Eczema,is it a Food Allergy??

amother

Tue, Feb 12 2008, 2:04 am

My 17 month old daughter has itchy eczema all over her body.

What type of doctor does she need to see?
Could it be a food?
Do they take a blood test to find the cause of the skin condition?
I live in NYC any suggestions would be appreciated, TY

BrachaVHatzlocha

Tue, Feb 12 2008, 6:51 am

first of all, her pediatrician might be able to do a blood test to check for common allergies.
also, with my kids I've found it's probably due to the weather or soap. I could be wrong, but that's what it seems like.

Purplehair

Tue, Feb 12 2008, 7:11 am

My son has a really bad case of eczema. His pediatrician had a scratch test done, and he doesn't have any food allergies. He came back as being allergic mainly to dust. I haven't tried taking him to an allergist, since we seem to be able to keep it in (semi-) check by using Cetaphil cream and Triple Paste diaper rash cream too. These are non-steroidal creams that keep his skin from drying out.
I would probably suggest taking your daughter to an allergist, but I don't have whom to recommend. Sorry. Sad

justanothermother

Tue, Feb 12 2008, 7:14 am

My son also has eczema. We found he was allergic to dust through an allergist. Ask for a referral from your pediatrician.

amother

Tue, Feb 12 2008, 11:11 am

My pediatrician doesnt think its food.

should I see anybody in the natraul field? I am not really familier in that field. any suggestions?

HealthCoach

Tue, Feb 12 2008, 7:21 pm

Read Is This Your Child by Doris Rapp. It can be an allergy to food or soap etc. If you use mild detergents and follow advice of dermatologist and still have it, I would say it's definitely a food allergy. Most pediatricians don't know that, and many allergists don't believe that. I recommend testing with immunolab which is not available in NY, but is available in NJ. I also live in NY and made the drive. Cheack out betterhealthusa.com.

Scratch testing will NOT reveal the delayed allergies that cause eczema. Blood testing should, but is not that reliable. Immunolab testing tends to be more reliable.

montrealmommy

Thu, Feb 14 2008, 10:18 pm

if you are interested in a natural option, om, I know a frum naturopath in NJ (very very good). Also, if it's food, the most common food allergies to give exema as a reaction are eggs and fish (don't know why?) - that's how we found out about ds. He had very very very severe exema and rashes. If it's really bad you can mix a bit of otc corizone cream into your regular cream - it will combat the itch and inflamation but is in very small doses (smaller than using pure otc or script. cortizone. Hatzlacha and Refuah Shlema

Oh ya, also, Aveeno makes an oatmeal bath and oatmeal based lotions, they seemed to work well on dd who also had/has exema. The cold and soaps are also likely culprits (we have that too).

MahPitom

Fri, Feb 15 2008, 2:15 pm

There is a buildup of candida (yeast) in the system which breaks out the eczema. To heal this overgrowth, limit the intake of carbs and sugars. Then, add a daily does of acidophilus.

Finally, make environmental change sin your home such us soap-free cleanser sin the bath, soap-free perfume-free soaps and laundry, and finally cleaning products. The results begin to show within the first 10 days.

flowerpower

Thu, Feb 28 2008, 10:23 am

ds got it and the dr said it doenst come from food, my nephew and niece had a lot of ecema as an infant and they were allergic to eggs-the mother couldnt eat it since she was nursing

cip

Thu, Mar 13 2008, 8:13 pm

my son has a severe case and I've tried many methods to clear it.

how bad is your daughters eczema? how does it affect her?
did it just show up now?
in a slight occasional case I might use cortisone.
you can try an elimination diet.
you can test for allergies through blood work (like little engine mentions), bicom machine, kneisiology, or the regular blood/scratch test that wont reveal enough for difficult cases.
you can also try one of many methods of allergy elimination.
advice I have gotten from pple included acidophilis, flax seed oil, a slew of vitamins, homeopathic remedies golore, change of all cleaning supplies, detergents, and soaps. none of theis helped my baby much but they may help in mild cases.
allergies though are highly related to my sons (and most childhood eczema) case. my son is allergic to over 30 foods.

MinnieMa

Tue, May 27 2008, 8:23 pm

I just want you to know, my son had bad eczema, breathed very weird....... Pediatrician said can't be from milk........ I took him at 3 months to an allergist and the scratch test showed he was allergic to eggs. I stopped eggs completely bec. I was nursing. We still saw no improvement. I went back to allergist at 6 months and this time Milk came back. He is now on a special formula and 80% of his eczema is gone. You should fore sure go to an allergist. The earlier you know it's a food allergy, the better. Hopefully it isn't, but rule it out. Hatzlacha.

MinnieMa

Thu, May 29 2008, 9:38 am

Queen- I'm not familiar with that, but I do know that one of the pediatricians who saw my so said the eczema is the same family as psoriasis.

imdl

Thu, May 29 2008, 10:04 am

My sisters had horrible eczema as a little girl, and it took lots of doctors until they figured out her real allergy. Most drs assumed milk was causing the problem and it actually had nothing to do with it. Her major allergies were soy and yeast. Once she was off of that for a year, the eczema was almost gone.

Bad eczema is often not just an external skin condition, and if your dr doesn't try hard enough to find out what's causing it, find someone who will.

My sister outgrew the allergies, by the way, so maybe that will happen here too.