My Great Quest of Physical Self-Discovery and Repair

refers to my great journey aimed at eliminating eczema by getting to the roots of the problem. That means going to the extreme and testing my diet, starting off with eliminating dairy entirely, and observing if the affliction gets any better over the course of 3 weeks (as it takes 2 whole weeks for all kinds of dairy to finally leave your system, so the last week will be when I draw my final conclusions). If nothing changes, I will probably re-introduce dairy into my diet and observe if it makes the affliction any worse. If it doesn't, dairy wasn't the problem, and I can go on enjoying it for the rest of my life.

I will be keeping a food journal that will record the general gist of what I'll be ingesting over the next month or 2. If my removing dairy does nothing, I will pull dairy close, give it a kiss on the forehead, and tell it how sorry I am for having neglected it, at which point I'll find something else to eliminate with the help of my food journal. I'm going all-out this time.

I will also be employing the help of coconut oil, oatmeal baths, flax seeds, and raw determination in this 'final showdown' with my near life-long affliction (having been diagnosed with eczema at around the age of 5, I believe). With eczema either entirely eliminated, or dulled to the point of something that is nothing to worry about, and is easy to monitor and manage without fear of a serious flare-up, my overall quality of life will improve.

What finally prodded me to make an extreme effort is my realization that the constant pain, burning, and itching, even if it is only under-the-surface and something I am fully capable of overriding to enjoy life, day in and day out, has been dragging me down to a mild depression ever since my worst outbreak last June. The constant awareness of the pain and itchiness pulls me out of reality and into myself a big chunk of the time as well, when I would much rather be enveloped in the beautiful and intricate folds of reality minus the painful self-consciousness. That's not to say I haven't been happy, as I have... but it IS to say that my emotional situation is extremely volatile and easy to knock-down a level due to my physical affliction. The insecurity it has created has dented past romantic relationships, and I'm sure has played a significant part in their demise. It has also afflicted me socially, making me feel inferior to others at times due to the inescapable ugliness it presents. Only recently (as in, within the past year) have I trained myself to override the insecurity it breeds with confidence, which has indeed improved my overall quality of life... yet it still remains as a problem that relapses from time to time. As far as I'm concerned, I have nothing to lose out of attempting to lose it for good, so I'm going Operation Overlord on its ass to regain a fundamental human right: generally sustainable happiness.

It may be simply from the sun shining brightly outside, but both of my hands are already looking significantly less red after a single day. My resisting the urge to scratch may have played an important role in its partial healing as well... and I'm going to do all in my power to continue resisting the urge. Only those with eczema or some other sort of serious skin condition can really understand how much of an effort is required to resist; it is definitely a tough venture to hold out on, but I'm determined to hold-out until the enemy is defeated; or, at the very least, subjugated to my complete control.