How food Allergies can Impact Eczema

Thank you to Real Food, Allergy Free for asking me to share my thoughts on the connection between food allergies and eczema. For my son, finding his food allergies made the most significant improvement in his skin. Did you find the same?

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Food Allergies: A Hidden Eczema Trigger

When my son was first diagnosed with eczema I took the prescribed medications and dutifully applied them as his pediatrician directed. I knew nothing about eczema. I started researching online and kept stumbling upon something – food triggering eczema. Food? Really? I was intrigued. I asked son’s pediatrician who said it was possible food was related, but not likely as only a very small percentage of children with eczema have food allergies. Knowing what I know now I wonder if by food allergies the physician meant positive reactions to certain foods as determined by blood or skin test only and not by an actual food challenge. Because we did test our son, blood and skin prick, and the only positive results he received was to walnuts in the skin prick test the first time and hazelnuts in the skin prick test the second time. No other allergies were detected.

No relief with medication

Fast-forward two years, our son’s skin continued to worsen despite attempts applying cortisone, which aggravated his skin even more when we’d take mandatory breaks from using it. Since the cortisone hadn’t helped our son, we moved to other solutions trying natural creams and natural therapies with mixed results. In March, we started supplementing my son’s diet with probiotics, omega 3-6-9 oil, a natural immune balancer, and some homeopathy drops – all with the aim of healing him from within.

A food allergy connection?

Although allergy testing had been inconclusive, I wasn’t convinced food had nothing to do with my son’s raging eczema. Next step was an elimination diet – also in March we removed dairy, soy, corn, tomatoes, nuts, shellfish, peas and eggs from his diet. I was especially careful there was no harmful food cross contamination and I learned to read food labels like a pro – making sure everything was made on separate machinery and didn’t “contain traces” of other harmful foods. After one month on the diet there was no change in his skin. What?! I was sure food was the culprit!

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2 Comments

  1. Becky on August 30, 2012 at 10:09 am

    It sounds like you removed everything but gluten? Huge factor in eczema. I would try just removing it and see how that effects him.

    • Jennifer on August 30, 2012 at 10:13 am

      Hi Becky – Yes, a few months later we did remove gluten finally and as you said, it made a HUGE difference in his skin. Jennifer

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