Food Allergy Question - Boulder,CO

I feel your pain. It took over a year for my 3 year old Son to get a diagnosis, with no allergies of any kind, eczema! Have you gone to the eczema website? It's something like national eczema association or something. They have extremely useful tips on bathing and moisturizing that have allowed us to keep his under control. The other thing he has to do is take anti histamines twice a day. We see a female derm doc at children's in Aurora. She is awesome. We hated Morrelli. I can't remember her name. She's fairly new there and graduated from Stanford.
It's the strict bathing & moisturizing that helped us, and when things were really bad we did wet wraps.
I wish you the best!!
Kid does not have to be an allergy. My son was tested at National Jewish, nothing. He was also tested for contact allergies at Children's. Nothing. But it is also true that the tests must be administered by a professional who specializes in them. It can be hard to see.

It can definitely still be the milk causing her allergies. Try cutting back or removing it again altogether and see if that helps her skin. Also, where I am, we're having a lot of changes in weather right now - hot days, very cold nights, super sunny one day and cloudy the next, etc - and all the changes are making my eczema flare up. So it could be weather, too.

How do you treat her skin? For my son, who has several severe food allergies and really bad eczema, we bathe him daily and then slather him with CeraVe lotion. That works better than any other lotion we've tried and has kept his eczema to a minimum for the last couple of years. When it does flare up, we use steroid creams/oils prescribed by his doc.

what about the rest of her environment?
are there scents in the laundry detergent, do you use dryer sheets, do you use plug-ins (one of the worst offenders for my son), are you using a super sensitive shampoo/body wash. what about household cleaners?

My son had eczema. with All free and clear, no dryer sheets, double rinse (with vinegar) and strict adherence to California Baby Sensitive, we have no issues. we have also moved to vinegar and baking soda for most cleaning. He cannot use my daughter's organic shampoos/soaps. when we go to other people's houses that use commercial cleaners with scents, eczema spots will show up if it's for more than a day or two.

this is a whole environment thing, not necessarily food. Start by cleaning up what's touching her skin and then consider food. In the meantime, antihistamines (zyrtec worked best for us) will get the eczema under control so you can start over, so to speak.

good luck.

It could be the type of milk. I am not sure how accessible food sources are for you, but you live in a bigger city so.... my recommendation: Look for raw milk at your farmers market or online through a dairy CSA (food co-op). I know that some children (and adults) who have milk or dairy allergies do very well with this type of milk. The processing could be causing an allergy (which is why it might not rear it's ugly head through yogurt, cheese, etc....).
You may be able to read about this on Mercola.com.

Skin eruptions are usually from a liver that is working too hard or a liver that is not working properly. In other words, her liver cant keep up with detoxing her body (from allergens?) so it shows up in her skin. I recommend that you see an herbalist/naturopath and get her on some liver boosting supplements, such as yellowdock, dandelion and/or milk thistle.

C. M., CBE, CLD
Westside Birth Connection

Are you seeing a true allergist, or just someone with allergy training? We went around and around with this until we went to National Jewish, and found out the doctor hadn't been running the correct tests all along. What you're describing is not lactose intolerance. Allergy is completely different, and the lactose intolerance would not cause eczema. Did you put her on milk and egg at the same time? If so, it could be either. I second the daily bath for 10-15 minutes, and while skin is still moist, slather in Vani-cream, or something similar. Works wonders for my son's eczema. If you want more information, National Jewish is doing a study that pays a bit more than $100 for having her skin swabbed, if she's accepted into the study. My son was accepted, but hasn't had a severe enough break out to do the study. I know this is frustrating! Good luck! It is possible to get it under control, so hang in there.

She might have a lactose intolerance, which is different from a true allergy. I think the tests are different. So maybe you could try only lactose-free, not dairy-free, products for awhile and see what happens.