Newbie saying Hello

[itchyhippy]

hi jeff
i'm also a new member and joined for exactly the same reasons. being pissed off with my eczema and looking to talk to someone who knows what i am going through.
i have had eczema since the age of 3 and still suffer 20 yrs later. it did not, as docs predicted, dissapear in my teenage years and after a recent flare up i'm left sad angry that i still have to deal with this.
i know what you mean about lack of sleep too. i think this is making my mood worse, i wake up in the night scratching and can't get bk to sleep - after a few nights of broken sleep i start to get run down, which also doesnt help my skin. Its more the discomfort that i feel that gets me down - its like a constant reminder that its there and i dont feel like doing anything when it hurts like that.
One thing that did help me though were some pills i got from my doc. they're called Vallergan. its basically an antihistamine with a mild sedative - this helps me to sleep at night while controlling the itching. it really helped my last flare up - but it's not been as effective this time. maybe it will help you, ask your doc about it.
another thing that might help you is to remember there is always someone worse. my eczema for eg. is currently all over my neck, arms, back and legs - though i am lucky i do not have it on my face. but i remind myself that there are people with worse and more painful conditions to deal with.
just thoguht i'd message you to let you know that you are not alone in this and that i know exactly what you are going through.
hope this helps somewhat. x

[jettablue2004]

im from new york, is there anyone else out here from ny, nj, or ct

i would really like to make a friend

thanks

[chammo]

Hi, my name is Samina, I have been suffering from eczema for the last 18 years. I totally feel for people on this site, i understand what they are going through and it makes me cry to think how everyone is affected, especially children. I,ve been trying alternative remedies for about a year now, if you are persistent then you can cure your eczema. The problem with me is that I love my coke and when I give it up, my eczema clear because of the other remedies, but when the eczema is beter, I get hooked to the coke again. Sorry, I mean coke as in the soft drink and not as in drugs, lol. If you,d like to clear your eczema and help with the eczema scars, I have afew remedies, I do not charge anything for the cream I make or any advice, it is purely because I want to help anyone and evryone I can. What I suggest is that you try it, you will find out within a week or two wether it is beneficial or not. The product I make is totally safe without any side effects, I use it on myself and my 5 year old son. In the first instance, here is a cure which may work for some people but not for others. On Day 1 in the evening, cover your whole body with yoghurt (any normal one from the local shop), leave it on for half an hour until it dries, it is quite messy and you will feel very cold, but try not to move, you will feel your skin is calm. Have a bath without any soaps, lightly rubbing your skin to get rid of the yoghurt. Contimue this for 7 days, only once in the evening before your bath or shower. You may notice that the eczema gets worse, the reason being is that the yoghurt draws out impurities from beneath the skin and brings them to the surface. On the 8th day, in the evening, instead of applying yoghurt, get a cotton wool and dab malt vinegar onto your skin. Please make sure it is not white vinegar but malt vinegar, the dark kind. If you have open wounds, this will sting immensely. I clench my fists and count to 30, by then the stinging sensation stops. Continue, you will see considerable results within 1 week. Please note, if you use this on a child, please dilute the vinegar with 50:50 water. Please be persistent, I went to star city in birmingham and recommended this to an employee and he's eczema is clearing up. Please feel free to contact me and let me know how you got on, or if you wana try the cream for scars. My number is 07508543612 or alternatively please e-mail me on de5i_gal@live.co.uk.

[graeme27uk]

Hi,

I'm new to this forum and hope to find some advice. I have had eczma all my life, though it has recently become worse, having not been very much bother at all. I am seeing a specialist dermatologist regarding the treatment and have been through various stages and types of treatment including:

a) tacrolimus protopic cream - my skin reacted to the cream badly

b) UV light therapy - work commitments meant that the treatment was difficult to sustain

c) Elidel - again my skin reacted to this

d) Elocon and eumovate - seems to work, though being steroid-based I am wary about continual use

various emolients and other such moisturisers

Currently, the next stage is likely to be ciclosporin tablets for 12 - 18 months, though I am waiting for my next dematology appointment to decide on the next strategy.

The thing is that whatever I try it seems to either react with my skin or not offer relief from the intense burning that I get. I take painkillers but they only go so far. My face seems to be the most sensitive and worst area. I can't use strong steroids on my face, and the light therapy burned my face so that didn't work either on that region.

If I don't shave my face then the skin ends up itchy due to hair, but if I shave then my skin gets dry and irritated that way. Its a catch 22. So I usually end up shaving and continually applying moisturisers throughout the day. Though being a teacher this is difficult to do at work, especially applying moisturisers on the whole body during the day.

I am going out of my mind at the moment; my face is sore and extremely sensitive to touch, to the point that I can't really put my head on my pillow to sleep. This means I don't get a decent sleep and I end up feeling fatigued and down.

I don't know what to do to make this better.

[_heidi_]

Hi Graeme,
Have you been tested for intolerances? I recently went to a Natruopath after dealing with bad hand eczema and found out I am intolerant to quite a few things in my diet. I am in the process of avoiding all the triggers and it's still there but no where near as angry as I've had it. He also found low levels of vit D, zinc and magnesium and I have something called leaky gut which is apparently the main culpret for the eczema. He was so much more helpful than the GP's and dermatologist I went to who just wasted time/money and kept prescribing steriod creams.

[clare_04]

Hi Graeme,

It sounds like things are really bad for you at the moment. My son is in a similar situation - he's 18 and has had eczema since he was about two. He also has tried many different creams/treatments with nothing helping. He has a dermatology appointment tomorrow, the dermatologist wants him to have cyclosporin but for a number of reasons he doesn't want to do this. We are also considering phototherapy, but as you say, it is very time consuming and my son is currently in the run up to A levels. What he has decided to try next is the Noren Habit Reversal technique - basically a behavioural approach to break the itch/sctatch/itch cycle. A friend of mine tried it and found it helped enormously. She found it in a book called "The Eczema Solution". The original clinical trials were in London, I believe, and the results published in the British Journal of Dermatology.

Just a thought, in case you want to look in to it. Best of luck.

[itchyhippy]

Heya
to help you with your problems of sleeping. I have this problem whenever my skin gets bad and i use vallergan tablets (Alimenazine). these are astrong antihistemine with a sedative in them too. These help me to sleep and also control the itching - they are very good.
also have you tried lots of different shaving foams etc? you could be having a reaction to the products.
hope this helps x

[Annette]

I use Vallergan for sleeping too and would be lost without them. The only problem I find with them is that I'm then groggy for quite a while in the mornings.

[itchyhippy]

Yeah i agree - sometimes its difficult to wake up if i've taken two the night before, i only take them if my skin is really bad but they really do work when i need them!

[Dexy]

Thought I should introduce myself. I just stumbeled across this site a few minutes ago and signed up - haven't had a chance to read any posts so far.

I'm Dexy, I'm 28 and live in East Anglia with my husband and our first baby, Eric. He's now 7.5 months old and has had eczema since he was about 4 weeks old - that was when I first noticed his cheeks going a bit bumpy anyway, although at the time I thought it was nothing. It's got steadily worse since then and he now has patches on every part of his body and has not had a single day completely eczema-free (well, maybe the odd one after a long course of steriod cream!).

We are in the process of trying out various treatments and tonight I started a diary to keep track of what creams we are using and whether they are making any difference.

The other parenting forums I belong to don't seem to have any other eczema sufferers on them and at times I find it so overwhelming I really need someone to talk to. I'm aware that as he's still so young it could disappear within the next year or so, but I don't want to pin all my hopes on that so I'm trying to think of this as something we're going to have to deal with for his whole childhood.

Looking forward to getting to know you xx