My brother's food allergies

[!Yaminashi]

Hey all,

Posting here to see if anyone can shed some light. Bare with me as my knowledge on this only goes so deep.

In summary, my brother has suffered with food allergies his entire life, with eczema covering almost his entire body and always being on a restricted diet. Within the past year it's gotten extremely bad to the point where he can't sleep at all. He's extremely frustrated every single day and night with constant itching.

He was reluctant for the longest time but my family finally convinced him to get some blood work done which led to him being on an extremely strict diet for the next year and a half. Right now he can't eat alot of what you and I take for granted - chicken, broccoli, rice, carrots, garlic, beef, gluten, dairy, fish and I'm sure I've left many major things out. He was also told he has blood poisoning? Something about too much yeast in his blood (my knowledge here is a little fuzzy as I just tried to piece together what I was told).

I think the testing was done sometime in January. About a month after testing he seemed to be getting better, his skin looked less red and was actually getting a full night's sleep but this only lasted for what seemed to be a couple of weeks. So basically from then to the present day he seems to have stumbled back to where he was previously with no progress in sight and it's extremely hard to watch.

Does anyone here been through something like this or know anyone who has?
It really seems as though he's exhausted all options and it brings him down tremendously.

My thinking is that his body is just taking a really long time to heal from years and years of eating food he was allergic to?

Any help or input is appreciated.

[underscore]

What kind of blood work did he have done? I know there are some blood tests for allergies that are complete fluff, a few family members had them done before we found this out and they were amazed that they were supposedly allergic to things they ate constantly. As it turns out they basically just get a bunch of false positives for foods you ate recently.

Here's the CBC article on it: https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/food-...lace-1.4886592

My daughter has had some food sensitivities and pretty bad eczema, she had a few different prescription lotions to clear it up and she was only supposed to wear 100% cotton clothing until she outgrew it and we still have to lotion her up twice a day. From my understanding eczema isn't caused by food allergies though, there may just be small flare ups triggered by a food sensitivity.

Has he been talking to an actual eczema specialist about it? These guys have a ton of info about it, things that can trigger flare ups, products that can help and even info on specialists in Canada: https://eczemahelp.ca/

[Jmac]

I’ve had some pretty bad food allergies and just bad health in general pretty much all my life (multiple anaphylactic allergens, multiple other food allergies, medicine allergies, asthma, Crohn’s disease, meningitis, blood poisoning, etc).

The blood allergy tests were useless in my experience, as underscore said, just a bunch of false positives (soy, peanut butter, milk, etc. which I consumed on a regular basis without issue).

Have you had any environmental air quality testing done in the house? I’m just wondering if there may be some environmental reason that’s contributing to it (e.g. mould spores). My fiance has mild eczema on her hands/feet and we found it was better after we got a HEPA-filtered air purifier in the bedroom. Also avoiding scented products (e.g. Febreze) and avoiding fabric softener helped, too.

[Hondaracer]

Could try go to on a carnivore diet. Eat literally nothing but meat for an extended period of time and then slowly reintroduce things and monitor their effects

Problem with that is you’re forced to buy organic, grass fed proteins for the most part as you don’t want to be eating things like pesticides etc which may get into the proteins.

Worth a shot though if it’s that bad

[underscore]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Problem with that is you’re forced to buy organic, grass fed proteins for the most part as you don’t want to be eating things like pesticides etc which may get into the proteins.

Err, what? Organic farming still uses pesticides, just different ones, and because they're less effective they actual use a lot more of them.

[Mr.HappySilp]

Watch a doc on Netflix about this (forgot the name) but basically it brings out the questions why more and more people are having food allergies and I think it shows a some people actually over come their food allergies by having small dose of it in a clinic to get the body used to it.

I was lucky enough to find out I don't have any food allergies (expect diary products)but I am very allergic to dust. Now if I eat ice-cream/moil or bubble tea using realy milk I got this feeling that I wanted to puke and I just feel really bad after. I have no issue with milk powder, soy milk, cheese (pizza), bubble tea using milk powder. I use to be able to drink milk just fine (not like a lot but still can have ice cream at least). Not sure what change though. My dad on the other hand can't drink wine at all. If he does his skin becomes all red and itchy.

[CivicBlues]

^Sounds like lactose intolerance for you and Asian flush for your dad. Not the same as food allergies.

[Traum]

If you / your brother hasn't already done so, follow Eczema Society of Canada on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/EczemaSocietyofCanada/

I found that they have some pretty useful and generally effective everyday recommendations to help people manage their eczema.

From some of the eczema seminars that I have attended, the guest speakers -- top Canadian dermaterologists specializing in eczema -- generally recommend a management regimen of hitting the eczema hard with steroid / hydrocortisone during a flare up, and managing the skin through a variety of measures at best you can when the eczema is in remission or at least a bearable / managable state. Avoding triggers is obviously one aspect that is super important to the eczema patient, but one aspect that I was surprised by was the extremely frequent application of moisturerizers. The doctors were basically advocating for hourly application of the patient's favourite / most effective moisturizer to trap moisture in the skin, but more importantly to maintain a barrier between the skin and possible allergens. They know / expect that the most patients won't be able to keep to such a frequent schedule, but even when just aiming to do that, it helps with managing the condition.

From western medicine's POV, food is generally not considered a trigger for eczema flare ups. Of course, the doctors also don't rule out that for certain individuals, that may be the case. From a TCM POV, however, food plays a big part, and a friend who suffers from eczema absolutely swears by strict diets being able to help her manage her eczema.

IIRC, diluted bleach baths seem to be an effective relief for treating eczema?

[Mr.HappySilp]

Originally Posted by CivicBlues

^Sounds like lactose intolerance for you and Asian flush for your dad. Not the same as food allergies.

Most likely but it got worse as I get older lol. Maybe coz I been avoiding for so long I can't even drink milk or eat ice cream now...

[carisear]

get a referral to the BC skin care centre ASAP. i have bad eczema. i used to have a tonne of food allergies. have a tonne of allergies still (like hay fever).

my GP used to prescribe the steroids, which was a temporary thing.

the specialist basically gets pissed off at gp's who do that. i can't say what would be good in anyone else's situation, but i went from literally scratching off all the skin off my body (not an exaggeration. as my specialist said, when i first came to him i looked like an 'alien') to completely normal skin. i still do get flare ups but have learned how to lessen them.

UV treatment is a godsend.

get a referral. it was life changing for me.

[SiRV]

Originally Posted by !Yaminashi

He was also told he has blood poisoning? Something about too much yeast in his blood (my knowledge here is a little fuzzy as I just tried to piece together what I was told).

Was he being seen by a naturopath when he got the diagnosis of yeast in his blood? Medically... yeast in the blood is a deadly thing

[MSREE]

I've been through this...I'm still going through it.
I had to quit my job and I was not able to work or go outside for 2 years.
I've seen countless doctors/specialists/been to hospitals, and nobody has helped me.
My healing was done on my own through my own research and trials. I am not completely healed yet.
I am now also dealing with extreme anxiety that is related to my medical condition.
I've been to an allergist recently and apparently I'm not even allergic to ANYTHING food wise...

Eczema is linked directly to digestive health.
In 2014, I took a lot of antibiotics because I had recurring respiratory infections.
Mid 2016, my eczema flared up so severely my eyes were swollen shut every morning.
I quit my job in December 2016. I couldn't wear clothes, I couldn't move.
My partner would literally help me walk to the bathroom.
He would help me get up from bed and sit onto the couch in the morning and I would still be there when he got home because the pain was UNBEARABLE.
My skin would tear, crack, bleed, peel from the smallest of movements.

Yeast builds up in our systems because we don't have enough good bacteria in our gut linings to kill it.
Meat proteins and dairy are terrible for people with eczema, also because our meat has antibiotics in it.
I had a phase where I was frequently getting golden staph on my face, which is a leaky rash... it leaks this thin golden/yellowish fluid.
I had to treat that with undiluted tea tree oil, which was extremely painful.

Does your brother take probiotics?
I've treated myself with high doses of probiotics and I followed a very fermented heavy diet.
I'm talking about finishing a large jar of sauerkraut or kimchi in a couple days.
i started drinking kombucha regularly. It helped a lot.
I take digestive enzymes if i consume meat, dairy, gluten to help my body break it down.

What kind of products does he use when taking a shower, etc?
Unscented and mild is what he needs.
Look for products that are FREE of sulfates, parabens, sls, phthalates, phosphates, etc.
Cetaphil works great for me, as well as products by LIVE CLEAN.
Live Clean baby wash, lotions are also great.
Cerave, Cetaphil, Curel, Eucerin are all lotions that have helped me manage.
I have to switch out my lotions frequently because using the same one for too long can cause irritation.

If he is using any corticosteriods, he needs to STOP using them.
He will be uncomfortable and in pain for a length of time.
but when you have been using corticosteriods for a lot of your life, you can experience rebound/withdrawal which actually makes the eczema worse and more widespread throughout the body.
I had to stop using steroid creams for a year and a bit. if i was in a lot of pain, i would use it as sparingly as i could.

also, is he taking any allergy medicines? because if he is, he will need to stop that as well.

essentially, our bodies are overloaded. from our diet, medication use, etc. all this is also affecting his liver.....
so that is something he will need to start treating as well before his liver starts to deteriorate.

as much as possible, he needs to go all natural in order to help his body to heal and that will take a lot of time/patience.

It's very tough what he is going through.
I have experienced major depression from dealing with the condition myself.
It's also very challenging to speak to people who don't have this issue because honestly, it's extremely hard to relate to.

If you have any more specific questions, I'd be open to having a discussion about them.

[corollagtSr5]

Manuka honey

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5418133

https://www.amazon.ca/Kiva-Certified...-1-spons&psc=1

[blkgsr]

i get what i assume is mild eczema when i eat gluten.

some wheat based product affect me worse than others, and of course when my diet is not great and i stack multiple days of gluten it get's worse. mine show up at the inside creases of my arms and mostly at my wrists.

i've been applying pure tea tree oil which i believe helps dry them out

my wife and i went for blood work a few years ago for allergies and gluten came up as a major one along with quite a few others.

the doctor thought it may have been due to when i had typhoid while travelling. the disease causes such havoc on your body and depending on what you eat afterwards, your can develop new allergies afterwards.