I open almost every episode by asking for the origin story, because pain drives purpose, and Andra McHugh's is one of the clearer examples I have heard. Her third baby was essentially born with eczema. Her two year old came down with it the way you come down with a cold, a small patch on the inside of a thigh that took over her whole body. The pediatrician's plan was two steroid creams caustic enough that Andra was told to glove up before applying them. She walked out with the resolve to solve it another way, and her account is that all four of her children healed without pharmaceuticals.
What I wanted from her was the order of operations, and she gives it plainly. Food first, because it is the one thing a parent can change at the next meal. Then symptom relief, so a child can sleep, using an herbal oil, a comfort spray and a tallow cream rather than anything the liver has to work harder to clear. Then the home, then supplements, and only then testing. We spend real time on the parts most people skip: pairing foods so they actually digest, why fermented foods and bone broth can work against a high histamine child even though they are treated as gut health staples, and how butyrate and the short chain fatty acids feed the cells that hold the gut lining together. We also talk honestly about what raises the degree of difficulty, from a course of antibiotics to a C section to the glyphosate that a farmer at my own market told me is in everything grown around here. None of that is a reason to give up. It is a reason to understand why your child is where they are, and then to change the terrain.
- - - - -
About the Guest:
Andra McHugh is the founder of Eczema Kids and the creator of the Eczema Elimination Method. She came to this work as a parent rather than a clinician. With a one month old and a two year old both breaking out head to toe, the plan she was offered was two steroid prescriptions, gloves for her own hands, bleach in the bath, and hope. She built her approach on her own four children instead, and she now teaches it to families around the world.
Her work focuses on lowering inflammation, interrupting the flare cycle, and rebuilding the skin barrier from the inside out through food, gut support, a lower toxic load at home, and children's skin care she formulates herself. She also hosts the Eczema Kids Podcast.
- - - - -
Social Handles:
Website: https://eczemakids.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eczema.kids
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1hya9jpNSRCfbLHc84Oi1h?si=3da92f1cca964eff
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/eczema-kids-natural-eczema-solutions-eczema-diet-eczema/id1607911865
- - - - -
Total Body Diagnostics
Website: https://www.tbdfit.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tbdfit/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TotalBodyDiagnostics
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TotalBodyDiagnostics
Discovery Call: https://calendly.com/alishasumpter/discoverycall
MUSIC CREDITS
Captured in Time - Instrumental version created by feinsmecker
Artlist Song License Certificate: Link
- - - - -
PODCAST
Thank you for listening.
Please subscribe and share.
This podcast is produced by DrTalks.com
https://drtalks.com/podcast-service/