1. It eases the itching and inflammation OR CAUSES the itching and inflammation.
2. It promotes healing OR slows it.
I am on a STRICT diet. For 4 whole months I ate ONLY quinoa, chicken, and leafy greens. I did NOT deviate and ONLY drank distilled water. VERY slowly, I started testing foods. When I tested foods, my skin was FAR from healed or perfect, but the itching and inflammation were controlled. The ONLY time I've had itch attacks (Other than the oozy itch) have been directly related to food and, in one case, water.
Here are the food flares I've had over the last week or so. I'll break down EXACTLY how I deviated from my diet and why I'm SO convinced that the food was the cause.
Day 135- Calm Skin
Day 136
No pics... Was feeling good this day. Decided to test the waters and ate a peanut butter and honey on pale bread around dinner time.
Day 137
Itched most of the night and woke up like this!
Day 138
Typically, the swelling and inflammation subsides and goes back to normal, but I had ALSO introduced some new spices into my cooking. LOTS of cumin and pepper. These are in the nightshade family and were causing me tons of inflammation and itching I discovered, so I cut them out after this.
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| Lots of ice packs.... |
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| BEYOND itchy. BEYOND. |
Day 139
I cut out the Mexican spices (nightshades) and the inflammation and redness subsided a great deal. Was back on the road to recovery.
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| I call this good flakey. There's no pain or thick skin and the flakes are soft to the touch. It's basically the beginning of the healing from the thick skin. |
Things were fine UNTIL I ate sweet potato and within twenty minutes looked like this! I became highly agitated, and could hardly breathe. I was freaking out. I called my husband and was SO agitated and upset that he came home. It lasted about an hour. I literally felt CRAZY in my head.
This was 2 hours later....
Day 140
Back to my diet and back to healing...
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| Very dry... but NOT inflamed. |
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| I tore my neck apart when I was flaring. |
Diet can certainly affect healing. Josh is on a pretty strict diet due to allergies - he has outgrown some of them, but introducing new foods gradually is quite difficult to do and not something we can do during TSW. His reactions to food including itching - so we wouldn't be able to differentiate between food reactions and TSW. So he remains on a restricted diet until TSW is over.
ReplyDeleteI have heard a lot about nightshades, but we really can't cut them out as he is on very few foods to begin with. My theory is that most of these food reactions are temporary until TSW subsides - Dr Fukaya believes that the TS stop natural steroids being produced in the skin (and probably other places too) and this increases inflammation. Once TSW is over and the body is back to normal, I think most allergies should disappear as the inflammation is gone. If they don't then following the gaps protocol would help to heal the stomach to prevent them. That is my theory, my belief is that humans should be able to process most natural toxins - the problem is this bombardment from man made toxins like TS which undermine our immune systems. Take care, Louise x (Josh's Mum)
so hopefully, your food restrictions will only be temporary and after TSW you may be able to go back to eating a wider variety of foods. We live in hope! I hope you continue to improve, I recognize the good dry skin (flaky) from my son Josh - he has that at the moment. Its a good sign and offers some relief. Take care, Louise x
DeleteHey Jen,
ReplyDeleteYou are drinking pure distilled water instead of normal plain water? I don't think it is a good idea to replace normal drinking water with distilled water all the way. Distilled water removes important minerals like Magnesium and Zinc from our body via our urine. Normal water contain these minerals which are needed by our body, especially so during TSW.
Thought I let you know. Take care! Happy healing :)
Great post, Jen. I agree, food is important to consider with TSW. Like people before me said, these random sensitivities are probably just temporary.
ReplyDeleteI am currently on an exclusion diet as well... haven't noticed much difference with my skin but it affects my gut for sure (which I know would effect any 'actual' eczema)... the other day I ate all the things I wasn't supposed to and became so bloated I looked 9 months pregnant.... at worst I've only ever looked 6 months pregnant... so perhaps that is something from TSW as well?
I like your posts, keep writing.
Hey Jen,
ReplyDeleteI've never had a diet through this. I had a juice fast for a few days and I generally eat on the healthier side. I eat cookies, candy, fruit and sandwiches. Some one brings in doughnuts at least twice a month at my work. There would days I could eat these and be fine, other days not so much. We ordered some pizza delivery, and I broke out into CRAZY BAD hives around 45 minutes after eating. So I avoided that pizza place for a while, and then just last week we ordered from them again (same order) and had no issues. Also my favorite foods are potatoes and tomatoes, (not necessarily together) and I never stopped eating them.
Louise just recently wrote a blog similar to this topic. http://topicalsteroidwithdrawal.blogspot.com/2014/07/what-causes-flares.html
Sending you Happy Healing thoughts
<3 Cat
catrstephens.blogspot.com