My cousin's 3 year old girl began to itch a year ago. As it got worst, she appeared to become sensitive to more things such as tomatoes which she was eating happily before her outbreak.
The local GP of course prescribed her a course of steroid creams and moisturising creams that were high in petroleum (aqueous cream/diprobase/emollient cream etc)
I had recommended to my cousin not to use either, to keep the young one's diet simple, find a moisturing cream without petroleum/low in petroleum, and to ensure her surroundings were kept as dust free as possible. However with the young one's face and neck looking really bad and my cousin's desperation to get her daughter's skin back to normal, meant the GP's recommendation was followed.
Of course there was some healing, after all steroid creams burn off the outer layer, giving an appearance of "healing". My cuz followed the regime for 6 weeks. When she stopped, the eczema appeared to come back more aggressively - well it hadn't been cured! The GP gave her a course of antibiotics. My cuz asked to be referred to the skin clinic to find out what her daughter might be sensitive/allergic to. This took months to organise and they had to see a dermatologist, who told them everything they knew already (keep the skin moisturised, moisturise immediately after a bath) but no skin allergy test. This would be another wait.
So now a year plus on, my cuz has heard what I told her to do.
1. The house was cleaned several times + the carpets were cleaned (not just vacuumed).
2. My cuz no longer applied steroid creams + the GP prescribed emollients and found a cream that had no petroleum products in it.
3. Kept the child's diet simple.
4. Additionally she changed the laundry powder to a different non-bio powder (she was using Fairy non-bio - but I have found that too over scented and reacts to my skin).
2-3 months later her child's skin is clear. I don't believe it was just the cream that affected her skin, but a combination of changed environmental factors. The young one now appears to be able to eat the stuff that she was sensitive to during her itchy outbreak.
As for mine - well it is under control however work + dehydration + sleep deprivation are my bane. Adult life is so much more complicated. Sometimes I wish someone else would look after all of the "other" stuff for me. Anyway Dec is when this project will end.
On another note, I completed a 100 mile event in 29 hours without itching, only because I took an antihistamine to prevent the initial sweat from causing a reaction :-)
