Quote from
kikileah on January 14, 2020, 12:32 pm
I've been meaning to write this for, oh, about 8 months now. I think it was Nail who said we should all document our story because it could help someone. So true! I've learned so much from so many of ya'll so thank you! Especially a big thanks to Grant for his books and this forum!
My story is actually both mine and my youngest daughter's (I'll call her Bo). I'd like to say I'll write a different post for all her info, but, lol, that really isn't likely. I'll just document ours together as best as possible.
Here's my history:
several cases of unexplained hives as a child
lots of antibiotics as a child/teen/early adult
severe acne starting as a teen and into my early 20s - more antibiotics and then one round of accutane
vegetarian from age 18-29 (low protein during this time)
History of disordered eating
WAPF for 10 years (liver here and there, lots of greens, carrots and sweet potatoes, CLO, lots of eggs, lots of dairy, etc).
Cracking/splitting ends of fingers for past several years during the winter
Brain fog off and on
Bo's history:
I took lots of supplements during her pregnancy including a multi with Vit A palmitate in it
I took progesterone (natural) during the first trimester of her pregnancy
Milk jaundice 1 week post birth to 2 mos of age (as I see it now - probably due to high iron and high Vit A levels)
Severe eczema beginning around 3 months of age
Multiple food sensitivities/intolerances including cow's/goat's milk, eggs, gluten/wheat, some nuts (cashew, almonds, pecans), oranges, peanuts
Lots of spit-up as a baby; vomits if she eats eggs, almonds, wheat, cashews
Her physical growth and mental growth seem to be unaffected - crawling at 4 months, walking at 9 months; learned to use potty at 2 years; already using sentences at 2 years and 2 months.
When her eczema began in Jan 2018 I cut out dairy and wheat. When that didn't help I went down the rabbit hole of trying to find out how to help her. We tried so many things. Mainly I tried a lot of things for myself since I was breastfeeding her and she was too young. I never tried topical steroids - read too many horror stories for that plus I wanted to find the root cause.
We ended up at 3 different doctors (naturopath, MD, and a chiropractor) between April and Nov 2018. The visit to the MD was mainly to get her an epi-pen; he said keep avoiding foods we were already avoiding and suggested steroid cream. After the visits in April and Nov her eczema got even worse afterwards. And in Nov. 2018 my symptoms began. They included:
~Tinnitus, especially at night
~Eczema on chest and inside of right elbow
~Worsening of skin postules that had began over the summer (these were weird - I could feel them before they were visible, so itchy and then they looked like a whitehead type pimple but much larger. They would come up all over the place, randomly and were so itchy.)
~Chelosis of corners lips (and later on inside my nose - only way I can describe it)
~Hair loss
The naturopath kept saying my symptoms were detox and/or die off but he never would say of what (we were eating lots of tomatoes, avocados, and garlic plus several other high Vit A veggies - per his orders and I had beef liver on 2-3 occasions). In Jan 2019 I stopped seeing him. Now my daughter was the worst she had ever been - eczema was now covering 80-90% of her body and I had all these new symptoms!
Then I received an email from Matt Stone regarding VA. Backtracking a little...I had read his post the previous summer and had actually read comments on his site in April or May of 2018 about VA toxicity. I did cut out the CLO at that point and got rid of supplements with VA in them but other than that I thought it nonsense. I'd been down too many paths in the past (low carb, etc.) and thought cutting out a "vital" nutrient was just nuts. Ha.
Anyway, I read his email and thought I'd try it. Nothing else was even close to helping. So mid Feb. of 2019, Bo and I went low VA. By the beginning May she had significantly improved. Everyone constantly came up to me and said, wow, she looks amazing! Low VA is the only thing to bring her eczema down to only covering 10-25% of her body depending on the day/week.
The first week or two of low VA I noticed I was very tired and my digestion changed. Bouts of diarrhea and then constipation which I'd never had an issue with. This resolved at around 2 weeks. Then we both had orange stools off/on for several weeks. The only major detox symptom for me that I can think of was a bout of vertigo in June which lasted for several days.
We also both went through one round of nutrition restoration with Dr. Garret Smith from March - May. We took minimal supplements to restore mineral imbalances for about 5 months.
By mid-May my tinnitus and hair loss were significantly improved. My eczema was gone by July. Chelosis of nose and mouth actually didn't improve until last month, Dec 2019, when I reintroduced a B complex vitamin and started eating sheep's cheese. Hair loss began again beginning in Sept (6 months in), another reason I eventually added in the B vitamins and Sheep's cheese.
Bo has always nursed a lot (and still does). I'm so thankful we were able to because it gave her the nutrition she needs (she still has many food intolerances) and it has helped calm her so many times day and night. Eczema is so, so itchy and this was the only thing that helped us sleep at night for close to 2 years!
This is all over the place, I know. Sorry! But I wanted to add in a few times when her eczema did improve, drastically, almost overnight. Once when she had a fever for teething at around 6-8 months, once when she had a bout of stomach virus (vomiting) at 13 months, and a couple weeks ago when she had a fever from croup. Winter has also proved to treat her skin more harsh (we live in the Denver metro area - very dry.)
Oh, and when we went camping to the Great Sand Dunes for several days last summer I expected her skin to worsen. Nope, greatly improved! It worsened again upon returning home.
I've been meaning to write this for, oh, about 8 months now. I think it was Nail who said we should all document our story because it could help someone. So true! I've learned so much from so many of ya'll so thank you! Especially a big thanks to Grant for his books and this forum!
My story is actually both mine and my youngest daughter's (I'll call her Bo). I'd like to say I'll write a different post for all her info, but, lol, that really isn't likely. I'll just document ours together as best as possible.
Here's my history:
several cases of unexplained hives as a child
lots of antibiotics as a child/teen/early adult
severe acne starting as a teen and into my early 20s - more antibiotics and then one round of accutane
vegetarian from age 18-29 (low protein during this time)
History of disordered eating
WAPF for 10 years (liver here and there, lots of greens, carrots and sweet potatoes, CLO, lots of eggs, lots of dairy, etc).
Cracking/splitting ends of fingers for past several years during the winter
Brain fog off and on
Bo's history:
I took lots of supplements during her pregnancy including a multi with Vit A palmitate in it
I took progesterone (natural) during the first trimester of her pregnancy
Milk jaundice 1 week post birth to 2 mos of age (as I see it now - probably due to high iron and high Vit A levels)
Severe eczema beginning around 3 months of age
Multiple food sensitivities/intolerances including cow's/goat's milk, eggs, gluten/wheat, some nuts (cashew, almonds, pecans), oranges, peanuts
Lots of spit-up as a baby; vomits if she eats eggs, almonds, wheat, cashews
Her physical growth and mental growth seem to be unaffected - crawling at 4 months, walking at 9 months; learned to use potty at 2 years; already using sentences at 2 years and 2 months.
When her eczema began in Jan 2018 I cut out dairy and wheat. When that didn't help I went down the rabbit hole of trying to find out how to help her. We tried so many things. Mainly I tried a lot of things for myself since I was breastfeeding her and she was too young. I never tried topical steroids - read too many horror stories for that plus I wanted to find the root cause.
We ended up at 3 different doctors (naturopath, MD, and a chiropractor) between April and Nov 2018. The visit to the MD was mainly to get her an epi-pen; he said keep avoiding foods we were already avoiding and suggested steroid cream. After the visits in April and Nov her eczema got even worse afterwards. And in Nov. 2018 my symptoms began. They included:
~Tinnitus, especially at night
~Eczema on chest and inside of right elbow
~Worsening of skin postules that had began over the summer (these were weird - I could feel them before they were visible, so itchy and then they looked like a whitehead type pimple but much larger. They would come up all over the place, randomly and were so itchy.)
~Chelosis of corners lips (and later on inside my nose - only way I can describe it)
~Hair loss
The naturopath kept saying my symptoms were detox and/or die off but he never would say of what (we were eating lots of tomatoes, avocados, and garlic plus several other high Vit A veggies - per his orders and I had beef liver on 2-3 occasions). In Jan 2019 I stopped seeing him. Now my daughter was the worst she had ever been - eczema was now covering 80-90% of her body and I had all these new symptoms!
Then I received an email from Matt Stone regarding VA. Backtracking a little...I had read his post the previous summer and had actually read comments on his site in April or May of 2018 about VA toxicity. I did cut out the CLO at that point and got rid of supplements with VA in them but other than that I thought it nonsense. I'd been down too many paths in the past (low carb, etc.) and thought cutting out a "vital" nutrient was just nuts. Ha.
Anyway, I read his email and thought I'd try it. Nothing else was even close to helping. So mid Feb. of 2019, Bo and I went low VA. By the beginning May she had significantly improved. Everyone constantly came up to me and said, wow, she looks amazing! Low VA is the only thing to bring her eczema down to only covering 10-25% of her body depending on the day/week.
The first week or two of low VA I noticed I was very tired and my digestion changed. Bouts of diarrhea and then constipation which I'd never had an issue with. This resolved at around 2 weeks. Then we both had orange stools off/on for several weeks. The only major detox symptom for me that I can think of was a bout of vertigo in June which lasted for several days.
We also both went through one round of nutrition restoration with Dr. Garret Smith from March - May. We took minimal supplements to restore mineral imbalances for about 5 months.
By mid-May my tinnitus and hair loss were significantly improved. My eczema was gone by July. Chelosis of nose and mouth actually didn't improve until last month, Dec 2019, when I reintroduced a B complex vitamin and started eating sheep's cheese. Hair loss began again beginning in Sept (6 months in), another reason I eventually added in the B vitamins and Sheep's cheese.
Bo has always nursed a lot (and still does). I'm so thankful we were able to because it gave her the nutrition she needs (she still has many food intolerances) and it has helped calm her so many times day and night. Eczema is so, so itchy and this was the only thing that helped us sleep at night for close to 2 years!
This is all over the place, I know. Sorry! But I wanted to add in a few times when her eczema did improve, drastically, almost overnight. Once when she had a fever for teething at around 6-8 months, once when she had a bout of stomach virus (vomiting) at 13 months, and a couple weeks ago when she had a fever from croup. Winter has also proved to treat her skin more harsh (we live in the Denver metro area - very dry.)
Oh, and when we went camping to the Great Sand Dunes for several days last summer I expected her skin to worsen. Nope, greatly improved! It worsened again upon returning home.
