Eczema for nearly 20 years.
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Re: Eczema for nearly 20 years.
yes....for 20 years I had suffered from eczema on the palms of my hands and the souls of my feet. I tried food diaries, steroids, radionics, patch tests.
And years of blood, tears and frustration.
I have not had an outbreak of eczema for many years now. My skin is thin and hypersensitive from over prescribed steroids.
I am allergic to fragrance and germall 115. Animal fur. Every moiserising cream on the market. vasaline.
I have had to change my whole lifestyle.....but, it is well worth while.
I do not have carpets. I have a poodle (they do not have fur). I use surcare non bio washing powder. simple soap, shampoo etc. I do not use make up. I wear cotton clothes and bedding. I cook everything from scratch..no added chemicals, and E numbers. I do not use household chemicals or sprays.
And plenty of relaxation. There are some good internet radio stations that have relaxing sounds.
Everyone is different and finding your own triggers is the key to recovery. I have spent years finding mine.
But, it is easy to fall into a hopeless, helpless state of mind, and many ppl give up even trying.
I found it very helpful to keep a diary of when my skin flared and what treatment I was using at the time.
I have no faith in the medical profession, and fond many of them rude and all to willing to hand out potent steroids.
I come to this site so share my information with others, they either take it or leave it.
I hope you find your cure.
I wish you well..x
And years of blood, tears and frustration.
I have not had an outbreak of eczema for many years now. My skin is thin and hypersensitive from over prescribed steroids.
I am allergic to fragrance and germall 115. Animal fur. Every moiserising cream on the market. vasaline.
I have had to change my whole lifestyle.....but, it is well worth while.
I do not have carpets. I have a poodle (they do not have fur). I use surcare non bio washing powder. simple soap, shampoo etc. I do not use make up. I wear cotton clothes and bedding. I cook everything from scratch..no added chemicals, and E numbers. I do not use household chemicals or sprays.
And plenty of relaxation. There are some good internet radio stations that have relaxing sounds.
Everyone is different and finding your own triggers is the key to recovery. I have spent years finding mine.
But, it is easy to fall into a hopeless, helpless state of mind, and many ppl give up even trying.
I found it very helpful to keep a diary of when my skin flared and what treatment I was using at the time.
I have no faith in the medical profession, and fond many of them rude and all to willing to hand out potent steroids.
I come to this site so share my information with others, they either take it or leave it.
I hope you find your cure.
I wish you well..x
Last edited by Sammie on Tue Mar 02, 2010 12:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Eczema for nearly 20 years.
Hi, I'm new to this site, and this struck a chord with me. My son has had eczema for about 16 years since he was 2 and it has got very bad recently. Patch tests have shown no allergy to creams, but he itches/scratches with every cream/emollient we have tried. A friend recently told me she cured her eczema using a book called "The Eczema Solution" which is based on a behavioural habit reversal technique - basically you are shown ways of reducing the scratch/itch/scratch cycle. It worked for her - don't know if it will for my son, who is starting to think nothing will help. Anybody out there managed to find something to help that's not a cream? Any ideas would be great, we are pretty desperate at the moment. Thank you.
Re: Eczema for nearly 20 years.
Hi there,
I assume your son is in his late teens now?
I have read many books over they years about eczema, and I do recall reading about controllled scratching.
What sort of eczema does your son have, and where is it?
I has hundreds of tiny blisters on the my palms and soles of my feet.
I found after my skin had reacted to something, I would have the blisters two days after. They would swell and itch.
This would continue until all the layers of my skin where gone. This is usually when the infection would start, and itch a lot more. I would be able to peal off thick layers of my skin, where the skin was dead. And just leave raw flesh, that would blood and weep. And that was nasty.
But after that, the itching wasn't so bad.
The longest I ever went was two days without scratching.
I also think if you have open wounds, they are going to hurt no matter what creams, ointments or steroid you put on them.
My skin could not tolerate wet wrapping. I found that keeping my skin moist and wet added to the infections and made it more itchy.
Being very aware and self-concious of all habits and the scratching is also important. There may be things that you are unaware of, that are triggers.
It takes a lot of effort and is mentally draining...................And it doesn't happen over night...But well worth all the effort..
The trouble wth steroids is they bring rapid results, so you think you have found the answer. But they only surpress the disease.
And if you are looking for the triggers, it makes it really difficult to pin point them whilst using steroids.
Many products don't even list ALL the ingredients on the packaging.
I find avoiding all contact with chemicals is the best and quickest way of finding the triggers.
If it is food intolerence, I read that bio yogurt is good for reparing the gutt; reducing sugar intake (which helps yeast to grow). Which is where these allergies start.
I hope that has offered you more insight into this blasted disease?
I wish your son well..x
I assume your son is in his late teens now?
I have read many books over they years about eczema, and I do recall reading about controllled scratching.
What sort of eczema does your son have, and where is it?
I has hundreds of tiny blisters on the my palms and soles of my feet.
I found after my skin had reacted to something, I would have the blisters two days after. They would swell and itch.
This would continue until all the layers of my skin where gone. This is usually when the infection would start, and itch a lot more. I would be able to peal off thick layers of my skin, where the skin was dead. And just leave raw flesh, that would blood and weep. And that was nasty.
But after that, the itching wasn't so bad.
The longest I ever went was two days without scratching.
I also think if you have open wounds, they are going to hurt no matter what creams, ointments or steroid you put on them.
My skin could not tolerate wet wrapping. I found that keeping my skin moist and wet added to the infections and made it more itchy.
Being very aware and self-concious of all habits and the scratching is also important. There may be things that you are unaware of, that are triggers.
It takes a lot of effort and is mentally draining...................And it doesn't happen over night...But well worth all the effort..
The trouble wth steroids is they bring rapid results, so you think you have found the answer. But they only surpress the disease.
And if you are looking for the triggers, it makes it really difficult to pin point them whilst using steroids.
Many products don't even list ALL the ingredients on the packaging.
I find avoiding all contact with chemicals is the best and quickest way of finding the triggers.
If it is food intolerence, I read that bio yogurt is good for reparing the gutt; reducing sugar intake (which helps yeast to grow). Which is where these allergies start.
I hope that has offered you more insight into this blasted disease?
I wish your son well..x
Re: Eczema for nearly 20 years.
Hi Sammie,
Thank you for your detailed reply.
Yes, my son is 18 now. He has atopic eczema everywhere on his body but particularly bad at the moment on his arms, hands, chest, back, neck and face. It seems to be triggered mostly by stress (doing A levels at the moment!) but can just seem to start itching for no apparent reason. He scratches until the blood is pouring down his arms and I feel so helpless, all I can do is stand and watch, talk to him, hug him. I have learned there is no point telling him to stop, that just makes it worse. He is getting hardly any sleep at night at the moment. Over the years we have tried so many moisturisers, creams, steroids, alternative treatments (hypnotherapy, homeopathy) and recently saw a new dermatologist who is suggesting cyclosporin immunosupressant drugs which my son doesn't want to take because of the potential side effects and the regular blood tests he would have to have. She also mentioned phototherapy but the leaflet she gave us was pretty rubbish, not enough information and aimed at patients with skin cancer. . .so anyway we are going back to see her tomorrow to see what else she can suggest. We tried vit E oil a couple of days ago which seems better than the creams which all make him scratch even worse.
I cook from fresh too (although he is allergic to all raw fruit and veg which can make things tricky) and I limit chemicals in the house as much as I can.
Thank you for listening. Wish us luck for tomorrow!
Thank you for your detailed reply.
Yes, my son is 18 now. He has atopic eczema everywhere on his body but particularly bad at the moment on his arms, hands, chest, back, neck and face. It seems to be triggered mostly by stress (doing A levels at the moment!) but can just seem to start itching for no apparent reason. He scratches until the blood is pouring down his arms and I feel so helpless, all I can do is stand and watch, talk to him, hug him. I have learned there is no point telling him to stop, that just makes it worse. He is getting hardly any sleep at night at the moment. Over the years we have tried so many moisturisers, creams, steroids, alternative treatments (hypnotherapy, homeopathy) and recently saw a new dermatologist who is suggesting cyclosporin immunosupressant drugs which my son doesn't want to take because of the potential side effects and the regular blood tests he would have to have. She also mentioned phototherapy but the leaflet she gave us was pretty rubbish, not enough information and aimed at patients with skin cancer. . .so anyway we are going back to see her tomorrow to see what else she can suggest. We tried vit E oil a couple of days ago which seems better than the creams which all make him scratch even worse.
I cook from fresh too (although he is allergic to all raw fruit and veg which can make things tricky) and I limit chemicals in the house as much as I can.
Thank you for listening. Wish us luck for tomorrow!
Re: Eczema for nearly 20 years.
Hey Clare,
I know someone who was in trials for a immunosuppressant course of injections. But he had psoriasis head to toe.
A don't know if it the same drug or similar. He said it was brilliant. And when he used it it cleared his skin completely.
And the only down fall was it was so expensive.
You seem pretty clued up as to what your family should avoid. I believe that we are not ment to have so many chemicals in our environment and this is the major causes of many illnesses, one of them being eczema.
Some people say that the water in their area could be the cause. There are so many unknown chemicals used to make tap water drinkable.
Have you tried using bottled water?
My family does not drink tap water..and only use for washing.
Once you start drinking bottled water, you can taste the chemicals in tap water.
Good luck tomorrow..
Let us know how you get on
I wish your son well..x
I know someone who was in trials for a immunosuppressant course of injections. But he had psoriasis head to toe.
A don't know if it the same drug or similar. He said it was brilliant. And when he used it it cleared his skin completely.
And the only down fall was it was so expensive.
You seem pretty clued up as to what your family should avoid. I believe that we are not ment to have so many chemicals in our environment and this is the major causes of many illnesses, one of them being eczema.
Some people say that the water in their area could be the cause. There are so many unknown chemicals used to make tap water drinkable.
Have you tried using bottled water?
My family does not drink tap water..and only use for washing.
Once you start drinking bottled water, you can taste the chemicals in tap water.
Good luck tomorrow..
Let us know how you get on
I wish your son well..x
Re: Eczema for nearly 20 years.
hi, i just wanted to say i feel for your son, im 26, and i have not been diagnosed with atopic, but i believe that is what it is. i am new to this site.
there have been a few times where i have scratched my arms and ankles to the point they bleed, it is awful and it is something that is so hard to not do, i geuss it's abit like a telephone, if it rings you have to answer it. if you dont it goes to voicemail and you still get rid of the ringing.....
and i geuss if someone kept ringing and ringing you'd be glad to put the ring out anyway you can....that is how i feel at the moment, like i said on my very first post this evening, i could go into my shed turn the disc saw on and cut me legs off. i have been suffering with this undiagnosis of atopic for 8months now, my first appointment,its fleas, then igoback and tellthem that what they have given me has not worked and then they say its scabies, have used 2 lots of lyclear cream to fix it, it turns out its not scabies, especially after using 2lots of the stuff. so i go back and they suggest trying fucibet, it seems to have worked somewhat and went back to docs to try more of the cream but i have a new doc now, the one i had left on unforseen circumstances. so now i have dr ba(ll)sack. who said proceeded to say its scabies. it is rather rediculous that after all my observations, it is clearly atopic ezcma. my sister, and my nan both have atopic ezcma as does my younger sister.
as i also said going to ring doctors in the morning and ask to be refered to dermatologists and get some real help! not geuss work and wasting of time.
i hope your son gets somewhere and i hope he is feeling better
and i hope all other sufferers are feeling better too. it's abit of a nightmare to say the least
ov3rh3at
there have been a few times where i have scratched my arms and ankles to the point they bleed, it is awful and it is something that is so hard to not do, i geuss it's abit like a telephone, if it rings you have to answer it. if you dont it goes to voicemail and you still get rid of the ringing.....
and i geuss if someone kept ringing and ringing you'd be glad to put the ring out anyway you can....that is how i feel at the moment, like i said on my very first post this evening, i could go into my shed turn the disc saw on and cut me legs off. i have been suffering with this undiagnosis of atopic for 8months now, my first appointment,its fleas, then igoback and tellthem that what they have given me has not worked and then they say its scabies, have used 2 lots of lyclear cream to fix it, it turns out its not scabies, especially after using 2lots of the stuff. so i go back and they suggest trying fucibet, it seems to have worked somewhat and went back to docs to try more of the cream but i have a new doc now, the one i had left on unforseen circumstances. so now i have dr ba(ll)sack. who said proceeded to say its scabies. it is rather rediculous that after all my observations, it is clearly atopic ezcma. my sister, and my nan both have atopic ezcma as does my younger sister.
as i also said going to ring doctors in the morning and ask to be refered to dermatologists and get some real help! not geuss work and wasting of time.
i hope your son gets somewhere and i hope he is feeling better
and i hope all other sufferers are feeling better too. it's abit of a nightmare to say the least
ov3rh3at
Re: Eczema for nearly 20 years.
I understand your situation. I have an aunt suffering from eczema for over 60 years. She is still suffering from Eczema. She has tried everything. There are so many herbal remedies but most of them will not permanently cure eczema.
Eczema is becoming worse when you get old. Eczema patients are at risk for serious viral infections and more severe disease. Food allergy is very common with elderly eczema patients.
So you have to very careful when you take foods outside. You should understand the triggers and avoid them. Also you should get an emergency medical alert system like Alert 1 to get help in an emergency.
Also drink enough water as a habit. It can help eczema patients a lot.
Eczema is becoming worse when you get old. Eczema patients are at risk for serious viral infections and more severe disease. Food allergy is very common with elderly eczema patients.
So you have to very careful when you take foods outside. You should understand the triggers and avoid them. Also you should get an emergency medical alert system like Alert 1 to get help in an emergency.
Also drink enough water as a habit. It can help eczema patients a lot.
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