Fast forward to today, I not only have to cook almost all meals for our family of 9, I also have to cook special meals for dd and myself since we have severe eczema. God is so not done with me, eh?

When I first saw the long list of foods that dd was allergic to I nearly fainted. Eliminating wheat and dairy is hard enough but her list was super long and included stuff that we eat without even thinking! But the thing that hit me the most is that we no longer have the luxury of eating out – at least till her body heals itself. And I no longer get a break from cooking. That was depressing.

Dh used to bring us out for meals at least once a week, especially on weekends to give me (and the rest of the family I am sure!) from cooking. But now, even when the rest of the family enjoy their food outings, dd and I will bring along our food and eat that. So I still have to cook, albeit in a smaller amount.

Before GAPS, I substitued rice and noodles with quinoa, buckwheat and sweet potato noodles. For seasoning and marinating I used a combination of salt, herbs (Italian usually), honey, pepper, sesame oil and tapioca flour. Is it boring? It hasn’t been as bad as I thought it would be. But since healing the body was top priority, even if it was boring, we still pressed on.

To solve the breakfast problem (do you realise almost all breakfast foods are wheat based?) I serve ourselves leftovers from dinner or eat home-made, grain free granola with almond or coconut milk (made fresh in my Blendtec and then frozen). I used to serve dd Green Smoothies which she loves but they don’t fill her up at all. Even when I add chia seeds and avocados. She is hungry by 10am!

I didn’t bake alternatives to bread since most recipes call for eggs and guar or xantham gum and usually have rice or sorghum as an alternative to wheat flour. But I did manage to find a grain free, vegan free wrap recipe. So we still got to eat something starchy in the morning instead of bread.

So actually switching to the GAPS Intro actually made my life easier since we mainly eat and drink meat and bone broth for all 3 meals. And almost everything is boiled in the beginning. Now if only all the family can switch to this diet

However,  our gas bills have increased since there is almost always a pot of soup cooking on the stove the whole day. And the kitchen is just so hot and humid

But the actual cooking is easy. I usually throw in whichever meat and bones scheduled to be cooked into my largest pot, fill it up with water and some salt. Then I just boil the whole thing for a minimum of 2 hours on very low heat. Then I portion out what is needed for dd and myself for one meal and leave the rest of the soup in the pot. And voila breakfast, lunch and dinner is served!

Boring? Yep. But super tasty! After being weaned from additives and “extra” seasonings, “plain” broth is super delicious!

After progressing through the various stages, we are now allowed roasted/baked meats and not just boiled meats so our meals have been more varied. But whenever I am pressed for time I fall back to just eating and drinking our meat and bone broth.

So while it has been really challenging to cook everything from scratch every single meal, I have, by the grace of God, been able to find some sort of rhythm to our days now.

Moving on to full GAPS will present another challenge I am sure as I have to learn to make new dishes but it will widen our repertoire of dishes served, which I am sure dd will appreciate. She’s been such a trooper. Never complaining about what is served and actually enjoying the GAPS meals.

But Chinese New Year is a different ballgame altogether. There will be many visits and lunches and dinners out. Oh me, oh my!

Eating at my parents or in-laws place is easier since I can tell them what to cook. But those home visits where everyone will be stuffing their faces with bak kwa, pineapple tarts, love letters……ooh!

Last year although we couldn’t eat any of these tidbits, dd could actually indulge in the sweet red date longan tea or soft drinks. This year? Nope. No sugar. Sugar feeds candida.

But actually what makes the whole thing harder is answering all the questions people ask you about your skin and your diet.

Now didn’t they say that what doesn’t kill you will make you stronger?

• What is GAPS?

Here is a great summary of what the GAPS diet is at Sustain Lane‘s The GAPS Diet : The Mother of All Diets?

The basis of the diet as summarised by Dr Cowan in the article above is to  :

Restore the gut flora, heal the villi, seal the cracks. We heal the villi with the Nourishing Traditions diet with a particular emphasis on soup broth, the magic gut restoring food. We replant the villi grass with probiotic foods and Biokult (a probiotic developed by Natasha McBride for the GAPS program), and until we are healed we completely avoid all foods which contain disaccharides: grains, most beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, most sweeteners, milk (but not other cultured dairy products), and a few other foods.

GAPS was developed by Dr Natasha based on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) to heal her autistic son. There have been many success stories about how the diet has helped many others as well. And not just for autistm but ADD and even mental issues.

The focus is on the gut-brain connection. Heal the gut and the rest of the body will re-balance itself. Remove the pathogenic bacteria and the bad toxins leaves the body and the body can function as it is supposed to.

• Challenges of doing GAPS in Singapore

Now the challenge of doing GAPS here in Singapore is the almost non-availability of organic, grass-fed, pasteured or free range meats and eggs, even if you are willing to pay an arm and leg for them. And, on top of that, even if we could afford the organic meat ($50 chicken anyone???) there is no guarantee that the chickens or cows were not fed corn or soy.

So how?

Well, we do what we can and leave the rest to God. Sounds cliche, eh? But seriously what else can one do? We were on a Total Elimintation Diet as those who follow the blog remember. We saw great improvements when we took out grains in the beginning. But after 1 year of eliminating everything that the IgG test said we were allergic too plus all grains, everything regressed. In fact, we seemed to have developed MORE food allergies.

I still blame the start of the  Lift Upgrading Programme (LUP) as the trigger. Our situation deteriorated very quickly once LUP started. Cement dust is lethal. My father developed asthma in his 60s when the school he was teaching in did major renovation works with cement dust flying everywhere.

Back to GAPS Therefore I decided that we should at least try GAPS for 6 months. So we started GAPS Intro at end of September 2011. Just before that I put myself on a strictly 2-week vegetable diet. No fruit or nuts even. It was like a cleansing fast of sort now that I think back. But back then, I just wanted the itch to stop ;( And you know what? I was still itching like mad. It pushed me to GAPS. I need a better strategy! I was going mad with the itch that even antihistamines were not relieving.

• Leaky Gut Syndrome

GAPS believes in the leaky gut syndrome where we become seemingly allergic to many foods because the holes in our gut are letting the proteins through into the blood stream causing an allergic-like reaction (simplified version ). In other words, we don’t really have a true allergy but food intolerances. Once the gut is healed, we should be able to eat almost everything we want, though we really shouldn’t of course

• Books and Blogs

For a detailed understanding of what GAPS is and how it works, I ordered the Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Dr Campbell-McBride book as well as the GAPS Guide by Baden Lashkov. I also browsed many GAPS related blogs such as the GAPS Diet Journey, Keeper of the Home, Tribal Mamas, etc. Google GAPS diet and a whole plethora of blogs and websites will come up. I also joined the GAPS Yahoo forums.

• Candida Overgrowth

After 3 months at the Intro Stage we are ready to move on to full GAPS, sans fruits and nuts because we have major candida overgrowth. We only found out that the candida overgrowth dd had was bad when dd overdosed on grapes and rock melon. She broke out immediately all over her face – red and angry rashes. Kati of Tribal Mamas immediately suspected candida and recommended an OTC anti-fungal cream to confirm it. Her rash cleared in 2 days substaintially but not completely. After 6 weeks of no fruit I gave her 1 tablespoon of carrot juice. Instead of slowly increasing it I rushed to give her 1/2 cup the next day. And again – boom! The redness and rash returned with a vengeance. Sigh. But this time round the anti-fungal cream is not working So there must be something else going on.

Anyhow, we should be progressing to full GAPS in the next week or so, once I get my menu planning and grocery shopping sorted out in the midst of life

• GAPS Cooking

GAPS is by no means an easy diet BUT having come from a strict Total Elimination Diet for one whole year, the transition wasn’t as tough as many others have found it. The constant cooking however does wear one down so now I am planning to cook and freeze meals more meals.

• What are we eating?

Now on to the food we eat. GAPS recommends lots of bone and meat broths to heal the gut – all types of meats. But I don’t do lamb or mutton. The smell just makes me want to gag so we stick to chicken, beef and fish. For the moment we are kosher as well because shellfish makes us itch super bad and pork just doesn’t appeal to me at this point in time.

For chicken, we use Sakura chicken which long ago was antibiotic and hormone free but not now I believe  Some people recommend Kampung Chicken but then I have no idea what is fed to them too.

For beef marrow and bones, I just buy them from NTUC Finest. I know QB Foods sells Australian Grass Fed Sirloin and Tenderloin but that is all that they have. We need the bones and marrows and tendons to make gelatinous broths, not just the meats. So….

I tend to buy salmon for our fish broth as I find them less fishy smelling. Yes, I know farmed salmon is bad for health but where on earth can we find wild salmon in Singapore?! Sometimes I alternate with white snapper or whatever fish is available except Toman fish. Have you eaten that fish? It is totally tasteless

• Is GAPS working?

I wish I could tell you that GAPS cleared out our skin and we are now happily eczema free. Nope, not by a long shot at all It has been very discouraging to say the least. But I have heard GAPS forum members share that the skin is often the last item to heal. Even mental issues are resolved faster than skin issues. Like really?!

But since I told myself that we will press on for 6 months, we shall indeed press on for another 3 months. Besides, after all I have read, I really can’t see putting ourselves back on the standard average diet most people eat. In fact, when the family eats out (I bring along food for dd and myself) I cringe at the foods they order and eat. I especially feel bad when I allow them to eat MacDonald’s and/or KFC. But one battle at a time.

• Other benefits of GAPS

The great side effect of eating GAPS style is the loss of weight! And also the loss of cravings for sweets and bread! By eliminating all carbs, one basically elimimates all processed foods and all the usual snacks and desserts. It is a guaranteed weight loss programme! However, I am still craving coffee with milk! As for dd, her brain fog is almost all gone except when she has either a die-off effect or something else is triggering the rash and itch.

So there you go, our attempt to do GAPS  in Singapore despite all the obstacles. Hopefully I will have a better update come end March

Well on Sunday midnight I was introduced to the nightmare of having child after child throw up and all in the wee hours of the morning – but of course It all started with #3. Then slowly but surely #1 and #4 followed the day after (Tuesday). Tailing very closely was #2, #5 and #7. Then the last one standing fell

It was a horrible experience for all – them puking their guts out and us having to clean up after them and to bring them to the 24 hr clinic at Mount Alvernia. Dh brought #3 there twice (on Sunday and Tuesday – both past midnight!) and I brought #2, #5 and #7.

5 got jabbed, 5 got a suppository inserted (no, I didn’t count wrongly. Three had both the suppository and the injection!)

Now either the jab given to #2 and #5 was lousy or their brush with the virus was just bad. Coz even after the suppository and injection they were still throwing up like crazy And I had to insist loudly to get them the jabs coz the dr insisted that the suppository alone will do the job.

Of course we came home with the whole pharmacy and more But thanks be to God, they are all on their way to recovery. Still weak but well enough to start bickering and hollering at the top of their voices

While I was at the clinic with the 3 sick girls, God sent an angel to lend a helping hand. While waiting for the suppository to take effect, a friend from our previous Church, Full Gospel Assembly, stepped in. He was also suffering from gastric flu and both his wife and dad accompanied him to the clinic. The dr (yes, the same one!) insisted that he be put on a drip for 2 hours! So in the meantime, his dad was just hanging around. He was so sweet, helping to hold the gag bag for the girls when needed, getting blankets and tissues and water for us. He even helped to stand guard at our car while I waited in the clinc to pay and collect our medication.

Thank you Lord for your Hand upon us!

* You can read Henson’s experience of the same story here

Before our eczema rash became so bad, I was often up surfing for recipes and/or menu plans. But since it has gotten a lot more worse, I am now researching the various diets that all claim to heal the body, specifically the gut.

There is the Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS) diet, the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD), the Paleo Diet, The Maker’s Diet, the Eat Right 4 Your Type diet, the Eat to Live diet, etc…

Just who do we listen to coz while they all agree that processed foods are bad for us and that we all benefit from eating whole foods, they all don’t agree on which whole food is allowed. And many of them highly recommend eating organic food or raw, umpasteurised dairy. Yeah, right. In Singapore?! Sure, if I were rich and/or had a farm of my own. How realistic is that???

And then there are many that are evolutionary-based. So do we, as creation-based Christians, automatically toss these diets out? Or are we throwing out the baby with the bath water? But if the basis of their theory is something we know is wrong, can the rest of their theory be right?!

Every diet has its proponent and their critic. So again, who do we listen to???

To complicate matters, if we know that we are allergic to certain food items and we follow a specific diet then we will limit even further the foods available to us.

Sigh.

It is not so easy to say that we should just go back to what our ancestors used to eat/drink. Take milk for instance. Sure we couldn’t get raw milk but all we had to worry about was pasteurisation and homogenisation. But now we have to worry about the growth hormones and antibiotics injected into the cows and even their diets! Cows are designed to be grass-eating animals but now, to fatten them up, they are being fed grains, specifically corn. If what we eat affects us, surely what they eat affects us???

So how? What does the Word of God say?

25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink;……31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’…33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (Matthew 6:25-33). Emphasis mine.

Does that mean we don’t care and just eat what we feel like eating? Noooo. That would be called indulging in the flesh! Instead, we need to go back and seek God’s face for each of our lives and our families’. It plays out differently for each of us who grapples with different issues and are in different seasons of our lives.

I don’t have any answer at this point in time as to what to do, although I sure wished I did! All I know is that my God is greater than all this and He has a reason for not healing us instantly. My position is like that of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego in Daniel 3. They who told King Nebuchadnezzar that even if God does not deliver them from the fiery furnace they will still not serve his gods, or worship the gold image he set up.

Whether He heals me or not should not be the basis of my faith. My faith is in who God is, not what He can do for me. He isn’t Santa Clause. I just remember daily that His grace is sufficient for me, for His strength is made perfect in weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:8-10. And then I cry out, “Lord! Have mercy on me!”

Sadly though, that did not come to pass. Instead, shortly before August 25th, we all fell ill and with that we started on a downhill slide. Rashes that we thought had been banished reappeared and mine re-appeared after many months of regression. That was around the time that the LUP for all our neighbouring blocks started. Sigh.

Nothing else had changed. So I suspect that the dust and the compromised immune system triggered an allergic response all over again

While dd’s skin condition improved slowly, the rash on her neck area refused to budge. In my case, it spread from the left index finger to almost the entire back of my left hand.

Started at the knuckle of left index finger

Infected, swollen and hot!

So in my desperation, I told dd that we should go on a vegetable and fruit fast for 5 – 7 days and see if there is any improvement. She was all game for it, my brave gal!

On September 19th, we started (remember, before this we were already on a very restricted diet). I bought a huge amount of vegetables (mostly local, non-organic), fruit (bananas, apples, pears, grapes), chickpeas (for snack) and coconut (as a non-dairy drink) as I knew we would be terribly hungry. Guess what? The 1st thing we discovered was that coconut made the itch worse! I made fresh coconut milk for us to drink on the 1st day and we both itched slightly. The next day I mixed it with avocado to make into a smoothie (super delicious I must say ) and we both itched badly

So no more coconuts. Meanwhile whenever we were hungry, we ate boiled chickpeas (just 1 day since I ran out) or bananas (daily). But we were still itching. Then my friend told me that her mil mentioned that bananas are a common allergen! Yikes! Was that why we were still itching??? So off with the bananas. The itch did lessen considerably (all in the mind?!).

From here our experience started to differ as I continued with the vegetable and fruit diet while I introduced meat into her diet.

Dd’s Experience

Dd’s skin improved tremendously except her neck area – again  No change when it was fresh beef. But when it was frozen beef, she scratched a little more. Hmm………do they add anything into frozen beef?! Anybody knows for sure? Meanwhile, her skin recovered once I stopped the frozen beef. (She thoroughly enjoyed her steaks and Shabu Shabu beef slices )

On Day 4, I started her on pork (fresh). She itched more than usual on the 1st day. On the 2nd day, it was bad. Her neck area turned red and angry. She said she felt awful. But she also ate chickpeas for her snack. Hmm…..

I told her she had to go back onto the vegetable and fruit (sans bananas) for the next 3 days before we try the chickpeas or pork again Obviously she wasn’t thrilled. But already, I can see her not scratching as much.

She is looking forward to eating lamb and mutton but ooohhhh! The smell! The smell! I think I might just faint from it Yes, I do not like mutton or lamb, thank you very much!

My Experience

As for me, I was scratching so badly till my skin was red and angry (above photo). After battling with it for a few days and seeing no improvement, I succumbed to taking a course of oral antibiotics together with the application of an antibiotic cream. Anyone who knows me knows that I absolutely hate taking medication, especially antibiotoics and I actually haven’t for the past 13 years or so.

Guess what?

The antibiotics did not do anything for the infection at all! Grrrr!!!!!!!!! Meanwhile my skin continued to bleed and ooze pus even if I lightly brush on it. This is the consequence of using steroid creams, even though I used it very sparingly and only just a few times (less than 5).

I suppose I could go on a stronger course of antibiotics but I am going to avoid that path as much as I can for what if it also doesn’t work? Besides people with eczema already have a messed up gut, I really do not need antibiotics to wipe out whatever good bacteria is in there trying to right the bad ones.

Frustrated is what I feel!!! Why am I ***still*** itching despite being on only vegetables and almost no fruit? Ok, I cheated by sneaking in some salmon sashimi yesterday but honestly, it made no difference to the itch level.

2 days ago (Thursday), my friend recommended that instead of the antibiotic cream I should try an antifungal cream as I may have a fungal not bacterial growth. I was leery of putting anything on my red and raw skin. What if I reacted to the cream and made it even worse??? But in desperation, I went to rummage in our medicine cupboard as I thought I had a tube of Daktarin cream in there. Nope. I must have thrown it out at the last spring cleaning But I found a tube of Neoderm which had “anti-bacterial, anti-fungal & anti-inflammation” printed on it (no more box). Bingo! I thought.

I applied it before I slept and the next morning it was less red. I applied it again on Friday and this morning. Look at it now.

Less itchy, less red and definitely less infected, if at all.

A vast improvement, right? Amazing I thought! Then it dawned upon me that I should check what Neoderm is. Ahhh!!!! It is indeed an anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-inflammation cream BUT it also has steroid in it!!! Betasone to be precise. ARGHHHHH!!!!!!!!! We are back to square one!

Looking at the bright side of things, I guess I must have had a fungal infection because when I applied betasone on its own, nothing happened (well, something happened – my skin got thinned out!). When I applied the antibiotic cream nothing happened. Only with Neoderm that there was some improvement.

So what am I going to do now? I have no idea!!! I am just so, so frustrated.

Just in case someone wants to recommend something, do note that we are already either using or have used/taken the following :

1. Prayed incessantly
2. Showering and shampooing with California Baby Super Sensitive Bodywash and Shampoo
3. Showered with Physiogel and applied Physiogel cream (no effect, rather drying)
4. Showered with oatmeal wash (no relief and left the bathroom floor feeling oily)
5. Do the dishes with gloves on (plastic then latex)
6. Used and still using California Baby calendula cream and ointment
7. Used and still using California Baby aloe vera cream
8. Used olive oil (sometimes made it itchier)
9. Used coconut oil (sometimes made it itchier)
10. Used shea butter (made it worse)
11. Used Melaleuca’s Renew Lotion (no difference)
12. Prayed incessantly
13. Broken generational curses
14. Attended healing servics
15. Been a patient of the National Skin Centre
16. Seen a TCM practioner
17. Taking various supplements like Flax & Borage oils, EPO, Salmon Oil (we are allergic to cod), Vit E, Caprylic Acid, MSM, Quercetin with Bromelain, Multidophilus, Lacto-GG, Magnesium, Zinc, Digestive Enzymes.
18. And did I mention that we prayed incessantly

Please do not tell me that perhaps the skin and TCM doctors we saw were no good. There is no end to the recommendations (believe me I have had many people provide highly recommended doctors). It is not that I don’t believe that your doctor is good but I have been running around bringing dd to this and that doctor to no avail. It gets very tiring and is honestly a waste of time and money.

Western doctors will only prescribe steroids (topical and oral), antibiotics and antihistamines. I don’t know enough about TCM but thus far I haven’t been convinced of its efficacy or the purity of the herbs used. There is often a high heavy metal load in the herbs.

I personally believe in nutritional medicine but unfortunately in the field of alternative healing (NAET, Bioresonance Therapy, homeopathy, etc), there are many quacks out there and they often cost a bomb and provide no result. They tend to blame something or another when their method don’t work. So at the moment we are still on our own and trying out food by food to see if it helps.

I am just waiting impatiently for the major LUP stuff to be finished (supposed to be at the end of the year) and see if our condition improves tremendously. I have had a few friends whose eczema condition (less severe than ours) disappear totally when they moved to another country. They do not have to watch their diet at all. So I am taking a chance that I may, in the end, be barking up the wrong tree. But I really do not wish for us to be on long term medication that works by suppressing our immune system. There will be severe consequences to reap later on.

And yes I know I should keep my hands dry but really it is not a practical piece of advice at all. In fact with the need to cook everything from scratch it is impossible to not get my hands wet.

So if you could remember, do utter a prayer for us as and when you can. It will be much appreciated!

Ds 1 often has sneezing fits in the morning and in the past few years has complained incessantly about having pains in his neck. We have brought him to an occupational therapist, a physiotherapist, an osteopath and a chiropractor since he was 9 or so. But no one has been able to help him resolve this matter. Part of it is his posture I am sure and the lack of consistent exercise. But like dd’s eczema case, we seem to be missing a piece (pieces?!) in the puzzle. A friend then shared with me that when her allergies act up, she aches and is in pain. Ding-ding-ding!

With our 3rd child, his issue was a non-productive, dry cough that won’t go away. It often starts after a bout of cold or flu. There is no phelgm, just an irritating dry cough (like a tic) throughout the day that worsens at night when he lies down to sleep. Yes, the dreaded post-nasal drip at work There are some nights (like tonight) that has him coughing for hours and driving everyone nuts! And nothing “traditional” or “conventional” would work. The only helpful thing a cough mixture does is to knock him out. So unlike other parents, I would ask the pharmacist for a drowsy cough mixture

I have taken him off wheat and dairy with great success (takes about 2 weeks to see an effect) previously. But with this current bout, even without wheat and dairy, he was still coughing his lungs out and annoying ds1 who shares a room with him. A clue that it is an allergic cough is when he was put on oral steriods, it subsided greatly! And yet it did not completely go away – again implying that the root cause has not been addressed.

So after much procrastination and doing the ostrich-in-the-sand thing, I finally brought both boys to be tested. And bingo! They too have mulitple food allergies How fun – not!

Wheat, dairy and eggs are the common allergens for both (like dd). With ds1, soy  and garlic are also culprits, and rice scores a 3 (like dd).

With 3 on a restricted diet, I have been busy the past weeks scouring the internet for grain-free and vegan recipes for breakfast and snacks. Main meals are much easier to handle IMO. It’s been trying and rather unproductive as most sites are gluten-free, not grain-free and they use a lot of eggs to make up for the lack of gluten. And vegan sites use a lot of soy and grains. And then of course there’s the matter of taste. We are so used to the taste of dairy and wheat flour that alternatives need much getting used to and some stuff are really too exotic for us

However, it’s been 11 days and their condition has not changed a bit! How’s that for encouragement??? ;-(

The only culprit I can pin some (all?) blame on is the lift upgrading programme. You know what’s frustrating? Our block is not the one being upgraded since we already have lifts that stop at alternate floors (we live in a maisonette block) but the blocks around us! So we are being bombarded by construction work (think drilling generating LOADS of dust and noise daily!) all around and I am not exaggerating, for no good reason! Ugh! And I don’t know when this torture is going to end but as dh said, “Even if we sell now, we can’t move immediately.”

I guess the next best option is to close all the windows and turn on the air-conditioning. But have you read that electricity tariffs are going up again??? Sigh.

So there you go, I now officially have 3 children with multiple allergies.

We started the elimination diet back in September 2010 after the test results showed us the foods dd was allergic to. Her skin started to clear. Not completely but there were patches of clear skin which gave us the determination to press on difficult as the diet was. However, we had to take a break at the end of September due to an extended family vacation that had been booked months ahead. Despite being on oral steriods and antihistamines, her rashes flared up by the 2nd day By the time we came back (short 4 day, 3 night trip), the rashes were out in full force.

I put her back on the elimination diet almost immediately. This time however, we saw ZERO improvement. It was very discouraging. To go through all the trouble to avoid the huge list of foods, cooking everything from scratch, bringing home-cooked foods out whenever we had family outings and see no improvement made us feel like we are wasting our time. It was very, very tempting to just junk the whole diet and eat as per normal.

We were desperate. Her skin had become so dry and scaly despite application of extra virgin organic coconut oil, shea butter, olive oil, etc….You name it, we probably have tried it. And still nothing. Not only that all these natural oils would sting (due to the open wound she had) and then trigger itching! The only cream that did not do that was Melaleuca’s Renew Lotion. So we promptly signed up so that we could have a ready supply of the cream. (Please note that it didn’t heal her, just helped to keep her skin moisturised without the stinging).  I felt so sorry for her. And yet she was so stoic through it all. I even changed our laundry detergent to soap nuts but saw no difference.

In our desperation, we tried TCM. My brother’s colleague’s dh was pastor who was also a TCM practioner. We were told that he had helped a little girl who had eczema with great success. However, in our case, it did not get better, it got worse IMO. My stoic little girl drank that awful bitter concoction daily for 2 weeks, saw him for a review, changed to another brew for another 1 week, saw him again for a review and changed to another brew again for another week. Then I gave up. Her skin was so cracked that she could not bend or stretch without pain. She could not shower as the water stung her like acid water. Every morning, I had to vacuum her mattress because it would be covered in a pile of dead skin due to the scratching and natural exfoliation. It was just BAD.

It was so bad that she couldn’t even pray. I remember driving home one night after dinner at my mil’s and she was going mad in the car from the itch. I told her to pray even as I was praying in tongues. And she cried out, “I can’t!” And then she began to sing with the CD that was playing in the car. I have no idea what that song was. But it ministered to her and to me. I cried all the way home – from Marine Parade to Bishan and then in the midst of it, the itch subsided.

We cried out to the Lord over and over and it seemed as though He had turned His face from us. Many people with many good intentions offered potions and advice and doctors’ names but nothing resonated with us.

Finally a friend recommended that we go talk with her bil who used to be with KKH. I was not keen but I was also desperate, remember? He told us to get her off beef (we were only on beef and pork for the past 6 months) as he was convinced that that could be the culprit. I asked him about rice. She had been tested as a 3 (0 being nothing and 5 being highly allergic) for it and it was the only thing I had not removed from her diet because at that point in time I knew of no other carb replacement. The doctor said it was highly unlikely. He said to up her intake of boraage and flax oil which I had all along been giving her but at a much lower dosage.

So we took her off beef for a week with no results at all. I felt that we had wasted precious time as she was still suffering greatly. All this while I had been very reluctant to put her on oral steriods and had only used topical steriod cream (Elomet) sparingly which only made her skin crack and bleed even more! However, by then her skin had been so badly infected – open wounds due to the constant scratching - I had no other option at that point. A doctor friend prescribed her a course of antibiotics and oral steriods and antihistamines. It took 3 days before the angry rash started to subside. She became a new person. Happy again and much more well rested. However it was short-lived. The moment the course of medication ended, everything started to flare up again, as expected since the root cause had not yet been identified. The only improvement was that it was less angry and red as the anitibiotics had the infection.

In the meantime, I was led to a book Hidden Food Allergies by James Braly and Patric Holford at the Bishan Library. I diligently copied down all the recommended supplements and dosage. I went onto http://iHerb.com (*) and ordered all the supplements and waited impatiently for the shipment to arrive. After just being on the supplements for 2 weeks, her skin became softer and less dry. Her skin which was thickened had become normal looking again. However she was still itching. Something in her diet or environment is still causing her to react.

I resolved then to take rice off her diet despite the doctor’s scepticism. It was hard! Quinoa and buckwheat (no relation to wheat at all!) were our options, besides potatoes. Like a trooper she has been all this while, she took to them with not a complaint.

In 5 days, the skin on her face improved first! Her sister was the first one who noticed it. The skin on her face looked lovely again! Slowly the rest of her body recovered. She could shower with no pain! After 2 weeks, I put her back on rice. She ate it for dinner and by the time it was time for our bedtime prayers, her face had started to look red again! She had rice again the next day, the itch level increased. At 1st we thought it was a coincidence as she had a very long day on the day we put her back on rice. So we stopped for 1 week. Again, after 5 days, her skin cleared. We tried again. Same reaction.

I started hunting for rice alternatives and found millet. I gave it to her for lunch one day and by evening, she was red and itching more than usual. God gave me a brainwave – she is allergic to grains, not just rice and wheat! I tried googling about millet with conflicting answers. Some claim it is a seed but others, a grain. I have not yet given to her since then. But she is keen to try it again as she said it tastes the closest to rice

Right now I am slowly re-introducing prohibited foods back into her diet to see if she is able to tolerate them now that grains have been removed from her diet. But I understand from the doctor that sometimes it is the mold on the food that triggers the reaction, not the food itself. Yesterday, we had chestnuts and I started itching like crazy about 1 hour later. She had no reaction but today, her face is slightly red and she said she had been itching at night. So is it chestnuts per se or the mold since these are dried chestnuts not fresh ones?! Playing detective in this allergy saga is very tiring!

Meanwhile, we press on, grateful that a huge piece in the allergy puzzle had been found.

I will be writing about our 2 boys’ allergies in the next post as this post is too long already and how we coped with her food restriction at our recent Church Camp.

I just want to thank ALL of you who have prayed with us and stood with us in faith that we have a God who heals! This journey is by no means over but we are so grateful that a major breakthrough has been graciously granted to us.

(*) If you have never ordered from http://iHerb.com before you can use my code LIM018 to get a US$5.00 discount off your first order. I have found that they have the most competitive prices and the bonus is that their international shipping rates are the best!

What’s interesting to me is watching how people are suddenly coming out of the woodworks to declare their political leanings when previously there were none.

You can’t help but notice how angry the people are with the PAP. And how much of an entitlement mentality people seemed to have**, probably due to how paternalistic the government had been over the years.

Well, I am no political commentator and I do not wish to discuss politics on this blog. But I do want to comment on the tone and attitude people have over others who have not chosen as they have.

It is sad to hear that friends have been unfriended because of differences in political leanings. Then there is the name calling.

Why so childish? Can’t we agree to disagree?

As Christians, don’t we believe that God is in control? Romans 13:1 says, “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are authorised by God.” (emphasis mine).

Read that last part of verse 1 carefully – and the authorities that exist are authorised by God”.

Yes, it isn’t by fluke that these people have been elected into parliament. We may not like their faces or their attitudes but God has put them there. What?! What if they are incompetent people? What if they mess up the country’s coffers???

God is in control.

Does that mean how we voted is futile? A pointless exercise? NOPE!

We are to do our part. We are to heed God’s call on what we need to do. But His ways are higher than our ways – thankfully! We shouldn’t have voted based on emotions and if we have done so, repent (oops! Has this become a bad word now? ).

Let me repeat, God is in control.

As I posted on my Facebook status – God is in control. We should be gracious with each other’s decisions and not resort to name calling. 

God did not make a mistake. And if we did, He is bigger than that.

* PAP – People’s Action Party. GRC – Group Representative Constituency. SMC – Single Member Constituency.

** I still can’t get over how PM Lee had to apologise for the flash floods in Orchard Road. Can I blame him for the horribly hot and humid weather the past 2 days that has caused my eczema to flare up real bad???

On Tuesday, 15th March 2011, we celebrated 21 years of knowing each other. It was then that my oldest (who always notices stuff like that) mentioned that I have known dh for half of my life! Yes, I will be 42 this year, God willing

Imagine that. I have known dh for half of my life!

Who would have known that when we met in December 1989 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, we would have gotten married and have 7 blessings? Not me coz I most certainly did not want any children, thank you very much.

Only God would

As my 6 yr old dd asked me sometime last week – “Did you know daddy was a godly man when you met him?” That would be “no” on so many counts No, I did not know that he was a godly man coz he most certainly wasn’t at that point in time and no, I most certainly wasn’t looking for a godly man at that point in time either. I wasn’t even saved at that point in time. I only came to the Lord in 1994 after he proposed in 1993!

Yes, only God could have orchestrated something like that. After all there were thousands of people at the Singapore Indoor Stadium and yet we met, sparks flew and here we are.

I often marvel at His grace and mercy on us. How he brought 2 people who had nothing in common (he is musical, loves math and has a great sense of direction while I most certainly am not musical, am not a fan of maths and have a poor sense of direction) together and here we are – married for 16 years with 7 children. Truly it is only by the grace of God.

Thank you Jesus!