"First, do no harm"
Sir William Osler (1849-1919)
Canadian-born physician |
"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not "Eureka" (I've found it!), but "That's funny..."
Isaac Asimov |
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Wheatgrass Repair of Steroid-Damaged Skin
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| 22 August, 2003. Atopic 29 y.o. female. Inflamed, roughened skin with chronic atrophic changes due to prolonged topical steroid useage (triamcinolone). Steroid ceased and wheatgrass extract applied three times daily. |
27 November, 2003 - 3 months after ceasing topical steroids. Apart from some residual dryness, skin is now visually "acceptable" to the patient. By January, 2004, skin was almost normal. Patient using wheatgrass spray twice daily only. |
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An excerpt from my January, 2004 monthly newsletter:-
This particular young woman has suffered from severe, generalised atopic eczema since childhood. Her skin has caused her great distress and social isolation over the years. When she first attended my clinic in August last year, she lacked self-confidence and was quite understandably angry at a condition that had turned her into a social pariah with never a partner. It is very gratifying to report that, thanks to wheatgrass, she is now happily enjoying her first relationship. I wonder how many of my colleagues who are unwilling or unable to remove their pharmaceutical straitjacket enjoy the privileged world of safe, hands-on healing that I do. Physical healing that is often greatly outweighed by the social, psychological and emotional benefits patients experience. |
>>View another case of steroid-dependent eczema
....and another successful Case History
A young Japanese male had suffered severe atopic dermatitis since early childhood. At his last ten or so appointments with his dermatologist over a couple of years, he was simply given repeat prescriptions for betamethasone diproprionate which was not controlling his illness. At the last appointment, his specialist suggested he try cyclosporin. Aware of the drug’s immunosuppressant effects and considerable toxicity he had heard about wheatgrass and came to see if I could help him.
On examination, his eczema was highly unstable, erythematous, generalised and pruritic.
I discovered that the patient took daily hot baths because he felt it was good for his skin. Preceding the bath however, he took a hot shower and washed himself with liquid soap. As he had never been told not to do this, it seemed to him the right thing to do.
I advised him to cease these two activities, take short showers and use a soap-free wash. I also gave him wheatgrass spray for twice daily application and commenced him on oral prednisolone, 20mg per day, reducing the dose slowly to zero over the following three weeks. Given that he ceased his topical steroid at the beginning of wheatgrass treatment, the outcome was remarkable. Since ceasing prednisolone, erythema and pruritis has all but resolved and his condition is stable. Of course, he has had occasional flares, but because his skin has ‘normalised’ with the wheatgrass and the colloidal oatmeal wash, he no longer requires the support of topical steroids. There is still some dryness, but that is to be expected.
I tell my eczema patients not to raise their hopes too high and expect 100 percent improvement. However, we can look for 80-90 percent on average. Very few remain refractory to treatment for long, and I have not had to refer any of my wheatgrass extract-treated eczema patients to a dermatologist since I began using the preparation in it’s simple, liquid form. |
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