Slow Going

I wrote last week about superwashing the first few loads of laundry 5 or 6 times each. Now I don't think that was enough. Even with Sam on Orapred, he has been itching at night and breaking out in a fine rash even though everything he touches after an evening bath was superwashed in soap: towel, jammies, bedsheets. Maybe there is still detergent in the tub, or I'm not washing it off his skin well enough, or there is still a fair amount left in the fabrics.  Maybe its his diet.  We were doing Dr. Pagano's Healing Psoriasis diet for a couple of weeks and I swear his chest and cheeks cleared from that effort but I couldn't keep it up long enough to prove a direct cause and effect.  The diet was quite costly.  In fact lately we've had to break pretty much all the rules for the Pagano diet simply because our budget doesn't exactly allow for a diet requiring specialty foods like goat milk and yogurt, salmon, gluten-free grains and lots of green. (Yes, when you are trying to do green smoothies everyday, produce actually gets very expensive. It's sad that eating in a healing manner has to break the bank.)

I haven't been able to do much more in the way of soap since those first couple of days. Everyone being so sick last week got us off track, and then I ran out of soap so I'm sitting here with piles of laundry everywhere that I refuse to wash in detergent. I am lucky to have some family members who care about Sam enough to have helped with ordering some soap from Cal Ben Soap Company and that box is on its way! For now there is not much I can do to further this effort. In fact, I did give in in the dish department when hot water rinses weren't getting my dishes clean. I started using my box of powdered detergent in the dishwasher again (though now I cringe everytime I pour it in) so we will at least have clean dishes until the soap arrives.  It is interesting to note that the first time I used the dish detergent again, my hand eczema immediately returned and started itching like crazy.  However after washing my hands with soap (we still have some in the bathrooms for hand washing) the itching stopped immediately.  The connection is definitely there. 

I'm starting to realize this change will not be immediate, and especially on our limited resources, seeing results will likely take some time. We just have to do what we can when we can. Most of our clothing is several years old or hand-me-downs and will probably need to be washed 10 times to get the residues out. That is a lot of washing, water, and expense when you have 5 people, their bedding, the extra sheets and bedding and towels. 

Sorry, I know I have done a lot of whining in this post but one of the purposes of this blog for me is to record my experience through all of this including the ups and downs and setbacks and frustrations.  Hope to be able to post some good news and progress soon.