Following on from my previous sunlight and vitamin D post, here’s a personal anecdote which illustrates the healing power of the sun, and how fiendish food intolerance can be.
A food intolerance is a slippery knave. It can develop any time in your life, seemingly inexplicably but often after years of overdoing a certain food. My dairy intolerance certainly caught me on the hop, but thinking about it, I have always been a cheese addict and I certainly got my just desserts in the end. Just as I was settling cosily into middle age I developed eczema on my legs for the first time.
Now, how I sympathise with anyone with this condition. It’s a fire that burns not so much with pain as maddening itch. It starts with a harmless tingle, but I know what’s coming – a blazing crescendo of angry inflammation. My resolve collapses and I set to scratching for all I’m worth to gain some indescribably blessed relief. Slathering on some cool soothing aloe vera gel really does help, but it is by no means a cure. It takes at least half an hour and intermittent slathering and scratching before the fiery beast tires of tormenting me and makes its retreat.
Eczema is an itchy inflammatory skin disorder – redness, dry patches, blisters and lesions are all symptomatic. There are various types, and it is much more common in children than in adults.The medical view is that the cause is unknown, but may be due to genetic and/or environmental factors and treatment usually involves steroid creams and emollients. I find it breathtakingly irresponsible that the role of food sensitivity, although occasionally mentioned, is generally downplayed.
In my book I Wish I Hadn’t Eaten That, I describe the process of identifying a food intolerance without the use of expensive testing, which basically involves eliminating a suspect food for several days and then reintroducing it in a large amount in one sitting. That is what I did myself, and sure enough I found that a cheese fest would bring on an attack of the beast, but not immediately. A delay of a few hours is normal. I did a bit more experimenting and discovered that I really do have a classic intolerance – if I eat dairy foods no more than once every four days I can avoid all symptoms completely, but if I cross that line I will pay for it. This means that I count the days till I can have my next fix, really enjoy it and then start on the next period of abstinence.
Now, here’s the thing. I don’t have this problem at all in the summer. Off come the layers and out I head, bare-legged, to get as much sun exposure as I can. It’s glorious – almost immediately I can eat cheese with impunity and stop counting days. Not that I overdo it – an intolerance is still an intolerance and I don’t want to drive symptoms inwards, but I can relax in the knowledge that if I do occasionally overdo it I won’t be punished. Come late September early October, the first itch appears, like the first frost. Every year it’s exactly the same, and I go back to counting days and planning my next cheese fix.
It is already established from research that sun exposure can alleviate eczema, though you’d hardly know it from medical or charity websites. Phototherapy – the use of sun lamps using UV rays can also be effective, under the supervision of a specialist dermatologist.
Now I’m not saying that anyone with eczema is going to have the same experience. Not at all – in each individual case it is important to establish the cause. But experimenting with possible food intolerances seems a reasonable approach, when the alternative is a lifetime on steroids.
Letić, M. (2009) Exposure to sunlight as adjuvant therapy for dyshidrotic eczema. Medical Hypotheses, (73)(2):203-204.
Potter, P. (2011) A therapeutic approach to atopic eczema. SA Pharmaceutical Journal, (78)(5):40-44.