Eczema is a common skin condition that usually is accompanied by rash, itching, redness and flaking of skin.  Dermatitis is an acute inflammation of the skin and usually occurs when the body is in contact with an irritating substance ( poison ivy and chemicals).  Eczema is a chronic form of dermatitis or chronic inflammation of the skin.

Inflammatory diseases happen when damaged cells release histamine and bradykinin into surrounding fluids.  Causing the capillary pores to dilate allowing release of fluid and protein into the tissue spaces.  As a result, the tissue become red, swollen, hot and painful. In both cases eczema and dermatitis, the skin becomes irritated, resulting in red and itchy skin.

With eczema, the skin is continually irritated and inflamed which causes the upper layer of skin (epidermis) to thicken as skin cells multiply rapidly.  This creates a scaly effect on the surface of the skin.  Oil glands become obstructed, and the skin becomes dry.  This scaly skin inhibits eliminimation through the skin, causing toxins to become trapped under the skin.  This causes itching, which leads the person to scratch.  Scratching breaks the upper dermis layer so the skin develops a broken and cracked appearance.

Eczema is caused by the body being hypersensitve to certain irritants, so it is related to allergic asthma, hayfever, and food allergies.  These conditions are actually caused by a healthy immune system that is overburdened with toxins. The body is being overwhelmed by more irritants than it can handle effectively.

Children seem to be extremely prone to eczema.  About thiry percent of all newborn babies may develop this condition, effecting about one in eight young children.  Often occuring on the scalp or the cheeks but it can spread over other parts of the body, making children itchy and miserable.  Although 75% of children will outgrow this condition by their mid-teens. The question here is if this isn’t occurring just because their immune system’s become too depressed to manifest it.  Adults who had eczema as children will remain prone to dry skin in later years and to occasional flare-ups of skin inflammation.

A good place to start is to avoid foods that are incompatible with your blood type.  Some of the common allergenic foods that may contribute to skin irritation include wheat, dairy, corn, orange juice, coffee, black tea, soda pop and sugar.  To obtain a list of foods compatible for your blood type call Health and Wellness Resources at 585-391-6702, for a small cost of $12.00.  You must provide your blood type (A, B, AB or O).

Medically, eczema is often treated  with corticosteroid drugs that mimic the anti-inflammatory action of the adrenal hormone cortisol. Many people with eczema suffer from adrenal exhaustion (with  a corresponding deficiency in the production of cortisol).  This helps explain why the excessive inflammation is present and why eczema can flare up under stress.  Stress depletes the adrenals.

Along with learning good stress management techniques, herbs that support adrenal function and have a cortisol-like action may prove to be helpful.  Both licorice root and yucca have this effect.  Licorice, however, should be avoided with weeping eczema.  Other adrenal enhancing remedies such as Adrenal Support and ENERG-V may also benefit.  Histablock can also help because it blocks the histamine reactions that cause the inflammation.

Another treatment that has been studied is the use of certain strains of probiotics. Scientific studies show that probiotics can prevent and treat eczema:  One study conducted in Finland and published in the British medical jornal “The Lancet” examined 159 pregnant women whose babies were at higher risk from eczema because of family history.  For 2-4 weeks before delivery, half of the women were given Lactobacillus rhamnosus and the others were given a placebo.  After the babies were born, breastfeeding moms continued with the probiotic supplement (or placebo) for six months, and bottle fed babies were given one or the other in their formula.  Almost half of the babies in the placebo group developed eczema.  Only 23% (less than 1 out of 4) of the babies in the probiotic group showed any signs of eczema.  Remember these were high-risk babies who had a family history of eczema. 

The same group of Finnish researchers conducted a study with babies who already had eczema by adding Lactobacillus rhamnosus to their formula.  After one month, the eczema in those babies was significantly diminished.  Similar results were found by giving babies Bifidobacterium lactis.  Babies in the group were followed up to age four, and those who had been treated with the probiotics had half the rate of eczema compared to untreated children.

Nature’s Sunshine Products provides a chewable children’s probiotic Sunshine Heroes Probiotic Power Chewable, and also in capsule form Acidophilus, Bifidophilus Flora Force, and Probiotic Eleven.  Another chewable form is L. Reuteri (tastes good).  In capsule form they can be opened and sprinkled on a infants diaper for thrush-related diaper rash.  The best product for general use is Probiotic Eleven.  Children benefit highly from Bifidophilus.  After a round of antibiotics, L. Reuteri is the best choice as it aggressively knocks down yeast and helps other friendly bacteria gain a new foothold. These products work best when taken first thing in the morning about one hour before breakfast.  Another application is to empty a 1-5 capsules (depending on if this is for a small child or adult) into room temperature water, dissolve and inject rectally using a bulb syringe.  This implants the bacteria right where needed in cases of antibiotic use and yeast overgrowth.

Bone & Joint Health

The key to strong, healthy bones is an active lifestyle and consistent, adequate intake of bone-building nutrients.  Protein, calcium, magnesium, Vitamin D and trace minerals are all essential to proper bone formation, as are specialized nutrients like ipriflavone and strontium.

Regular supplementation with the right nutritional “building blocks” is also important to maintaining healthy joint function.  As we age, our body’s production of cartilage and joint fluid can diminish, which results in less flexibility and joint mobility.  Research has shown that supplementing with nutrients like glucosamine and chondroitin can help promote joint health by supplying important substances needed for joint repair and maintenance.  Other joint-healthy nutrients include MSM (methylsulfonylmethane), an important source of dietary sulfur, and the anti-inflammatory herb Boswellia serrata.

Testimony:  About four years ago there was so much pain in my hips, it was to painful to lie on my side to sleep.  I started taking Glucosamine & Chondroitin w/MSM and the pain was completely gone in just a few days.  I started out by taking two in the morning with breakfast and two with my evening meal.  I did that for one month and then went to one in the morning and one in the evening.  I have stayed on this amount and am experiencing continued relief.  I am almost sixty years old and am very active, working four days a week, cleaning houses and doing homecare.  I also supplemented with Calcium and Ipriflavone to strengthen my bones along with vitamin D3.  It’s wonderful to be free of pain and able to continue to be active.  I’m not ready to slow down yet.

More information on Bone and Joint Health available at the Vitamin Reasearch Products affiliate link on this website.

There is no single right way to proceed.  The many choices available in alternative and conventional healing can cause confusion and frustration.  Here are some basic guidelines to help you find your way through the maze of options.

Stay Healthy, Think Healthy. Eliminate the chemicals in your diet as much as you are able.  Cleanse gently, drink lots of filtered and non-chlorinated water.  Find a good green drink.  Many times your pH is to acidic and greens are an excellent way to bring things back into balance.  A day of fasting once a week is like a breath of fresh air to your body.  Always drink lots of filtered water while fasting.  So many toxic chemicals are stored in our body through the years.  Think about it,  would your car run well if you never gave it a tune up or changed the oil.  Your body is the most wonderful machine that was ever made.  We forget that it needs caring for until it starts breaking down and causing us difficulties.  If only we would think healthy before we get sick.  Remember the old saying, an once of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Embrace these four practices: Good nutrition, regular moderate exercise, manage stress, and develop your connectedness to others and to the natural world.  In practicing these four elements your immune system can maintain top condition, so you are able to resist most illnesses and recover quickly from the ones you can’t avoid.  Quoted from Michael Lerner, Ph.D., co-founder of the Commonwealth Cancer Help Program, Bolinas, California.

Proper Home Care: If you get sick, proper home care can speed up recovery time.  Combining rest, over-the-counter medications, using alternative remedies such as herbs, acupressure, meditation or prayer, and relaxing and stretching exercises.  If you don’t improve within a week or if any symptoms worsen, consult a physician.

Professional Care: Call a mainstream M.D. if your problem doesn’t respond to home care within a week – preferably one who is open to blending conventional and alternative treatments.

Find an open-minded Doctor. Start by asking around.  You may find leads from family members and friends or through self-help groups and people you share your faith with.  Also, alternative health organizations offer referrals.

Briefly interview the prospective doctors over the phone.  Relay to them your preference to have a practitioner who combines mainstream approaches with alternative therapies and see how they react.

Dialogue Re: Benefits & side effects: With a less serious health problem or one the seems to defy diagnosis you may want to go outside the medical mainstream and try other avenues of healing.  Before you do, ask your M.D. about the benefits and possible side effects of any mainstream options he suggests.  Also, ask which alternative therapies might be helpful. Then think about how you would like to proceed.  When you have decided how to go forward, explain your plan to your M.D. He/She should be informed of any other therapies you are trying, especially if you’re taking pharmaceuticals.  You don’t gain anything by keeping your doctor in the dark. Many mainstream physicians are curious about the outcomes of alternative therapies.

Keep Asking: If a doctor says “There’s nothing wrong with you.”  Many people find this extremely frustrating: “What do you mean there’s nothing wrong with me?”  Many times the doctor actually means that in mainstream diagnostic testing they were not able to find any  problems that caused a red flag to go up.  Meaning the standard medical tests available may not be showing any life-threatening conditions.  Try not to feel that you are being dismissed or that your sanity is in question.  Instead, use this opportunity to search out Alternative Practitioners.  An alternative practitioner may not make a conclusive diagnosis either.  But they can still offer you options for pain relief, recovery, and healing.

Consult an Alternative Practitioner: Because mainstream medicine is less effective at treating chronic conditions and vague dis-comforts that don’t fit it’s criteria for disease opting for alternative treatment either in combination with mainstream medicine practices or to go completely alternative may be the answer.

Which alternative therapy should you begin with?  Traditional Chinese Medicine, Homeopathy, Ayurveda or naturopathy are different healing systems with different philosophies of health and disease.  One of them may be able to provide a satisfactory solution to your health problems when mainstream medicine cannot.

Give a treatment time to work: Depending on how long you have had your condition and how much discomfort it is causing you “If you’re in severe pain and mainstream medicine doesn’t help within a day or two, then by all means try something else.” advises AlanP Brauer, M.D. “But if you have a chronic condition that’s persisted for several years, you can give a therapy a few months to work before moving on to something else.”

Keep everyone informed. When you change practitioners inform the new practitioner about the other practitioners you have consulted in the past. Discuss  how well or how poorly each previous experience and treatments worked.  If everyone has the whole picture and are well informed of what’s going on with you it can only help with their ability to diagnose and treat you.

Be your own Health Manager: You know yourself better than anyone else.   Create your own health-care team.  Check back with health care professionals you used in the past and liked even if they didn’t cure you.  The insight they may have could benefit you in the future when pursue other therapies. If you get better relief from combining of therapies, encourage respective practitioners to discuss your situation with one another.

Persevere: It has been quoted by a M.D. “No single therapeutic approach provides all of the answers for everyone.” “But most therapies have some good answers for some people.”

It is true that changing practitioners can get frustrating, but it’s much better than giving up. By every measure your health suffers when you give up.  Stress increases and your immune system becomes suppressed.  Don’t give up – press on.  Ultimately, the best choice in healing is the approach or combination of approaches that works for you.

In the 90’s the focus was to eat a low-fat diet to prevent obesity and other diseases.  Fifteen years later evidence now shows a low-fat diet may be ineffective for weight loss or prevention of heart disease and several cancers.

Research following 49,000 women for eight years reported that eating a low-fat diet did not prevent heart disease, breast cancer, or colon cancer, and did little for weight loss ( Women’s Health Initiative Dietary Modification Trial published in February 8, 2006 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association).  It is becoming clearer is that too much saturated and trans fats increase the risk for certain diseases while more monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, lower the risk.  The key being to eat more of the monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.

The Harvard School of Public Health reports that the largest sources of saturated fats are dairy products and red meats.  Trans fats are mostly found in processed foods such as margarine, vegetable shortening, partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, deepfried chips, fast foods and most baked goods.

Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are found in vegetable oils, like olive oil, nuts, seeds and fish.  Although these foods contain small amounts of satruated fats, they have smaller amounts of saturated fats.  The key is to have larger amounts of the monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats which happens with these foods.

Check out the Wholefood Farmacy link to your right and see the many convenient snackable and delicious whole foods that have more of the healthier fats provided it whole, natural food.

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