Drastic Measures!

It was time to take drastic measures for Mr. Nolan. His skin issues were causing me more stress that I thought it was and I needed something to turn, something promising, something to start working. We went to the extreme and guess what, IT'S WORKING and for more that 1 day! We have many "oh my goodness, this is it, it's working" moments but it only lasts for a day, maybe 2 at most. Nolan has had pretty clear skin, not perfect, but the best skin he has had since 2 1/2 months for a full week now. PRAISE the LORD!! I didn't really realize how stressed about it until now. I feel so relieved and I am just praying that what we are doing is really, truly the answer to his skin issues. So what are we doing?
We did made 3 4 big changes:
1. We dropped all creams/lotions/steroids that we had been using and started over with a new cream. We are pleased with the results. I don't know if that is the true reason he looks better, but he has stopped his itching quite a bit. He still itches when he is tired due to habit, but he has cut down a lot. And, since he is not itching, his skin doesn't have his many usually scratches on his face, arms, chest, legs as usual. We found a cream dedicated to those with eczema or psoriasis from a company called Derma E. It is quite pricey, but it's worth it if it works.
2. I dropped almost everything out of my diet. And, I mean the majority of my diet has changed. I thought I was already quite limited but now I'm super limited. We are doing a Paleo challenge to get our base diet and see how we feel by eliminating processed foods, grains, sugars, legumes, dairy, soy (for the first 2 weeks). We only ate vegetables, fruits, nuts and meats for the first 2 weeks and then we decided to add rice, beans, oats, and the occasional dark chocolate (very limited) into our diet too. I used to eat chocolate every day 2 to 3 times a day-my weakness-but now I have had it 2 or 3 times in 3 weeks and only in our homemade granola bars that we made. Alivia loves rice, beans, and oatmeal/granola bars and we don't believe those foods to effect Nolan, so we decided to add them back into our diet earlier than the 6 weeks. (Side-note: I feel really good and plan on at least continuing to eliminate wheat from my diet when we are done with the Paleo challenge. I was having some major issues when I re-introduced wheat into my diet after finding out Nolan was not sensitive to it. I found out that I have a sensitivity to wheat (not gluten) that was causing me to feel yucky for over a month. Once I stopped eating it again, I felt immensely better with lots more energy!!)
3. We got rid of our kitty, Sniffels, of 4 years. Nolan was showing allergic reaction moments to him so we made a huge family move and brought him to a no-kill shelter in Castle Rock. We miss him because he was a fantastic cat, but we are happy to be animal-free for now in our life. It's nice to have to only have to take care of the kiddos and not worry about another living creature.

4. Nolan takes a bath (almost) everyday for 15 to 20 minutes. (this is the hardest change because it's sometimes hard to find the time to soak him in a bath for that long, but I can tell this really hydrates his skin when paired with lathering him up in a nice moisturizing cream (Derma E) after the bath.

Here's to continued healthy, happy skin!!