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Disclaimer:  I am not a medical professional and this blog is not meant to diagnose or treat any of your ailments.

When I was little, my parents had a record with an old comedy routine and a song about Comet.  As I recall, it championed the use of Comet for everything that ailed you.  That's probably why I can't find the song anywhere.   People today are afraid they'll be sued if someone takes them seriously.  And, of course, we all know that all chemicals are bad for us so none of us would even think of having Comet in our cabinets for its intended use, either.  Now, I don't know anything about the health-giving properties of Comet, but I can speak to the use of another household item which has come under attack by health nutritionists everywhere - Crisco.

So what brought this on, you might be asking?  I'll tell you.  Eczema.  

I have a son who has been dealing with eczema since he was little.  He comes by it naturally, being related to the King family, home of all-cotton-wearing, special-detergent-using, can't-stand-seams suffering folks.  His has never been bad, a rare mild case amongst the Kings, mostly appearing in winter, contained to just a few areas, and daily lotion kept it under control.  He's also not the complaining type so I did most of the lotion reminding and that was that.

Until this past January when it showed up on his face.  At first we weren't sure what it was.  Self-diagnosing and prescribing over the next 2 months, we tried different lotions and then we tried Vaseline.  In an effort to cover all the bases, we also tried an anti-fungal cream.  When it was raw and weepy, we used first aid ointment.  Nothing worked.

In March, the child in question had an appointment for asthma (connection between asthma and eczema, anyone?).  I wasn't going to mention the eczema due to the fact that it was an asthma appointment and being the strict rule follower that I am, didn't want to mention another issue when that wasn't our reason for the appointment.  The very nice doctor, however, did mention it.  How could he not, really?  You'd have to be blind to miss it and of course the first question always is, "Do you lick your lips?"  He asked what I had already tried and agreed that those would have been his first steps.  He warned me that eczema on the face was going to be hard to clear up and gave us a prescription.  Apparently, my layman's definition of "hard to clear up" wasn't the same as the one in the medical dictionary.

That first prescription didn't work.  So at the next well check I (again) wasn't going to mention it (once a rule follower, always a rule follower) but the pediatrician (a different one this time) did (of course).  He gave us a different prescription.  This one made things worse so I called back.  The solution was to go back to the first prescription but use it longer.  When that was finished, I called back to say that it was not working, either.  Apparently we're a tough case, or they thought I was a pest, because we were referred to a dermatologist.  That was in August.  When I called to make the appointment, their first available was in November, Thanksgiving week.  We're still waiting.  He's still suffering.

In the midst of all this, and while we are waiting for that up-coming appointment, we have tried every home remedy and cream touted by at-home experts.  Why not?  There's been plenty of time to kill.  Early on in this process we went to the nutritionist who couldn't find anything but suggested that maybe it could possibly, who knows?, be a dairy allergy.  But after 3+ months of torturing the boy by withholding dairy, we knew it wasn't that.

We tried coconut oil.  We tried doing nothing.  We tried even more store-bought and specialty store-bought lotions.  Someone at church told me that an oil and sugar scrub works wonders for her daughter's eczema so I immediately went home, mixed a little of this and a little of that, and we applied.  A few days later he had the worst sores ever.  I guess we don't have the same kind of eczema, or the same kind of skin, or both.  But it was most definitely worth a try.  We tried using straws rather than drinking from a cup thinking that the cup might be aggravating the problem.  Still not working.

As his face goes from one form of red and raw to dry and scabbed to another color altogether, he's continually asked if he licks his lips or if he's been eating something red.  Poor guy.  So a few weeks go when I was once again asked if he licks his lips, I explained our saga all over again.  The woman then simply said, "Crisco."  Crisco?  Really?  At this point we've decided to try everything suggested because, why not?  So, home we went and Crisco was applied.

Now, I know that there are these articles being circulated about how harmful Crisco is.  In fact, I received one just the week before the Crisco-Eczema news flash.  Harmful or not, it is the one item that has given my son the most relief.  Not a cure.  We're still waiting for that (sure, go ahead, send us your best suggestions).  But under the Crisco plan he actually has days where you can barely notice the flare-ups.  And after ten months, you take whatever relief you can get.

So there you have it.  For what ails you.  When all else fails.  Crisco.

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