Eczema improved

[spacehoppa]

Has anyone else noticed their eczema improve? I've been on SLD for about 9 weeks now and I've taken ELOO, rapeseed and hempseed oil. I've also been taking a fish oil supplement whenever I've taken either ELOO or rapeseed oil. I'm back on hempseed oil now as I've finally managed to take it completely tastelessly and I feel my 'most well' on this oil.

Anyhow, the last week I've noticed the eczema I usually have on my elbows, armpits and behind my left ear have all gone away. I've had this eczema for years and years and have tried steroid creams etc to get rid of it without success. I know that hempseed oil is recommended for getting rid of eczema, but... well... I didn't expect it to actually work  !

Also, I've got this completely benign skin condition called keratosis pilaris that makes my skin look like it permanently has gooseflesh. I've just noticed a dramatic improvement in this too, also just this week. Who knows, it might go away altogether.

Anyone else notice that skin conditions are improving after 8 weeks or so? I imagine it's probably the build up of omega 3 in my body, but I can't be certain. Anyway, I am again, bowled over by the positive side effects of taking the oil. It's like I'm correcting a major nutritional deficiency.

[CarolS]

Yes I have noticed that my acne is much improved.  It wasn't bad to begin with (after I took accutane in my 20s), but it is almost nonexistent now.  I'm taking mostly ELOO and some grapeseed oil.

I noticed (gulp) that I was looking younger, then my husband (gulp) said I was looking younger (I'm 42).

[spacehoppa]

Hi CarolS - Glad to hear that the acne has improved. It's weird to think that oil, of all things, may be responsible! I also noticed my skin is looking younger. Unfortunately, my husband is a typical male and I'd have to have a full facelift before he'd notice I was looking younger  . But my skin seems more plumped out and my pores are smaller and my wrinkles not as deep. I'm pretty sure I'm not imagining this. I also have a more dewey complexion (as the magazines would say  ). Can't be bad eh!

Shrinkingbean - Stick with it. I only noticed an improvement in my eczema this week, and I've been on the diet for 9 weeks, maybe 10, I've lost track. It might take a while for the full effect to kick in. My husband has got psoriasis, so I'm trying to get him to take it too, to see if it helps. It's just getting him to remember to take it that's hard, sigh.

[frenata]

Where are you guys getting hempseed oil? I counted on my local Whole Foods to have it (doesn't it sound like something Whole Foods would have, man?)...but, no. It's with the cooking oils, not the health supplements or anything, isn't it?

I've got a patch of rashy skin on my wrist that's been that way for a couple of years. My doctor was, like, "yeah, I could give you something for that, but it'll go away by itself eventually." Two years. Anyhow, it yielded a little to over-the-counter topical ointment, but it really seems to be responding to coconut oil applied directly, whenever I think of it.

I've also been rubbing a bit of it on the cats. Not sure if it's good for them, but it makes their coats shine and they smell like delicious candybars. Which is really what we're all looking for in a cat, right?

[spacehoppa]

Hi Frenata - You always give me a good laugh . I soo enjoy reading your posts.

I get my hempseed oil at the supermarket in the cooking oil section, but I live in the UK, so it might be different in the US. It's legal to grow it here, but I'm not sure it is in the US, so you may have to import it, which may make it hard to get hold of?

Coconut oil sounds like it has v good properties too and walnut oil also sounds v beneficial, so maybe you'll get the same type of benefits with those... I'm not sure...

I know that if you google hempseed oil you'll see that it specifically benefits rheumatoid arthritis and eczema, both of which I have, which is why I take it. Not sure about the other oils, but maybe anything with omega 3 in would have the same benefits.

[frenata]

Hm. I'll be in the UK again in September, but somehow I don't fancy trying to get anything with "hemp" on the label through Customs. Is anyone getting it in the US? We can't grow it, but I often see woven hemp products, so perhaps it's legal to import.

[falconcy]

There ya go Frenata:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_hemp


On October 9, 2001, the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) ruled that even traces of THC in products intended for food use would be illegal as of February 6, 2002. This Interpretive Rule would have ruled out the production or use of hempseed or hempseed oil in food use in the USA, but after the Hemp Industries Association (HIA) filed suit the rule was stayed by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on March 7, 2002. On March 21, 2003, the DEA issued a nearly identical Final Rule which was also stayed by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on April 16, 2003. On February 6, 2004 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a unanimous decision in favor of the HIA in which Judge Betty Fletcher wrote, "[T]hey (DEA) cannot regulate naturally-occurring THC not contained within or derived from marijuana-i.e. non-psychoactive hemp is not included in Schedule I. The DEA has no authority to regulate drugs that are not scheduled, and it has not followed procedures required to schedule a substance. The DEA's definition of "THC" contravenes the unambiguously expressed intent of Congress in the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and cannot be upheld". On September 28, 2004 the HIA claimed victory after DEA declined to appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States the ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals protecting the sale of hemp-containing foods. Industrial hemp remains legal for import and sale in the U.S., but U.S. farmers still are not permitted to grow it.

[falconcy]

That said, this article might scare the ess aitch one tee out of you:

http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=3774

[falconcy]

Some US suppliers here:

http://www.industrialhemp.net/mfg.html

[frenata]

Yeah, I'm glad I have a job where I'm not subject to drug screening. I love me some poppy seeds. And smack.

Wait, did I actually type that last bit, about the smack? Silly! Whoever heard of a fat junkie?

[falconcy]

WOW!!!

Check this lot out, anybody got a spare couch in CA

http://www.nutiva.com/

[raina]

I've had trouble finding it here, unfortunately.  I did find a small bottle of capsules at the health food store, ridiculously overpriced, so I guess I'm going to have to order it off the internet.

[lvivianka]

that Nutiva sure sounds delicious, but it's scary that hempseed oil can show up in urine tests as illegal drugs. It is interesting how oil has been helping us with nice skin, but in the past I had always noticed that those that lost a lot of weight would look more wrinkled (especially if they were older). I wonder if losing weight with oil will keep us from getting wrinkled.

[Terri]

Omega 3 oil helps prevent sagging skin and if you aren't sagging, then you probably aren't going to have very many wrinkles. I know people who have lost incredible amounts of weight very quickly and they have to have skin removed. Bipass surgery is not a fun way to lose weight. I have seen women who have been anorexic and lose so much weight that their upper arm skin literally folds into their armpits. One gal that I know personally had that problem but now several years later actually has recovered from the sagging skin quite a bit and that was without surgery.  I think the body will help shrink skin somewhat over time. In a lot of ways, the body is very forgiving. Making sure you get enough vitamin c and all the essentials will help a person not be wrinkly. My grandma was so wrinkled as was one of her daughters and I worry that I will be that way too. But so far, I don't feel like I am as wrinkly as they were at the same age. Grandma was very wrinkled at 60 and I am only 5 years shy of that. She didn't eat right and had a very stressful life so hopefully what I am doing is going to help prevent that. My sweet little granddaughter asked me "what those lines are on your face gramma?" I told her they were wrinkles. And then she said as she was feeling my cheeks "I like 'em." She is my favorite granddaughter of course! And I figure if the wrinkle are caused by smiling so much and not frown lines, what the heck!! Bring 'em on.
Terri

[ani]

Frenata, are you still looking for hempseed oil? My local Whole Foods has it, even if yours doesn't. It's in a special "Nutritional Oils" section, not with the cooking oils. I'd be glad to pick one up for you if you can't make it down here.