I have had eczema my entire 17 years on this planet. I’ve been through stages where it’s not too bad, and I’ve been through other stages when I literally refuse to leave my house because I’m so ashamed of having disgusting red, raw and itchy skin. I’ve been to the doctors countless times and they can no longer suggest anything, and I’ve also been to a dermatologist, but no one understands why it’s not getting any better! They’ve thrown countless amounts of steroids, tablets and moisturizers at me, but barely any of it works, and I’d rather not use steroid creams because of how dangerous they are for you.
So basically, my main thought at the moment is that it’s something on the inside of my body that’s making my skin bad. I’ve read countless posts and stories of people that have taken something from their diet and their skin heals itself and becomes almost normal. Also, the skin basically shows you how you treat your body; if you eat something you’re allergic to, your skin reacts, it screams at you saying there’s something wrong!
So this is my plan: the Paleo diet, otherwise known as the caveman diet. Basically this diet consists of everything cavemen used to eat and nothing more, none of the processed foods that you come across nowadays, no chemical-ridden sweeties and artificial meals. Our bodies were not built for all the foods we ingest these days, so it tells us to stop eating it through our skin!
I have researched this to death, and I’ve even found photos of people who recover from eczema after being on this diet! I’ve just recently started the diet so it won’t work yet, I won’t really know the full result until about 2 months from now. On this blog I will keep you up-to-date on how my skin reacts to this new diet!
At the moment my skin is okay, dry but not that red, I’ve recently used a VERY strong steroid cream, so that’s why my skin is okay, but it’ll wear off soon & my skin will probably flare up again, unless the diet kicks in! So I hope you will follow me on this journey!
Bye guys!
Brooke x
Brooke
Hey, my name is Brooke. Basically, I have this blog so I can talk about eczema. I have suffered with eczema all my life, and when I turned 13 it flared up for no apparent reason, and has remained basically the same. So on here I will hopefully be blogging everyday explaining new things I am using to try and fight eczema, and hopefully I will overcome it. Happy blogging!
Join with Google
Join with Facebook
Brooke you are preaching to the choir!
I’ve had eczema now for 20 years and I’ve done the same things as you. Diets, creams, moisturisers, doctors…you name it, I’ve done it.
I’ve had the same feelings about leaving the home, I’ve even missed days of school/uni and taken days off from work because of my eczema.
I’m a big believer that location has an impact. I grew up in Sydney where it was the worst, then lived in Vancouver for 3.5 years where it went away and now I’m in Brisbane. My eczema isn’t so bad these days but it’s taken me a while to get here.
When I was little my mum did a food elimination diet with me which didn’t do anything.
When I moved to Brisbane I just stuck to creams, moisturisers and occasionally medication but it would always have its flare ups.
About 1.5 yrs ago I went to an immunologist after going to many doctors who couldn’t do much other than creams and he said it was something under the skin and that a very drastic approach would be taken. At this point my body was losing heat through my skin (it was summer and I was wearing cardigans).
So for about a year I was on Cyclosporin. This is a very serious medication and one which landed me in hospital (nothing major, don’t worry). Basically it attacks the cells in the immune system which damage the skin and the meds let the skin heal. This worked for a while but it got to a point where when he started to take me off it, it stopped working.
He then put me onto Imuran (which I have been on for 6 months or so). So far, so good. No major breakouts and no hospital visits. I have also been to a dermatologist and I will eventually do a test to find out if I’m allergic to some chemicals in different moisturisers.
I’m simultaneously getting desensitised to dust which has been a large factor with my skin (although, admittedly I’ve been bad and I haven’t had an injection for 3 months).
This process has been long and challenging. I’ve constantly had to have blood tests, injections, taken medication and even the slightest hint at being sick has had serious implications.
Talk this over with your doctor if you get to the point where I did. It is a serious treatment and one which is used in cancer and transplant patients.
Despite all that I would still recommend it. It’s made a huge difference to my life and I’m really grateful that I went to my immunologist.
If this helps, here are a few things I use on my skin…
– moisturiser (body): Avenno skin relief w menthol
– moisturiser (face): Avène Trixéra
– in the shower: Aveeno body wash
– creams: Advantan fatty ointment, Bactroban, Diprosone and Celestone
Hope this helps you
on September 22, 2011 at 12:30 pm BethBrooke and Beth
I totally emphathise with you both, I have suffered with eczema for over 35 years, now that’s giving my age away a bit.
Like both of you I went to the doctors on several occasions, I was given various steroid creams, which to be honest didn’t really help and I don’t like using them in excess anyway.
I did go to a kinesiologist about 15 years ago to discover what my intolerances were. I came out armed with an enormous list. So armed with my list of foods that I couldn’t eat, I changed my diet. I was at the stage where anything was worth a try. It did help to a degree but everybody is completely different.
I do still suffer from eczema, if I am stressed I get it behind my ears and on my forehead, very odd, I know. Sometimes the skin breaks out before I know that I am stressed!
I also suffer from lots of other allergies, like various metals effect my skin, unfortunately I can only wear gold now. In the summer I have to be careful with jeans as the metal buttons, on the pockets effect my skin.
I like Beth use Aveeno, I also only use baby bath etc and I have to ensure that I buy make up with no chemicals.
There seems to be so many people suffering with this condition, mine is minor and manageable, I do know that previously when it flared up badly on my face, I found it embarassing.
I am still looking for that cure.
Best of luck to you both.
Cathy
on September 23, 2011 at 11:05 am Cathy WhellerHi Beth 🙂 I’m glad you found something that has worked for you! Thank you for the recommendation, but for the moment I’m going to stick with the diet and see how it goes, but if it fails I will definitely discuss Imuran with my doctor 🙂
Hey Cathy, that sounds incredibly hard. I can’t imagine handling this for 35 years! I’ve only had it this bad for 4 years and I’m going nuts! Plus with all those allergies on top, it’s crazy how weak the body can be. Trust me, if you follow this blog and find that this diet does work, I encourage you to try it!! But unfortunately I will not know the full results for about a month :/
Good luck to you too!
Brooke x
on September 23, 2011 at 3:28 pm Brooke_SBrooke
Very best of luck, I look forward to hearing all about it, hopefully it will look, we have to try these things.
Mine is manageable, yes it’s annoying and embarassing at times but I don’t suffer anywhere near the degree that some do.
I suppose I have accepted it but that doesn’t mean to say I am not looking for that cure:-)
Very best of luck
Cathy
on September 27, 2011 at 11:25 am Cathy Whellerx