It has been a few months since the first allergy attack. To tell you thr truth since that day her right foot skin was never the same.. And truthfully the eczema actually spread. But since it wasn't flaring nor very itchy I only put some creams daily. So everywhere she goes she wears socks.
Until last month end of August. We went back from a Hari Raya visit and my friend gave her a box of cow milk! Otw home her face started to swell and she had a worst round of allergy attack. This time it really spread. And the skin became so inflamed it hurt when it went under the water.
I finally resorted to a 3 days dose of steroid when the doctor said her skin was infected.. Not done with that, a week after that she got hfmd which makes it worst and she even got allergy hives at the end of hfmd.
Me and asha was really at the end of our wits. She kept on crying and scratching and i kept on yelling and pinching. I went back to see the doctor and she gv me desowan for the hives.
You see i was never a fan of steroid creams. But I believe that using it for 2-3days will be less harmful.
Since start I started browsing for ways to improve her eczema. I tried soaking her in epsom salt. Give her high dose of Probiotics. But this time round i was so determined to try everything.
Turns out that the high dose of lacto gg from the start was not a very good choice. I read somewhere that it's better to start off in small doses for the body to adapt before moving on to higher dosage gradually. Before the 2nd allergy flare up it was showing improvement but then after the flare ups we were back to square one.
I tried a few things but during my absence from work I noticed that even with all the recommended supplements and her skin even under constant Moisturizing is still so dry and flaky and it didn't show any improvement at all. Something must be wrong from the inside. So i watched her diet and decided to take out soy milk from her diet and watch and see. I searched for the milk replacement and decided to try on rice milk or air tajin in Indonesian.
Alhamdulillah several days after that it wss showing tremendous improvement. I believe in the leaky gut theory which i believe it is better to heal her insides first before the skin could get better.
So in short what worked for her 2nd allergy management is:
1. Take supplements which boosts her immune system. I bought the oceankids supplement since it was no gelatine. And contains zinc and echinachea.
2. Take omega 3 supplements or give salmon once in a while to boost regeneration process
3. Take Probiotic. She took 100mil dosage per day for a few weeks. Followed with 1 bil dosage etc til mb one day she can handle the 20bil dosage.
4. Take high dose of vit C. For her it's max 500mg a day.
5. Take virgin olive oil. Here it's sold as Oliva forte in guardian or Watson's. 60ml for $89. Expensive but worth a try. Some articles said that virgin coconut oil helps too. If i was in Indonesia I'd go with virgin coconut oil since it surely will be cheaper.
Moisturizing wise I bought:
1. Maya severe eczema cream for worst conditions and Maya eczema cream for normal conditions.
2. For her cracked skin I used the Maya skin healing cream that contains turmeric which is really good for anti inflammation and anti biotic.
3. Moogoo Soothing Skin Cream. THIS cream is good for skin that needs moisture for long hours. Plus it helps your skin to fix the top layer of the skin which most eczema sufferers are having problems with. I usually only use it at night. Cos Asha always said the cream stings at the beginning. So I only apply after she is asleep.
When the Health Champion shop is out of stock on Maya products I used other creams which contains no fragrance and no parabens at the very least.
Alternatives:
1. For flare up skin i used physiogel AI cream which you can only get in hospital pharmacy
2. Under control eczema skin i used physiogel cream which you can get just anywhere
3. Cetaphil cream for extra dry skin
4. Aveeno baby eczema cream
5.Neosporin eczema cream
(the last two items can only be bought from US ol shop. I usually buy from iherb.com. Some ols in Singapore has it but i forgot the names)
6. Cetaphil/physiogel lotion for other parts which has no eczema
That's about it I guess. Combinations of a good diet and extra knowledge of what can be done to resolve the problem naturally is a must. I actually don't want her to grow up with some food total restrictions. I am determined to introduce her allergens again as she got older bit by bit. But for now I want to let her digestive system to heal and mature first.
One more thing, i know all mothers love to see their kids eat more. But it is said that in order for the gut to heal faster don't over burden it with too much job a.k.a don't overeat. Makes sense. Explains why Bram's eczema usually subsides during Ramadhan. So I do not force her to eat nowadays.
I also noticed that since then she has been getting more sleep which is good. Means her body is repairing itself more.
In the end all the efforts are meaningless without prayers. I prayed day and night for Allah to lessen her pain, relieve her from her eczema and give me strength throughout. The knowledge above is only possible because Allah guides me and the strength Allah lent me.
