I thought I would tell you my story of flax oil healing my eczema just in case it could help somebody somewhere:
When I lived in Texas for two years I developed some very severe eczema on my legs. It came partly from allergens I encountered in the air there (especially in spring), as well as my diet, when I ate too much dairy for my allergies to handle. The eczema was so bad that I had bleeding sores all over my legs (I wore jeans all the time to keep them covered up!). One day, when I went to the doctor for some other allergy prescriptions (for itchy eyes, stuffy nose/throat, cough, etc.), I asked if he could look at my legs as well. When I pulled up my pant legs, he looked shocked and said that I needed to go on antibiotics right away because they could easily get infected. He gave me some prescription-strength steroid crème, in addition to the oral allergy medications I was taking. The steroid crème helped some (especially with the itching), but the eczema didn't go away. Eventually after I graduated from TCU I returned back home to Montana. Being out of Texas helped me quite a bit; my legs did not itch so terribly that I was scratching them every night while I slept until they bled. So they stopped bleeding, however they were still itchy, and the thick red skin of the eczema did not go away. All the red dry patches all over my legs just stayed (even though I was back in Montana and my legs had been completely clear before I moved to Texas).
The eczema on my legs stayed the same for over a year, when at some point I decided to start taking cold-pressed flaxseed oil every day (just for general health, not eczema). I decided to take a kind of high dose, 2-3 tablespoons every day. I used Barlean's brand of organic cold-pressed unfiltered flax oil. I liked the lemonade or cinnamon flavors; I had tried other unflavored flaxseed oils before and I literally could not swallow them without gagging. But this type actually tasted fine to me. I took about 3 tablespoons per day and to my amazement, after a couple of weeks I could see that my eczema was improving immensely, and by the end of three weeks it was completely gone.
I think that the high concentration of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids balanced in the oil helped my body be able to heal the skin problem that had overcome it in Texas.
Three tablespoons is probably too much to take on a regular basis; I think as a maintenance dose a teaspoon to a tablespoon a day is good.
Update on January 29, 2019: I took flaxseed oil almost every day throughout my pregnancy (1 teaspoon-1 Tablespoon per day blended in smoothies or added to oatmeal), and was fine and healthy, as was my baby! Before I was worried about what effects the phytoestrogens in flaxseed oil might have on pregnancy - but it would seem from my experience, none that are harmful!
Hope this might be useful to someone!
Amazon Link to flaxseed oil I used:
http://www.amazon.com/Barleans-Organic-Oils-Lemonade-12-Ounce/dp/B002VLZ844/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374800850&sr=8-1&keywords=barlean+flax+oil+lemonade
When I lived in Texas for two years I developed some very severe eczema on my legs. It came partly from allergens I encountered in the air there (especially in spring), as well as my diet, when I ate too much dairy for my allergies to handle. The eczema was so bad that I had bleeding sores all over my legs (I wore jeans all the time to keep them covered up!). One day, when I went to the doctor for some other allergy prescriptions (for itchy eyes, stuffy nose/throat, cough, etc.), I asked if he could look at my legs as well. When I pulled up my pant legs, he looked shocked and said that I needed to go on antibiotics right away because they could easily get infected. He gave me some prescription-strength steroid crème, in addition to the oral allergy medications I was taking. The steroid crème helped some (especially with the itching), but the eczema didn't go away. Eventually after I graduated from TCU I returned back home to Montana. Being out of Texas helped me quite a bit; my legs did not itch so terribly that I was scratching them every night while I slept until they bled. So they stopped bleeding, however they were still itchy, and the thick red skin of the eczema did not go away. All the red dry patches all over my legs just stayed (even though I was back in Montana and my legs had been completely clear before I moved to Texas).
The eczema on my legs stayed the same for over a year, when at some point I decided to start taking cold-pressed flaxseed oil every day (just for general health, not eczema). I decided to take a kind of high dose, 2-3 tablespoons every day. I used Barlean's brand of organic cold-pressed unfiltered flax oil. I liked the lemonade or cinnamon flavors; I had tried other unflavored flaxseed oils before and I literally could not swallow them without gagging. But this type actually tasted fine to me. I took about 3 tablespoons per day and to my amazement, after a couple of weeks I could see that my eczema was improving immensely, and by the end of three weeks it was completely gone.
I think that the high concentration of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids balanced in the oil helped my body be able to heal the skin problem that had overcome it in Texas.
Three tablespoons is probably too much to take on a regular basis; I think as a maintenance dose a teaspoon to a tablespoon a day is good.
Update on January 29, 2019: I took flaxseed oil almost every day throughout my pregnancy (1 teaspoon-1 Tablespoon per day blended in smoothies or added to oatmeal), and was fine and healthy, as was my baby! Before I was worried about what effects the phytoestrogens in flaxseed oil might have on pregnancy - but it would seem from my experience, none that are harmful!
Hope this might be useful to someone!
Amazon Link to flaxseed oil I used:
http://www.amazon.com/Barleans-Organic-Oils-Lemonade-12-Ounce/dp/B002VLZ844/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374800850&sr=8-1&keywords=barlean+flax+oil+lemonade
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