Eczema

Finding the Cause.

By Dr. Michael Kane

Wendy came into my office over a year ago with a long history of eczema.  Her hands at the time were red with deep cracks that oozed fluid.  She had to wear gloves to hide them for fear of embarrassment.   She had eczema since she was a child.  At thirty-three she now had enough of all the topical treatments usually steroid creams that her medical doctor prescribed and was not about to go on another course of prednisone.  She explained that although the steroids did take away her symptoms they returned once she stopped taking them.

She came instead to my office nearly in tears with her story.  I explained that one of the things that we as Naturopaths pride ourselves on is to determine the underlying problem and help the body deal with it in the least invasive way possible, using dietary change, homeopathy, herbal medicine, counseling and stress reduction.

One of the main areas to investigate with eczema is the intestinal tract and reactions from different foods.  Food can have a major effect on ones health.  Especially if there is some sensitivity to the foods.  In all the years of her problem with eczema none of her previous doctors recommended any dietary change for Wendy.  We embarked on something called the allergy elimination diet.  A specific diet that removes the ten most common allergic foods.  Six weeks on this diet Wendy had some significant improvement.  Her hands were much better but, not 100 %.  There were still some dry and flaky patches.   We decided then that it might be useful to do the food allergy blood test.

The blood test showed that there indeed were some foods that she was sensitive to.  Foods that were not removed from her diet with the allergy elimination diet.  With the removal of the remaining positive foods and some nutritional supplements to support her skin, Wendy had incredible results.  Her hands were clear!

We determined that her eczema was related to her food allergies.  Removal of those offending foods gave her body the chance to heal.  This was a simple case that could have been resolved thirty years ago.

Dr. Kane is a Naturopathic Physician who works in Middletown at

The Connecticut Center for Natural Health

210 S. Main St.

860-347-8600