Pickled Fingers
I can’t say I have tried everything to heal my poor hands of eczema, but I can say that what I have tried and am willing to try shows just how desperate I am to get rid of it.
First of all, I have been introduced to this natural food protein concentrate called “Immunocal.” It is derived from milk and boosts the level of glutathione in your body. Glutathione levels are directly related to how healthy you are, giving your body the immunity it needs to ward off disease. Achieving optimal levels of glutathione has helped people suffering from such debilitating conditions as fibromyalgia. I am a skeptic by nature and so until I personally saw how much it had helped a good friend of mine with her fibromyalgia, I was determined not to have anything to do with Immunocal. Since it seems that eczema is a result of an improperly functioning immune system, I am eager to see what it can do for me. Yes, I am supporting an enterprise based on network marketing – what has this world come to? What next - dipping your hands in full-strength vinegar?
Well, yes, actually. When your hand is not properly moisturized, the eczema can resemble a fungal infection, much like athlete’s foot. Koreans have a home remedy that works pretty effectively on athlete's foot, soaking in 100% vinegar for 1 hour, 2 days in a row. Then, you let your hands air dry with the vinegar on them. That means that you walk around with extra dry hands that smell more like feet. Western medicine tells you to do the polar opposite, always keep eczematic hands moisturized. I knew from my research on the subject that because it is not caused by a fungus, eczema is not contagious. Although it is far from beautiful, it resembles beauty in that it is more than skin deep - it is systemic rather than topical. So far, this solution went against conventional wisdom and my own logic, but it sounded just crazy enough that it might work. So, I took the plunge, but full-strength vinegar did little more to my hands than pickle them and well… cause excruciating pain. “It’s not a treatment,” I think is what the acupuncturist’s exact words were.
Yes, ACUPUNCTURE! Although people may not understand how it works fully, people do what works. Because of acupuncture's success in treating disease, many Asians will go to a Chinese medicine doctor before they go to a Western doctor. My parents are no exception. They have been trying to get me to go the acupuncturist since they first found out about my hands. Again, being a skeptic first and daring last, I had managed to dodge all their efforts up until now. They gave me a choice to go to the acupuncturist or burn my eczema AND my hands off in 100% vinegar – I chose the needles. In fact, I RAN to the clinic. I was doing pretty well with the pain until the doctor mentioned how well and all of a sudden I realized that for him to say that, it must be pretty painful. I didn’t “take the acupuncture so well” after that. What kept me going was the smell of pickled fingers.
First of all, I have been introduced to this natural food protein concentrate called “Immunocal.” It is derived from milk and boosts the level of glutathione in your body. Glutathione levels are directly related to how healthy you are, giving your body the immunity it needs to ward off disease. Achieving optimal levels of glutathione has helped people suffering from such debilitating conditions as fibromyalgia. I am a skeptic by nature and so until I personally saw how much it had helped a good friend of mine with her fibromyalgia, I was determined not to have anything to do with Immunocal. Since it seems that eczema is a result of an improperly functioning immune system, I am eager to see what it can do for me. Yes, I am supporting an enterprise based on network marketing – what has this world come to? What next - dipping your hands in full-strength vinegar?
Well, yes, actually. When your hand is not properly moisturized, the eczema can resemble a fungal infection, much like athlete’s foot. Koreans have a home remedy that works pretty effectively on athlete's foot, soaking in 100% vinegar for 1 hour, 2 days in a row. Then, you let your hands air dry with the vinegar on them. That means that you walk around with extra dry hands that smell more like feet. Western medicine tells you to do the polar opposite, always keep eczematic hands moisturized. I knew from my research on the subject that because it is not caused by a fungus, eczema is not contagious. Although it is far from beautiful, it resembles beauty in that it is more than skin deep - it is systemic rather than topical. So far, this solution went against conventional wisdom and my own logic, but it sounded just crazy enough that it might work. So, I took the plunge, but full-strength vinegar did little more to my hands than pickle them and well… cause excruciating pain. “It’s not a treatment,” I think is what the acupuncturist’s exact words were.
Yes, ACUPUNCTURE! Although people may not understand how it works fully, people do what works. Because of acupuncture's success in treating disease, many Asians will go to a Chinese medicine doctor before they go to a Western doctor. My parents are no exception. They have been trying to get me to go the acupuncturist since they first found out about my hands. Again, being a skeptic first and daring last, I had managed to dodge all their efforts up until now. They gave me a choice to go to the acupuncturist or burn my eczema AND my hands off in 100% vinegar – I chose the needles. In fact, I RAN to the clinic. I was doing pretty well with the pain until the doctor mentioned how well and all of a sudden I realized that for him to say that, it must be pretty painful. I didn’t “take the acupuncture so well” after that. What kept me going was the smell of pickled fingers.
posted by Suzanna | 2:09 AM
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