INSIDE OUT

Well, I am obviously too busy to write eloquent sounding blogs (was I ever really that eloquent) so I'm attempting some blog entries via journal entries. So, here we go...

May 16th, 2010 - RASHES ARE BACK

I've had problems with rashes on my kids since I can remember. I don't know if S had rashes before J was born. For SURE J had rashes since birth and ever since. This particular journal is about face rashes. It seems as though my kids are prone to them. Sometimes, they would look like clowns, their faces were so red. S's was the worst. I was told it was due to the cold weather... until it still happened during the summer. Then I was told it was because he licked his lips too much... until I watched CLOSELY and realized that he only licked his lips AFTER the fact to try and soothe his lips. Then I was told it was because he was allergic to citrus... until we removed all citrus from his diet and he STILL had rashes... Then I thought it was a yeast rash... a B2 deficiency... a sensitivity... an oxylate sensitivity... oh the list went on. WHAT WAS CAUSING THESE RASHES!!??

It drove me crazy not to be able to figure it out. We tried the B2 supplements but, that seemed to make it worse. It had raspberry juice in it. So, of course, that could have been it. We did try another supplement with B2 in it. But, again... nothing. We tried removing salicylates. But, that didn't work. We tried enzymes before he ate. But, that didn't work either. It seemed like nothing I was doing was working.

Finally, we bought a juicer. THAT worked!!!!???? I know... WHAT?!?!

My children, namely S and J, have not been able to have citrus for almost a year (longer for J) because each and every time they would have anything citrus, sure enough the face rash would appear and also, they would get a bum rash (N was also prone to bum rashes after eating citrus). So, when we bought a juicer, I was quite sure I coudn't use any citrus foods. But then, something happened. ALL THREE of my kids stopped getting face rashes!!! I couldn't believe it!! There was a time where I would try to see what would happen when all S would eat was rice with sea salt. Well, the face rash would not only get worse, but, it would spread. Was my kid allergic to EVERYTHING!?!?

Well, then we started juicing first thing in the morning. Before they had a bite of ANYTHING they would get a glass of diluted juice. And voila. Unbelievable.

So then I tested it. I stopped juicing for three days. Sure enough, the rash came back.

I reintroduced it every morning and it took about a week before the rashes would just...go away. We NOW give them apples in their juice!!! They haven't had an apple in over a YEAR!!! It got to the place where they could eat almost anything (well, of course, anything allowed on their stage of the Specific Carbohydrate Diet) and they just weren't getting any rashes! It started off slowly, we would notice rashes still but, they would start to disappear shortly thereafter. To me, since juicing provides so much of the live enzymes, that the rashes were clearly an enzyme issue. Juicing just gave them the real thing as opposed to the enzymes we paid so much money for earlier in the diet.

But just recently, I've been too tired to juice first thing in the morning. I've been visiting with family and not taking my juicer. I would juice once or twice in the past week. Guess what. The rash on J is the worst I've seen it since about a year and a half ago. EVERYTHING is causing his face to erupt! He had some pineapples, which I've always known is an issue. So, I now have to continue juicing religiously over the next week or so and see what happens. My poor little guy.

S also has a face rash but, not that much. N also has some minor pin-dotty rashes around the corner of her mouth. I'm so not impressed. I know I can't give up. There will be a day when I will look back on all of this with a mere memory and no traces of its existence. It's all a mother can do to stay hopeful and her head above water.

Here's to another round of drinks. No... not those kinds. Although, I could use one of those right now. ;) *sigh*