My Child's Pain

This is the girl who used to be my daughter. She was beautiful and happy and perfect. This was at the end of July.

By August her skin started to change. It was just in a few places. You can see it on her inner arms. She still looks like a beautiful, happy girl.

By October her skin looked horrible. This is part of why I stopped blogging. My daugter doesn't look like herself anymore. Her skin is a mess. I had stopped taking photos of her. In time I started getting used to the way she looked and took lots of photos, trying to get one that looked okay enough to post. If you look at the December photos I posted here you will see and you'll notice in almost every photo she is scratching.

You see a very different little girl here. My daughter now looks ill, like something is wrong with her. Everyone around us sees it. It hurts my heart to see her like this. She is not the happy, beautiful, perfect little girl that she used to be. She is itchy and scratches all the time. She is stressed. She tells me that the eczema is the worst thing that has ever happened to her.

Through the last few months I have tried homeopathy alone to deal with this. We have tried removing possible allergens. We apply jojoba oil twice a day. Still there are countless flakes of skin everywhere. The homeopath says it could take six months or more to heal with homeopathy. Princess' skin has improved in some ways. There are no more painful and seeping wounds. But it is now covering her entire body head to toe. Her skin is so dry it is scaly and rough. Her hands look older than my hands. She has scabs from scratching. I can't keep watching her suffer this way. I wish that I could take this onto my own body. I don't know what the right answer is. Steroids scare me. There are a few more things to try and we have an appointment today with someone. I also plan to call a pediatric dermatologist, but am a little hesitant. I will call and see what they have to offer.
Being a mom is so hard, especially with something like this. Am I doing the right thing? Is naturopathy the right thing? Is homeopathy the right thing? Are there other solutions? Do I use a combination of things? Do I turn to icky, horrible steroids? I know how awful steriods are. I've used them before and I avoid them now because of my experience. And steroids will only mask the problem by treating the symptom. We need to find the cause.

I'm getting advice, so that's not what I'm looking for here. I have friends who care so much and are trying to be helpful and supportive. I am so grateful for them. I guess I just needed to put it out there.

Thank you for listening.