New member

[chester_chops]

Hi everyone
I am a 34yr old guy from Edinburgh n I've had eczema my whole life. I don't know anyone with eczema so find it very isolating sometimes as no one other than my own mother really gets the pain i go through with it when its bad as well as the emotional implications that you have to deal with. I've been in/out hospital my whole life, had body wraps,zinc bandages, uv sunbeds, been put on steroids,tablets everything you name it, I'm pretty sure there will be a lot of people on here who suffers the same. I have eczema everywhere from the neck down i am so lucky not to have it on my face or scalp which is so strange considering its everywhere else. There are days when I can barely walk to work as my feet have been torn to shreds in my sleep or even awake if I'm honest when you just can't get past that itch! I'd rather be sore any day than have that god awful itch everywhere!

My skin has been brilliant the past week or so up until tonight when I scratched my neck for what felt like forever sometimes you don't even realise your doing it or how long all I wanted was rid of the itch so now I'm lying in bed n my neck feels bruised n sore but I feel relieved that the itch has left!

I seen another post briefly about having those god awful leathery wrinkly old granny hands! I have been blessed with those n they look awful. I'm so bored of the stares n rude comments people have said over the years about them. The worst is if I am training ppl at work i always try n drop it in the convo once we are more chatty with each other n that normally curbs the stares but god why should I have to do it its so mortifying. I hate shaking hands with new ppl or holding hands with even my closest of friends.

I have a good life now with very supportive parents. My mum creamed n bandaged my skin every day even when I was at high school cause i just couldn't cope. I was bullied about my skin from primary 2 until 4th year,ridiculed n verbally abused every day,no one would hold my hand without pulling there sleeve over their own,ppl would ask me if I had been in a fire. So awful as a child all I wanted was to be normal n have friends n not stick out! Kills me even now wish I could go back n cuddle my young self n tell him things would get better :/ I have good friends now,I'm married have lovely home n a good job but the one thing that has stayed with me my whole life is a terrible sense of rejection and never feeling good enough! So my eczema can get better but deep down the mental scars are still there.

I'd love to hear from anyone who shares any of my own experiences or just to bleather to.

Thanks for reading what I've wanted to say for years to ppl who are like me n who can understand me.

D

[Marcie Mom]

Welcome D to our forum - my daughter has eczema and it's pretty stressful for a parent too, and happy to hear that yours are supportive.

Take care,
Mei

[RosyHannah]

D,

I do hope you find support within our forum's - have you taken a look at our blog pages? I'm wondering whether you might like to have a go at blogging yourself? Sharing your journey with others may be helpful for you and will certainly be useful for others to hear.

I've attached a link to our blogs - on there you will see mine.

http://www.talkhealthpartnership.com/blog/

Keep in touch with us all,

Rosy.