Dr. Mom

I am a big believer in allowing the body to fight off illness whenever possible. I don't like giving my family medicines that either cause a problem to be masked or to go inward instead of outward. And, I certainly dislike giving something that actually causes damage to our health.
I am Dr. Mom. I have no official training, but I have great research skills, resources, and connections! I have educated myself on a wide variety of subjects relating to my family's health and continue to do so. I have had great results!
With all of that being said, this is a story about how I handled some medical issues with my family.
This is a story about Justin, my 11 year son.
We have discovered that he is having a problem with sugar and yeast. He has rashes on his hands that get hot and itchy when he eats harmful things like sugar or food coloring. So, as a team, we have been working on getting all of his rashes cleared up. Thanks to one of my resources, we started taking Candida Take Care(a cranberry extract) and noticed immediate improvement of his hands! Everyday they were a little bit better!
Until Friday.
On Friday, on a whim, Justin stopped at the corner convenience store and bought a prepackaged, sugar-laden, shelf stabilized baked good. Within half an hour, he had to go to the nurse because of itching and burning skin on his arms and hands. They called me and I took some medicine up to the school with me to treat it. I took: 1 cranberry extract(to kill the yeast), 1 fish oil(for vitamins to cut inflammation), 1 xymozyme(digestive aid), 1 probiotic capsule(to replenish good bacteria), and a bottle of vitamin E oil(to heal the skin). He took it all, we put the E oil on his hands and arms and in a short time, he felt better and went back to class. He stayed all day! Yay for Dr. Mom!
However, when he got home from school, we noticed a small patch of red on his right cheek. It wasn't bothering him so we assumed it was just residual affects of eating the honey bun.
But, Saturday morning, he woke up and was noticeably redder on his arms and his face. So, we repeated what we had done the day before. Unfortunately, as the day went on, he kept getting more and more red. Sunday morning, we decide that the situation needs some additional support. I contact our naturopath and do a little research and go get a homeopathic remedy. We have discovered that his skin doesnt want heat or cold. We tried an epsom salt bath, and it didnt help. He starts taking the homeopathic pills with a couple of Super Lysine tablets. Super Lysine is an immune booster with lots of Vitamin C and Lysine, an antiviral, as well as calcium and some other things. Between the two things, we are controlling the burning sensation and he is able to sleep.
Monday morning, situation is continuing to get worse, believe it or not. At this point, I start feeling overwhelmed!!! (I also have a daughter home with a fever!) We try a different homeopathic remedy and get some Aloe Vera Juice to try to calm and heal his intestines. If all of this is on his skin, his intestines are also a mess!! We try Caladryl lotion and he runs screaming to the sink to wash it off. OK, we won't use that! I start realizing that he is worse after eating. We are putting Vitamin E oil on his arms and Borage Oil on his face for some relief.
After researching, I realize that he is worse after eating probably because of fats. There are some hives that worsen from eating fat. So, we decide that we had better go to liquids until the hives are under control. The new homeopathic remedy(Urtica) doesnt help at all, so we go back to the first one, Apis.
Our Naturopath talks to a Clinical Nutritionist who recommends Alkaseltzer Gold to stop the hives from forming. OK. I start looking for some! Took me awhile but I found it at Target. Got home and he took the first dose and started feeling a little better almost immediately. It takes away some of the burning sensation. He takes another one before bed and another one in the middle of the night so he can sleep.
The sores on his face have started oozing and his face feels tight. I think that the redness is softening now and his burning and itching levels have gone way down.
In order to get this far with Justin, I have had to ask alot of questions. Like, where does it itch or burn? Do you feel any swelling in your tongue or throat? On a scale of 1 to 5, how would you rate the itching or burning? Did that treatment seem to help? Does this treatment sting or burn? Lots, and lots of questions.

So, would you like to know what would happen if we went to a traditional Dr. office? I know some of you are probably wondering why I didnt take him, so lets explore this option.
I am confident that they would have given him steriods, either in a cream or a shot or a pill. We have a family allergy to Benedryll, so that is not an option. What do steroids actually do? Do they heal the body? No. Do they stop the hives from burning and itching? Yes. But, at what cost? That burning and itching is coming from somewhere and has to go somewhere. If we stop it from coming out his skin, it will come out somewhere else. Maybe not today, maybe we won't notice it for a long time. But, someday, there will be consequences of redirecting this reaction. In my research, I found that quite often, when this type of reaction is suppressed, it goes to the lungs.
Guess what? There is no treatment or cure for hives. It is a natural bodily response to an allergen. The only thing you can do is let it run its course and try to alleviate some symptoms if you can(with the patients health in mind). Of course, figuring out the allergen can be tricky and trying to put out the fire can help(thats why we are giving alkaseltzer gold). But, in the end, I just have to trust his body to know what to do to heal itself. That is the goal here! Our bodies can and do heal themselves. It's hard, as a mom, to not panic and watch helplessly as your child suffers. I KNOW!
There are some warning signs that come along with hives or rash that DO require medical intervention. I feel I should mention them so that everyone knows that I know and so I know that you know.
*If a person with hives has trouble breathing, they should go to the emergency room. Without oxygen, your body cannot function, let alone heal itself.
*If there is a fever involved, it is possible that you are then dealing with infection and not an allergic reaction. If there is a fever, go to the Dr. I know that measles have rash and fever and I know that I am not equipped to deal with measles.