I am sure that everyone else is really sad to see the sun change to wind and some rain but come Monday late afternoon when the weather in the Southwest changed, I found myself running around the kitchen table …….with relief! The skin is a funny thing, but for my 4 year old daughter intense heat may as well be the devil incarnate. The stronger the sun the bigger the eczema flare, combined with sun protection and we have the perfect recipe for the ‘Itch Scratch Cycle’. Sadly for my 4 yr old this leads fabulously to broken skin, bleeding sheets and a complete breakdown in her skins function of repair. So if anyone else is out there like me running around like a woman possessed with refrigerated emollients, steroid creams and sleepless nights – I’m feeling you!
Thank goodness for coffee and chocolate …………. for me that is!!!!
On a serious note, my personal experience of dealing with such flares is as follows; cool baths with emollient additives morning and night (where possible, my daughter has just started school so morning is not always possible for the bathing routine especially if we have been up all night), plenty of emollient cream in the morning followed by the prescribed steroid cream by your GP or Eczema Nurse (we are blessed with the best Nurses in town), encourage your school to allow your children to apply their emollient at lunch break if at all possible, if not don’t worry, grab them when they walk through the door (any form of rugby tackle disguised as play usually works) and then follow the same routine at night time but use a heavier ointment instead of the cream. This will enable the ointment to really sink in overnight and get to work on repairing the damaged skin so apply a good thick layer and smooth the ointment over the skin in gentle downward strokes. Keep the room cool and aired and make sure that their Jim Jams are cotton and or silk and that their bedding is not washed in any biological washing powders (that really helps also). Then breathe………and head for the coffee and chocolate!
Anna
Anna B
I am a mother of three fantastic children aged 14, 5 and 4 (my youngest child is a severe sufferer of eczema and has been since her toddler moments), and I have enjoyed a career in sales and marketing for twenty years. My career has spanned both the not-for-profit and in more recent years in the pharmaceutical industry, heading up the sales and marketing functions, where I have gained experience in rheumatology and extensive experience in dermatology, with a particular focus on acne, clinically dry skin, and eczema with an in-depth knowledge of emollients and topical preparations. I am not a medic; I am a mum with many years’ experience of both industry and child, pushing for the best treatment and probably like you not giving up! I have also learned a few tricks along the way which may or may not work for you, but I am happy to share.
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