My 6 year old son has had an extremely bad flare up with his eczema for the last week.  We are working with a homeopath and have restricted his diet and his conditon is improving. We think the hayfever/grass pollens may have triggered this severe reaction. We also believe his eczema which he's had for 2 years was probably some kind of mild food allergy. Previously, his eczema has been very mild and he's had a minor flare up or two around July. Since we have eliminated wheat, dairy, corn, citrus, and peanuts, his skin is showing much improvement. Our plan is to try and narrow down the exact food allergy.

Here is my frustration....I've been doing EFT on him for his eczema for about 4 months with very little improvement. However, last week before things got so out of control, I started tapping on "the urge to scratch" which I read about in EFT newsletter. We had minor success with scatching but then his little body exploded with this big flare up. Since then, we've  been very broad with regards to issues....weve been tapping on food allergies and his body's problems with food, yet it feels too generic. I realize allergies are caused by irritations but I'm not sure how to relate that to my 6 year old?

I tap on him every day in the morning and at night while he repeats after me. We do 2 rounds, one on each side with a gamut in the middle.  He won't sit there long enough for me to go through each food in question, so I generalize and focus on the feelings and frustrations he feels about this rash. He loves it when we tap "I hate this rash", which we've been doing for several weeks now.While this is definitley a highly charged statement for him, I feel stuck beyond 'I hate this rash!'  Some days, thats all we tap on. FYI, we were tapping on "I hate this rash" prior to the flare up...not sure if that is a coincedence or not. Personally, I've been tapping for 2 years and had temendous success with EFT on my own issues. I know allergies and eczema can be tough but I'm up for the challenge. Any suggestions?

Carol

Hello Carol,

Welcome to the forum. Well done for your successes using EFT.

I have some suggestions to help the effectiveness of your persistant tapping - Gary Craig would be proud. You may have already tried them, but worth mentioning.

If ' I hate this rash' is highly charged, then it would be an idea to keep working with it and extend some more. Measuring his SUD's or just using hands, take a benchmark of how he feels. Also you can ask him, what does the 'hate' mean to him. He will be able to give you some idea, but if he isn't then you can help him a little. What colour is it? How big is it? Has it got a name? What is it saying. Children are much better than us at using their unconscious creativity  which can be so beneficial in the healing process. Give his feeling a chance to have an identity ( say the green prickly monster) and gets an opportunity to do something concrete - put it in a box, post it to the moon, etc. These type of ways of using EFT with children of all ages work really well.

Have you tapped for your feelings around your son's conditions? I can suggest that you read about this in one of my article's which I can forward to you if you cannot locate it in my previous postings.

What else is going on for your son and the rest of your family? Have you raised any emotional roots to these bad flare ups for your son. If so, these are all tappable issues. Even though he is only six, children are very smart at picking up information as you will know and they can easily aggravate these conditions.

What sort of phrase do you use at the end of the set up phrase? Make it really personable to your son - something he's really great of proud of.

Tap for really positive things in your son's life too. - eg Mummy really loves me, I was very kind when I......, I love it when......... thus helping your son to feel good about himself dispite the horrible uncomfortable feelings of his conditions.

Hopes some of this helps. Let me know how you get on, I would be very interested in an update.

Best Wishes

Christine

Hello Carol,

I saw a 9 year old girl in my office for some general anxiety issues.  She was constantly scratching here and there throughout the session. I finally asked her why she was scratching and she said it was allergies.  Her Mom said they did not know what she was allergic to.  I suggested that maybe she was "allergic" to her unpleasant feelings of fear and anxiety.  We tapped on being allergic to several specific feelings.  While she told me that she did not feel different, she did not scratch any part of her body for the last half hour of the session.

Some set up phrases were:

"Even though I might be allergic to feeling nervous about..., I choose to feel calm from the inside out and the outside in."

"Even though, I let things get under my skin when I feel..., I choose to feel calm and to have smooth comfortable skin."

Just a thought.

Thanks Christine. You've made some great suggestions....I'll try them and let you know!