An inspirational healing journey
by Sarah Govind
In the days before Chrissy Miller discovered the Eczema Expert, her entire life was in chaos. She was struggling to cope with her daughter Elsie’s eczema. They had been through long nights of sleeplessness and were stuck in a vicious cycle of using antibiotics, steroid ointments and antiviral medications. Doctors had told her that there wasn’t much more that they could do, other than starting Elsie on trial medications. She really felt that their situation was hopeless.
Chrissy was no stranger to eczema herself, having had it her whole life, with dyshidrotic eczema that bubbled up into itchy blisters in her hands and feet. She carried with her the weight of many itchy childhood memories that she had suppressed. Her situation began to change at the beginning of 2019 when she came across the Eczema Expert Facebook community. She had decided that it was time to lean away from the pharmaceutical medication, lotions and potions and Rebecca Bonneteau’s natural way of getting to the root of the issue appealed to her.
After following Rebecca for a few months, Chrissy started removing animal proteins from Elsie’s diet and then stopped using antibiotics and steroids altogether. This plunged them into topical steroid withdrawal. However, all was not lost. Chrissy began to absorb as much information as she could from the free materials available, watching videos and following the advice given, After a year and a half, she was able to see a huge difference in Elsie’s skin.
In the middle of 2020, Rebecca organised a summer school programme of online classes for anyone interested in taking control of their health naturally. Eager to learn more, Chrissy signed up for as many sessions as she could. In her mind, everything now began to make perfect sense! The way forward for her was to join the supported membership programme. It was at this point that her in depth eczema education began.
This Words of Wisdom story takes a look at Chrissy’s journey through membership, the wisdom she has gained from it and the lessons that she learnt throughout.
At the beginning of her journey through the membership programme, Chrissy felt frazzled and although she didn't realise it, in a state of panic after her experiences with topical steroid withdrawal. But she was swept up into the community and found it provided exactly what she needed. There was a feeling of being understood; the other community members could relate to her wherever they were on their journey. Chrissy loved the fact that everybody had come together and was ready to support each other.
”It’s the camaraderie. It’s just the immediate, “I know what you are feeling like. I can totally relate with you.”
Chrissy soon became an integral part of that camaraderie herself, joining in with Group Support Calls and Community Support Calls, really enjoying being a part of them and showing empathy towards those joining for the first time.
”I love the group support calls. I really like to meet everyone and understand their story, not necessarily understand their story, but let them have a place to tell it. Nobody wants to hear it because it’s sad and it hurts and they just want you to fix it. It’s not that people don’t care, it’s that they do care and that hurts them too and they don’t know how to fit with that.”
Another type of call that gave Chrissy some relief came in the form of group tapping. Tapping, otherwise known as EFT or Emotional Freedom Technique, involves tapping on acupressure points on the body, helping you to calm your nervous system. It is a powerful way of releasing feelings of anxiety, fear and overwhelm. Chrissy had heard about it through the Eczema Expert community and was unsure. She was not convinced it was something she wanted to try. But Rebecca, realising how much Chrissy would benefit from this extra support, gently made the suggestion that she give it a go.
“I was like, ‘oh, really?’ and then I took a step back. I mean Rebecca has been a very wonderful teacher in my life on so many levels, not just all of the health things but the way that she can just very sweetly and gently say, ‘by the way’ is huge. I trust this person more than any other health provider ever and she had helped us come leaps and bounds. So if she is telling me that she feels like I can benefit from this, then who I am not to try?!”
So she went along to her first session with EFT practitioner Gwen Orwiler and gave it a go. She sat back and watched the person in the hot seat open up and reach their own aha moment about exactly what was troubling them. There was such an emotional connection!
“I was right there with them emotionally and it was so uplifting and knowing that oh my gosh, there’s a lot for me to work on. But if we can even just scratch the surface a little I’m going to feel relief and so after just one round I was hooked and I love it!”
Tapping proved to be a real breakthrough for Chrissy. She was astonished at how much it helped her but was even more surprised at the effect that it had on Elsie. The wall of emotional baggage surrounding her was preventing them both from healing. But by breaking this down with tapping, she could see a dramatic difference in her daughter’s health, her skin and her ability to sleep through the night.
Chrissy learnt more lessons when she was working through the educational content provided as part of supported membership. The programme has at the cente of it a 12 week course for you to follow which will help you to get to the real root of your child's eczema and supply you with the tools to dig it out!
The course takes a look at detoxification and the process of eliminating foods from our diets that put a strain on our bodies when we process them. It also examines the role that toxins in general play in our everyday life and the effect that these have on our body and our skin. Chrissy describes below how she experienced it in a nutshell:
“So look at it changing everything from the way you clean your house to the way you eat and prepare your food to the way you tuck your kid in at night.”
It was hard at first to take in all this information without feeling overwhelmed. Chrissy learnt that the best way to approach this was to go step by step, gradually taking on board and trying out new things. She began to see it as part of her family’s transition towards a healthier way of life. Gradually, she made changes, increasing their fruit and vegetable intake and adding nourishing foods to their diet. She began to cut down on the amount of coffee she was drinking. Celebrating all these little wins became an important part of the process.
”For a lot of people it’s a long road before we get to the point where we’re all the way completely healthy and perfect. It’s not gonna happen tomorrow but today you’re gonna take a step closer and tomorrow you’re gonna take another step or two closer. When you go to the grocery store next time, did you buy so much chocolate? When you stop by the baker, mmm what was your cart mostly full of? Fruit, vegetables? Score one for you mom!”
Of course, as Chrissy took these steps along her journey towards healing Elsie's skin, it was only natural that healing crises popped up.
“Increasing your fruit intake, that's an easy way to start the detox. But to just jump in and go all fruit all the time is going to throw you into a really rough spot."
Initially when she joined the membership, she struggled to deal with rough spots like these. They were frequent, severe and intense. Emotionally it was difficult too and not just for
Chrissy and Elsie, but for the whole family.
“So when my daughter would flare before, the whole house had to be in panic mode. Everybody, all the other kids and the adults, everybody else was upset, frustrated, feeling all of these emotions we were going through because of the healing crises”.
Chrissy noticed that the more impatient she became to see progress, the harder she pushed. And the harder she pushed, the more the healing crises came on with a vengeance. The lesson that this taught her was once again to slow down but also to have patience.
As time went on and they transitioned further and further into their healing journey, Elsie’s healing crises became less intense, less severe and also less abrupt. The more Chrissy learnt and applied, the better Elsie’s skin became. As long as they kept on slowly working towards their end goal of Elsie healing, they began to see a shift in the way her body was coping. It was not long before Chrissy was able to view healing crises in a completely different way.
“When there’s a healing crisis or we have something come up, we know how to formalise a plan of attack. We have all of these tools and we can use each and every one of them.”
Other people in the household began to get on board, much to Chrissy’s delight. Over time, Elsie began to ask for essential oils and tissue salts in times of healing crisis. She has gained an understanding of how helpful herbs can be in these situations.
Chrissy also found it important to put plans into place to deal with itching and scratching. She set up a private itch safe space where Elsie could go if she had an itchy fit to get some peace, quiet and privacy.
Honestly it’s better that I leave her alone in the room at lot of the time. I’ll help her get to the spot she needs to be in, whichever one she chooses. Her entertainment centre has a really sharp corner on the edge of it so she likes to put her feet on it and rub her feet on the bottom on that sharp corner so that’s fine. I’ll help her get all set up but then usually it’s better if I leave the room and then let her go.
Chrissy made sure that she was in earshot when the scratching was taking place and was ready at the end of it to deal with the aftermath, whatever that turned out to be. It worked way better for her to let Elsie be in control than telling her what to do.
After her time working with Rebecca, Chrissy has got to the point where Elsie’s itching is under control. The itchy fits have gone down in frequency so that they happen only on hot or warm days. In fact to Chrissy, it feels like they don’t even happen any more! Elsie has come so far that she is now at the point where she can advise other families on how to deal with scratch episodes.
And I asked her the other day, you know there was another member who was having a problem with their daughter having these itchy fits and it hurts so much for her for the child to scratch and they’re still scratching. And she said I just don’t know how to help her. I asked Elsie, “honey, if you were this little girl and I was your mom, what would you want me to do?”. “Leave me alone, just set me up!“, she said.
Working with Rebecca has changed Chrissy’s and Elsie’s lives in so many ways.
Internally, things have also changed for the better and they now have a better grip on Elsie's digestion. Elsie is now at the point where she has no more allergies, having started out with a long list including cat, dog, dust mite, grass seed, milk and eggs. Chrissy remembers taking her for a skin test as a baby when her whole body was covered in eczema, including her back, arms, legs and torso. Since then, Elsie's skin has undergone an amazing transformation - all that remains is the most problematic of all areas, the feet, but even there there have been improvements.
Elsie is now taking regular baths and is asking to do so, a huge win for a child who has gone through topical steroid withdrawal.
Chrissy and Elsie have made huge strides forward with sleep issues and have turned bedtime into much more of a routine. They have gone from sleeping for no more than a few hours at a time in the same bed to Elsie sleeping in her own bedroom all by herself. They have reached the point where they 'actually get to sleep'!
Eczema parents, well any parent anywhere understands lack of sleep. Eczema parents whose children stay up all night scratching and screaming understand it on a whole new level. We don’t do that any more.”
Chrissy is so very proud of Elsie and everything they have achieved.
Chrissy's advice to those who have found themselves in a similar situation to her is simple: "Sign up with Rebecca!". The way she views eczema has been turned on its head and she is very grateful to Rebecca and the Eczema Expert community for that change in perspective plus the help that she has been given to move forward and heal.
“As parents of children with eczema, I know each of you understand just how stressful and life altering it is. And how every step can feel like there’s a concrete block wrapped around your foot. It’s so heavy that the next step seems impossible. And yet somehow, you manage to muster up just enough strength to take it. With the resources, education and support I receive from this community, I have chipped away quite a bit at that concrete block wrapped around my own foot. It does become lighter and the next steps become easier.”
If you’re inspired by Chrissy’s words of wisdom, and would like to be a part of our supported community, we would love to have you join. Her final words say it all:
“I love the community, the feel of the community. We know each other and if we don’t know you, we’re gonna know you and you’re gonna know us. We want to welcome you in and love you, love you, love you until you’re all better too.”
To join our community as a supported member and take advantage of all the benefits that Chrissy described above, click here: https://p.bttr.to/32xEJbt
Further details plus prices can be found on our website: www.eczemaexpert.co.uk
We also have a free membership community. Join today to find out if what we do is a good fit for you: https://p.bttr.to/3mMhPDY