Today I want to get personal with you and tell you about something that I’ve suffered with all my life.
It’s not something I tell people about, in fact, I feel almost ashamed about having had it.
Don’t worry, it’s not contagious!
It is of course Ezcema.
Ezcema is a medical condition in which patches of skin become rough and inflamed with blisters which cause itching and bleeding.
When I say itching, trust me… it itches so bad that people who suffer with it will end up scratching to the point of making the skin bleed.
We just can’t help but scratch!
I’ve had it since birth. The hospital nurses even nicknames me “Rashley”.
Up until my teens it mostly affected the creases of my elbows and knees.
Then during my teens it moved further out and affected my wrists, hands and ankles.
Between 21 and 26 it became so bad that my fingers and hands would bleed.
I wish I had taken some pictures because it was truly horrific.
Beside the pain, it was disgusting to look at and I spent every minute of my waking day trying to hide my hands from people to see.
When people did see my hands they thought I had some contagious disease which I then had to explain about.
Fast forward a few years to becoming an Osteopath and imagine how I felt knowing I had to treat people. What would they think? How could I hide my hands from them?
Thankfully I have now managed to virtually clear my ezcema up totally.
I’m not sure it will ever be gone, almost like a monster hiding in the shadows, but I now know how to keep it sedated and chained, locked away in the depths.
It took me nearly 30 years to get it right, after having tried all sorts of treatments and creams, I worked it out myself and treated it naturally.
See, if i treated it medically, it would involve supressing the symptoms with steroid drugs and creams.
But the ezcema is the body’s way of saying “we’re being overloaded here and we need to express this”.
The ezcema isn’t the cause. It’s meerly a symptom.
So what did I do?
Well first, I worked out the things that mad it worse; for me it was the cold, sugar binges, and exposure to soaps and washing up liquids.
Knowing that I simply avoided these triggers; wore gloves in the winter, cut my sugar right down, and wore washing up gloves (sexy huh?!), and kept my hands moisturised.
But then I went deeper.
I worked on my gut flora using probiotics, cut out potential irritants such as wheat and other grains and ate a more anti-inflammatory diet, including more fats and magnesium.
Now I hardly go a day thinking about it.
There’s still work to be done, but looking at me you would never know I had ezcema.
So if you have it too, I know how you feel and trust me, you can get rid of it. It just needs some detective work and some commited work on yourself.
If you suffer with ezcema or any other condition and you would like some guidance then please do get in touch with me today.
Cheers,
Ashley