Hello!

I am new to this group and wanted to share my experiences with my
son's eczema. He is now 13 years old.

My son has been suffering moderate/severe eczema (and asthma) since
practically the day he was born. We've tried countless things over
the years with no substantial results.

About seven years or so ago, we adopted a healthier lifestyle, opting
out of most canned and packaged foods, avoiding things like high
fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils, processed sugars,
fried foods, cereals, veg. oils, corn oils and butter substitutes
like the plague. The change WAS VERY HARD as everything in the
grocery store had one or more of these things in them.

I also removed everything made from soft plastics, aluminum and non-
stick coated things as well as the microwave from my kitchen. Our
water is filtered and anything with fluoride is a big non-no here.
Our dental hygienist even knows not to put anything with fluoride
near us.

The eczema did improve. Some itchy spots did remain however...mainly
on the inner elbow and the back of the knee and no matter how severe
our diet was restricted to healthy/fresh things, these areas did not
improve.

About two months ago, I discovered KEFIR (the real kind - not found
in stores) grown from kefir grains and raw goat's milk. I don't know
why they're called "grains" because they don't resemble any kind of
grains I've ever seen. I am just now noticing a marked improvement.
The new flare ups are on just a couple of spots and the thick layer
of dry skin is starting to look almost normal. Also noticed that my
son's acne on his face is much less severe to almost non-existent!

I was afraid to try anything with milk in it as my son and I are both
lactose intolerant. We both find that we can tolerate kefir rather
well. For about a week, we both suffered severe bloating and gas,
but now we can drink the stuff without torturing the rest of the
family!

So, I finally am seeing something good here and am very excited about
it all.

My kefir grains are growing very well and I'd love to share them with
a couple of people (after we return from our two weeks vacation –
returning 8th July).

Good things DO happen:
- my family and I have not visited a doctor for anything other
than checkups in 6 years (vs 5 visits/year for ONE child on average
for prior years)
- my son has not had an asthma attack in 6 years
- my husband's cholesterol dropped with a perfect 1:1 ratio of
LDL and HDL
- my husband's blood pressure is perfectly low (EVERY single
one of his siblings suffer high blood pressure and are on medication –
his father and two uncles died of heart attacks – and yet we're
looked upon as nuts for our "severe" way of living)
- my family and I are NOT overweight in any way (we WERE)

I know from personal experiences that it DOES make a difference what
you eat and the difference can be HUGELY great!

I just wanted to share and encourage everyone.

Sonni