As I have worked with the oils and friends and family over the last several months, I have been surprised by the most commonly asked questions and health concerns. Topping them all is eczema. So many adults and children are dealing with this issue and feeling that there is no solution. Not only is there a solution but this is also not an issue to be ignored! It is the skin using its voice to tell you there are important needs in your body. I asked Dr. Leanne Deardeuff if she would consider writing a post on the subject and addressing it from her vast knowledge and truly holistic perspective. Not only did she agree, but she promptly began a three-part series on the subject and allowed us to post it here for all of you! I love Dr. Leanne because she gives me ideas I never would have thought of otherwise that make light bulbs start going off in my head. It all makes sense with what I know of the body, and I know that true healing can begin if those steps are taken. I highly recommend her books, especially “Inner Transformations Using Essential Oils.” Through cleansing, oils, and proper nourishment, it is not necessary to live with so many of the problems we consider unavoidable today! Stay tuned here and we will post the next two parts in her series on eczema in children and infants. I can’t wait!   – Courtney

by DR. LEANNE DEARDEUFF

Over the years I have known many people who have had eczema. I am so fortunate that I have not had it! But I have had enough itchy skin rashes in my time to feel sorry for those who have had! It itches and itches and itches. Nights are worse as the bedclothes keep the heat of the body in and cause the lesions to heat up. Several of my friends have had children with eczema. I can only imagine their sleepless nights. So how do we care for this condition and what is causing it in the first place? If we understand the cause of eczema then we would know better who to heal it! From the inside out or the outside in!

Medical doctors don’t know what is causing the problem. They think it is either genetic or allergy caused. (I have written several blogs on allergy and we have learned how to take care of that!) They treat all skin problems the same. From the outside in. Their method is to use creams that suppress the rash and push it back under the skin. I have read that using the creams can cause the condition to go into remission. Mother’s see that it disappears from their child so they think it is over and cured. But upon further reading, doctors say that it can and most of the time does reappear again when the child is older, usually at the onset of adolescents.

From the “Complete Handbook of Nature Cure” we read:

“Symptoms

Eczema in its acute form is indicated by redness and swelling of the skin, the formation of minute vesicles and severe heat. If the vesicles rupture, a raw, moist surface is formed. From this, a colourless discharge oozes, which forms skin crusts when it accumulates. The disease is usually worst at night when the heat of the body is retained by the bed-clothes. The skin itches at all stages. In the wet stage, it may become infected with bacteria. The healing of the condition is affected by scratching in response to the irritation. Scratching not only spreads infection but also lengthens the stage of dryness and scaling.

Causes

Allergies play an important part in causing eczema. Some women get eczema on their hands due to an allergy to soap or detergents used to wash clothes or dishes. Some persons develop it around the fingers when they wear rings because of allergy to metals. Researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Centre at San Antonio, in a recent study of children with atropic eczema, found that 75 per cent were allergic to a number of foods. The most common triggers for sensitive persons are eggs, peanuts, chocolate, wheat, cow’s milk, chicken and potato.

The real cause of eczema however is the failure of the human system to excrete the poisons  from the various orifices of the body. Waste matter is excreted from the rectum through stools, from the bladder through urine, from the lungs through breath and from the pores of the skin through sweat. Sometime the pores of the skin are overworked as waste matter is not properly eliminated from the other orifices. If the pores are not given the chance to perform their normal function, the sweat will be full of morbid matter and this gives rise to skin diseases like eczema, acne, boils and other eruptions.

Other causes include faulty metabolism, constipation, nutritional deficiencies and stress brought about by nagging spouses, jealousy, frustration and a host of other emotions. Suppressive drug treatment of the formal disease is also a most potent subsidiary causative factor in many cases.

The Cure

Skin applications to cure eczema may give temporary relief. If the exudation is suppressed, some other more serious disease may develop. The best way to deal with eczema is to cleanse the blood stream and the body.

The treatment should start with a fast on orange juice and water from five to seven days, depending on the severity and duration of the trouble. Juice fasting will help eliminate toxic waste from the body and lead to substantial improvement. In some cases, the condition may worsen in the beginning of the fast due to the increased elimination of waste matter through the skin. But as fasting continues, improvement will manifest itself.

Fruits, salt free, raw or steamed vegetables with whole meal bread or chappatis may be taken after the juice fast. Carrot and musk melon are particularly beneficial. Coconut oil may be used instead of ghee. After a few days, curd and milk may be added to the diet. The patients may thereafter gradually embark upon a well-balanced diet of three basic food groups, namely

(i) seeds, nuts and grains (ii) vegetables and (iii) fruits. The large proportion of the diet should consist of raw foods. Seeds and beans such as alfalfa, mung and soybeans can be sprouted.

This diet may be supplemented with cold-pressed vegetable oils, honey and yeast. Juice fasting may be repeated at intervals of two months or so, depending on the progress being made, in chronic and more difficult cases of eczema, patient should fast at least once a week till he is cured.

The patient should avoid tea, coffee, alcoholic beverages and all condiments and highly flavoured dishes. He should also avoid sugar, white flour products, denatured cereals like polished rice, and pearled barley and tinned or bottled foods. He should eat only pure and wholesome foods.

Raw vegetable juices, especially carrot juice in combination with spinach juice, have proved highly beneficial in the treatment of eczema. The formula proportions considered helpful in this combination are carrot 300 ml. and spinach 200 ml. to make 500 ml. or half a litre of juice. The patient should get as much fresh air as possible. Restrictive clothing should not be worn.

Two or three litres of water should be taken daily and the patient must bath twice or thrice a day. The skin, with the exception of the parts affected with eczema, should be vigorously rubbed with the palms of the hands before taking the bath.

Coconut oil or Flaxseed oil may be applied to the portions with eczema. It will help the skin to stay soft. Walking or jogging should be resorted to in order to inactivate the bowels. Sun bathing is also beneficial as it kills the harmful bacteria and should be resorted to early in the morning, in the first light of  dawn. A light mudpack should be applied over the sites of the eczema is also helpful. The pack should be applied for an hour at a time and should be repeated twice or thrice a day .

Water Treatment

In cases of acute eczema, cold compress or cold wet fomentations are beneficial. The affected part should be wrapped with a thick soft cloth. The cloth should be moistened with cold water (55°- 60° F) every 15 to 30 minutes for two hours at a time. The bandage should be left intact,  keeping the cloth cold. There may be intensification of itching or pain initially but this will soon subside. A cold compress may be applied twice daily for a week or so.”

As was mentioned by Nature’s cure, the main problem is generally brought on by the colon or liver not being able to get rid of their toxins through the proper channels so the body sends it out the skin. Doing a colon cleanse, followed by a liver cleanse then the Master Cleanse can assist this problem. (Click here to find out how to colon cleanse.) I have personally seen people’s eczema disappear and not return once they get their bowels and liver functioning again. Digestive issues clear up and they are able to overcome allergies which may be one of the causes of Eczema.

Stay tuned in the next few weeks as I talk about Eczema and Babies and Children! Read Part 2 here.

– Dr. Leanne Deardeuff

Dr. Deardeuff is a Natural Healing Consultant/Chiropractic Physician who has been with Young Living for 15 years and 24 years in the natural healing world. Her interests include health, nutrition, and anything natural! Her company, Radiant Life Training, LLC, offers counseling, cleansing protocols, infertility programs and alternative medicine consultations using Young Living Oils and Nutritional Products. Dr. Deardeuff graduated from Logan College of Chiropractic in 1996 with a doctorate in Chiropractic. She has a Bachelors of Science degree in Human biology and physiology and studied Psychologial and Elementary Education at Brigham Young University. You can find her at http://doctorleanne.com