Magickal Arts
What? Wait a minute... Yes! I am alone in the house with the computer, I have time and space and energy to enter the Dreamtree. What are my thoughts?
Uhmm,
Well, homeopathic medicine is on my mind.
My sister just had a baby, and in the genetic tradition of my family, he evidently suffers from a wicked case of infantile eczema. They live on the other side of the continent, so I haven't actually seen him yet, but I hear from everyone how bad he looks.
"His skin is all dry and cracked, like leather."
"He cries a lot, and he won't go to sleep, it probably hurts."
"His face is all red and rough and scaley."
"His feet and hands blanch when you pass your hands over them, then they get really red."
And so on. We all have some kind of skin thing. In fact, if I look up my maiden name in the encyclopedia, I find an entry for Baldwin, last christian king of Jerusalem, died during the battle of A----, suffered from leprosy.
Well, they called everything leprosy back then, but it sounds like a relative.
Anyway, my sister took the baby to the doctor, who told her to put Vaseline on him. Whoa! That sounds like exactly what they told me NOT to do for my kids. No petroleum, no oils. So, anyway, I stopped into a health food store yesterday to look for the Jason lotion I used to use. They used to sell that stuff in bulk at the place in Phoenix I used to frequent. I'd buy a liter at a time. Yesterday, there were only a few small tubes on the shelf. So I asked the helpful Ageing Hippie Health Food Store Lady what she could recommend for a baby with eczema. She ran over to look something up in a big dusty, dog-eared book as I groaned inwardly. Then she came back brimming with enthusiasm and information. She led me to a huge, aisle-long display rack for homeopathic remedies. She went on and on. As she looked up at me with her large, myopic blue eyes, brimming with sincerity and fanaticism, I could only nod attentively, my heart sinking.
Trapped like a rat.
I realized that there was no way I was going to get away without buying this stuff, and also that my sister would never in a million years give some dodgy pills to her 6 month old. --And she would never in three million years make sure it didn't touch any metal, or her hands, "so the energy doesn't get messed up." Aaarrghh!
So, I bought the little (very little) vial of pill. "I have some eczema," I thought to myself, " I'll try it and see what happens."
This morning I woke up and Whoa! Big difference.
So I spent today looking things up, ordering books. I'm tired now, though. All these pseudo-sciences wear me out. Astrology, Tarot, all that. My brain can't hold on to the info. One of the websites I found had a big long checklist, with things like "chest, skin, dry, heat, better." Then it gives you a diagnosis with info like "You have headaches that are better when you hold your temples." Wha..? Also, the dosing: "Take one dose, and see if there is a change. When you feel that it is no longer helping, take another dose." OMG! This is harder than nursing school. Thank God we didn't have to learn it to practice!
Uhmm,
Well, homeopathic medicine is on my mind.
My sister just had a baby, and in the genetic tradition of my family, he evidently suffers from a wicked case of infantile eczema. They live on the other side of the continent, so I haven't actually seen him yet, but I hear from everyone how bad he looks.
"His skin is all dry and cracked, like leather."
"He cries a lot, and he won't go to sleep, it probably hurts."
"His face is all red and rough and scaley."
"His feet and hands blanch when you pass your hands over them, then they get really red."
And so on. We all have some kind of skin thing. In fact, if I look up my maiden name in the encyclopedia, I find an entry for Baldwin, last christian king of Jerusalem, died during the battle of A----, suffered from leprosy.
Well, they called everything leprosy back then, but it sounds like a relative.
Anyway, my sister took the baby to the doctor, who told her to put Vaseline on him. Whoa! That sounds like exactly what they told me NOT to do for my kids. No petroleum, no oils. So, anyway, I stopped into a health food store yesterday to look for the Jason lotion I used to use. They used to sell that stuff in bulk at the place in Phoenix I used to frequent. I'd buy a liter at a time. Yesterday, there were only a few small tubes on the shelf. So I asked the helpful Ageing Hippie Health Food Store Lady what she could recommend for a baby with eczema. She ran over to look something up in a big dusty, dog-eared book as I groaned inwardly. Then she came back brimming with enthusiasm and information. She led me to a huge, aisle-long display rack for homeopathic remedies. She went on and on. As she looked up at me with her large, myopic blue eyes, brimming with sincerity and fanaticism, I could only nod attentively, my heart sinking.
Trapped like a rat.
I realized that there was no way I was going to get away without buying this stuff, and also that my sister would never in a million years give some dodgy pills to her 6 month old. --And she would never in three million years make sure it didn't touch any metal, or her hands, "so the energy doesn't get messed up." Aaarrghh!
So, I bought the little (very little) vial of pill. "I have some eczema," I thought to myself, " I'll try it and see what happens."
This morning I woke up and Whoa! Big difference.
So I spent today looking things up, ordering books. I'm tired now, though. All these pseudo-sciences wear me out. Astrology, Tarot, all that. My brain can't hold on to the info. One of the websites I found had a big long checklist, with things like "chest, skin, dry, heat, better." Then it gives you a diagnosis with info like "You have headaches that are better when you hold your temples." Wha..? Also, the dosing: "Take one dose, and see if there is a change. When you feel that it is no longer helping, take another dose." OMG! This is harder than nursing school. Thank God we didn't have to learn it to practice!
posted by zulhai | 8:03 PM
7 Comments:
just because it is our experience, has your sister seen an allergist of started removing the 8 major allergens from the kids diet?
Yes. She has already identified quite a list of foods "intolerances." (sigh)
It's a long row to hoe.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Oh! My two sisters are very into that stuff. Well, one a lot more that the other. For me, I’m very skeptic and don’t believe a word of what the say pt claim. To me a balanced diet and exercise should cure most ills! I’m not much into pills or remedies as such. Vaseline is another story. I have varieties of it, at home, in the car, and at work. I am very finicky about washing my hands after i touch things and constantly use lotions on it. Up until yesterday (back ache for a week now), I didn’t even had Tylenols around the house. The other day, a friend that carries a small box of pills around (I don’t dare ask what are all the pills inside) offered me TWO Aleeve pills that seem to help a bit. So, yesterday I bought the smallest (generic) bottle that I could. I imagined, I wouldn’t be using it much.
Also, this post gave me the idea about a great post (Einstein!) I better right down what I was thinking, because I have already forgotten what is was that I got so excited about (and had to do with Albert Einstein.)
The suspense is killing me!
Also, did you try an ice pack?
Excema's a beast. We were holding Zane down as he slept at night for several months while we were battling it.
Per, SRH's comment above, for us it was totally food allergy related. Damn eggs and soy.
This is great info to know.
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