Heat and eczema

[beckywebster3]

Hi guys,

I'm currently 22 and in my final year of uni. I've got my grad ball coming up so have spent a lot of money on the ticket and my dress. I should be looking forward to it but I'm not.
I have been really struggling in the past year with heat and my skin. Every time I get slightly hot or sweat I break out in sore, itchy and dry skin. I try my best to stay cool meaning I sleep with my window open, and I'm always in a tshirt. It's really frustrating because I can't live the full student life. I can't go to the gym, clubs or parties out of fear I'm going to get too warm. I can't go to the library as it gets warm during the day so I have to stay at home alone. It's really effecting me both physically and emotionally as I have to miss out on a lot of things. I've even had to quit my job
The doctors had advised me to see a dermatologist but won't refer me through the NHS and I can't afford to go privately
I was wondering if anyone else has experienced a similar thing and what I can do to help my skin. I'm currently on strong antihistamines and sedatives at night along with vitamin b12 and d. I use a mix of steroids and creams, aveeno is my favourite

Thanks in advance

[Plantaganet283]

This might seem bizarre, but this is my experience and solution! I normally manage to keep free of eczema, but just recently, I have been subject to occasional bouts of redness and spots across my chest and sometimes in one arm-pit. I suspect that it is eczema, yeast infection or heat rash, but as it can clear up within a couple of days or last over a week, the symptoms could well have disappeared by the time I get an appointment with the doctor. It is probably caused by being overheated in bed, as night-time temperatures have been quite erratic recently and it is impossible to always get the bed covering right. Furthermore, it had not been warm enough to go around nude. A couple of days ago, I have another outbreak and already it seems to be responding to applications of anti-fungicidal cream and wearing no clothes around the house. Below is an edited version of a post I submitted a few years ago, but still holds true:

I am retired so it means unless I need to go out, I can normally go around the house and garden completely in the nude. . However in the winter of 2004/5 for the first time in years, I wore clothes at home virtually continuously and it was not long before I developed quite severe seborrheoic eczema with the worst areas being my lower legs and elbows, although I did have small areas on my upper thighs and waist. On this occasion I developed spots around my ankles, which my doctor and I both initially thought were cat flee bites, but leaving them untreated they progressed to full blown eczema: I have since discovered that acne type spots can be a symptom of eczema. I had been prescribed various steroid creams, but all they did was exacerbate the condition. In the past I had noticed that if I wore clothes for more than a couple of days I developed spots on my legs, which would disappear once I went around nude again. In the past on very rare occasions I have had small patches of eczema on my feet and once in my ears, but they clear up almost immediately after treatment, which was often just a dab of Tea Tree lotion for a few days. Yeast spores, which thrive in damp and dark conditions, are known to be one cause of eczema and when the skin becomes sensitive clothing acts like an abrasive. Sometimes, I was aware of a strange smell and I have discovered that yeast sometimes gives off a peculiar odour. I always sleep nude between cotton sheets and my skin noticeably improved overnight only to deteriorate after I had worn clothes. After strictly following a nude regime and just applying moisturisers such Dermol lotion, my eczema has virtually cleared up. It is essential to be completely nude as any clothing especially waist-bands touching the body can initiate another patch and it seems to be an “all-over” regime: furthermore even the minimum of clothing causes the body’s thermostat confusion and you can feel chilly. If I have to wear clothes to go out, I try to compensate by ensuring that at least the following day is completely clothes-free. A lot of eczema sufferers feel that the condition is stress related and, if you ask any naturist the attraction of going around nude, they will almost certainly reply on the lines” Feeling of total freedom: complete relaxation: being just yourself without any pretences and others accepting you for what you are”. Apparently in the “Skin and bones”, the magazine of the Psoriasis Society, the benefit of going around nude is often discussed.

I think that often our bodies try to tell us what is wrong and what is needed. An example is a pregnant woman’s craving for strange food, which probably is needed to make up a mineral or vitamin deficiency. I have always felt better going around nude and by doing so I had inadvertently kept my latent eczema at bay. I have always found that sock tops were uncomfortable, so I had to turn them over and I have found it difficult to find suitable underpants, as most waistbands were uncomfortable. However, one winter when I ignored the signals (I was unusually cold due to medication) my eczema erupted with a vengeance.

Doctors are rediscovering that sunlight is essential for our well-being and it produces 90% of our vitamin D requirement. It was well known for a long time that rickets, which was virtually endemic in our towns, was due to the sunlight being filtered out by the smoke laden atmosphere. Now it has been suggested that sensible exposure to the sun may help to prevent many cancers, schizophrenia, osteoporosis and many other conditions.