Snake Oil or Emu Oil

When you have such visible eczema many people will give you unsolicited advice.
"Emu oil, it will cure everything!"
"I use lubriderm everyday and so I never get like that, just try it, trust me."
"Please what do you have to lose, just put on jergen's lotion everyday for a week"
"One word...Probiotics"
"I have eczema too [points to little red dot] and I just use Avon blah blah blah"
"My friend said Dead Sea Salts will cure it all, it's an amazing miracle, please I'll buy it for you just try it out" I did, many times and it did nothing
"Go to the beach" Yes, I do love the beach :-)
"I heard some kids take baths with a bit of bleach" tried that, too drying
"Change your detergent, most are too harsh." as if I haven't done that already like years ago
"Drink more water! If you just drink water all day it will hydrate and flush out the toxins"
"The most soothing thing will be an oatmeal bath, get Aveeno it's hypoallergenic." OATMEAL BATH?!, considering oats are in the highest category of foods I'm allergic to, I might as well bathe in cat pee with extract of poison ivy drops sprinkled in.
"Have you had your skin's PH tested?"
"Rinse your eye lashes with johnson's baby shampoo"
Mint leaves, evening primrose oil, tanning (this was even prescribed to me and I had UV treatments at a derm's office for months but quit after so many long calls with the insurance who did cover it but I had to go through the process of calling and fighting for my insurance coverage with each bill), alkaline water, apple cider vinegar, tea tree oil, honey, vitamin e, cover up, uncover, stay cool, olive oil, coconut oil and so on. People have mentioned so many things I can't remember them all. Surprisingly, I don't mind the advice one bit. Well all but the forcefully put advice from people all but asking me to sign my name in blood that I will follow their suggestion. Otherwise, I love advice and once in a blue moon hear something new. I agree that it doesn't hurt to try home remedies and some doctors even make suggestions. In fact, last week a friend suggested I try Bentonite clay and I bought some yesterday. I haven't opened it but I'll post my results to the blog when I do.

Next, are all the remedies I hear advertised and find on my endless google searches. I'm sure doctors just love patients who start sentences with "I read on google that...". ;) I've read about cures like colloidal silver, turmeric, tars, sulfur applications, garlic pills (another big allergen for me) and being breastfed (too late, lol). There are newly marketed lotions "calming creams" targeted to dermatitis and eczema problems and I've tried many of those (before I knew of my oat allergy) and ended up much much itchier.

Lately, many sites are touting macrobiotic, raw and alkalinizing alkaline diets and they sound like an intriguing panacea, all the rage with many disorders. One thing all these diets recommend is limiting sugar and it's sooo difficult for me (I love baked goods) but I do notice a difference when I cut back so if you have eczema and the willpower, cut out the refined sugar. I've also read that taking alka seltzer or baking soda diluted in water will calm eczema because it's a product of not being ph balanced (it did not help me one bit). On the flip side, I've read that I need to take Hydrochloric acid pills to help me digest better so the "leaky gut syndrome"(don't know if that's a real thing) would be ameliorated. After getting over my disbelief I even tried that with what might have been great results or just good eczema days, it's hard to tell what works but I won't discount the HCL pepcid pills. I was initially shocked and swore I wouldn't try what I knew since childhood was bad news. In the show Breaking Bad Walt and Jesse used HCL to disolve a body but Jesse put it in the bathtub and it ended up eating through the floor causing the whole tub to fall through to the first floor, why would someone ingest that? Well, HCL is in your stomach acid and obviously the pills are encapsulated and much weaker solutions. I would recommend intense researching before taking it because there are guidelines, like eating it with a protein heavy meal. I thought it could have been helpful but stopped after a few days since I asked my doctor and he said to stop taking poisons, so I stopped.

I also read the book Slow Death by Rubber Duck and found information about mercury poisoning from amalgam fillings to cause rashes among a slew of other problems. I had about 5 or 6, eek! Surely this was my big problem so as it is common with people inflicted by chronic disease, I researched and obsessed. I found arguments on both sides, those supporting amalgam fillings claimed amalgam replacement was a money making scheme by unscrupulous dentists and that they were 100% safe. I also discovered that many countries have outlawed mercury fillings and rashes are a sign of mercury poisoning. After a year of obsessing about the high price of replacement for something that could be harmless weighed against a possible answer to my problems I decided to replace them. My results? I had it done early April and the dentist (an amalgam replacing expert) said it could take months for my body to detox. Obviously my eczema didn't disappear overnight but I did notice an increase in mental clarity the next week and ever since. It was like my thinking just had a bit of fog before and the fog had dissipated. I didn't even know it had been a problem. It could have been the supplements he told me to take after or the mercury removal. Either way I'm glad I did it and if next year I'm eczema free I'll know it worked. If not I won't be stressing and obsessing so much about should or shouldn't I?