Self Inventory 91condition, because of the quantity of steroid drug absorbed through the
skin). Even this drastic measure had failed and the child had been sent
home, more or less with the intimation he would probably die.
The parents were desperate and brought him to me. The baby
was a sorry mess, swollen, red and wheezing, with skin that was over 90%
cracked, weeping and bloody in places. When his diaper came off, sheets of
skin adhered to it.
I began with a diet survey exactly as you will be asked to do later in
this chapter. In a few minutes I had the answer! Potato was the only food
that came up over and over on a daily basis – I have already explained how
significant that is. Moreover I have found over the years that potato comes
up unusually frequently as a cause of eczema – a tip worth remembering if
you have this skin condition.
I told the parents to take potato out of the kiddie’s diet, compiled a
whole range of alternative foods and rotated everything he was eating (see
Chapter 15 for details of rotation dieting).
Two days later they called me, very excited. Already the child’s skin
lesions had closed in most places. But most strikingly, he had peed and
peed, soaking dozens of diapers, and literally shrunk to size before their
eyes. His bloating had been a reaction to the allergy, just as swollen fingers
and eyes often are.
Despite the drama of the success, the parents told me later they
hadn’t quite believed my explanation and had given the child fries, to see
what would happen. That night he had erupted in itching and had torn at
his skin until it bled.
They were convinced.
Ear, throat, nose and mouth
Symptoms in this zone are often ignored or made light of by regular
physicians. However, many vague or subjective symptoms can be provoked
by food allergy and intolerance and, conversely, will disappear when the
allergy is addressed – causing immense relief.
Catarrh, post-nasal drip, feeling bunged up, sneezing and runny nose
are probably the most characteristic symptoms. We lump these together as
rhinitis (literally Greek “nose inflammation”). Seasonal rhinitis usually refers
to hay fever or summer catarrh. However I have written that seasonal may
mean in winter, when we go indoors and shut ourselves in with the furnace
fumes and house dust!