Seborrheic Dermatitis

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It’s a month later and it’s time to check-in. If you have time,
please read this whole message. I have attempted to provide as
much detail as possible.

Over the past month, I have used full strength apple cider vinegar
with mother (herein referred to as ACV), seen an allergist and an
acupuncturist, and used diluted ACV.

First, a course of full strength ACV was largely successful and
lasted eight days (application/scabbing). My skin was reset to a
pure, smooth surface. Sadly, it only lasted a week.

My diet also regressed. This was unavoidable as I had to attend many

meetings, conferences and outings. It was impractical to bring my
own food and continue with full strength ACV.

As my SD started coming back, other problems emerged. One night, a
yellow pus came oozing from the area between my eyebrows. This never
happened before but it was very gross. Fortunately, an application
of ACV was able to halt the pus and turn it into a crust. It has not
happened since. Is it correct to interpret this as candida
overgrowth?

In addition, a general itchiness around my upper body had become
intolerable. It was clear that my SD had spread to my arms and
chest, to join the existing atopic eczema.

Logically, I became worried that I had become allergic to a new
ingredient, such as eggs or milk, perhaps even salt. So I went to
see an allergist and completed a RAST (blood) and skin test.
Everything I suspected came out negative, while my allergy to
soybeans was also confirmed. The allergist was unable to provide an
explanation for the SD and itchiness and recommended that I see a
dermatologist.

Instead of worrying about the body itch, I wanted to focus on my
face and scalp. So about ten days ago, I decided to use a diluted
ACV solution nightly, after a shower. I went from 70% to 30% ACV
four days ago. At 30%, my face burns very little, the itchiness
still goes away and no scabs seem to form. So far, it seems to be
working great. My face is still coarse from the previous
applications and in fact, it may shed again. But it seems to be
working and there are no flakes.

I suspect that the scabbing is due to my skin being thin. Having
used asthma meds and steroid creams to control atopic eczema on my
body all my life, I believe all my skin has been affected. I also
believe that if you can control your SD with nightly 30% ACV
applications, then there’s no need to progress to full strength.
Each person’s health is different, so you must find your own
solution.

Lessons I have learned, which may be obvious to you but bears
repeating:

1. Don’t put your complete trust in one person’s guide to solving
SD, even if the person has an M.D. at the end of his or her name.
This applies especially to advice you garner from the Internet.
While it makes it harder and more stressful to find the right fix,
you just have to experiment.

2. SD will always be with you as it is a hereditary condition. Even
if you don’t see it, it’s still there, ready to surface. The only
way to control SD is to focus on: diet, proper rest, skin care and
possible causes.

3. It’s very important to isolate the main cause or causes of your
SD, particularly if your case is moderate to severe. Because I’m
very busy, I often forget about or overlook the search for my own
causes. Worse is that SD can be triggered by one or more factors, so
you don’t know where to begin and therefore keep procrastinating.
For me, all signs point to a candida problem, which is also probably
the most common cause. I think the best attack plan is thorough
online research and diagnosis from medical professionals (physician,
dermatologist, etc.). Then, reserve judgment of treatment for
yourself.

So I plan to go back to an anti-candida diet, continue with diluted
ACV, read more about candidiasis and see a naturalist or naturopath
as recommended by Ronnie. Hopefully it will help my atopic eczema
and asthma too.

Take care,
Gene

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 27th, 2007 at 4:15 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.