Over the last few years in practice I have encountered many children with eczema, sometimes this isn’t why they have be brought to see me, sometimes it’s mild and ‘managed’ with steroid creams and sometimes its severe and ongoing and the parents and child have ultimately been forced to live with it.
Often these children have other issues running alongside their eczema, I see a lot of bowel issues presenting at the same time as eczema, behavioural problems and hyperactivity and/or aggression, allergies and intolerances to food and external allergens like hay fever.
Sadly the modern medicine approach to eczema is steroid cream, whilst this may give temporary relief to the problem it rarely fixes it. Steroids are unsafe to use over prolonged periods of time so the child lives in a state of suppression under the action of these creams. When they are stopped the skin reverts back to its job of being the largest organ of detoxification, and it sets about trying to push out via the skin whatever it is struggling with.
It's a cycle of express - suppress - express, and it can be relentless and extremely distressing for both parent and child.
Homeopathys contribution to eczema issues is a clever and simple one. It doesn’t attempt to suppress the body at all, it respects the body and allows it to do whatever it needs to do, whilst using remedies to support this process and ease the burden on the skin and other detoxification organs.
As a homeopath I am interested in all aspects of a child, not just the skin symptoms, but also other physical complaints as well as mental and emotional expressions and behaviours. I want to know as much as I can about the uniqueness of your child, for this is the foundation of homeopathy. The individual, remedies given to match your child on many levels, the more I know about a child the more likely I am to be able to help them. What are their weak areas? What is their medical history? When did the eczema begin?
Whilst there are many triggers for eczema, sometimes we just don’t know why a particular child has trouble shifting it. Often emotional factors can set it off, or aggravate it. I lose count of the amount of times a parent will say that the problem flares when the child is stressed, or a parents relationship breaks down, or some sort of life event happens.
Others say it appeared after several courses of antibiotics for a chest or ear infection, the possibilities are endless.
What I notice about children is that they are often an open book. Ask the right questions to the parent, or child, and the information I need to give a remedy is usually found. I don’t think as parents we are used to thinking in this way. A GP never asks how it began, they are mostly uninterested in our theories of triggers and often give conflicting views on allergies and eczema. It can seem like a minefield trying to navigate our way out of eczema. Sadly by the time I get to see a child the eczema has been in place a long time, and been controlled by steroids for some time, whilst this is not the end of the world, it can make the treatment of it more prolonged. When I am lucky enough to meet a baby with new eczema that is free of suppressive medication then the response is normally a lot quicker.
Eczema is just a symptom of something deeper, as is hyperactivity, repeat ear and chest infections are just symptoms too, homeopathy looks to find the cause, because when you address something at the heart then all the peripheral symptoms should slowly improve, and this is my experience in practice. Behaviour calms, eczema dries up and fades, chests and ears begin to become more hardy. Homeopathy aims to rebalance the body, it is a catalyst to set the body into motion, and when we are healthy and well we can fight infection better, our immune system is optimised and doesn’t need antibiotics to help it overcome. This in turn keeps the gut biome strong and this is our biggest defense.
An holistic approach takes the whole being into account, it doesn’t segregate symptoms and focus on those alone, because that is a flawed model of healthcare
One pill (or cream) does not fit all.
If you are struggling with eczema issues with your child, please do get in contact to see what we can do to help. I offer free reviews to chat about your hopes and concerns. Online appointments available.
www.tracywhite.co.uk