I believe in miracles….
So, behind Edie’s legs, inside of her elbows, her neck and back are raw from her scratching. She has eczema, and she’s got it bad. So bad it disrupts her sleep. The sound of her scratching at her skin, so violently, brings tears to my eyes. The creams the doctor has prescribed do nothing, except make her cry because it stings so much. And none of these creams are intended for long term use.
And then there is Grace, who continues to struggle with anxiety at bedtime – she fights to fall asleep (she’s not fighting us anymore, it’s an internal struggle). She wakes in the middle of the night, petrified of something she can’t express. She has to call me to come to her room to walk her to our room, where we’ve set up a little bed for her on the floor. She hates this. She says herself she is tired and she wants it to stop. It breaks my heart to find her finally asleep, blankets wrapped around her head to block out whatever it is that is scaring her. She has gone through one night in the past 5 weeks without waking, and she was elated, so happy that the anxiety had disappeared. Imagine her disappointment when the very next night she was up again, stomach in knots with anxiety.
I’m tired too. At first I don’t think I dealt with the situations very well. Always patient at first, but overcome with sleep deprivation adopting a get over it attitude. I’m back to being sympathetic, but still frustrated, and have decided it’s time to seek help.
I’ve made an appointment with the girls with a NAET practitioner. She pretty much guarantees and end to Edie’s suffering, and also feels she can help Gracie with whatever is causing her problems at night with Thought Field Therapy. It definitely sounds hokey, but I do have some first hand testimonials that are very positive.
Do you have any experience with “alternative medicine”? What do you think?
8 comments:
I also had terrible eczema as a child, which was caused by a milk sensitivity. I still get skin problems when I eat too much dairy...
What is a NAET??
Like Stella says, eczema is all about what's going in your body rather than stuff you can put ON it. I have it still off and on and almost everyone in my family has it -- my brother had a very severe case as a child. They also took him off dairy. I know it helps me to avoid dairy and wheat and refined sugars. Also a diet rich in omega 3 fats is excellent for this immune disorder. You might try some of the fish oil supplements. I would also recommend a probiotic. The best one on the market is HMF powder available at the Glebe Pharmacy. Don't let your practitioner talk you into anything beyond that. They sometimes like to push a lot of herbals which cost a lot and don't do much - that's my warning about alternative/complementary practitioners.
As for the nightmare things, one of my brothers had the same issue when he was young and I understand it's not uncommon in young children. It was scary, I know, but he grew out of it and has no idea what caused the nightmares.
Aww poor girls. Michael still is a night waker as well, sometimes screaming NO! NO! NO!. Doesn't sound like night terrors though. You are a great Mom for seaking out all you can to help them!
Moyra (Rama Lotus Moyra, who I'm pretty sure has a serious crush on you), told me to tell you about Avene. It's a cream made in France and worked amazingly for her daughter Piper. She said you can get it at any of the bigger Shoppers Drug Marts.
As for NAET. We took our oldest to one to help her constant ear infections and didn't have much luck, but we didn't try very hard really.
Our oldest son (Captain Jelly Belly) also had bad eczema as a child (he'd scratch until it bled, so terrible), and he also still has night terrors sometimes. We definitely think they were both related to his food allergies. Once we took him off of eggs (his biggest allergy), the eczema cleared up. The night terrors are definitely related to milk -- when we gave him a cup of milk before bed, he'd have one for sure. I think his body would be too exhausted from fighting the allergen to really settle down at night, and then a night terror will result.
He will still have one on occasion if he eats something he shouldn't have -- it's usually our first signal that something new is bothering him.
I've never tried a NAET but as you know, I'm kind of disillusioned with traditional allergy testing, so I'm really interested to see what you think of this lady and if you like her. There is a well-known allergist in Vancouver called Dr. Janice Vickerstaff Joneja (I would highly recommend her books on allergies in children) and she is a big fan of the food diary/food elimination technique (as opposed to scratch tests or blood tests). So hopefully your new doc will be able to help.
Good luck!
... and I believe in a better world...
The Boy used to have excema a lot as a tot... seems to have more or less outgrown it. (We can handle it now with OTC creme.) He still has nightmares. Worse when he doesn't keep his sleep schedule. (Creatures of habit aren't we?)
I went to see a naturopath. The guy was very interested in The Man's salary -- that right there pretty much negated anything the guy had to say. Wish it were different... keep an open mind, but I wouldn't blow a paycheque on it.
This is the best topical treatment - works for my elbows and is very soothing.
Shea butter, either from local health/organic grocery store or from 1000 Villages. Good stuff.
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