Is it back for good or just a flare up?
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Is it back for good or just a flare up?
Hi, my name is Liam from the UK.
I have suffered with Eczema on and off throughout my life, during my third year of uni after a bout of pneumonia I ended up in hospital covered with it. A weeks worth of superb treatment using parafin, strong steroids and oilatum baths saw me discharged with skin as smooth as anything.
Parafin to start with was a superb cream but I came to be dependent on it. With time the Eczema crept back though in spite of my over reliance on Parafin it didn't seem to make much difference. By this time I was dating a girl and noticed the eczema came up more when spending time at her house, she had a dog and a small room cluttered with things. My use of her power shower and my inpatient method of scolding myself to relieve the itch only made things worse, sometimes I used to pray for the weekend to be over so that I could be home at my mum's just to be in my tidy clean bedroom. Anyway I was also patently aware that the eczema came up worse at weekends when I was drinking and smoking more. I love a drink and a cigarette but did not want to acknowledge that it made my eczema worse. I managed to stop smoking unless I was drinking and noted a small improvement. I then noted that the eczema tended to come up badly in winter whilst clearing up during the summer whether I was smoking and drinking or not.
Anyway the breakthrough came when I left my old job which basically involved me moving round a hospital carrying patient casenotes which always seemed a bit dirty and I often wondered whether this was the trigger for my eczema. In January 2013 I started my new job and started using an e-cig when drinking (though would normally find myself nicking a couple of cigs along the way.) A few weeks passed and my eczema was gone. I was still with the same girl and even entire weekends at her house after full weekends of drinking saw no skin flare up, even though her dog (which by this point I had fallen for) was spending most of her time on my GF's bed and clutched in my arms
. I felt that comfortable that I stopped using parafin and just used deprobase emollient for moisturizing my skin. After six months the social e-cig thing began to wear off and I found myself smoking again when drinking, I worried that the eczema would return, it didn't. Since then we have moved into our house and got married and juggled stressful times with the job. There are times when I get the odd flare ups notably on neck and face and I am not stupid enough to not realise it comes after drinking. However it has never caused me any discomfort or unhappiness. Moving into the house saw lots of boxes and polystyrene and dust and has since seen a weekly clean which we do together. Our dog is always on our bed and still there has been no real prolonged eczema flare up apart from odd bits on my arms or face that really haven't bothered me and have been easy to manage. Two weeks ago I had a bit of a flare up on my stomach, it took three days to get under control but I wasn't worried. After the third day I was out drinking and smoking, the next morning my skin remained fine. Two days later we went on a dog walking holiday, though my skin felt dry most days with the walking in the cold conditions there was still no eczema flare up. We had a few glasses of wine most nights and a cig but nothing to heavy. I came back from holiday feeling refreshed and the flare up from the previous week a distant memory. Then on Sunday I had an oil bath which is part of my routine of keeping my skin soft and moisturised. Came downstairs and helped my wife make a tea which admittedly was a tad messy. I felt myself getting hot and itchy as I was doing it and began to scratch around my belly and nipples. Got up Monday morning feeling sore and dry, I have had an oil bath every morning and evening since which is what I normally do to get my flare ups under control (and it normally works) this time it isn't though. Three days now in counting and my neck and stomach area are sore and inflamed, I have had to bring my deprobase emollient into work and keep disappearing to the toilet to put it on me. Each time it feels so cold and soothing and I tell myself I am okay and then within the hour its burning again. I keep looking at my belly and at my neck in the mirror and one minute it looks really bad and angry the next not so bad.
After thinking I was free of this awful condition I am now terrified that it is coming back. I was without it for a ages then just had my flare ups which I managed stress free (even a bad one after using oven cleaner to clean the oven) but this just won't go away. The most annoying this is it doesn't even seem to be itching to badly. I literally don't know what to do or what is causing it. The house is tidy, I haven't done anything dusty or dirty, I am moisturizing, I try and drink a decent amount of water a day, we eat healthy, I haven't had a drink or a cig since Saturday. The only other thing is we changed our bed sheets the week before we went away (week before last) and we made the bed before going away but the bed was unused for a week before we returned last Friday (the 13th). Surely that can't be what is causing this.
Any help, tips or feedback will be much appreciated. As it stands I am very worried and it is effecting my sleep which is leaving me feeling tired every morning which probably isn't helping.
I have suffered with Eczema on and off throughout my life, during my third year of uni after a bout of pneumonia I ended up in hospital covered with it. A weeks worth of superb treatment using parafin, strong steroids and oilatum baths saw me discharged with skin as smooth as anything.
Parafin to start with was a superb cream but I came to be dependent on it. With time the Eczema crept back though in spite of my over reliance on Parafin it didn't seem to make much difference. By this time I was dating a girl and noticed the eczema came up more when spending time at her house, she had a dog and a small room cluttered with things. My use of her power shower and my inpatient method of scolding myself to relieve the itch only made things worse, sometimes I used to pray for the weekend to be over so that I could be home at my mum's just to be in my tidy clean bedroom. Anyway I was also patently aware that the eczema came up worse at weekends when I was drinking and smoking more. I love a drink and a cigarette but did not want to acknowledge that it made my eczema worse. I managed to stop smoking unless I was drinking and noted a small improvement. I then noted that the eczema tended to come up badly in winter whilst clearing up during the summer whether I was smoking and drinking or not.
Anyway the breakthrough came when I left my old job which basically involved me moving round a hospital carrying patient casenotes which always seemed a bit dirty and I often wondered whether this was the trigger for my eczema. In January 2013 I started my new job and started using an e-cig when drinking (though would normally find myself nicking a couple of cigs along the way.) A few weeks passed and my eczema was gone. I was still with the same girl and even entire weekends at her house after full weekends of drinking saw no skin flare up, even though her dog (which by this point I had fallen for) was spending most of her time on my GF's bed and clutched in my arms
. I felt that comfortable that I stopped using parafin and just used deprobase emollient for moisturizing my skin. After six months the social e-cig thing began to wear off and I found myself smoking again when drinking, I worried that the eczema would return, it didn't. Since then we have moved into our house and got married and juggled stressful times with the job. There are times when I get the odd flare ups notably on neck and face and I am not stupid enough to not realise it comes after drinking. However it has never caused me any discomfort or unhappiness. Moving into the house saw lots of boxes and polystyrene and dust and has since seen a weekly clean which we do together. Our dog is always on our bed and still there has been no real prolonged eczema flare up apart from odd bits on my arms or face that really haven't bothered me and have been easy to manage. Two weeks ago I had a bit of a flare up on my stomach, it took three days to get under control but I wasn't worried. After the third day I was out drinking and smoking, the next morning my skin remained fine. Two days later we went on a dog walking holiday, though my skin felt dry most days with the walking in the cold conditions there was still no eczema flare up. We had a few glasses of wine most nights and a cig but nothing to heavy. I came back from holiday feeling refreshed and the flare up from the previous week a distant memory. Then on Sunday I had an oil bath which is part of my routine of keeping my skin soft and moisturised. Came downstairs and helped my wife make a tea which admittedly was a tad messy. I felt myself getting hot and itchy as I was doing it and began to scratch around my belly and nipples. Got up Monday morning feeling sore and dry, I have had an oil bath every morning and evening since which is what I normally do to get my flare ups under control (and it normally works) this time it isn't though. Three days now in counting and my neck and stomach area are sore and inflamed, I have had to bring my deprobase emollient into work and keep disappearing to the toilet to put it on me. Each time it feels so cold and soothing and I tell myself I am okay and then within the hour its burning again. I keep looking at my belly and at my neck in the mirror and one minute it looks really bad and angry the next not so bad.After thinking I was free of this awful condition I am now terrified that it is coming back. I was without it for a ages then just had my flare ups which I managed stress free (even a bad one after using oven cleaner to clean the oven) but this just won't go away. The most annoying this is it doesn't even seem to be itching to badly. I literally don't know what to do or what is causing it. The house is tidy, I haven't done anything dusty or dirty, I am moisturizing, I try and drink a decent amount of water a day, we eat healthy, I haven't had a drink or a cig since Saturday. The only other thing is we changed our bed sheets the week before we went away (week before last) and we made the bed before going away but the bed was unused for a week before we returned last Friday (the 13th). Surely that can't be what is causing this.
Any help, tips or feedback will be much appreciated. As it stands I am very worried and it is effecting my sleep which is leaving me feeling tired every morning which probably isn't helping.
Re: Is it back for good or just a flare up?
Hi Liam.
My name is Maya and I am also from UK.
In my experience alcohol tends to worsen eczema, so I stopped drinking. I cannot say about smoking due to having never smoked myself. Also, scalding the skin with a shower will only make it worse. The extreme temperature will dry the skin and leave it irritated.
Eczema is one of those conditions that is all about management. Even when it is having a good patch you cannot stop treating it. I have just come out of hospital for the 6th time this year due to recurrent infections and flare ups. You need to keep moisturising religiously (50/50 is great if it is very dry as I find diprobase to not be absorbent enough).
It is possible that you may have had a reaction to the bed sheets or it could be an unknown factor causing the flare. That is the trouble with eczema. Do you use dermatolgically tested washing powders?? I also wear mostly cotton clothing as synthetic fabrics irritate.
As for the question "is it back for good?". It is impossible to say definitively, but in my experience I would say that is unlikely. Your eczema sounds to be just going through a bad patch as it often does in winter.The change in weather often causes flare ups.
I suggest you go to the GP if it continues and get a steroid cream. Also have you tried antihistamines??? Oh, and wash the bed sheets again (just in case)
All the best. Feel free to ask any questions.
Maya
My name is Maya and I am also from UK.
In my experience alcohol tends to worsen eczema, so I stopped drinking. I cannot say about smoking due to having never smoked myself. Also, scalding the skin with a shower will only make it worse. The extreme temperature will dry the skin and leave it irritated.
Eczema is one of those conditions that is all about management. Even when it is having a good patch you cannot stop treating it. I have just come out of hospital for the 6th time this year due to recurrent infections and flare ups. You need to keep moisturising religiously (50/50 is great if it is very dry as I find diprobase to not be absorbent enough).
It is possible that you may have had a reaction to the bed sheets or it could be an unknown factor causing the flare. That is the trouble with eczema. Do you use dermatolgically tested washing powders?? I also wear mostly cotton clothing as synthetic fabrics irritate.
As for the question "is it back for good?". It is impossible to say definitively, but in my experience I would say that is unlikely. Your eczema sounds to be just going through a bad patch as it often does in winter.The change in weather often causes flare ups.
I suggest you go to the GP if it continues and get a steroid cream. Also have you tried antihistamines??? Oh, and wash the bed sheets again (just in case)
All the best. Feel free to ask any questions.
Maya
Re: Is it back for good or just a flare up?
Oh Maya I am so sorry to hear that you have been hospitalised six times this year. I still remember now the agony I went through when leading up to me being hospitalised and so I have nothing but sympathy for you. On and off I continued to go through the mill for the next three or four years with my eczema where some days it was unbearable. However it was never so bad that I had to be put into hospital again.
Re the scolding with the shower, I stopped doing that a several years ago. The problem with it when I used to be at my GF's house was that I would get unbelievably itchy and fidgety and it was the only thing that could stop it short term. Also the sensation of scalding the itchy part was borderline orgasmic (and I am not exagerating), I have no idea why that is but have read posts from other eczema sufferers in the past who have admitted doing this and having a similar sensation. The feeling afterwards would be awful, though the skin wouldn't burn for a while there was the concious acknowledgment that within half an hour your skin would be much worse than it already was. Ironically one thing I do sometimes to stop an itch these days is the opposite, freezing cold shower whilst washing the itchy patch with dermol and it normally works quite well.
Washing powder is the same one my mum used for years and is okay for my skin. I always buy cotton clothes and cotton bed sheets (they normally cost a bit more). I also use antihistamines though not religously but have not needed to use them really until this week. I think it will require a change of bedding so will give it a go. I take your point re the change of weather, normally it slowly gets colder in England where as this year it was still warm a fortnight ago then went cold very quickly so maybe that is having an impact as well. I can't think what else might be causing it aside from those factors mentioned.
As I have mentioned elsewhere sometime I have a bit of an eczema flare up after a night drinking but nothing bad and nothing that bothers me and something that is normally easily manageable. That is why I have found this case to be strange and a tad worrying, it didn't come the morning after a big session of drinking and it seems much worse than any flare up that I have had for a few years now.
Re the scolding with the shower, I stopped doing that a several years ago. The problem with it when I used to be at my GF's house was that I would get unbelievably itchy and fidgety and it was the only thing that could stop it short term. Also the sensation of scalding the itchy part was borderline orgasmic (and I am not exagerating), I have no idea why that is but have read posts from other eczema sufferers in the past who have admitted doing this and having a similar sensation. The feeling afterwards would be awful, though the skin wouldn't burn for a while there was the concious acknowledgment that within half an hour your skin would be much worse than it already was. Ironically one thing I do sometimes to stop an itch these days is the opposite, freezing cold shower whilst washing the itchy patch with dermol and it normally works quite well.
Washing powder is the same one my mum used for years and is okay for my skin. I always buy cotton clothes and cotton bed sheets (they normally cost a bit more). I also use antihistamines though not religously but have not needed to use them really until this week. I think it will require a change of bedding so will give it a go. I take your point re the change of weather, normally it slowly gets colder in England where as this year it was still warm a fortnight ago then went cold very quickly so maybe that is having an impact as well. I can't think what else might be causing it aside from those factors mentioned.
As I have mentioned elsewhere sometime I have a bit of an eczema flare up after a night drinking but nothing bad and nothing that bothers me and something that is normally easily manageable. That is why I have found this case to be strange and a tad worrying, it didn't come the morning after a big session of drinking and it seems much worse than any flare up that I have had for a few years now.
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