Bane of my existance

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Rachel.9014
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Mar 30, 2016 10:39 am
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by Rachel.9014 on Wed Mar 30, 2016 10:56 am

Bane of my existance

Hello everyone,
So today I am suffering from quite a horrible flare up of eczema on my hands and it HURTS. Unfortunately I have had this condition since I was 11, so that is seven years now, and to be honest I am looking for some advice to help ease the pain. At the moment it is so painful that I can't close my hands into a fist without wincing and them cracking which causes further agony. Night time is the worst, because in my sleep I cant control myself. Once I went to bed with cotton gloves on to try to stop my scratching, and to my dismay I woke up in the morning to find them thrown on the floor! I have tried coconut oil, sorbolene, taking fish oil tablets, and constantly trying to keep them moisturized, but for reasons I cant fathom, they wont heal up. I also tried cutting out diary and wheat, but still there was no difference! Please, if you have any advise as to what creams to use, I am all ears! It is particularly bad at work, because I work on a cash register, I get so self-conscious when I have to hand people back their money. I do not, however want to go on cortisone creams as I have been told that it isnt such a good idea to use those type of creams for long-term use.
Thanks for the replies in advance!
Rachel.

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Marcie Mom
Posts: 857
Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2012 3:30 pm
Location: Singapore
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by Marcie Mom on Thu Mar 31, 2016 5:00 am

Re: Bane of my existance

Sorry to hear that, hope you'd get better soon... My kid takes off her gloves at night as well. I'm not sure how much of staph bacteria will be on the hands, given that we're usually washing it. Maybe can try to wipe your palm with chlorhexidine gluconate? I use that on my kid. Or consider non-steroidal cream like Protopic/ Elidel?

Take care!
Mei
Mei
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Mei - Founder of http://www.EczemaBlues.com and Mom to Marcie
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marigoldgran
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Feb 26, 2016 12:15 am
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by marigoldgran on Thu May 12, 2016 1:30 am

Re: Bane of my existance

Hi,
Sorry to read about your trouble. I have successfully helped people with life long eczema with some healing herbs. One lady had been given steroid creams so many years that the doctor refused to give any more as her hands were in bits. There was an open sore between each finger and the poor lady had to wear gloves all the time. Bathing and shower were agony and household jobs half impossible because of pain. Her hands were cracking dry and the usual paraffin based emollient creams did nothing. Finally she emailed me for advice and I was happy to offer her what I knew, starting with a Calendula (Marigold) soak. I sent her some dried Calendula for emergency hoping it would work, and if it did, the lady then could buy her own supply. She made 'tea' from the Calendula and soaked her hands in it several times a day, and after two days there was an email full of joy; it had worked. The healing had started immediately and I was over the moon, and so was the lady who then went and bought a bag of Calendula to continue with the soaks. Later she also learnt to make her own moisturising creams and bath oils. Calendula is anti inflammatory and soothing even for babies. C.'tea' knits broken skin together very quickly. You can buy dried Calendula from a known market place or health food shops very cheaply and use when needed, it keeps dried well.You can also drink the tea for stomach upsets. After the skin has been 'sealed' with the 'tea' treatment, use Calendula cream, or Chickweed cream, and avoid anything with paraffin which only blocks the skin like a plastic wrapping and does not let it breathe. It also contains no healing properties whatsoever. You can also moisturise with Sweet almond oil (so gentle that it is used as a massage oil for babies) straight from the bottle, or Jojoba oil which is actually a liquid wax but it lets the skin breathe and does not block pores like paraffin does.Virgin Coconut and Sesame oils are also amazing oils which many people have found soothing.
Chikweed is another miracle herb, my daughter's terrible eczema healed with it and she has a bag of dried CW at home just in case there is a flare up. You can buy and use CW the same way as Calendula. It may sting a little, two seconds only as it is a strong herb, but that is why it is so good too. It penetrates many layers of skin and goes deep. The healing begins from the bottom up and is fascinating to watch. CW cools and calms the inflamed and itchy skin, and when healing, the redness begins to go, and is replaced with pale and normal skin. My daughter's raging, eczema-and steroid-ruined skin around her mouth, was completely clear in three weeks. Chickweed grows in most gardens as a weed, It is edible too but tastes a bit earthy, it is a matter of taste. You can pick fresh CW, leaves, flowers and stems and chop them up and make a tea, or you an hang bunches of it in a dry place to dry and keep for later. You can also make your own moisturiser creams using lovely natural plant oils which nourish the skin and boost cell growth. It is fun and exciting to see your own products neatly in little jars! If interested I can post you the recipes and the making info.
By the way, the 'tea, also called ' infusion' is made as follows: 1 teaspoon of dried or fresh herb, put in a mug, pour boiled water on top like making tea, cover with a saucer and leave to brew for 15 mins. Then let cool and dab eczema with this with a clean cloth or cotton wool pad. It keeps 3 days in a fridge, then you need to make a new mug.
Good Night Sleep, something that eczema sufferers rarely may enjoy. There is a helpful herbal tea, Linden Tea, some times called also Lime flower tea, which calms and gives you a better night sleep so you don' t wake up scratching. Worth trying, my daughter swears by it.

There might never be a cure from eczema, but there are ways to manage it. Do not believe in cream ads which claim to heal eczema, they are only designed to make you part from your money. And many odd creams from far flung countries often also contain cortisone! Their ingredients are a secret, apart from it being 'herbal'. Legally, you can call any paraffin, lard, petroleum or whatever slime based gunk herbal or natural as long as it has 1 % of some essential oil or other herbal ingredient! Like those ' herbal' bath products in super markets...avoid! It makes sense to make your own, a lot cheaper too.

Also, you can have a bath without emollients. You can make bath oil (easy peasy this one) and it is lovely. It contains 1 part of Polysorbate 80 and 3 parts of oils of your choice, say, Almond, Coconut or Jojoba. Put all in a bottle, shake up and use 1 cap full in a bath. The oil mixes with water and does not float on top, so you are not sitting in an oil slick. Also, in the warm bath the healing oils penetrate your skin and leave it moisturised afterwards.
As you so well already seem top know, eczema also needs treatment from the inside. Bad diet, lack of vegetables and fruit, fast foods, soft drinks, white flour products, sugar and nasty fats as vegetable oils ( only use Olive oil and butter in cooking) are poison for your skin (Google about cooking oils and Omega-3 please). Toxins break out through your skin too, and an unclean liver will keep you ill forever. You can clean the liver with Milk Thistle, even doctors use it. There are articles written about these things, so Google up if you have time. You might find that you will have to make changes in your diet and life style before expecting any improvement on your skin. Your skin alarms you from things that are not going well inside you. Many eczema sufferers have found much benefit from simply correcting their eating habits. To round it up; drink lots of water, eat lots of fruit and veg, stop junk and sugar, eat wholemeal bread instead of white, eat nuts if you like them and are not allergic. And if you are run down, take a good multi vitamin with minerals tablet daily. All those foods are just for general advice, some people are allergic to certain fruits for example, so you have to find what suits you by trial and error I'm afraid.
Best wishes and lots of love.

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