Celiac Disease and Eczema
Celiac comes from the Greek word meaning "suffering of the bowels." When people with celiac disease consume gluten--which is a protein found in wheat, rye, oats and barley--the villi in the small intestine are damaged and prevent the absorption of many important nutrients. Eczema As a Symptom of Celiac Disease
Chronic tissue inflammation and eczema can be a symptom of Celiac disease, and skin disorders in people with this disease can be cleared by cutting down or eliminating gluten from the diet.1 Most of the complications of celiac disease are due to malabsorption. The absorption of vitamin B-12 was shown to be significantly decreased in infants with celiac disease.
My naturopathic physician says every time he eats wheat, he gets eczema on his fingers. I remember when I cut out breads for 8 months, my skin improved a whole lot. If you haven't tried avoiding gluten, you might consider cutting out the wheat, rye, oats and barley for a while and see if your condition improves.
Here's a great page from Wikipedia on The Gluten-Free Diet.
See, also, the "Watery, Itchy Blisters" web page.
What People Eat Instead
Rice
Tapioca
Potatoes
Vegetables
Corn
Most beans
Hi Christina,
I had eczema from about 5 years of age until 34. I suffered terribly with cracked and bleeding hands. Many medications and therapies over the years never worked. In fact, one medication further depleted the integrity of my skin. In my 20’s (in the mid to late 80’s) I began to believe (intuitively) that the cause of and cure to my eczema would prove to be internal – not externally applied. I began reading about skin and vitamins. The Dr.’s I saw did not offer much assistance, humbly admitting to being stumped and knowing little about implementing vitamin therapies. By the time I was in my 30’s my skin was so terrible that I had to hold my right hand in a closed position. Attempting to open this hand and spread my finger would result in instant cracking and bleeding. My left hand was not nearly as severe. (And I am right handed). Today I’m pretty good using both hands for most tasks (except writing) due to years using my left hand b/c the right hand was incapable.
So on to the happy ending to all the pain – by chance I discovered my insensitivity (or allergy) to wheat. A friend asked me to try the Atkins diet with her & being about 10 lbs. overweight at the time, I agreed. Within 6 weeks I was completely free of the eczema – that, to me, was a miracle. My only confirmation is that I did try to eat Pizza and other wheat products after my friend declared we were no longer dieting; and sure enough, the eczema started to come back. I searched the web (by this time it is 1998) and found postings from people who made the same claim to ezema/wheat. I promptly stopped consuming wheat product again and haven’t eaten any since. I have remained eczema free; and it took a few years, but the scarring has diminished and my fingerprints have returned.
Joan
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