Skin Problems/MCS

[Guest guest]

Hello All:

 

I'm extremely new to the list (I just joined yesterday!) but I've had

an interest in herbs, dietary supplements and a non-allopathic

approach to health care for most of my adult life. I'm really hoping

to get some input; I'm sort of at an impasse with my own treatment.

 

My problem started almost three years ago I was suffering from

chronic insomnia. No matter how exhausted I was I could not fall

asleep without a sleeping pill or tranquilizer. Then my face broke

out, but only on my chin. These were very large (some about the size

of pencil erasers!), very tender sometimes slightly itchy violently

red bumps. They looked like pimples that wouldn't come to a head.

Now mind you, I was 33 years old at the time and have always had

a " peaches and cream " complexion. Very clear, even in my teen

years. These lumps would not go away. They would crop up and stay

for upwards of two or three weeks, then finally subside, but not

before others were erupting to take their place. At the time I had

just moved and was going through a divorce, so I ascribed this to

stress. Messing with them made them worse, the few OTC medications

that I tried almost seemed to burn my skin. I figured nature would

take care of things eventually. Mind you I still couldn't sleep.

 

Finally I got heartburn, constant, continual, everyday, no matter

what I ate or drank. Life was not fun.

 

I'm running very long on this, but eventually I discovered the

heartburn and insomnia stemmed from consumption of fluoridated water

(I had moved from a non-fluoridated town into a fluoridated town).

This discovery has caused me to follow a very difficult path to

eliminate what else I'm allergic or sensitive to while trying to re-

balance my body. I've eliminated the heartburn and insomnia, and no

longer get the very large lumps I did. But my skin is still breaking

out in very small pustules that break when I wash my face and leave a

red mark for a few days. I want to eliminate this. I'm greedy, I

want my face back. I'm using my face, something I can clearly see

and judge, to " guesstimate " my total body health. I figure if my

skin is still erupting, however small, then there is still an

inbalance.

 

My overall health is pretty good as long as I respect the fact that

essentially I'm allergic to the man-made world. My multiple chemical

sensitivity is quite severe and unfortunately, it has also created

allergies to foods which I previously did not have. Finally, I think

my hormones are sort of out of whack.

 

After two years of treatment that has included very stringent dietary

modifications (I was already a lacto-ovo vegetarian, but now I eat

real healthy, real whole, no artificial colors, flavors, etc., cut

out sodas/soft drinks, eliminating wheat/gluten and nightshades due

to apparent sensitivity), a complete upheaval of my life (had to go

to TOTALLY natural soaps for body/hair and laundry for me AND my

family, I was even breaking out from hypo-allergenic laundry

detergent and reacting to soaps my husband used); strictly spring

water for consumption and washing my face; some vitamins, herbs and

colloidal silver and several treatments for leaky gut syndrome.

 

I've taken, with success, milk thistle, red clover, burdock, yellow

dock, valerian, skullcap, and kava. I just started on sarsparilla

last night. In addition to that I'm also currently taking the first

four herbs I listed. Milk thistle actually seems to be too strong

for me now and I only take it when I've been exposed to toxic

situations. Red clover was terrific when I first took it but it too

seems too strong.

 

Currently I'm taking cat's claw, pau d'arco, dandelion, and vitex

(monk's pepper). I'm not too sure about how to take the vitex,

though. It definitely helped with the breakouts I was getting pre-

menstrually, but post-menstrually my skin used to be as good as it

would ever get that month, and this month, blech. Should I be taking

vitex for an entire month, that's just too much for me, taking it

from the second half of the month until day one seemed to be the most

help. My skin definitely seems to be breaking out in relation to my

hormonal cycle and that's what I'm trying to balance out. I've tried

natural transdermal progesterone cream but that seemed to exacerbate

the situation. That's why I added sarsparilla.

 

I'm really sorry for running for so long, but I really wanted to be

thorough. I would sincerely appreciate any help or suggestions.

 

Best regards,

 

Harriet

a.k.a. OneGreyOwl