FID Questions

Dear Karen/Forum,

I'm halfway through The Eczema Detox book and really excited to get started on the diet. I have already been following it for a few days, but considering the prescribed medication I received today, a question arose.

However, let me start off by contextualizing the situation. I have had atopic dermatities for, essentially, most of my life. It started around the age of 2 and was really bad with red skin covering of my arms, neck, inside part of my knees, etc. Then, around 10 years later, after testing several foods ourselves, my mom discovered that I was allerigc to gluten (wheat, rye and oat, I believe), which was then confirmed with a test at the hospital. Following that discovery, I was able to keep my eczema at bay for many years, with only slight eczema on my arms whenever I willingly ate gluten (I saw this as a nice form of allergy where I was sort of able to regulate the situation myself). This lasted for many years, and when I became vegan in 2015, my skin got even better.

But, in November 2022, pretty much out of nowhere, my skin started to get really bad again. This time, it also started to spread across my face, my neck/throat, hands, shoulders, and the entirety of my arms. After having seen several doctors and dermatolgoists that weren't able to offer much else than bad explanations and topical creams, I went to a functional medicine practioner who started me on a diet which consisted of purely freshly caught fish and biodynamic meats, along with a list of selected vegetables (excluding nightshades to test for lectines) - no carbs, no sugar, nothing else. A month of this diet greatly improved my tendency to get sick (I have only been sick once in 3 months, whereas I used to get symptoms every 10-12 days), my hair growth, as well as a couple of other things. However, the eczema has remained and eventually got even worse.

During an internship in Milan, which I had just started on, my eczema exploded and got even worse, which led to open wounds that refused to close and I thus had to seek medical help which led me to take antibitoics and steoroid creme for a few weeks. The situation resolved itself, but this was, as is often the case, only temporary. Now, it is back again, almost stronger than ever, with flaky skin in my face, dried out especially close to my eyes where I have had cracked eyelids, etc. So as a result, I have been prescribed Ovison cream (steroid) for my body, Elidel for my face (which is not a steroid), and prednisolone (steroid) tablets as well.

My question is this: Does it make sense to start/continue the FID diet while on this medication, or would it be better to wait until my eczema has cleared up a bit more? I'm thinking it might be difficult to start testing foods and seeing my body's reaction if I am on immune-suppressing drugs simultanesouly. On the other hand, assuming I am allergic to salicylates or other things avoided in the FID, it might not be bad to support my body thorugh this process. Please let me know what you think.

Thanks in advance for all your help!

Best,

Matteo (from Copenhagen Denmark, 23 years of age)