Stephanie Smith took her son, Isaiah, to dozens of doctors in the effort to find a cure for a skin condition that left him in constant pain.
However, relief finally came when Stephanie followed her instincts.
As the Mirror reports, Isaiah first started having flare-ups at three months of age when he developed a rash that became red and raw when he was exposed to perfume or other heavy scents, like fabric softener.
A doctor told Stephanie that Isaiah was suffering from eczema and prescribed a topical steroid. Though the rash went away briefly, it soon returned, requiring the use of more steroids to treat it.
It was a cycle that would become tragically familiar.
The rashes continued. Isaiah’s hair fell out and he became lethargic.
“But all the doctors I took him to just said it was eczema,” Stephanie told the Mirror. “They told me to stop breastfeeding him as the milk protein could make it worse.”
After five months, a particularly bad episode resulted in raw, red lesions that sent Isaiah to the hospital. He was treated more and stronger steroids. His skin cleared up briefly, but 48 hours later, the sores had returned and Isaiah wouldn’t stop screaming.
In the effort to provide some relief for Isaiah, the family began to shut out the world. They avoided anyone or anything that could cause infection, covered his face in surgical gauze, and tried to wrap his hands to keep him from scratching in his sleep. The only time he seemed comfortable was when he was in a bath, so his mother would spend hours with him in the sink, letting the water run over his skin.
“Every time our skin touched his, it would blister and ooze like crazy. I couldn’t even touch my cheek to his,” said Stephanie, describing how she couldn’t even hold her son without aggravating his rash. “He was most comfortable in his bathtub, the water pouring over him in the sink. But he was still in pain. He would wail, and I would cry along.”
Adding to the difficulty of seeing her son in pain was the heartbreak of hearing the comments from people who would ask what they had done to their baby.
“It was like he had no skin,” said Stephanie. “He was in agony. At one point it was so bad I thought, ‘if this is going to be his life, please take him.’”
Desperate for answers, Stephanie turned to the internet. On a forum about topical steroid withdrawal, Stephanie found pictures of other children with raw, red skin like her son.
“It was all about the side-effects of topical steroids, and how skin conditions can get worse when you stop using them,” she said.
Stephanie followed her instinct and stopped using steroids to treat Isaiah’s rashes. Instead, she started making her own homeopathic balms, experimenting with different formulations in the effort to find the most effective treatment.
In the effort to provide some relief for Isaiah, the family began to shut out the world. They avoided anyone or anything that could cause infection, covered his face in surgical gauze, and tried to wrap his hands to keep him from scratching in his sleep. The only time he seemed comfortable was when he was in a bath, so his mother would spend hours with him in the sink, letting the water run over his skin.
“Every time our skin touched his, it would blister and ooze like crazy. I couldn’t even touch my cheek to his,” said Stephanie, describing how she couldn’t even hold her son without aggravating his rash. “He was most comfortable in his bathtub, the water pouring over him in the sink. But he was still in pain. He would wail, and I would cry along.”
Adding to the difficulty of seeing her son in pain was the heartbreak of hearing the comments from people who would ask what they had done to their baby.
“It was like he had no skin,” said Stephanie. “He was in agony. At one point it was so bad I thought, ‘if this is going to be his life, please take him.’”
Desperate for answers, Stephanie turned to the internet. On a forum about topical steroid withdrawal, Stephanie found pictures of other children with raw, red skin like her son.
“It was all about the side-effects of topical steroids, and how skin conditions can get worse when you stop using them,” she said.
Stephanie followed her instinct and stopped using steroids to treat Isaiah’s rashes. Instead, she started making her own homeopathic balms, experimenting with different formulations in the effort to find the most effective treatment.
