I remember the day she walked into my clinic.
She walked with a strange gait because bending her legs was so painful.
Her skin was red all over, almost like a burn. It was far beyond eczema at this point.
I was looking at the worst case of Red Skin Syndrome that I’d ever seen.
Her long battle with eczema had spanned over 20 years, and she’d relied on cortisone cream all of her life to help with the incessant itching.
“It was never supposed to be an everyday thing, but I always thought I’d deal with this another day… another time. And it seems I’ve run out of that”, she said to me.
Yes, she had. What happens with long-term cortisone cream use was exactly what I was looking at; thinning of the skin membrane, increased risk of infection like Staph (which she also ended up getting), impaired skin healing, adrenal depletion, and rebound inflammation so intense that it’s often worse than the eczema ever was.
This poor woman had been in and out of hospital, on and off antibiotics and steroids, in a bid to treat this Red Skin Syndrome.
And nothing helped. The only relief she got in hospital was momentary, and each time the skin flared it was worse than the last.
And then, she came to me.
We isolated what foods were and weren’t working for her and she focused diligently on her diet whilst I used everything at my disposal to help reduce inflammation and heal the skin.
After a few months, she was over the worst of it, and back to being able to travel and work, which seemed like a distant dream when she first hobbled into my clinic.
Her skin continued to heal, and she gained a lot more control over her diet and what foods to avoid.
Within a few months, she was back to travelling, working, kayaking and living life to the fullest.
It was such a dramatic change, and one that she was told wasn’t achievable unless she continued on this carousel journey of being in and out of hospital, and in and out of the worst flare ups of her life.
She was the worst case I’d ever seen, and the one that imprinted on my mind so heavily… the one where I thought, I want to do more of this.
I want to help change the direction that people take with eczema so they don’t experience this sort of pain.
I had the same feelings of absolute joy when I watched gorgeous little babies itch less, and their skin heal, and their childhood change because their eczema got better.
How could I not share the knowledge and skills that I have as a Naturopath when I have seen lives change because of what Naturopathy can offer?
The answer to eczema is not cortisone cream and antibiotics.
It’s modulating the immune system, removing inflammatory drivers from the diet and environment, healing the gut and supporting detoxification to reduce sensitivity.
As I love to say… I am not saying the natural way is the only way; I am saying that you have a choice. And my job is done when you know both sides of that.
