My daughter was born six years ago covered head to toe in a rash. The pregnancy was normal except the fact that I felt her moving much more and sooner than my previous two. She was an extremely fussy baby. She began screaming every night at 9 pm and went on till 4 am. Her skin was red and inflammed. We went to dr after dr trying to get help. They checked her zinc levels (just a little low), did a skin biopsy (ruled out ichthyosis, cystic fibrosis - it had to be some type of psoriasis or eczema. You need a medical degree to figure that one out?!?) They prescribed 3 tsp of atarax a day for my infant. At this point, we did as we were told and gave it to her. She began throwing screaming fits, pinching me till I bruised, pulling her hair and beating her head against the door. I told the dr. He said, "But it cleared her skin." We took her off that. Did I mention she was exclusively breast fed? It was the foods I was eating. Finally I went to a natural pharmacy in my area. They recommended an ELISA food allergy test. The test showed she was allergic to wheat, gluten, milk, corn, soy and some other minor things. She's never actually been confirmed celiac/dh, but gluten intolerant diagnosis explains enough to me. BTW, when we gave her children's advil for fever she became suicidal at 2 years of age. She said she wanted to be hit by a car and tried to run out to the road. We figured out it was the red dye, so your friend may want to rethink the benadryl. Highly allergic kids sometimes have bizarre symptoms that you may think are unrelated. Anyhow, we took those allergens out of her diet (and mine-breastfed) and she improved. She was off all antihistamines at this point. We had additional testing done through great plains laboratory. Determined that she did in fact have candida. Dr. put her on prescription antifungal nystatin. She began having regular bowel movements, red rash gone, cracked and dry skin began healing within 2-3 weeks. No longer using prescription hydrocortisone cream or any moisturizer. Another finding you mentioned special diets for special kids, her autistic symptoms improved. Especially the extreme sensitivity to sights and sounds and ADHD. She still has some issues, but I think they are mostly learned behaviors and we're working on them. Another book you might find interesting is Unraveling the Mystery of Autism by Karen Seroussi. BTW, if you choose the conventional medical route, this is something you're really going to have to be persistent about because their studies show that most celiac/dh occurs between the ages of 30's - 60's. Not common in children.
