A week in...

As the title suggests, we're one week into Jasmine's steroid use. The 1st three days went well, her itching gradually subsided to the extent that we thought any residual itching was almost more habitual. From the fourth day however it was apparent that our little monkey was indeed still itchy. The eczema was visable beneath her skin. Not in the usual rough skin, but a brooding, red layer, waiting to burst through.

Jasmine has a patch under her right eye, her cheeks are waiting to erupt and where the skin was smooth for the 1st three days is becoming rougher now we've reached the week mark. Her scalp is very itchy and tonight I noticed that where she had frantically scratched to the point of weeping an area on her scalp has formed a kind of cradle cap. :(

We are only using the steroid ointment once a day now. I think my biggest concern is that the Doctors will just recommend a stronger steroid - enter vicious cycle....

Well, we'll wean her off this batch of steroids gradually, and hopefully there will be no ill effects. Otherwise her routine is much the same. We tried the Cetraben emolient, though were not convinced. It seemed to make her itchier, though it was only a brief trial. Either way, we're back on Aveeno, with the usual homeopathic and flower remedy suppliments. She's bathed every other day, alternating between using Aveeno bath lotion and Himalayan rock salt.

astounded...

We went to bed at 10pm last night, some 3 hours after Jasmine. The little monkey woke up at 11.30pm, but I was convinced it was much much later than that. I gave her a quick squeeze and plonked back into her cot with her muslins and teddy and ambled back to bed myself, fully expecting to be up again in an hours time at most.

The alarm went at 6.30am

We had either crashed out and ignored any cries that Jasmine had made, or she had gone through without any more stirs.

SHE SLEPT THROUGH!

Steph popped in to be greeted by a wide eyed, cheery little baby. It's so refreshing! Steph changed her nappy while Jasmine amused herself with a book. ...A BOOK! ...not tearing at her skin!

What a difference for only one application of the ointment.

I'm still concerned about using steroids, but I'm incredibly thankful for a night off.

some tests at last...

Well, it's been a little while since the last post and today has included enough new stuff to warrant an update. Over the last week or so Jasmine's skin has been bothering her greatly. It always coincides with her teething, but none the less, when she's not distracted (ie trying to sleep) she's miserably itchy.

Despite this she puts on a brave face and had a great time at Hatton Country Park over the weekend.


She Particularly loved the tractors, though the birds of prey brought lots of pointing and exclamations of "Sa!" and "Eo!" All before she eventually passed out and gave Mummy and Daddy a couple of minutes respite! :D

Her general development is going well. She isn't yet walking alone, but is growing ever more confident in her cruising abilities. Things within reaching distance are fair game as far as Jasmine is concerned, normally associated with a good deal of babbling and pie-eyed expressions of innocence! ;)


Today's excursion involved a trip to a new paediatrician. After summing up Jasmine's history to date and tackling the usual unvaccinated status we started to assess where to head with Jasmine's treatment.

Despite our dedication to being as natural as possible it is clear that currently Jasmine is just too uncomfortable to sustain this wishful thinking. In light of this we have reluctantly decided it is best to return to steroids, at least for a short while. The paediatrian recommended a 1% hydrocortisone ointment (a little more greasy than a cream), combined with a new emolient: Cetraben. We've not done a whole lot of research into Cetraben, though at the moment I think we're all approaching our wits end and will try practically anything, if only to get a couple of nights unadulterated sleep!

We also went through the traumatic experience of have some blood tests done for Jasmine. The nurses were astounded at how strong she was, causing them to fail taking the bloods from one arm and needing to call in support to pin her down. It took four adults in the end to stop her spontaniously combusting!! Not pleasant. Still, the tests should hopefully confirm her calcium levels are ok (in light of her rice milk diet), bone component levels (indicating potential vitamin D issues), and test for coeliac disease.

We've also been given a couple of dinky little tubes to spoon in a couple of stool samples. Yummy! We have just one hour to get the samples to the lab before they spoil ...who would have thought that poo could spoil! The stools will be tested for malabsorption and faecal elastase. Hopefully this will confirm our suspicions of issues with her gut.

So tonight was the 1st night of the new regime. We don't get the new emolient until tomorrow, but used Aveeno instead. She seemed to accept the new steroid at least, though she could equally be relaxed as she had a nice bath beforehand.


Hopefully all will go according to plan, hopefully we'll get a few uninterupted hours of sleep!!

More Flare

Jasmine is flaring again :(


We suspect it's massively linked to teething but I figured I would document her circumstances for this particular flare in case we can ever find any common ground.

So...

Teething heavily. (2-4 coming through)
No dairy/egg/soy.
Rice Milk.
Home cooked meals. (Salmon & Veg, Beans & Mash)
Suspicious of too many carbohydrates.
Suspicious of tomatos.
Suspicious of Hazel. (dog)
Very thirsty to start with.
Feeling very very hot. (Fever)
Body creaming in Aloe Vera.
Face washed with salt water (Himalayan) and creamed with Calendula.
Just starting to recover from tummy bug.

The regime...

In light of the test results and the apparent reactions to some of the 'positive' products tested, Jasmine's daily regime is as follows:

Bottle feeds: Morning - Rice Milk, Evening - Rice Milk with 1/4 teaspoon of pro-biotic powder.

Breakfast: Weetabix/Ready Brek - made with either rice milk or water.

Main Meals: Steph's home made goodness, organic where possible - generally yummy. Avoiding dairy, eggs and soy of course.

Drinks: Generally we only give Jasmine water, though rice milk could be an option.

Creaming:

Organic Massage Oil (Base oil 250ml- sunflower, almond, wheatgerm, Drops x20 lavender, 10x Chamomile 10 x Sweet Marjoram)

- used for her chest, back, arms and legs.

Jason's Best Organic Calendula Cream

- used for her face.

The child minder has instructions to also use the Calendula cream on Jasmine's body throughout the day as she sees fit.

General:

We keep Jasmine's nails trimmed very short. She hates having them filed! But i would rather that than have her wear mittens as I feel this could restrict her development. When she is strapped in a car seat or pram for example we'll tuck her trousers into her socks to stop her clawing her legs. She is not so fussed when she's 'free' as she's too busy charging about :D


At night we have her in a long sleeve body suit over which she wears a long sleeve pyjama top and all enclosed pyjama bottoms (with feet on). Over her bottoms we've taken to putting on a pair of knickers as Jasmine tries to 'double up' her legs to scratch the back of her knees and calves with her own toenails. ....and its a job to file down her toenails as she is far too ticklish and squirmy :D

Results...

Below are the results of the Kinesiology tests for the various products we took along.

Positive Vital Force

Cold Pressed Evening Primrose Oil- (+) Vital Force
Silver Shield Gel- (+) Vital Force

Neutral Vital Force

Organic Massage Oil (Base oil 250ml- sunflower, almond, wheatgerm, Drops x20 lavender, 10x Chamomile 10 x Sweet Marjoram) - Neutral Vital Force
Rice Milk Provamel Purple- Neutral Vital Force
Rice Milk- Rice Dream- Neutral Vital Force
Aveeno Bath Oil- Neutral Vital Force
Waitrose Bottom Butter- Neutral Vital Force
Pampers Baby Dry Nappies- Neutral Vital Force (?) - possibly need to re-test
Jason's Best Organic Calendula Cream- Neutral Vital Force
Bonjela Teething gel- Neutral Vital Force
Olbas oil- Neutral Vital Force
Lavender Essential Oil- Neutral Vital Force
Baby Wipes- Johnson's Extra protection- Neutral Vital Force

Negative Vital Force

Jason's Best Aloe Vera Lotion- (-) Vital Force
Aloe Vera Juice H2O Gillian Mkeith- (-) Vital Force
Diprobase Cream- (-) Vital Force
Aveeno Cream- (-) Vital Force
Epaderm emollient- (-) Vital Force
Fruit Pot- Peaches in Grape juice- (-) Vital Force
E45 Cream- (-) Vital Force

Unlocks Muscle- Very Negative Vital Force

Hydrolysed Milk- Nutramigen 2- Unlocks Muscle (very negative)
Uguentum M Cream- Unlocks Muscle (very negative)
Waitrose Coconut Oil (solid) Unlocks Muscle (very negative)
Vicks Vapour Rub- Unlocks Muscle (very negative)

Ooops

Our experiences seem to be shooting some holes in the Kinesiology theory. The evening primrose oil seemed to exacerbate Jasmine's itchiness in contrast to expectations, and creams supposedly negative towards her appear to have no outwardly ill-effect. ...then we have egg, a substance that Jasmine apparently had no adverse effect to...

We had gone for the weekly shop and mum and dad, having missed breakfast, sauntered on over to the cafe to satiate our hungry bellies. Seeing as we had sat down to eat, Jasmine naturally expected to eat aswell, and not content with her measly rice cake she beckoned pointedly towards our plates. Having confirmed with the chef that there was no dairy and things had only been cooked in oil we gave Jasmine a few mouthfuls. She munched away happily and we dutifully cleaned our plates and continued on with the shopping. Steph noticed a little flaring on Jasmine's face, but we thought that may have been a reaction to the cream coupled with the heat of the cafe.

Jasmine fussed throughout the shop, scratching away, she was in no way content to sit in the trolley. As the shop drew on the itching got worse and Steph had to take her outside to try and calm her as I was paying up. She fussed all the way home. At 1pm it was a little later than her usual lunch time and she could have been hungry. We tried feeding and she had just a spoonful before it was clear something else was amiss.


Her body was covered in hives. They started out as individual lumps, but were soon merging together to form a large expansive swollen layer. Unlike the earlier episode where Jasmine's face was more affected, this swelling seemed to concentrate more across her body, with only a mild swelling around her face. Thankfully there was no major swelling around her throat and mouth and her breathing remained as normal as you might expect.

We gave her a dose of Apis Mel (30c) and we cooled her off by bathing her in tepid water, followed by coating her in calomine lotion. She was still fussing, though less so, as we put her into a sleep suit and had calmed down massively by the time we had gone back downstairs (at roughly 2pm). She snuggled into my shoulder with barely any scratching and was soon fast asleep. I lay down on the sofa and let her sleep on me as Steph nipped into town to replenish the supplies of creams we knew Jasmine could cope with. I managed to get the travel cot made up downstairs with her still asleep on my shoulder and lay her down wrapped snuggly in a blanket and clutching her muslin.

She was so sleepy and a little emaciated with bloodless lips comparative to having awoken suddenly in the night. She would stir if I sat her up, but would protest and was clearly not herself. She drank well when offered (just water) and thankfully her breathing remained strong and steady.


She was still very sleepy come 5pm and following another dose of Apis Mel we called NHS direct just to get some advice. An on-call doctor called back shortly after and having run through Jasmine's symptons and history confirmed that sleep was probably the best thing for her, so long as the swelling didn't interrupt her breathing and her condition didn't deteriorate. The doctor advised keeping some Piriton syrup in the house should we encounter a similar flare in future.

Jasmine was showing a little more of her usual exuberance by 7pm and we gave her her rice milk and some pear slices before putting her to sleep in the travelcot downstairs. Despite sleeping most of the afternoon, she soon settled and was curled up against the side of the cot, reassuring us with her rhythmic breathing. We transplanted her upstairs a couple of hours later when we went to bed and she only stirred a couple of times in the night, and had to join us in the morning, sleeping on me from 5 till 6.

Other than a little remaining swelling she seems to be pretty much back to normality.

We won't be trying egg again for a little while!

Tests

We had another meeting with the Kinesiologist on Saturday, armed with a crate full of lotions, potions and various other things to test Jasmine's resilience to. The main things we wanted testing were the hydrolysed milk and a couple of the creams we use daily.

We'd had suspicions that the milk was still proving a problem. I know the idea of being hydrolised is to break down the relevant dairy nasties within the milk to a level at which the immune system doesn't detect it as dairy, thereby not causing an antigen response. However, Jasmine was still getting very bloated which made for very uncomfortable intestinal areas where she would squirm for a lot of the night trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in.

I'll post the full results later, but there were some interesting observations, namely the hydroliyed milk wasn't good for her, and neither was the cream we've been using. There were a few other neutral and positive results but it isn't quite as simple as that...

Armed with our newfound knowledge of Jasmine's weakspots we approached her routine that evening a little differently. Evening primrose oil had shown itself to act in a positive manner towards Jasmine and accordingly we used this to rub into her legs, arms, chest, back and face. We also opted to immediately cease the hydrolised milk and start a course of rice milk (tested neutral). The worry with the rice milk is that it is defiecient in many of the nutrients that you would typically find in formula milk/cows milk, but this should not pose too much of an issue for a 2 weeks trial, especially considering Steph is cooking evey one of her meals from good healthy organic produce.

Jasmine went down fairly awkwardly, though we attributed this to a late night, an hour later than usual. 3 hours later she was still itching furiously and complaining heavily. This was not her normal itchiness throughout the night, she seemed in a lot of discomfort. Despite the 'positive' effect evening primrose oil is supposed to have on her I believe that this was the cause of her discomfort. We decided to give her a late night bath and a full scrub down, change all her bed clothes and start again with Aveeno and herb oil as we had the previous few nights. She was much, much calmer! We had also used a new 'gel' on the nape of her neck; Silver Shield Gel. Steph has her suspicions about this aswell and like the evening primrose oil, this was given a positive for Jasmine in the muscle testing.

Now I know to make the disctinction between what may be good for Jasmine internally, and what may react negatively on her skin. By the morning she was her normal chirpy self. The rice milk seemed to have no ill effect (she's had rice milk many times in the past with no suspicious behaviour, though the times we've used evening primrose oil on her face I've noticed excessive rubbing of her face afterwards, though previously I put this down to her being tired and the eczema on her face).

Summary

I think it's going to be fairly long-winded to account for every detail 11 months down the line, but I shall try to summarise the more important aspects and noteworthy events.

Jasmine had a long, but fairly uncomplicated birth. She popped out at 3.39pm on Wednesday 13th February weighing in at a healthy 8lb 1.5oz. Along-side our pre-planned decision to not vaccinate we also declined the hospitals push to give a vitamin K jab. Her APGAR test was nigh on perfect with the only issue being slightly sticky eyes, for which the paediatrician immediately claimed Chlorophenicol should be administered just as a precaution.

Jasmine never lost weight following her birth as most newborns do, gaining 4oz in the following week, and a further 7.5 oz by the end of that week. *chubber* :D

I (Dad) returned to work on the 25th, some 11 days after she arrived. Jasmine started developing symptoms of eczema around two weeks of age. This coincided with the introduction of formula milk along-side breast milk. The initial formula was Aptamil and she took to it fairly well to start with.

She was diagnosed with Seborrheic Dermatitis on March 18th (6 weeks old) and the doctor prescribed Daktacort, a steroid cream. We were always hesitant to use steroids but followed the doctors advice for a week. We started using cradlecap shampoo (Dentinox) at 7.5 weeks, and the doctor claimed Jasmine was at the tail end of a viral infection (spotty chest) at 8 weeks. From 8 weeks Jasmine was exclusively formula fed.

We started taking Jasmine to a homeopath at 12.5 weeks and she started hypoallergenic formula at 13 weeks (Nutramigen), following sickiness with Aptamil.

She gave her 1st giggle at roughly 16 weeks! :D at 17 weeks she tried her 1st meal of apple and pear pudding. We started Jasmine on Nanny Care goats milk at 18 weeks. Her skin seemed to improve a little with the goats milk though her weight gain slowed.

At 22 weeks we met another paediatrician who helpfully informed us Jasmine had eczema. >.< class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">dietician was at 43 weeks where we were advised to start a dairy and egg free diet. We met the dietician again 6 weeks later (11 months old) with no great trend of improvement, though we are not convinced that nursery was sticking to the diet regime as rigidly as we were.

That pretty much brings us up to the present. We're continuing with the dairy and egg free regime, avoiding steroids, hoping homeopathy will help and applying creams with the least amount of chemicals in.

Generally her skin as gradually deteriorated over the weeks with waves of flare-ups and calm periods.