raw flaxseed oil daily so that I get more EFAs. I'm glad she told me I could mix it into a smoothie because it tastes pretty bad! For the record, I can still taste it in the smoothie but at least its drinkable.

2. More Omega 3 pills (3 daily) so that I get between 500 and 800 mg of EPA daily. She told me to keep them in the freezer and to take them with meals to reduce their foul taste. Great tip!

3. Better quality prenatal vitamins in capsule form. Apparently the tablets are very poorly absorbed by our bodies so they aren't doing their job. I have to take 2 capsules twice a day with food.

4. A hypoallergenic detox diet. By far the most difficult diet I've ever followed, I have to avoid the most common allergenic goods including dairy, soy, eggs, bell peppers, potatoes, red meat, tomatoes, corn, melons, strawberries, sugar, peanuts, sulfites, etc, etc...the list goes on!

It is certainly a challenge, however, I am thankful for such a great learning experience that I think will have an impact on the way our family eats in the future. In my spare time, I have been researching some of the foods that I have to avoid and the results are shocking! I read this article written by a nutritionist about how gluten is toxic to our bodies and brains and has been linked to MS and other diseases. A little food for thought!

Sure hope this change will be possible without breaking the bank and me becoming overly thin due to all these food restrictions. But most of all, I hope it will help Sebby's system recover so that his eczema will go away.

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