Our eczema journey begins . . .

At 5 months old my son developed red, irritated patches on his cheeks. Seeing how the fall weather had set it, I thought it was due to the change of season and the dryness of the air from using the heater. His skin progressively worsened, to the point if I held him while wearing a dark colored shirt I wold be noticeably covered in flakes of skin. We saw a dermatologist, and the cycle of topical steroids began. We were told to get rid of all Johnson's & Johnson's product and replace them with Aveeno or Dove, to use Neutragena T-gel shampoo, to bath our son everyday in warm water but to only wash his hands, feet, & private areas with soap, and then within 3 minutes of bathing to apply steroid creams followed by Eucerin cream or Aquaphor. We followed this advice religiously, and yet we were never able to completely clear the eczema.

At 11 months, our son was hospitalized with breathing problems. This turned out to be our first brush with asthma, although not formally diagnosed for sometime later. From here on out, we began daily breathing treatments of Pulmicort via the nebulizer under the advice of a pulmologist.

Not too long after that, food allergies appeared with the introduction of a single blueberry. After eating it he immediately vomited and had an asthma attack. As exposure to new foods increased, so did the food allergies. His skin would break out in hive-like splotches, and would turn thick, scaly, and crusty. At 18 months the skin prick test only showed an egg allergy, but it became apparent that this kids was allergic to a whole lot more than blueberries and eggs. The allergist advised that "if you think he's allergic to something, then avoid it." Much easier said than done! I thought he was allergic to milk, soy, wheat, tomatoes, broccoli, cranberries, yogurt, cottage cheese, raisins, peas, chick peas, and a slew of other foods were suspect. I played this game until I finally couldn't take it any longer and demanded a RAST test be done so we could have a firm understanding of what exactly we were dealing with. By this time my son was 3 years-old. And he did test allergic to everything I mentioned plus, apples, carrots, green beans, bananas black pepper, all tree nuts, peanuts were off the charts, and honey. Basically, this kid became allergic to everything he ate.

As a side-note, my son also had a terrible allergic reaction to his 3rd DTaP vaccine. On top of the immediate vomiting and eczema from head to toe, he also reacted with an asthma attack and had a lump the size of a small apple at the injection site. These reactions lated for 12 days, and under the doctor's advice that was the last vaccine administered to him.

Throughout this process I learned that eczema, food allergies, and asthma commonly go together. I also learned that there is not a cure for any of this autoimmune responses. It's been a lot of trial and error, and a complete learning process along the way.