Interesting... my last post was on a Friday the 13th, and we just had another Friday the 13th. Thirteen represents change to me, and indeed, things have changed.
This is a description of my journey into the gap of common medical knowledge; from food sensitivities, to topical steroid use, to real healing.
After twenty years of not knowing why I had so many food sensitivities, and five years of using topical steroid cream to mask the symptoms of the food sensitivities, I am done with the steroids and well on my healing way.
When eczema first developed on my face, about twenty years ago, I narrowed it down to a reaction to milk products. For a while, as long as I avoided anything containing milk, my face remained clear. But then wheat started causing a reaction, then citrus, then... At some point I lost track of all the foods I needed to avoid to keep my skin clear. I tried all kinds of things also: different diets, different fasts, different detoxes, different supplements, yet none of it cured the eczema.
Food sensitivity tests showed that I had dozens and dozens of them. I had even gone to a reputed clinic and all they had to offer was experimental shots at $300 a piece that insurance would not cover and had no guarantee of actually working. So I said, "No thank you," to that!
A few years back I was talking to the woman selling pasture raised chicken, beef and eggs at a Farmer's Market. Telling her about all my food sensitivities and using the topical steroids, she insisted that I was never going to get rid of the sensitivities until I healed my gut. She told me about a book on how to do that, and eventually I bought and read the book. What a life-changing blessing that has been!
A damaged, or "leaky gut," allows undigested food particles into the blood stream, which causes an immune response because the body looks at those large, undigested food particles as invaders. For me, the immune response manifested as eczema on my face. Eventually just about anything I ate caused a reaction in the form of eczema on my face. That is why about six years ago I started using topical steroid cream, to mask the symptoms. And I used it regularly for about five years.
Topical steroid cream was a quick and easy "fix," but not without consequences. Unbeknownst to me, my skin became addicted to the steroids, and when I stopped using it in May of 2014, the withdrawal process was horrendous. The skin on my face quickly became so bright red and swollen that I refused to leave the house for about two weeks during the worst of it.
About that same time I had started a form of channeling, and I was desperate for answers to what was going on with me, so I asked for help. My Team lead me to the ITSAN (International Topical Steroid Awareness Network) web site, which totally explained what was happening. I found out that the "Red Skin Syndrome," as it is called, would not last forever, and hundreds, perhaps thousands, of other people had gone through the exact same process of topical steroid withdrawal. Despite my flaming red and swollen face, I literally cried for joy when I read about how this condition was only temporary, and was a detox symptom from topical steroid addiction. It takes about three years for topical steroids to be completely eliminated from the body, I read, but the good news is that the first "flash" is the worst. Since then, I have had a few recognizable "flashes," but nothing in comparison to the first one.
Back to the gut! How does the gut get damaged and leaky? Lots of ways, but for me it was probably a number of things: Lots of rounds of antibiotics when I was younger, plus a few years of birth-control pills, plus stress, plus a huge sweet tooth, and the topical steroid cream use was like the icing on the cake. Antibiotics kill beneficial microbes in the gut, as do birth-control pills. Pharmaceutical drugs damage beneficial microbes in the gut also, and I had been taking thyroid medication for a number of years as well. Plus, I had a huge sweet tooth, and sweets feed opportunistic microbes in the gut. Opportunistic microbes can damage the gut wall, causing a leaky gut.
Finally, after about twenty years of dealing with food sensitivities and eczema, I had the answer to what was going on in my body. I had a leaky gut, and needed to heal it.
In May of 2014, after taking my time reading the GAPS book, (GAPS stands for Gut And Psychology Syndrome), and backing my way into the very strict Intro Phase of the diet, I started on my journey out of the gap of common medical knowledge, and into real healing. And once through the worst part of topical steroid cream withdrawal/Red Skin Syndrome, and strictly following the GAPS diet (also called GAPS healing protocol), my skin looks better than it has in twenty years. I am now able to eat just about anything, including some milk products, with no reaction! And for this, I am truly grateful.
Blessings!
However, after a year on GAPS, I have added most of these foods back into my diet. Grains and beans are more difficult to digest, so I haven't added them back yet. And cow's milk is still questionable, though I am loving my homemade raw goat's milk yogurt!
