Eczema, also known as atopic dermatitis, is a chronic skin disorder that involves inflammation, scaling, flaking, thickening, crusting, colour changes and itching of the skin. The affected area is often dry, and sometimes with blisters. For young children, it’s often on the cheeks, elbows or knees. And for adults, it’s commonly seen on the inside of the knees and elbows, hands, neck and face. Eczema is not contagious.

The itchiness of eczema can be intense and almost unbearable, which make your days very frustrating. And you can’t claim a sick day because of it! My 11 months old daughter and I are both eczema sufferers, there are sleepless nights struggling with the itching, and days tolerating the pain from the cracked, weeping skin resulted from scratching. I am reluctant to apply the steroid creams and the antibiotics that my doctor prescribed to myself and my baby, hence, I have to search for natural treatments. Here, I’m going to share with you my findings. These information are for your reference, they don’t meant to replace any medical treatments .

To treat eczema naturally, we have to treat it both externally and internally. According to herbalists, any kind of skin disorders is the body’s way to remove impurities from the blood. Besides, eczema is often associated with food intolerances and with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity from exposure to many chemicals over a period of time. Therefore, it’s not just about what you apply to the skin, but also about what you eat and use.

First, let’s talk about the internal aspect.

 

INTERNAL

The skin inflammation is a sign of toxins inside our body. Therefore, we need to detoxify our body by getting rid of the toxins, and nourish our skin with good nutrients. This is how we treat the root of eczema, and to let our skin healed, tighten, toned, hydrated and stay healthy.

1. Clean Up Your Diet

• Chemicals in our diet should all be avoided. Go for all natural, non-processed, organic food as much as you can.
• Beware of white sugar and white flour. They create extra work for our liver, immune system and gastrointestinal tract. They take away the energy we need to help digestion. Also, these foods add toxins to our body. And if our liver is overwhelmed with processed foods, it will be too stressed out to handle toxins and mild allergies. Therefore showing up through your skin. Besides, refined carbohydrates feed Candida bacteria, of which a possible cause of skin problems.
• No alcohol, caffeine, refined and hydrogenated vegetable oils, refined salt. These made the itching burn so much worse due to leaching precious nutrients from our body.

2. Find Out Any Food Intolerances

• Avoid foods that may trigger eczema out breaks. These may include citrus fruits, tomatoes, chocolate, eggs, nuts, dairy products, shellfish, and wheat, etc.
• Do a simple test to find out if you are allergic to a certain food. First, avoid that particular food for at least 4 days. Then eat some of it on an empty stomach and test your pulse before and after eating that food. If your pulse per minute increases significantly, or if you have other reactions, then most likely you are allergic to this food.

3. Probiotics

• Look for lactobacilllus acidophilus, bifidobacteria and lactobacillus bulgaricus. These friendly bacteria are our body’s first line of defense against harmful microorganisms that go into our body. They produce their own antibiotics thus can boost our immune function, which effectively fight against many harmful bacteria, viruses and fungi. Another beauty is, they can help cancel out the effects of toxins and environmental pollutants.
• If buying culture to make your own yoghurt with probiotics, be sure the above bacteria are included. Store bought yoghurt may not necessarily contain these friendly bacteria.
• Fermented vegetables like sauerkraut has excellent natural probiotics. It is good to eat a tablespoon with every meal!

4. Nourishing and Cleansing Drinks
Skin with eczema is usually dry, hence it is important to ensure that we drink plenty of liquids every day. And the constant flow of fresh new liquid helps remove toxins from our body.

Pure Water

• We have to drink pure water, which is good quality filtered water.

Green Drinks

• Wheat Grass is a very good source of chlorophyll. And chlorophyll is a great natural healer and contribute to the regeneration of the skin, since it can create good quality blood and heal wounds effectively. It is a cleanser which counteracts toxins. Besides, wheat grass is known as a complete food which contains all vitamins and high in enzymes.
• Green Barley Grass is another toxin eliminator. It is high in antioxidants and will eliminate toxins, chemicals, radiation and metals inside our body. It contains enzymes, amino acids, vitamins, chlorophyll and minerals. It also contains SOD (superoxide dismutase), an important antioxidant ingredient that clears toxins.
• Spirulina is a micro-algae, another excellent source of chlorophyll, also protein, vitamins, minerals and amino acids. It can be easily digested. I mix the powder with warm water and raw honey, and drink it first thing in the morning.

Blood Purifier

• When our body is trying to remove impurities from the blood through our skin, blood purifiers help to quicken this process. Example of blood purifiers are burdock root, dandelion, neetle, and alfafa. I drink a tea of this combination plus chamomile as an activator a few times a day.
• Burdock is a blood purifier and cleanser that helps neutralizing and eliminating toxins in our system. It is best to take it for at least 3 months to normalize our system.
• Dandelion is also a blood purifier and a builder, it is high in vitamins and minerals. It is also a liver cleanser.

Fruits and Vegetable Juices

• 2 or 3 glasses of raw fruit and vegetable juices a day will make a difference in texture and the condition of our skin. They help the healing process. The goodness in juices are delivered to every cell of our body within 20 minutes of consumption. Juices are excellent detoxifiers which cleanse and nourish the damaged skin.

5. Raw Food

• Eat more than 50% of your foods raw, like sprouts, salads, seaweed, vegetables and fruit. It will help tremendously on our skin. It is because raw foods need only less than 36 hours to digest whereas cooked foods can take anywhere between 45 and 100 hours to digest. It means if we only eat cooked food, our body has to spend most of its energy to digest dead food. We will have more energy to fight eczema If we consume more raw foods.
• Also, raw foods contain the much needed vitamins, enzymes and minerals a problematic skin needs. A body that is unhealthy need to replace near 500 billion cells each day, therefore, we need to eat food with quality like raw organic vegetables to meet the demand. And these foods will help our cells take up oxygen, which our body needs very much.
• Lastly, raw organic veggies contain a lot of phytochemicals, which will help us fight off deceases and keep us in good health.

6. Quinoa

• It is very similar to oats, can use to make porridge. It supports the kidneys and is full of essential amino acids and calcium.

7. Parsley

• It helps the skin’s defensive mechanism and helps getting rid of bad bacteria, thus cleanse the blood and all body fluids. It is a good source of beta carotene, vitamin B12, chlorophyll, calcium and vitamin C. It supports both digestion, liver and kidneys, which affects our skin. Eat often will help moisture and nourish our body and skin.

8. Essential Fatty Acids
They moisture our skin from the inside and help fasten the healing process of damaged skin. They can also assist in regulating hormone fluctuations. These fatty acids are vital as the body cannot produce them. If our body is running low on essential fatty acids, our skin and hair are the first to show. It will take us 6 months to get the levels back to normal. Therefore, stick with the diet! Also, essential fatty acids should be COLD PRESSED only and should not be cooked, since its goodness and nutrition will be killed by excess heat!

• Flax seeds lubricate the colon, nourish the spleen, pancreas and immune system, which are all very important to our body for it to heal itself. It contains the all important omega-3 and omega 6 essential fatty acids in perfect balance. They also help our body to strengthen membrane, which will speed up the healing process and the rate of creating new cell tissue.
• Extra virgin olive oil, avocados, other nuts and seeds are other good sources of these EFA.

9. Other Beneficial Dietary Supplements

• Evening Primrose Oil promotes lubrication of the skin.
• Aloe Vera is a great healer and strengthener, powerful at repairing damaged tissue and reducing inflammation.
• Vitamin B-12 is needed for healthy skin and proper circulation.
• Kelp is necessary for healing tissues, it builds cell membrane.
• Vitamin C promotes wounds healing. It is also a powerful antioxidant. Food source: many fresh fruits and vegetables. It is destroyed by heat.
• Vitamin E contributes to tissue repair and healing, needed for circulation. It relieves itching and dryness. Food source: coconut oil, butter, grains, nuts, seeds, legumes, dark green leafy vegetables, organ meat, etc.
• Zinc aids healing and enhances immune function. It helps maintain proper levels of vitamin E in the blood. Food source: eggs, green leafy vegetables, oysters, red meat, fish, nuts, seeds and ginger.
• Borage Oil helps to retain moisture in skin.
• Shark Cartilage reduces skin inflammation.
• Chamomile can be used internally or topically to soothe the skin and reduce inflammation. It also improves blood circulation.
• Grapeseed Extract reduces inflammation and removes toxins from the body.
• Oregon Grape Root detoxifies the body and reduces inflammation.

10. Relax and Be Thankful
As we know eczema can be related to stress, it is important to relax and enjoy your life. Be thankful for all the goodness that God has blessed us!

 

We will talk about the EXTERNAL aspect later.

 

ON A SIDE NOTE:
This may seem too overwhelming for you. However, you don’t need to take them all to get well. Do pay attention to several points, and be consistent. Stick to your diet and you will notice changes:

1. Stop putting toxins into your body.

2. Eliminate toxins from your body. (Green drinks, probiotics, blood purifier, regular EXERCISE, etc)

      3. Eat nutrients that nourish your skin.

Having eczema is like taking a discipline course. We have to be disciplined in order to get well! There were several weekends that I couldn’t resist the temptation of cake, muffins, chocolate and cookies during potlucks, snacks after services, and on mother’s day and my own birthday…I love these things too much since I was a little girl! And yes, there go outbreaks, the cracks and wounds took at least 4 days to heal. I finally realized that it just doesn’t worth it! Therefore, do pray for strength to resist these temptations! After all, the above suggestions don’t just benefit the skin. We can live a more healthy and energetic life in return!

 

UPDATE : May 22, 2017

9 yrs went by after writing this post and I still have not post Part II regarding the external aspect!!  This is what had happened.  The year after writing this post, my sixth daughter was born, and for over a year she had suffered severe eczema.  Those times were trying.  This post talks about her healing process, and how to treat eczema externally is also mentioned.
Our Precious Melody, and her Eczema

Also, I had found out the cause of my eczema and had deal with it.  I am grateful to say that I have no more itchy nights.  My skin are clear and well.   At times, I do still have tiny blisters on my thumb if I happen to wet my fingers too often.  However, that only happen once every few months.  I was actually fighting candida yeast overgrowth, thus for the skin to get well, my system needed to be cleansed very thoroughly.   Would it be the root cause of your eczema as well?  Here is a post about it.
Candida, Diet & Natural Treatments

I ended up applying a few fresh poultice to her wound daily for over a week, since that can prevent her from touching and scratching the wound. I didn’t want her to pull off the scab herself. The wound healed very fast this way too. Now, there’s no scab anymore. However, as you can see, the colour is still red, and the skin is not smooth yet. Therefore, I need to massage her wound several times a day with Aloe Vera. There was a weekend that I was too busy to massage her wound and the skin raised a bit, so I immediately massaged it more frequently and it went down again.

Other things that might work are vitamin E, castor oil, olive oil and coconut oil. Taking vitamin E or aloe vera internally will help too.

Also, my brother-in-law pointed out that UV light will permanently hyperpigment the scar, so it is best to avoid sunlight by covering it.

Viviana bumped into the corner of our wooden piano bench this morning. A lot of blood burst out from her forehead and flew through her face to her clothes and pants. It looked horrible. I put a piece of bounty on her wound and applied pressure on it. After awhile, the blood stopped flowing as much. Then I sprinkled pinch of cayenne pepper on the wound to help stopping the bleeding (for serious case, may need to drink the cayenne pepper with warm water as well), and put a piece of fresh sliced open aloe vera on top, and applied pressure again.

This time, I applied pressure for at least 15 minutes, until most of the pain was gone. This pressure can prevent swelling as keeping the leaking fluid from pooling in the tissue space. If the injured area is too sensitive to be touched, we can actually do it without touching, just hold the hand 1-2 “ above the wound and do the light and rapid stroking. The magnetic fields from our body can help moving the leaked fluid and protein out of the injured tissues even without actual touching.

After applying the pressure, I made a poultice of plantain leaf, comfrey leaf, yarrow and slippery elm, mixed with a bit water, aloe vera juice and olive oil. I secured it on her forehead with a bandage. These herbs are good for infections of any kind, and they are natural pain relievers. They also pull slivers, rocks, etc from wounds, and help heal wounds quickly. I will change a new poultice after a few hours. After another few hours, I will just apply my homemade salve on the wound. It is a salve with comfrey, plantain, chickweed, etc, which all contain contact healing properties and relieve pain.

Next time when your children or yourself want to chew something, try to chew a small cinnamon stick! Chew it occasionally helps fighting tooth decay, teeth and gum diseases! My children just love it!

There are a lot of ways to boost up the immune system when the first sign of cold/flu appears. One of the ways that I often use is a warm drink with ginger, cinnamon, lemon juice and raw honey. Adding 1 to 2 sticks of cinnamon and a couple of thin pieces of ginger to 1 L of water. Let it boils and then remove from heat. Coverd and let it stand for 1 to 2 hours. When the liquid turns brown and not too hot, squeeze in the juice of a fresh lemon and stir in some raw honey. Too much heat will destroy the vitamin C in the lemon juice and the enzymes in the honey. Drink it warm a couple of times throughout the day.

Ginger is an amazing herb that stimulates blood circulation, helps remove excess toxins from the body, relieve congestion in the sinus cavities…..etc.

Cinnamon is a stimulating aromatic herb same as ginger, which helps to increase the energy of body tissues, improves digestion, clears blocked respiratory passages, fights infection…..etc.