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Hi,

I'm a 22 year old girl and I'm at my wit's end with my eczema.

I've suffered since I was a baby and have never ever had a flare up this bad before. I've been trying to keep on top of it for around 2 months now. I've been to the doctors on numerous occasions asking for a steriod cream to try and get rid of it, but they won't give me anything. Their reason being that I've been on the steroid cream for too long now.
I have previously used Betnovate and Fucibet. Now they have prescribed me a very mild cream called Synalar.
I've used all kinds of moisturisers; E45, Diprobase, Doublebase, Eucerin, Dermol etc etc.

I don't know what it is that keeps making it react so badly, but it's affecting my sleep where it feels like i'm burning and my clothes are sticking to my skin where it's weeping. The eczema is all over my body, I really can't cope anymore and I cry myself to sleep each night where I feel like it's never going to get better.

Please, please, please could someone help me and give me some advice to help!!! I really don't know what else to do!!!

Any comments would be truly appreciated!!

Thankyou!!

You need help and fast. Go back to your GP and demand a referal to a hospital dermatologist, you need urgent specialist care it is your right to get the care that you need. Be strong and don't be fobbed off you have to stand your ground. If you fail walk straight to the reception and make appointment with another doctor. Good luck.

Hi, as has been said you need to be referred to a dermatologist, it's no good having to go from day to day without any help. My experience is that most GP'S don't know enough about eczema and the patients actually know more than them!, so please see your GP and ask for a referral to the dermatologist..do not do as I did and go for years without being refferred and then being visited by a dermatologist on a hospital ward because my eczema had given me a severe bacterial infection which kept me in hospital for 2 weeks. Good luck, and I hope you can get some help soon.

Thankyou for your comments!

It's so frustrating how a GP just brushes it off thinking that it's easy to copy with and just tells you to moisturise!
At some points, I wish they could see how painful and embarrassing it is!!!

Oh Emma, I so feel for you, I can remember being in your situation and how it felt. I spent nearly 3 weeks in hospital 20 years ago and was told that there was nothing they could do for me and I'd just have to live with it so that's what I did. Then four years ago I had a particuarly bad flare up and my new GP referred me straight to a dermatologist at the hospital. I remember going in to see her and bursting into tears because I was just so sore and thought she wouldn't be able to help...how wrong was I?

There are treatments other than steroids they can try, light treatment, immunosuppressants etc. Also, I got to see an ezcema nurse who spent an hour with me giving me information on how to make it easier to live with my ezcema, how to use wet wraps, she also gave me trial sizes of different emmollients and shampoos to try.

My dermatologist asked my GP to sign me off work for three months to give my skin time to recover and started me on immunosuppressants and I really can say these were life-changing!

Good luck Emma, please press your GP for a referral to dermatology and I suggest that if they're still not keen that you change to a more sympathetic one. Too many people regard ezcema as 'just a rash'.

Take care of yourself

Mandy

Hi mandy

I have been reading your message on this forum regarding the "immunosuppressants" I have been suffering with Eczema for the past 35 years and the last two years the eczema have seemed to have flared up more and more, I have been to my G.P and been prescribed various steroid ointments like Betnovate,Eumovate,cutivate and lots of only thing in their opinion that would help my eczema are the "immunosuppressants called Cicloporin" I have read about the side affects that it lowers the immune system and can cause diffirent types of cancers and this have concerned me and to be honest it has put me off the idea of taking this treatment - Can you please share your experience how you found them and how they helped your eczema, did the immunosuppressants just give you a short break from eczema.

Sorry for all the questions.

Louise

Hi all,

Just to let you all know I went to visit my g.p 3 weeks ago, as I had developed Cellulitis again on my inner knee - this was so painful, I couldn't bend or straighten my leg and was very swollen, the G.P actually came to the jouse to visit me as I was in agony with it, took one look and said that I needed to be addmitted into hospital to be started on Intravenous antibiotics as the infection was bed, after 2 week of I.V antibiotics, blood tests and ultrasound scan to check there was no other inderlying problem the Cellulitus was cleared, I then had a urgent appointment with the dermalologist who said that he hadn't seen for a number of years so badly steroid damage skin from all the ointments I used since early childhood that he was addmitting me into the dermatology ward as soon as a bed became available, well two days later I was addmitted (transferred from one hospital to another) th doctors started lots of blood tests, I also was tested for my adrenal gland, as it appears that because of all the steroid ointments I have used throught the years it was telling my own natural steroid that it foesn't need to work so hard and it has made me become quite ill,the dermatologist has put me on Hydrocortisone steroid tablets now and I have been referred to a Endocrinologist..... I'll let you know what happens next.....

Speak soon

loopy

Hello All,

I am 25 years old and have had eczema since i was a baby, at the moment my skin is really bad, i just cant seem to keep it under control, get it really looking good for a few days and then over night it goes again and i wake up red raw, all weeping, my clothes stuck to my skin and my bed covered in dead skin which is the most discusting sight ever.

I am so self concious about my skin that it boiling hot yet im covered head to toe with scarf on as i dont want anyone seening my skin, i get so depressed about it and really just sometimes dont see the point in carrying on any more.

I have been with my boyfriend for 3 years now and we cant spend the night together as i keep him up itching and scratching and i just hate the though of him waking up covered in my skin

Please can anyone at all give me any advice on how i can help myself.

I am on ciclisporin and so many creams i dont know them all and an anti histermine as well - i seem to be just getting used to all of these things and they just arent working any more. I cant soak in the bath as as soon as i get out, i itch like mad and get a prickly feeling all over my back.

Im really at my lowest at the moment and am in need of serious help.

Kayleigh

Hi Kayleigh,

The best description I use for Eczema is that " It feels like an insect crawling under your skin". Once you can tame that insect, you're away! Mindset plays an important role but it is difficult to develop a mindset when th eitching starts e.g when you get out the bath. Whereabouts in the world do you live? I can assist with mindset training and the odd kick here and there!! You will be amazed at how powerful the mind really is. The most frustrating thing for the mind is that teh medical prefessional cannot determine what the cause of this nasty skin irritation is.

The only lotion that I have found that helps me is Vanicream. When I first went to my dermatologist she told me to stop using body washes, scented detergents, dryer sheets, and any lotions that contained any type of alcohol. Vanicream is the only lotion I have found that doesn't have any type of alcohol in it. I have literally stood in lotion isles for hours looking at the ingredients in the lotions. Nothing on the shelves is as clean as Vanicream. The city I live in now doesn't have many places that carry Vanicream so I have to order it online from Amazon. I have three tubs of Vanicream delivered to my house every couple months since I go through it so fast. My doctor also suggested bathing every other day. At first this helped but now that I moved into the newly built house the air circulates better and if I don't shower everyday my eczema gets worse so i feel like crap the second day. a new dermatologist I see recommended putting Olive Oil on my skin. Olive Oil helped for a while but I have found the best way for me to use it in the bath tub. I take a bath once a week and add Olive Oil which has helped a ton.