Still itchy through water fast

[Chadilac]

Hi, my name is Chad, i've had eczema for 3 years and in the last 6 weeks it has gotten exponentially worse keeping me up all night scratching until the sun comes up. I had to take 2 weeks off work to try something radical - a water fast. I am currently on day 9.
Most of the online community believe that eczema is related to diet, but here I am wondering after 9 days of not eating anything and I'm still up all night scratching with the itch worse than ever, How can this be related to diet??

-feeling defeated

[Marcie Mom]

Hey there.. sorry to hear of the worsening eczema and personally, I don't think a water fast will help to reduce the eczema flare-up. Diet studies on eczema are generally not conclusive/causal but keeping off sugar, trans fat, too much animal protein, gluten (if you have undiagnosed intolerance) may help and conversely, eating more anti-inflammatory foods and omega 3 can help. But my guess is that diet affects our whole body and won't be targeted at the skin so flare-up will likely still require treatment.

Any light can be shed via allergy test, patch test?

Take care,
Mei

[Chadilac]

thanks for the reply. After the fast I had to resort to going back to using steriod cream to try to get the itch under control but I am more committed than ever to a healthier diet. I'm eating lots of fruit , vegetables, fish and fermented foods such as kimchi and sauerkraut as well as taking apple cider vinegar + probiotics.
I also take a fish oil supplement and evening primrose oil.
I am waiting to see a dermatologist but would also like to see a allergist.

[Marcie Mom]

Sounds like a good diet you have going on

Some explanations by dermatologist I interviewed on diet
http://eczemablues.com/2014/12/skin-ph- ... t-on-skin/

Copied below for your reading convenience, take care!
Dr Cheryl Lee: I don’t recommend diets based on the pH of foods, but rather, I recommend diets that are as close to the way they come out of the ground as possible and I certainly do recommend against the ingestion of any processed foods, drinks and candies. The body has robust pH buffering capacities that can help to keep the body at an optimal pH. More important are the effects of oxidation in our diets. I like to explain it this way; our bodies come with a certain amount of “anti-oxidant juice”. When we eat processed foods, animal proteins and sugars, our anti-oxidant capacious are called upon and utilized. When we eat too much of these foods, we exceed the body’s ability to replace the anti-oxidant juice and then the body becomes damaged by the free-radicals and excess sugars that are generated when we over eat or when we eat unhealthy foods.

I think the most important dietary approach we should all take is to limit the ingestion of animal proteins as much as possible. Animal proteins have been demonstrated to increase rates of carbamylation. Carbamylation is a metabolic phenomena that happens when we ingest animal proteins. The breakdown products of animal proteins as well urea (this is why I also advise against the use of urea on the skin) in a pro-inflammatory environment that promotes high blood pressure, autoimmune disease, diabetes, heart disease, cancer and more. Interestingly, a recent study even showed that in people who have an infection of the gut with the H. pylori bacteria are unable to adequately detoxify the heterocyclic amines that are generated when meat is cooked. The H. pylori infection make the gut unable to detoxify these chemicals and these chemicals lead to gastric cancer.

Excess sugar also leads to something called glycation. Glycation is what happens with excess glucose and glucose metabolic products permanently bind to fat, proteins and even nucleic acids (in our DNA). The combination of the excess glucose and the proteins and fats are called advanced glycation endproducs (AGEs) and they are what ‘gunk up the system’ and lead to many pro-inflammatory pathways.

I think it is very important to eat lots of fruits, nuts and vegetables and to limit the intake of sugar and animal protein. Vitamins B1, B3, B6, B12, C and others can be helpful in promoting better food metabolism and in limiting the effects of poor diet.

[ItchyGal]

The itch is a real b*tch! Diet definitely plays a huge part for me too. But so to do other things in my life like my dog (recently discovered i am allergic to him), the quality of the water I drink or bathe in, dust mites, stress etc. Seems everything is out to get me!

Has your skin been getting worse over the course of the 9 weeks? It could be related to steroid dependence, which happened to me. Topical Steroid Addiction is the term... might be worth looking up to see if it relates to you. Anything is worth researching when life gets over powered by this wretched skin!