Ladies & Gents….
What a week, you normally see me blogging about my children’s skin be it eczema or acne. You read about my antics on the beach with my girls or my constant endeavours to combat the compliance issue with emollients with my little ‘ASBO’, Issie-May but the last week has been full of new dermatology issues for me, all of which I am sure that many of you can relate too.
Stress ‘IS’ without a shadow of doubt a major factor in all skin disease. It is a contributing factor for most flares, outbreaks or rash’s as I am living proof! Sadly I had to deal with family loss last week which as many of you will be able to relate to is tough, regardless of how expected or unexpected it may be. My children were an amazing comfort to me………. but my skin reacted in the most bizarre way which being the thing that contained all of my emotions and my body was hardly surprising!
My skin became rashy and I found it hard to regulate my body temperature for a few days (hot sweats, freezing cold), parts of my skin became dry and itchy and parts of my skin was actually spotty – I almost had a good mix of part eczema and part acne (highly unattractive) and all in all I felt a good deal like the ugly duckling stuck back in her mid-teens.
The key point however, is that stress can have a big part to play in how our skin behaves and reacts, I clearly felt very sad and stressed over the loss experienced and that was playing out through my skin. Over the next few days I continued my running, drank plenty of water and my skin calmed down as I calmed down and things got back to normal. The learning here (as it was for me also) is to understand when and what is a trigger of stress and can you remove these triggers? Equally to be gentle with yourself as it is not always possible to remove all triggers of stress, or to remove them straight away. If you can’t remove them straight away or at all, then try to find ways of coping with them to help to manage them better (trust me I do know that this can be tough), for me running is my way of dealing with stress but I know that for some of my friends they find that yoga works and others spend an hour on ‘Facebook’, any kind of ‘timeout’ will work.
Drinking plenty of water is great for cleansing your skin and just sitting quietly for ten minutes and breathing in and out ten times will help you to calm yourself. I know this sounds nuts but if your skin is reacting to stress there is not a cream in the world that can take away the stress, only you can calm yourself and then the stress levels will reduce and the creams can help.
My skin is back to normal now and it’s good to be blogging again, speak to you all again tomorrow evening……. Sleep well.
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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Anna
That is so true. Stress is a major factor in my eczema, my skin tells me sometimes that I am stressed before I even feel it myself.
on October 25, 2011 at 3:19 pm Cathy WhellerLike you I find exercise very therapeutic, as we know exercise releases endorphins in our bodies – the ‘feel good factor’. Obviously it is important to be sensible as well and not to try over do it. Something I must confess I am guilty of, sometimes.
Most importantly if you can identify the cause then you can work on a solution, as you say, sometimes life causes stress when perhaps we suffer a bereavement. Like you, I know exactly how that feels, as my dad passed away this year. I also lost a friend to cancer. In times like this, we need to allow people to step in and help us, my husband and kids were absolutely brilliant.
It’s also good to talk and realise that you are not alone, stress is not a sign of weakness, often it results when we just don’t say ‘No’.
I am glad you are getting back to normal, take care.
Cathy