Once you have established that you have any form of auto-immune disorder the most important action is to bring it under control. By reducing the speed at which the disease spreads you give yourself time to evaluate treatment options, side effects, lifestyle setbacks, etc.
As the disease spreads you will sleep less due to continuous itching sensation, you might wake up to itch, unable to sleep because of bleeding, etc. Depending on which part of your body is affected you may not be able to sit, walk, exercise and in some cases if it spreads to your face it might be difficult to step out in public.
Eczema particularly is a vicious disease, you will have several exposed wounds, bleeding that will heal very fast, yet will grow as you indulge in itching the same.
That being said when I was travelling in Italy enjoying good coffee, excellent cheese, exotic breads and my favourite salami (The very occasional indulgence as opposed to living the Sattvic lifestyle) everyday; my condition kept worsening rapidly, I needed to return and immediately evaluate my options. But as I got back, I started to improve a little only to discover that my disease could have been related to my dietary choices.
This discovery led me to believe that diet is a key part of any auto-immune disease. Your choice of diet alone can keep your symptoms in check. The more I studied the more intrigued I was:
- Was I genetically incompatible to certain foods?
- Has my recent condition made me react negatively to certain foods I ate before without symptoms?
- Will my compatibility improve as I heal?
- Is this incompatibility the leaky gut syndrome?
With all these questions in mind, I ventured to find the least invasive and most cost effective approach to determining my incompatibility list. My online research led me to find that such tests were not popular in the USA, but rather in Australia of all places. The reason for the same could be the strong allopathic lobbyists in America versus the more liberal open mindedness of Australia. This could also be the reason for lack of awareness of the same.
The
Bio compatibility test, is a non-invasive personalised DNA test. After evaluating a few providers, I zeroed in on
Kate Porter Naturopathy (no longer offers this test, try
Allergy Test Australia) because:
1) She was affordable
2) She was a small clinic offering personalised attention
3) She offered a free 15 min consultation
4) She followed up on progress
5) She agreed to email my results as opposed to couriering them back
My bio compatibility tested negative for:
- Coffee
- Peanuts
- Chicken
- Yeast (hence most breads)
- Cheese
- Salami
- Cigarette smoke (While I don't smoke, I often inhale it passively)
The next six months I was able to reduce the symptoms and control the disease by simply avoiding the above items. While I wasn't healing, I was at-least not worsening.
I have good control and was easily able to give up the items on the list. I don't eat much meat, I particularly don't eat chicken because of how industrialised it has become. I love coffee though and I did miss it dearly, but I have a great selection of
teas which helped me cope but the lack of caffeine makes it hard to get through the longer days. And cheese is my first love, perhaps the main obstacle between myself and sustained veganism.
Late suggests to document your progress each month, while I did have a huge boost from excluding the incompatible items. My progress hasn't changed month on month. My eczema still gets triggered due to stress, emotional and unidentified factors but I am able to control it via the means shared.
Later on I did discover a similar test available in India from
allergyfree.in, while not advertised well and severely undersold. It is a great domestic option that provides good value. I plan to use it to reconfirm my incompatibility list when / if I am more permanently healed.
The bio compatibility test was a pivotal point in controlling my disease and symptoms which allowed me to continue pursuing the alternative treatment approach as opposed to giving up and taking any allopathic medication (antibiotics, anti histamines or steroids).
