Little Jake’s health puzzle was complex with a long list of intertwined symptoms: eczema, asthma, food allergies and apraxia of speech – an uncommon condition in which the brain has difficulty coordinating mouth movements for proper formation of words and sounds.
It all started when he was a baby.
At just three-months-old, Jake was started on a prescription steroid cream for severe eczema. Then at 9 months, Jake had his first allergic reaction to food. This led to allergy tests which revealed that he was allergic to seven common foods. “It was like walking in a minefield,” says his mom, Tori.
Tori suspected that his eczema and allergies were connected but that only led to expensive medications and creams (one labeled with a cancer-risk warning) prescribed by an allergist. Jake’s “healing” regimen included bleach baths followed by steroid cream on his legs, feet and ankles that were swathed in plastic wrap at bedtime.
“It was at this point in time that I decided there must be a more natural route to help our son,” said Tori.
Jake started seeing Dr. Taz MD when he was four-years-old.
“We often forget that our response to foods reflects the state our bodies are in,” said Dr. Taz MD, founder and director of the Atlanta Center for Holistic and Integrative Medicine. “I believe every child like Jake should have a plan to boost and regulate the immune system so that the body’s reactions to food and the environment calm down. This begins in the gut.”
Jake began eating a clean, gluten-free and dairy-free diet and supplementing with probiotics, glutamine (an amino acid that aids digestion), and a b-complex powder formulated by Dr. Taz. When his asthma and eczema would worsen, the flavonoid quercetin was added – a natural antihistamine and powerful anti-inflammatory. He also responded amazingly well to acupuncture.
Jake’s mom stayed committed to her son’s physical healing as well as intensive speech therapy to overcome the apraxia of speech.
It was all worth it.
Recently, Jake had a skin prick test and he’s gone from seven allergies to two and his eczema and asthma are in remission. Now in kindergarten, he has overcome the apraxia of speech and excels in reading.
“Integrative medicine along with speech therapy turned our lives around. We are so glad that we’re treating the root cause and especially thankful he isn’t having to take a host of prescription medication anymore,” says Tori.
