Addressing Emotions to Prevent Eczema and Autoimmunity in Kids

When you have children your life changes. You’re completely responsible for another life which is an immense responsibility. We all do our best but still make mistakes.

The key is how you handle those mistakes.

Do you grow from it? Do you ignore it and hope it goes away? Do you keep reinforcing possibly negative or detrimental patterns? Do you acknowledge it and realize you can change it? Can you get over yourself enough to put your children first?
These are all tough questions we have to ask ourselves when raising children from both a mental health and chronic disease standpoint.

Addressing Emotions to Prevent Eczema and Autoimmunity in Kids

My husband and I are both acutely aware of the importance of mental health issues being healthcare practitioners. We’re trained to identify anxiety, depression, and other conditions as they are so prevalent in society. (This needs to be acknowledged and solutions offered).
From a personal aspect we also understand because we both come from families where there is a history of mental illness and mood disorders to varying degrees. We both agree that while our parents tried, we wish they made these considerations for us and our families as children and teens.
We’re not saying that we had horrible childhood’s by any stretch of the imagination. However, neither of us feel we were given great emotional coping tools- something we work on in our home daily.
And guess what…. we’re not perfect and we don’t always get it right. But, we are always aware, practice self reflection, and try to do better the next time.
Nothing frustrates me more than when my son lies to me. His are more like omissions or being sneaky. For example, the day after Halloween the Switch Witch came which meant the candy went away in place of a small toy. I left a few pieces of candy I bought that were made with better ingredients and allergen friendly that he could have occasionally.
He asked for the candy and I said no. He asked again and I said no again.
I thought the issue died, but then found a wrapper on the bathroom floor.
I asked him about it and he fessed up. He said he just wanted it and that’s why he did it (and let’s face it…little kids are ruled by their desires). I didn’t yell (but sometimes I do and often regret it). I said I that was disappointed and no treats all weekend.
Hopefully a lesson was learned?!?!?!
Current research and my friend Dr. Keesha Ewers book, “Solving the Autoimmune Puzzle,” says that these “little issues” can add up and do damage as adults (you can take an Adverse Childhood Events/ACES quiz here for you or your kids):
– Cause chronic conditions like IBS and autoimmunity
– Cause skin conditions such as eczema, rashes and hives
– Contribute to anxiety, depression, and mood disorders
– Prevent us from fully achieving our own personal greatness because of self doubt and sabotage
– Create dysfunctional relationships
We want to avoid the discord that arises when issues aren’t dealt with. Relationships can become strained and distant when everyone knows there’s a skeleton(s) in the the closet that everyone is just sweeping under the rug. It is impossible to have healthy relationships with other people if you can’t trust them.
We work hard on a daily basis to overcome some of the negative patterns that have been ingrained in us since we were young children.
We decided we don’t want this path for our children. This is what led us to take our five-year-old to a martial arts studio that focuses on teaching love, respect (for self and others), and self control.

We did this for a multitude of reasons.

 

  1. He is a sweet and smart boy.? He gets stellar reports from school and is usually a good boy at home. However, he sometimes chooses not to listen to our requests which ends up in turmoil.
  2. He has been a strong-willed child from day one…even in utero! This determination often gets him in trouble. It’s kind of like the idea of curiosity killed the cat… sometimes he just can’t help himself. The self control aspect of martial arts is one of the main reasons we chose this route for him.
  3. We want him to know from a very young age that asking for help is completely normal and healthy. We know he won’t be perfect at this and will have to rely on others for guidance to learn.
  4. My husband and I are aware that even though we are conscious of some of the negative patterns that we learned from our parents, they occasionally show up and our son has seen it. At such an impressionable age, we are hoping that if he picked up on any of these that they can be reversed now rather than him having less-than-ideal emotional reactions as an older child, teen, and adult.
  5. It takes a village. We know we don’t have all of the answers and would like exposure and input from an impartial party that isn’t Mom or Dad that he can relate to, trust, and respect.
  6. He tends to be a perfectionist and sees everything is very black and white (as toddler’s do). He doesn’t handle being corrected by us very well. For example, he went through a phase where he called the letters of the alphabet numbers. When we would try to explain to him that that wasn’t the case, he would get extremely angry and breakdown, as if we were accosting him. We want him to realize that it’s okay to be wrong, it’s okay to fail, and it’s okay to receive constructive criticism. The key is to always learn and grow from these experiences. (A wise and uber successful acquaintance of mine once told me that every night when he puts his children to bed he has them talk about three successes and one failure. He said he felt that the one failure was more important than the successes because it provided opportunities to learn, grow and improve which can be way more valuable than successes that come easy.)
We really want him to have a solid emotion base, self confidence, and resilience so he can avoid the issues of eczema, chronic disease, and autoimmunity that so many in our family have suffered from. Mostly, we want him to be a happy, kind, and well adjusted person because the world could use lots more of that.

You CAN Do An AIP Elimination Diet While Breastfeeding

Many people wonder if you can do an elimination diet while breastfeeding (and working, mommying, friending, and wifing? that?s wife-ing not wifi-ing)???

The answer is YES.

If you?re on our email list, you know that I decided to give myself the gift of health this year. The only thing I asked for as a gift was new sneakers (thanks hubby!). At this point in life, experiences with family and friends and my health matter much more than material objects.

I felt like my health needed to be more of a priority since the longer I nurse my 8 month old, the more some of my deficiencies and imbalances seem to becoming apparent.

I have news for all of the pregnant and nursing mamas out there, regardless of how perfect your diet, supplementation, and lifestyle are it?s super difficult not to become depleted in some way after you have a baby and are nursing. ?This is a very metabolically (and MENTALLY) demanding time in a woman?s life, so we need to support ourselves accordingly.

And like we always tell our clients, you can?t take care of your family or be present in your life if you?re not taking care of yourself. So?. What was I waiting for??

Questions and plain old procrastination!!!

Contrary to what people probably think- I often have the same initial questions as you all do even though I?m a trained practitioner. I was concerned about my milk supply and if any treatments impact the baby or my milk content.

Yes, it is true (I?m being 100% honest).

Why?

For the same reason we as practitioners don?t recommend treating ourselves. It?s really hard to view yourself objectively. It?s easy to second guess, dismiss, or blow things off when you?re the only one analyzing yourself.

That?s how I got to my elimination diet.

I planned on doing all of this after I weaned my sweet, little babe. But all of my practitioner friends said a resounding, ?HECK, NO.?

Truthfully, my immune system has been challenged since the baby was about 4 months old. I?ve had several viruses in that time. I usually get that many viruses in a year? not 3 months.

I also had a little eczema patch develop on my eyelid a couple months ago that I haven?t been able to completely clear.

So?..

Time to look inside (hello root causes)!!

On the advice of my observant and smart friends (read: persistent!), I ran some basic serum labs and things looked a little off. ?According to my CBC (complete blood panel), my immune system seemed overwhelmed and my thyroid was less than optimal even though I take a compounded T3/T4. ?My immunoglobulin levels were also off.

What are immunoglobulins you ask??

When you hear people talk about IgG, IgE, IgM, and IgA, these are your immunoglobulins. These are antibodies produced by your white blood cells that help you fight foreign invaders like bacteria, viruses, and parasites (or foods if you have a leaky gut!!). In Functional Medicine these are important because they give us an idea of what is going on regarding infections and autoimmunity.

My IgM was high which generally signifies acute infection. This wasn?t surprising since I?ve literally had viruses piggy-backing each other. ?Ugh.

IgG is the most abundant and typically higher when you?ve been sick, especially as time goes on, but mine was low. Not a good sign.

The low IgG is telling me a couple of things?

My body has been fighting a battle against respiratory pathogens (and possibly foods, my own tissues, and/or some gut stuff). IgG is the immunoglobulin that can enter tissues making it important to fighting battles in your body. It binds pathogens and toxins directly. Mine being so low means that my ability to fight off infections and handle toxins is impaired. No Bueno ?.

The writing was on the wall.

This was all the motivation I needed to get myself into action.

I knew if I didn?t do anything I?d keep getting sick, have potential eczema flares, and not have enough energy to be a good mommy/wife/worker/friend.

The Action Plan

  1. AIP Elimination Diet. I knew I need to clean up my diet. For me, this means going the Autoimmune Paleo (AIP) route since we tend to follow a Paleo-ish diet in our home. Normally my diet looks something like this:

– No gluten.

-Occasional dairy outside of regular use of butter and full fat cream in coffee.

– Rice, quinoa, or corn only 1-2x per month.

– Occasional legumes.

– Otherwise, we mostly eat meat, fish, fowl, veggies, fruit, nuts, seeds, and eggs.

AIP is a good place to start on an elimination diet, especially now that there are studies showing the benefit for autoimmunity. It also naturally takes out highly reactive foods.

I wanted to make it easy on myself (unlike my previous autoimmune rotation diet) because I?m spread pretty thin these days with an active little one.

I?m eliminating nightshades, nuts, seeds, coffee, all dairy, all grains, and eggs for 4 weeks. Simple enough. There are so many resources out there on the internet now, but I really like Whole 30 and Against All Grain since they have modifications for AIP. ?I?m adding them back in one at a time over a 3 day period and watching for any reactions.

  1. Ramping up anti-inflammatory and immune supporting supplements. I?m taking a super concentrated fish oil at 4x dosing (I take 2 caps at breakfast and dinner). I?m using a variety of probiotics specific to my past needs since I haven?t tested my gut yet****. Notice I said YET. ?I?m also using a mushroom blend that has reishi, maitake, coriolus, and shitake. Lastly, an immunoglobulin product.

Immunoglobulin products such IgG (usually dairy based) or IgY (usually egg based) help support the gut and immune system. Many people get nervous when they find this out, especially when they?re doing an elimination diet because of the dairy or egg source. The truth is that most people can tolerate these, except those with an IgE allergy or a severe sensitivity. ?I?m using this twice daily.

  1. Adding in LDN. LDN, or low dose naltrexone, was recommended to me a couple of times in the past when colleague friends analyzed my labs. I always put it on the back burner trying to fix other things first. This time I decided to listen since my immune system needs some real help. LDN works by increasing your body?s internal opioids (think endorphins) and supporting the immune system.

Midterm Results

The diet has been easy to follow because I?m not over complicating it. I make batches of meat in the slow cooker (beef, chicken, pork, or buffalo) to have throughout the day or my husband will grill meat or fish. I always have big containers of greens for salads and use Primal Kitchen salad dressing so I don?t have to make it (good for marinade?s too). Last, there are always roasted veggies, plantains, yams, and sweet potatoes on hand. I?ll have berries or pears as a treat.

I?m 3 weeks in and feel good. I have more energy and my sleep seems to be more regulated outside of the baby waking me. I had been waking myself or unable to fall asleep. No new viruses.

My milk supply has remained consist too!!! YAY!!!!

My patch of eyelid eczema is almost gone too. I noticed the eczema fade after 1.5 weeks and I attribute that to both the LDN and diet because I had started the supplementation before and that was helping but didn?t have the same effect. (Note: NOTHING topical was helping it ?). It?s mostly dry skin and a few tiny bumps which is encouraging.

What?s Next?

I?m so encouraged that I?m going to do another experiment that I?ll let you all know about next month. This one will be exciting (and scary for me). But you know my philosophy- I?d never ask a patient do to anything I couldn?t or wouldn?t do.

Stay tuned!! And, reply in the comments about your experiences with elimination diets.

How I Solved My Pregnancy Constipation

I?m going to share how I achieved amazing poops since pregnancy constipation is one of the worst symptoms women often have. For some, that claim sounds unattainable. I was one of them given my experience with baby number one?

My First Pregnancy

During my first pregnancy, I suffered from horrible constipation. My stools were little, tiny rabbit pellets that took forever to come out. ?Plus, I wasn’t going every day.

I was miserable because I was used to having perfect Bristol scale #4’s. ?As a functional medicine practitioner, this is what we view as ideal. Now I was having #1?s which signifies severe constipation. I tried several forms of magnesium, eating more vegetables, and dried fruits such as prunes, and nothing changed. I resigned myself to the ?sentence? of pregnancy constipation and chalked it up to hormones.

After the birth I figured I was in the clear…

No such luck. Things got even worse. I didn?t think that was possible.

My First Post-Partum

I was reluctant to share these details, but I know how important it is to have healthy bowel movements. And, I don?t want you to go through what I went through.

The delivery of my son was wonderful (not easy, but wonderful). My midwives said to make sure I pooped within the first couple days, but I was caught up in baby bliss and didn?t really pay attention. I tried to go several times, but I was still really sore from the delivery.

Truth: I pooped during the delivery and that was the last time I?d go for 2 whole weeks!

On day 14, I had an extreme urge to go since the stool had been building up. I sat on the toilet for 30 minutes. Nothing. I got up, moved around, squatted a little, and tried again. Nothing. 45 minutes later, my husband was concerned so he came to check on me (to make matters worse we had visitors and they wondered where I?d disappeared to). ?Talk about embarrassing!

I told him what was up and sent him away. I was too proud to ask for help.

I hung out in the bathroom for another hour and still nothing. I had to feed the baby so I took a break and finally asked for stool softeners and an enema. The stool softeners didn?t help so I swallowed my pride and tried the enema. All by myself.

Not a good idea for anyone, let alone someone who just gave birth. I?ll spare you the details, but there was lots of crying, a mess, and I ended up having my husband administer it. Probably the most humbling experience of my life. BUT I HAD RELIEF!

After that, my stools slowly became more regular and I was back to normal.

My Second Pregnancy

I vowed if I got pregnant again, I wouldn?t let myself stay constipated.

This time my diet was dialed in from the beginning and I was taking probiotics, fish oil, and Natural Calm magnesium. It staved off the constipation until around week 14. I slowly went from #4?s to 1-2?s again as the progesterone ramped up in my body. Progesterone causes the muscles in the walls of the intestines to relax resulting in constipation. It’s also responsible for slower emptying of the stomach and heart burn.

My midwives suggested a different magnesium supplement that also had calcium. I gave it a try and it helped a little, but not enough. ?So, I put on my clinician?s hat and thought, ?What would I tell a patient?” When working with patients and magnesium doesn?t help, we usually suggest adding in other minerals like potassium and calcium via food and/or supplements.

Ding! Ding! I had a major “a ha” moment. That’s when the magic combination was conceived!

Pregnancy Constipation Relief

I made myself a smoothie loaded with fiber, healthy fats, and?important mineral rich foods since these are known to combat constipation. It actually works so well so sometimes I need to dial down the fiber!

Pregnancy Constipation Smoothie

The starred ingredients are important since they either have high fiber or mineral content from magnesium or potassium. Avocados, dates, and bananas are the real whole food stars here.

8-12 ounces of water (can substitute coconut water* or liquid of your choice)
? small banana*
? avocado*
1-4 dates (I used 1-2 for the first 2 trimesters and 3-4 during the third)*
? – 1 serving of this fiber blend*
1 serving of protein of your choice (I rotated between collagen and pea/chia protein)
? cup frozen berries

Additions: 1 handful of leafy greens or tablespoon of raw cacao powder to change it up.

This recipe can be altered to taste and amounts for effectiveness. It?s a nutrient bomb for growing baby and mama, as well as keeping constipation away! It’s kept me going for most of the 2nd and 3rd trimesters, and I’m hoping postpartum too!

What have you tried to remedy pregnancy constipation?