Ever felt like you're running out of options in helping your child's eczema? Grab a cup of tea and join us for a chat with Roseanne, whose son's eczema journey led them down the path of homeopathy. She candidly shares their struggles from failed attempts with various topical treatments, allergy tests, and even steroids to the revelation that was homeopathy. Get inspired by before and after photos showcasing the impressive progress Roseanne's son has made.
We delve into the heartening transformation through homeopathic remedies, and the role of unexpected aids like Manuka honey. Navigating the tough journey of a child with eczema is no walk in the park, but Roseanne emphasizes the importance of consistency and patience in homeopathic treatment. Drawing from personal experience, she enlightens us on how to stay unwavering even in the face of doubts. You'll be moved by how her son, now almost two, can finally enjoy the sun without constantly worrying about scratching. This episode serves as a beacon of hope for those still wrestling with eczema, illustrating the potency of homeopathy in helping this skin condition.
Ever felt like you're running out of options in helping your child's eczema? Grab a cup of tea and join us for a chat with Roseanne, whose son's eczema journey led them down the path of homeopathy. She candidly shares their struggles from failed attempts with various topical treatments, allergy tests, and even steroids to the revelation that was homeopathy. Get inspired by before and after photos showcasing the impressive progress Roseanne's son has made.
We delve into the heartening transformation through homeopathic remedies, and the role of unexpected aids like Manuka honey. Navigating the tough journey of a child with eczema is no walk in the park, but Roseanne emphasizes the importance of consistency and patience in homeopathic treatment. Drawing from personal experience, she enlightens us on how to stay unwavering even in the face of doubts. You'll be moved by how her son, now almost two, can finally enjoy the sun without constantly worrying about scratching. This episode serves as a beacon of hope for those still wrestling with eczema, illustrating the potency of homeopathy in helping this skin condition.
Bri Hurlburt 0:00
Welcome back to Homeopathy at Home with Melissa. Hi Melissa.
Melissa Crenshaw 0:05
Hey Bri.
Bri Hurlburt 0:07
We also have a special guest with us today. We're going to be sharing a testimony. I’ve been really excited about this one. Roseanne is with us. She's one of my clients. Well, her son is one of my clients and we've been working together for quite a while now, specifically dealing with eczema, and some other things. I'm going to let her share the story, but we've been really looking forward to doing some of these testimonies. So thank you so much for being here, Roseanne.
Roseanne 0:38
Thanks for having me.
Melissa Crenshaw 0:40
Yes, thank you so much for being here. The purpose of this podcast episode is to encourage people that homeopathy works. It works beautifully for eczema. It can be slow. So I'm interested, Roseanne, in hearing … First of all, if you'll go all the way back, how old was he when he started showing signs of eczema? Just kind of tell us your story. What did you try before you found us? I'm sure we'll have some more questions that we’ll ask.
Roseanne 1:19
My son first developed eczema when he was five months old and I was told that it was a drool rash, which was believable for a short period of time until it started getting worse and worse. It was itchy. He was scratching. He was bleeding. We did the normal topical solutions of trying different things that would work. We went all the way to allergy testing, like the pinprick testing, and then we did even steroids for a brief three day period. I was very horrified that I had given into that but it was really bad.
Mainly on his cheeks is where we saw it. 90% of it was just on his cheeks. It was bleeding. It started off as like your typical red, chapped cheeks and then it progressively got worse and worse until it was just bleeding most of the time. He would scratch it, primarily at night. He’d wake up covered in blood, just all over his sheets, all over his clothes, just his hands, under his fingernails. Everywhere you could think of. It was pretty horrifying. That's kind of at the point where I had tried that steroids and then I got worse after that. Then I eventually heard about homeopathy and I was like, “Alright, I've got to give this a try.”
Melissa Crenshaw 2:47
So I'm looking for the pictures. Is it okay if I show before and after pictures?
Rosanne 2:53
Yeah, sure.
Melissa Crenshaw 2:54
We have his eyes blocked out for your privacy. I found them. I'm just going to airdrop them to my computer so I can show on my screen. While I'm doing that, I did have a question. You said this started when he was five months old?
Roseanne 3:15
Yes.
Melissa Crenshaw 3:17
How old is he now?
Roseanne 3:19
He will be 2 in October.
Melissa Crenshaw 3:21
Okay. How old was he when you started homeopathy?
Roseanne 3:29
He was a little over a year. We're in September now. We started in January.
Melissa Crenshaw 3:38
Okay. Gotcha. You said you tried steroids?
Roseanne 3:46
Yeah, that was the last resort. We had also done … I think you discussed in your baby eczema podcast about doing the elimination. I had gone dairy free for about eight weeks and it was interesting listening to your podcast because I was like, it was awful. One of the first things people say is cut dairy. And I did it for 12 weeks, but I didn't realize how much that I was getting through the dairy and so I was getting migraines. I was getting headaches. I was dizzy. I was weak. They didn't talk about if you're going to cut dairy, you have to also increase your fats in other ways. So it was like cut dairy, but no one really told you what else to do.
And it didn't help. Nothing helped. We did allergy testing. Nothing came back. So I felt like it was running through all these things and it was not only not getting better, even the steroid cream we had done that as a last resort and it cleared up in three days, and when it came back, the lesions on his face were layers and layers deep. It was the most horrifying thing you could ever imagine. It was really awful. There would be many nights I'd wake up just literally in tears because it was horrible to see your child suffer through this. You think you're trying everything you can ever imagine. You're getting input from family, you're getting input from friends, you're getting input from strangers, and you're like, “Okay,” and try this to a point where you're like, “I don't think anything else is going to work.”
Melissa Crenshaw 5:16
Yep, I hear that a lot. Family members will say, “Why are you not taking them to the doctor?” They kind of push you to do things. You did all that, it sounds like.
I want to show the before. This is right when you started working with Bri.
Roseanne 5:41
Yes.
Melissa Crenshaw 5:43
Can y’all see that? That's correct, right? So that's when you started working with her? Let's see. Man. I mean, I can't even imagine how awful that was for him and for you. And I believe that I would be waking up in tears also.
Then I'm going to show the picture … Is this now or does it look even better than that now?
Roseanne 6:15
Actually even better than that. This was, I think, maybe a month ago so it's even more improved at this point.
Melissa Crenshaw 6:22
Excellent. That's so exciting.
Bri Hurlburt 6:25
Just to be clear, too, if you don't mind sharing this information. Did he have any … I'm sure I have this somewhere in my notes but for you to be able to share. Was he vaccinated at all with any reactions or any of the things that I think in mainstream we attribute to the development of eczema? We get a lot of little ones that aren't. They don't have any of those things that still present with eczema.
Roseanne 6:53
Yeah, no. He didn't have any vaccinations. No medical interventions at all. No antibiotics during delivery. Nothing at all. It just appeared five months in. None of my other kids had it.
Melissa Crenshaw 7:09
Thank you for sharing that because that's also part of my story that my youngest two didn't have any vaccines, no antibiotics. They never had any allopathic medicine. They have never. Except, well, I was using some Tylenol and Motrin early on, before I knew how good fevers are for you, so I was still trying to suppress fevers back then. They both still ended up with food intolerances. I used to like to blame that on vaccines. I did before. I'm also a lactation consultant. Now that I had my own experience, I also have learned this can be totally inherited. Our gut health is inherited. Even if the parents never had eczema, or allergies, or asthma, it's the gut health that can be inherited, passed on, and these things pop up.
If you're a mom or a dad listening to this right now, what I often hear is regret or shame or you feel bad. You feel bad, like I did this to my child. Please don't do that to yourself. We do the very best we can with the information that we have. And that's all we can do. We can't beat ourselves up. We can't carry that stuff. But that's likely what happens when we can't say there was a medicine or a vaccine or whatever that caused it.
Did you try any supplements or other creams that were natural things?
Roseanne 8:59
I had tried a few. Manuka honey with olive oil, some type of cream with that. I did a bunch of different natural eczema cream or other lotions. Again, it would keep it moist, but it didn't heal it except that manuka honey was a big factor in helping the healing process. When he'd get really itchy, he’d start scratching, and when I would slather his cheeks with that he would get out of that cycle of scratching because he didn’t want to scratch because he’d get the goop all over it. That was a thing that we kind of figured out that was helpful along with the remedies that we used.
Bri Hurlburt 9:45
That was something that we had noticed, I think. We figured that out with your son. I've seen it in other cases where as the skin is healing … Anything. If you have a scab and it's healing, it’s typically itchy. When we realized that … The eczema seemed to be really, really improving, and that scratching seemed like the only thing hindering the movement forward. We did pair that with a remedy for itching, healing, and then the manuka honey, and that helped a lot. I've been able to use that actually with other clients, too. It's not across the board but when that itching is a part of the healing, that was very cool to see the improvement after you started that.
Roseanne 10:37
I feel like we were stuck in this cycle, a couple of months in, where I was saying, “We are healing.” We would get stuck in the cycle of his skin would heal and then he would scratch at night, tear the whole thing open, and it'd be 10 days to two weeks to get back to that healing point. We were stuck in this cycle over and over until we figured out the manuka honey was a big part and then I got him scratch sleeves at night, because I noticed that’s when he was mainly scratching. He sucks his thumb so I even cut a hole and sewed a hole so he’d have his thumb, but at least most of his hands were covered. I think it was finding that combination of things that the remedies work, but you also got to sometimes figure out what specific to your child do you need to do to get out of that cycle so you can actually heal the whole way?
Bri Hurlburt 11:25
I did want to ask you. I don't know if you were getting there, Melissa, but if you could walk everyone through just what you remember off the top of your head, what your process looked like. Did it get better right away? Or do you remember there being a cycle where you saw improvement, and then you saw a couple of setbacks, and then improvement and a setback? Like you just mentioned, the scratching. If you don't mind kind of walking us through what that could look like for other people.
Roseanne 11:56
Yeah, so I think it's been about eight months, which sounds like a really long time. I think it took two months in to really start seeing improvements. They were really slow at first but when you see your child in so much pain, and whether it's on your cheeks, on the other parts, I mean there's really horrible eczema. You can have it anywhere on your body. But when you're seeing any improvement, after you've tried, most people have tried a lot of things probably before they come to you. But when you see that hope of some improvements.
So two months in I started seeing some improvement, and I think I noticed it small bits at first. It started getting better and then it moved a little bit from his cheeks or some behind his knee. He also had a crack behind one of his ears that got really bad for one point but the other parts started healing. And then, as I was saying, we got stuck in this cycle of it was healing, I would say like 80% healed, and then he would tear it open, we'd go back. That was a cycle that was probably like two months long, just sort of trying to figure out. Then once we figured out, “Okay, he's just scratching at night,” we kept up doing that. And then I think a couple months in, you changed up one of the remedies. We switched up something else. And that seemed to be the thing to get him over the edge.
The other thing that I noticed with him was that sweating, tears and water would make him scratch more. We had a period of six weeks where the only time we're outside is if we were at the pool in the water, which didn't seem to irritate him. When we stayed inside, we stayed out of the humidity, and that seemed to help him get that last bit of where we are. I feel like it was a really long process but when you see that improvement, and you see that there is hope, it is getting better, I'm not using steroids, I'm not using all these crazy things that you can't even pronounce. I mean, you're willing to do whatever it is to get there. It was really encouraging for me to see that you can use natural remedies to heal something. You don't have to change your entire diet, which granted kids obviously have allergies but for us it was just totally shocking and amazing. I remember texting or emailing Bri at one point being like, “Oh my gosh, I can't believe this is actually like … It really is working.”
Bri Hurlburt 14:14
It really is so exciting. I get just as excited even when I believe it works, obviously. That's why we do this. But when I see it, and I will say your story was actually a quicker one than a lot of people. There are varying factors that go into that but I know it does not always happen that quickly.
Melissa, you've done it for so much longer than me, practiced homeopathy, so I'm sure you've seen it take two years before this really moves on and out. I love that it was encouraging, but you also shared the reality of … I mean you and I communicated a lot at some of the points where there were what seemed to be setbacks and the movement of the eczema, like the deep cracks that showed up. I do tell people that can happen because it can shift. As a parent, it is easy to look at that and be really discouraged and think that you’ve just gone five steps backwards, or now it's somewhere different, it must be getting worse. You really hung in there. I have to really credit you for that. It's not easy to trust somebody else saying, “It's okay. It's part of the process. This is good. Movement is okay.”
A big part of his healing, I really believe, is you stuck with the process when there had to have been points that you were a little bit questioning maybe? I don't want to put words in your mouth but would you agree with that?
Roseanne 15:49
Yeah, there were definitely points that I was like I feel like we're stuck, like we're just doing the things. Granted the scratching and stuff would aggravate it, but yeah, there were definitely points that I was like, “This is taking a really long time. We’re really stuck,“ but I felt like this is what we're doing. If I'm going to stick with something, I'm not going to go try doing this, try doing that. People would give input of “Why don't you do this? Why don't you try this?” I was like, “No. I just want to pick one thing, I want to stick it all the way up to the end.”
And now, his cheeks are like, we're at 98%. There's just a little bit lingering but it is just … I look at him twice now because I'm like, “Wow. I've only ever known you with red cheeks, bloody cheeks.” That's what we've known since he’s been five months old so to come out on the other side. If it took a year, like whatever it was, we were going to stick with it because we knew that eventually we would get there.
Melissa Crenshaw 16:45
Thank you for sharing that. That's exactly where I wanted to go to next. What made you stick with it? And you kind of said that already so now I want to know, is that your personality? Are you a very patient person naturally? Are you determined naturally? Do you stick with things long term when you decide to? Is that just really who you are?
Roseanne 17:12
Yeah, when I get my eyes focused on something, I'm going to stick with it. I also have heard testimonies from other clients of yours that this has work. Granted their processes were different, their issues were different. But I'm very much of a I'm going to try something and I want to try something that's not going to cause more pain down the road, a temporary fix. When I'm into something to heal, I want to heal it from the inside out for the long term. Again, all my research and just hearing testimonies from other people, I was like this is what we're doing. I knew from the beginning it was going to be long. It's going to be hard trying to figure out how do I get these pellets in his mouth? How do I get him to take this thing to the point that he would know where it was and he was pointing to me, “Hey, let's get this. It's time to have it.” We had this routine. We'd put the honey on his cheeks. It became part of him. The scratch sleeves, which he hated at first. You just turn it into a this is what we do. This is how it is. Everybody knows. We're all on board. The family. “Oh, did you give him his medicine?” Yeah, his brothers would ask. It became a habit, lifestyle change in the fact that everyone was on board with getting him healed.
Melissa Crenshaw 18:28
Consistency. Isn’t that a key to parenting? I'll be the first to admit I have not been the most consistent. My children are older and I can see the fruit from that now. So, I love your consistency and just that your whole family was on board. I think the fact that you have that personality of you go into it with determination and you're going to stick with it. That's huge and that really helps. Maybe somebody is listening or watching, which I did want to just throw in there really quick. If you're listening to this, you can see the pictures that I shared on my screen on the YouTube channel. My YouTube channel, you can watch us and see us here.
What I want to encourage people with who are not naturally patient and consistent is that really is important in skin healing with homeopathy. I think really probably anything in homeopathy, but skin can take the longest. If you're going to use homeopathy, you need to go into it knowing, “I'm here for the long haul.” You need to make up your mind and stick with the remedies, do them on schedule. I'm so thankful that you did that. And I'm thankful for all of my clients that do that. I have a lot of clients that really stick with it. They stick to the schedule and they do it and they do it well. That is what helps them to be successful. Because I can't do it for you. I can tell you what I think you need, and then it's up to you to take it and do it.
Bri, did you have something else to say about that?
Bri Hurlburt 20:17
I did and I lost it, but I did want to also say something that is cool is in homeopathy the process of healing does look different than what we are used to seeing in allopathic medicine. That was something I was really encouraged by you, Roseanne, was even if there were times of being skeptical or questioning or doubting the process, you stuck with it anyway, and trusted that it was still working. That is a unique thing about homeopathy. Iit is stimulating that person's body to heal and push pathology out. That will look very different for different people. It moves and it changes and sometimes pushing it out can look like a worsening or a movement that in allopathic medicine would not be okay. That would be a bad thing. But it is a good thing. Skin especially. The body pushes it all out to the skin. I just love too that now his skin is so much better but that is because his gut, the inside of his body, and his immune system is so much better.
I know what I was going to ask you. You had just said when we started that you guys are at the beach?
Roseanne 21:38
Yeah, we're on a beach trip.
Bri Hurlburt 21:39
Okay, so how is his skin here this time? That used to bother him, right?
Roseanne 21:46
Yes, yeah. It's fun being out and him not going to be scratching and being in the sun and not having to worry about having his face covered 24/7. It's just amazing.
Bri Hurlburt 22:01
That's awesome.
Melissa Crenshaw 22:03
I love that. I just did a follow up today where the kids, at least one of them but I think two of them, their eczema is much worse at the beach and they also just went on a beach trip. Today was their first follow up so we don't quite know yet. We don't know how long that can take. I think this is my last question. If you remember, how many remedies were you using at one time.
Roseanne 22:32
I think at one time it was up to four remedies. It was generally three. Four or five at the most, but some of them are depending on was he scratching? Was his skin wide open? It was very specific to what he was going through. That's what I really appreciated with Bri, that she clarified, “Here's what you're using. Here's why you are using it. Here’s when to use them. If you need to modify when to use it based on how he's presenting.” It was just very easy to follow, straightforward. I like a plan. If you give me a plan, I can stick to it. If it's like day to day we're going to change it’s a little bit harder, but it was very clear and I appreciated that because I was like if we’re going to do this, we’re going to stick through it all the way to the end, which is basically where we're at now.
Melissa Crenshaw 23:20
Awesome. I do have another question. Why did you choose us? How did you find us? Why'd you choose us to work with?
Roseanne 23:32
Some testimonials in a crunchy moms’ group, I had a friend who also had a child with eczema who I think had seen either you or Bri. I had been doing research in homeopathy and then I had just heard about you guys and I was like, “This is what we're doing.” So I am very glad.
Melissa Crenshaw 23:52
Yay. Me too. Bri, do you have any more questions for her?
Bri Hurlburt 23:59
I don't have any more questions but I do want to say it's been a joy really to work with you and your son. I know we're still finishing up a little bit. You've said this before, Melissa, you love when you're able to get to a point with a client where that's it, and you check in when you need help. That is the goal. We're not here to keep you around forever.
Thank you so much for sharing. I know it can be intimidating, but you've done it very well, very confidently and we appreciate you coming. Hopefully we'll get some more of these now that people have seen somebody do it and it not be so scary. Thank you so much. Thanks for being so great to work with and such an encouragement
Roseanne 24:54
I’m beyond happy to share and encourage other moms especially if they’re wanting something to work with their child. I know it's overwhelming. I’m just happy to have found something that works and definitely good to know you for future issues or things that we need you for, but it's been a pleasure working with you.
Melissa Crenshaw 25:15
Yeah, so I have had several, I would even say lots, of pictures like that, before and after, and testimonies with eczema. I always ask people to come on the podcast and share so that they can encourage others, but not many people either want to or have time or whatever. I'm very thankful that you chose to do this.
This is for everybody listening or watching. When you find a homeopath that you love, you really should stick with that person long term. That doesn't mean, Roseanne, that you'll be following up every eight weeks or 12 weeks. When the eczema is clear and you feel good, just like Bri said, you check in when you need something. Something else will come up later. Whatever it is. It might just be … Whatever. Puberty’s going to come. There's going to be hormones that are going to change. I know that seems far off, but man it flies. As life changes, as we grow, as things change in our body, things come up. When you find a homeopath that you love, stick with them. Just keep going. Go back. Even if it's five years later, and say, “Hey, now we have this thing.” It really should be a lifelong relationship, if you're a good fit, and you like each other, and it works.
Thank you again for being here, Roseanne.
Oh, I did one last thing I wanted to say. We purposely didn't share specific remedies here today because case management, especially in eczema, is not easy. I think that's just the best I can say. The remedies can be individual. We do have a couple that we usually start people off with if it looks a certain way. I didn't want you just to listen to her story and go and grab these remedies and try it for eight weeks and then say, “Oh, it didn't work,” and then abandon homeopathy. It's so much deeper than that. I want you to come work with us. If you or your child has eczema, come work with us. Let us help you through the process so you can uproot this thing forever.
Bri, do you have any last words?
Bri Hurlburt 27:46
No, other than thank you so much.
Melissa Crenshaw 27:48
All right. See you guys next time.