What Skin Eruptions Are Telling You and What To Do About It

While it would be foolish for me to claim a perfect track record or guarantee results, I have the educational/medical background, experience, knowledge and passion to speak on the topic of skin eruptions/allergies and offer help for healing.  The healing of allergies is a particular (and personally motivated) focus of my work and life.  I have consulted on cases that seemed hopeless…I have seen healing occur when parents follow the protocols with dedication.  God does give guidance and provide healing, but He expects us to do the work.  If we do not do everything we possibly can do, we should not expect results.  

I have worked with parents with suffering children, who were told by conventional MDs that their children needed surgery or could not be helped…those recommendations and claims were false and the parents chose a better way and saw their children healed.  It is possible to heal these severe cases, but it takes dedication, patience and selflessness.

I can attest personally to the arduous and exhausting work it takes to heal a severely allergic, suffering child.  I mothered such children.  I praise God that I did, as I learned invaluable wisdom that I have been able to share.  I experienced spiritual growth that otherwise I would have missed.  I suffered to do what was needed for my children, but I would never claim it was easy, nor enjoyable.  I ate nothing but 3 foods for a year (adding only 3 more foods for the second year) as I nursed an extremely allergic, highly reactive baby.  I have suffered emotional exhaustion as I mothered allergic children through daily meltdowns and ADHD spasmodic behaviours.  I cried with frustration as we worked through countless episodes of inflammations, swellings, hives, bleeding eczema, myriad body-covering dermatitis conditions and anaphylactic reactions.  I have spent multiple years awake multiple times through every night dealing with an allergic child’s nightly seizures.  I have comforted a suffering eczema-riddled child with remedies I had to make over and over until they were soothing.  I have created and used all natural, allergen-free home cleansers and toiletries.  I have spent hours daily for many months and multiple years preparing special meals for allergic children.  I have made and administering herbal remedies, I have endlessly administered homeopathic remedies, I have regularly offered spiritual training as children dealt with the severities of healing.  I have spent years of my life dealing with the wearying reality of children so sensitive that everything they potentially came into contact with every day had to be scrupulously vetted.  I am no stranger to the excruciating challenges of the healing journey.  I can empathize better than most to what it takes to make such a child well.  I know exactly what I ask of others when I make my recommendations.  I can testify that it is was worth the pain, the exhaustion, the hunger, the frustration, the tears… Healing is a journey and healing includes crises.  There are no simple fixes, no drugs that will provide the answer.  But there are answers, and they involve time, effort and hard work.

The first thing to understand is that the allopathic modern medical industry does not offer legitimate answers.  The paradigm is broken and the knowledge limited and myopic.  Diagnostic testing is limited in scope and accuracy.  Treatments are nothing close to cures, and more often than not, exacerbate the problems.  Allergy texting is notoriously erroneous.  Looking at the skin and thinking the problem is the skin is a common error in the conventional system.  Misinformation abounds in the modern medical system.  The answers lie outside that box.  When dealing with severely sensitive children, there are no easy or straight-forward answers, and conventional medicine simply does not have tools to address the needs.  More helpful, holistic modalities are individually limited and need to be used synergistically.  Even real medicine (herbal, homeopathic, acupuncture, etc) has its limits…there are no silver bullets.

The second thing to understand is that problems with the skin are never about the skin.  (Exceptions exist, of course, such as a dermal reaction caused by toxin irritants contacting the skin and then moving into the bloodstream…such as poison ivy.)  Treating the skin will not solve the root malfunction causing the eruption.  Dermatology does not hold the answers. The root of the illness lies within.  The skin is the major detoxification organ.  It shows us what is wrong systemically inside the body.  We can use soothing methods to help the pain of the skin, but we must treat the core problems within the system to solve the ailment.  Rashes and skin eruptions (eczema, acne, all types of dermatitis) are the result of dysfunction from within, specifically from malfunctions in gut and liver function, as well as from toxicity caused by parasites, malevolent flora and environmental toxins (such as heavy metals).  Severe dermatitis conditions reveal extreme allergies and toxicity.

All children suffering skin eruptions must be understood to have some or all of these systemic maladies.  The healing begins in the gut.  The liver is also implicated in such cases, and should be addressed.  All children with skin maladies have food allergies or intolerances or sensitivities (and leaky gut) to some degree.  These will not accurately be reflected by allergy testing.  The best way to deal with such sensitivities is with cleansing and healing detoxification, and dietary protocols.  Every single thing that goes into the child’s body can cause reactions.  Nothing can be considered safe until exhaustive elimination diet has been completed.  It will take months to see positive results.  There is no drug, nor botanical natural medicine that will effect a quick cure.  There are no miracle cures.  You cannot expect healing results without hard work.  Healing protocols require commitment, courage, denial, suffering.  Healing is a journey with peaks and valleys and uncomfortable challenges.  But the work is worth every sacrifice.  [Please understand that if the child has been vaccinated and has been or is regularly being given pharmaceutical drugs (such as antibiotics), the work could take longer and positive results could be fewer.]

There is no way to ease the pain of the skin unless the healing is taking place within…first within the gut.  You cannot heal the gut whilst also feeding irritating foods.  The healing diet is very restrictive for good reason.  Healing protocols work.  They are worth all the effort and challenge and frustration.  Alleviating the suffering of our children, seeing real healing take place makes the journey worthwhile.  If you do the hard work now, you will provide your child with a healthy body into adolescence and adulthood.  If you do not address these systemic weaknesses now, the child will carry chronic illness into adulthood.  This can be avoided. 

In addition to the dietary changes and detoxification protocols that must be followed, acupuncture and the NAET protocol can provide healing and relief for the extreme allergies causing your child's suffering.  These modalities require patience and perseverance, but I have found acupuncture to be a crucial addition to the sensitive child's healing journey.

If you are feeding your sensitive, rashy child any of the following things, you are contributing to the problem.  Eliminating these items will help to begin healing:

• sugar…any amount, any form
• processed foods
• food dyes
• food preservatives
• nightshades:  tomatoes, potatoes, all peppers (including bells), eggplants, goji berries
• corn
• soy
• wheat (and all other gluten-containing grains)
• dairy (even raw, grass-fed dairy is a problem for most sensitive kids)
• salicylates (see below)
• histamine-producing foods (see below)

You absolutely must avoid the top allergy trigger foods with a severely sensitive child.  Do NOT consider any allergy testing to be completely efficient and accurate.  In addition to the foods listed above, top allergy trigger foods include:

• eggs
• nuts
• coconut
• shellfish
• All grains (especially gluten-containing grains); oats can be particularly irritating to sensitive children’s leaky guts

Until you personally determine your child’s triggers, you should avoid all potentially irritating foods. 

It is essential that you perform an elimination diet.  It is not complicated, but it is time-consuming.  Discipline is essential.  Varying elimination diet instructions can be found.  I will include a couple links below.  Some work better than others.  The important thing to remember is that it takes 3 days for all food proteins/chemical constituents to clear out of the system and be metabolized away completely.  Do NOT try a new food except for every three days.  Only try ONE new food at a time.  Doing standard allergy tests, IGE blood tests, muscle testing, and other energetic tests will NOT give a complete and foolproof picture of what one is allergic to…so you can’t test and think you’ve got it figured out.  No diagnostic test is fully accurate and complete.  When it comes to food allergies, you MUST do actual food elimination testing.  I have found that with severely sensitive and suffering children, you must eliminate foods that most elimination protocols allow.  Remember that guidelines are generalities and your child is unique…you must understand that any person can be allergic to ANY food.  Aside from dairy and grains, which are widely understood to be problematic, all fruits and nuts can be irritating for very sensitive children.

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/elimination-diet

http://global.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780195371109/pdf/00_Mullin_Appendix_3.pdf

Many salycilate lists are available online.  I have included two below.  Do not feed foods that are moderate or high in salicylates.  Research the Feingold diet.  Beware: the salicylate food lists contain foods that are junk and should be avoided altogether, Feingold followers are not all “real food” promoters.  Real food is essential for true healing.  But the list is good to have for checking fruits, veggies, fats and meats.  Only feed negligible salicylate foods.

http://www.millhousemedical.co.nz/files/docs/factsheet_8_salicylates_in_foods.pdf

http://www.pkdiet.com/pdf/oxalate%20lists.pdf

It can be very helpful for allergic persons to avoid all histamine-containing and histamine-producing foods:

http://histame.com/histamine-rich-foods-substances

Ultimately, eliminating triggers and identifying intolerances is not enough.  It is a crucial first step, but the goal is healing.  We do not want to have to live on a radically restricted diet forever just to control allergies.  We want our children to thrive...to heal, from the inside out.  In concert with identifying and eliminating the allergens and intolerances, we must heal the gut, which restores normalcy and function to the entire system.  Our goal is to achieve a new normal...a better foundation and a future of renewed wellness.

When healing begins to occur, you can slowly re-introduce foods.  But do not do so in a haphazard or over-zealous way; you must stick to the protocol.  You must exercise restraint and patience.  Healing takes time!  Understand that the healing journey can be like riding a roller-coaster.  You may see positive gains and then losses...the body adjusts in its own way.  Cross-contaminations and seasonal allergies can complicate the healing picture.  You may need to constantly make tweaks.  Be ready and willing to do this.  Do not despair.  The longer you avoid the triggers, the better your child's chance of permanent healing.  Be willing to live in the realm of "do overs."  You will learn what works and what does not work and when.  It will eventually become second nature to you.  You will learn how to prepare alternative foods.  You will begin to read your child's symptom picture before the flare ups get too ugly.  You will become the expert on how to heal your child and how to maintain wellness for your child's needs.

In lieu of extensive elimination diet testing, you can follow the GAPS protocol.  This protocol not only helps to identify intolerances and gives you a necessary trigger avoidance period, but actually provides the important components to heal the gut and establish the proper foundation for constitutional health.  You must begin with GAPS Intro and stick with it for at least 30 days.  For extremely sensitive children, 60 to 90 days is preferred.  GAPS Intro is in itself an elimination diet as well as a highly nourishing protocol that contains the most essential components to restoring gut health and eliminating allergies:  fat and collagen.  Increasing the fat and collagen in the diet alone can improve the underlying deficiencies that contribute to sensitivity reactions.  But the healing protocol must be performed to rid the body of malevolent flora and to achieve healing of the gut.  This leads to true systemic healing and a lifetime of wellness.

A liver cleanse is also an important part of the healing regime, as well as addressing internal parasites, which can be done with simple botanical and nutritional supplements, such as diatomaceous earth, cloves and oregano oil.

Healing the gut is the beginning of all health, and it is the answer to healing skin eruptions.  Childhood is the best time to secure such healing, as we are building the bodies our children will live in for a lifetime.  Skin eruptions can wax and wane.  We can become falsely convinced that our child has “grown out of” his condition when we have not yet accomplished complete healing.  The body does cycle during growth periods and hormonal changes.  Sometimes systemic malfunctions seem to disappear, only to rear their ugly heads again later.  An allergic child whose leaky gut has not been completely addressed will likely suffer adolescent skin eruptions such as acne.  The answer for this child is the same … heal the gut.  Gut healing protocols such as GAPS, autoimmune paleo, the keto diet and others that combine the basic principles will be an essential part of the gut/hormone healing regimen.  Whatever challenge you are facing, at whatever age, do not give up the work until the body shows signs of systemic healing.  You are impacting your children’s health for the rest of their lives.  You will be glad you suffered the journey when your child abounds in health.

Further information on the topics/issues/protocols mentioned here can be found on the Ailments page of my site.  I encourage you to research until you can’t see straight, and act on what you learn.  Do not take shortcuts or expect some expert to quickly and single-handedly fix this problem for you.  May you be blessed in the journey!