This is going to be kind-of long, and full of pictures of our befores and after. Then there is a follow-up after. And really, because this story is just about my son, it is not even going to touch on me or my husband’s changes. So, let’s get to it.
Getting to Eczema & Allergy Diagnosis
Walker is our only son, our middle child, born in November 2010. At a month old, he had severe rashes on his face, arms, and legs. We fought with the doctors, who kept telling us it was baby acne, but we knew it was more. I knew it was eczema but couldn’t figure out why it was on my one month old. He got so itchy and irritated that he would scratch his face raw and bloody. We had to keep those baby mittens on him, and he could still keep scratching. One day when taking him to the daycare before I went to work, I got his carseat out of the back and he was covered in blood. It made my heart drop. I got him inside and we cleaned him up. The daycare helped me document and watch him while there so we can figure out what was going on.
Copyright JessicaWBallard
I finally got a referral to an allergist and a dermatologist after fighting with our pediatrician. We found out that he had to go on special formula with no allergens, very expensive stuff, while I cleared my system of all allergens to breastfeed. It takes 2 weeks to get dairy out of your system. That was tough. And if I slipped up, or ate out and had anything that had dairy in it, and breastfed him, he reacted immediately. His GI system was bad too. He was a happy baby but it broke my heart to see him so itchy. It got some better, but there was always the underlying dry skin.
Copyrighted Photo. @jessicawballard
Traditional Eczema & Allergy Treatment
We struggled with creams, lotions, and more. His age was a restriction. There was so little that he could take. He couldn’t eat a lot and the formula was very expensive. We switched pediatricians and had allergy testing finally at 9 months by bloodwork. They couldn’t yet do any skin testing because there was so little clear skin to use to test. The results were positive to : corn, eggs, dairy, strawberry, banana, nuts, soy, and wheat. Though they said you had a chance of false positive, there would be no false negatives, unless he had not been exposed to it at all, and with my breastmilk we could verify what I had been eating. This however meant I had to stop breastfeeding because I could not cut that many foods from my diet. This was getting harder.
Copyright JessicaWBallard
He was a happy baby, but his skin suffered.
Suffering with Eczema & Allergy reactions
Walker would recognize himself in pictures by the red on his cheeks. He would point to pictures on the fridge and say “That Walkie, see” and point to his cheeks, and point to the cheeks in the picture. Being a scientist in a cosmetic industry, and having worked in the pharmaceutical industry as well, I was frustrated. Nothing I was looking into was working. I was not happy with all these treatments we were giving him, because he is so little and its so much chemicals to be giving him. Plus, they weren’t working.
When Walker was 18months, he had scratched his legs to much that they got infected. We were able to get to the allergist for prescriptions on a Friday afternoon, but our local pharmacy didn’t have it in stock. The compounding pharmacy nearby refused to fill it because of his age, even though it was a pediatric allergist that prescribed it. We ended up in the hospital with MRSA and still had to fight the hospital staff because the IV was dextrose, and they couldn’t confirm its origins weren’t corn based. They argued it didn’t matter because it didn’t contain the protein, and as a Scientist I get where they are coming from, but as a mother, I had seem him react when that was the only questionable ingredient he had been exposed to. This mom had had enough. It was time for a better option and a better life for my son.
We were lucky he outgrew dairy, soy, banana and strawberry. We haven’t chanced egg alone yet though he eats cakes and cookies fine, but corn is our skin irritant. Nuts is our anaphylactic.
By the time Walker was 2, we could try Claritin, and then Zyrtec, but it wasn’t really helping.
Treating Eczema & Allergy naturally
I started talking with Sara, a Shaklee distributor, in March 2013. We started Walker on the meal shakes, to get some weight on him. The probiotic to help heal his gut and help him process his allergens better, and the Ocean Wonders multivite which all the kids take. He never reacted to the dextrose in any Shaklee products, which I can assume means its higher quality, well tested, and sourced well.
Copyright JessicaWBallard
You can see my handsome boy with his almost completely clear skin. We have come such a long way with his health. Once we were able to expose and then test him for fish, we added the Omegaguard to his protocol. That really made such a big difference for him. Once he did well on that, we added alfalfa to all the kids during their allergy flareups. We can cut out the runny noses, funny breathing, and don’t worry about it becoming a sinus infection. We have eliminated all OTC drugs, and keep a little cream around for handling big flare ups from reactions to unknown exposures, or events that we can’t avoid. It’s now a rare occurrence.
Thorough Testing of Shaklee for Eczema & Allergy
I will be honest, as a scientist, I test theories. I wasn’t sure if he was just growing out of more allergies, or if it was the Shaklee. So I took him off all the Shaklee products and went the cheap route for the probiotic and multivitamin. It did not work the same. We ended up switching back and not finishing the other products. I am glad I checked because it gave me answers, but I am sorry for the reaction I caused my son.
Copyright JessicaWBallard
He is such a happy, healthy little boy, now with clear, less itchy skin. We have some flare ups but they are after significant exposure to multiple allergens at fairs, birthday parties and vacations. We now have a way to treat it, and he can enjoy a mostly regular life, with things most kids take for granted. We are so blessed to have found Shaklee to help with our eczema & allergy issues.
Shaklee changed our life, and allowed me to next focus on my own health.
My son’s Shaklee Eczema & Allergy Testimony Eczema & Allergy This is going to be kind-of long, and full of pictures of our befores and after.
