Eczema...

I've read on someone's blog that some people hate blogs because they think they're fake, because people only write about the good and exciting things in their lives and make it appear like their life is bliss. I would have to disagree. I might carefully choose the pictures that I post, and only post the ones that I think are the best. But it doesn't mean our life is bliss. Although, we have been blessed tremendously, we have our own challenges that we have to deal with. So for those who want more than just happy and exciting blog posts, here's one challenge that we're dealing with right now.

Benjamin has had Eczema, which is dry, inflamed, irritated skin, pretty much since birth. He has these dry patches all over his body. They're really itchy and he is constantly scratching it. Sometimes he scratches it so hard that it bleeds. It's not contagious but poor kid's skin looks like a dinosaur skin. Some days are worse than others, but it never seems to completely clear out. His pediatrician and dermatologists just tell me that it's genetic and that there is no cure for it. Some people outgrow it, some don't. They put him on a steroid cream, which seems to relieve the rash a little for a very short period of time, but then it's back full blast. Steroid creams are really not good for you, and are definitely not intended for long-term use (which neither of the doctors bothered to mention to me). So in an attempt to, somehow, help my little boy, I turned to alternative medicine. I took him to a homeopathic doctor, who put him on a remedy and ran a food allergy test. He believes that a lot of eczema problems are caused by an allergic reaction to a certain food. His results came back yesterday and the kid has food sensitivities to almost everything you can possible think of. Now, that doesn't mean that he is allergic to everything, but in order to figure out what is it that could possibly be causing his skin problems, I need to eliminate all the high-sensitivity foods from his diet for 4 weeks. Then, introduce those foods back one at a time. Here's the list of foods he CANNOT have: cow's milk or any milk products, beef, eggs, barley, oats, wheat (that's nothing that has flour in it), rice, nuts (none), garlic, lemon, lime, orange, pinto beans. The most overwhelming part for me is that he cannot have any sort of grain, except for corn. How many meals can you prepare with corn meal?

The next four weeks are going to be a challenge. I pretty much have to cook everything from scratch for him and read all the labels. Most of the canned or prepackaged foods have either garlic or lime in it, neither of which Ben can have right now.

The hardest thing is having to tell him 'no' when he's asking for yogurt or crackers or whatever else he's used to and loves eating. How do you explain to a two-year old that his buddy can have a cracker but he can't?

Sorry if this picture is disturbing to you. It's is not Ben's hand, but during his worst flare-ups, that's exactly how it looks like.