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South African and German model, Nara Smith, famously known for making food, deodorant, toothpaste and moisturizer from scratch has opened up about her struggles with eczema. She shared a series of photos showing how eczema has affected her arms, palms and hair.
“It’s been about 3 years since my eczema started flaring up severely. I had just given birth to my second child. It started off as a small cracked patch of dry skin that I just moisturized and ignored,” she began. She went ahead to write that her eczema spread rapidly starting on the palms of her hands and making its way into her back, arms, scalp and eventually her face. She claims she would normally feel so exhausted and her body ached so bad that she couldn’t move or hold her babies. She also claims her hair fell out in lumps and she would feel a lingering cold in her body.
“I drastically changed my diet (cutting out grains, dairy, sugar), making food from scratch and swapped out all my products for more natural options,” she wrote. She shared how she would go through phases of never fully healing and flaring up.
“After two years of struggling and over analyzing everything I put in and on my body I had the biggest flare-up, which led to a severe infection. Every part of my body was covered in inflamed, oozing, itchy and swollen skin. I woke up with my eyes swollen shut and my hands not functioning. I stopped eating completely, I paralyzed by the fear of making it worse,” she continued.
Nara Smith revealed that she found out she was suffering from Lupus after going to Germany to seek help from doctors, naturopaths and other specialists. “Like a puzzle all the pieces fell into place and all my symptoms made sense. I felt relieved because I finally had an answer but I was equally scared of what this meant for my life and my kids. It’s been a learning curve and I’m still learning and adjust day by day (white heart).”
She concluded, “I’m sharing this in the hopes of giving someone hope, comfort or the strength to keep pushing when things get hard and lonely.”
