Thursday 15 December 2016

Hmmm

So everything was all good until I went for a 7 mile run on 13th Dec.

Body itched, eyes itched.....I hardly scratched but the skin became inflammed and rashes appeared. However the eczema patches did not itch. So think the body is reacting to something and forcing out through the skin.

Drinking grated lemon into hot water. Have just recently added sodium bicarbonate to help cleanse the kidney.

Taking suppliments for the season
- 1000mg cod liver oil capsules x 2
- 500mg Vitamin C tablets x 1
- 1000mg Vitamin D3 x 1

Thursday 20 October 2016

Lavender Oil + Aloe Vera

Last week I wrote about using a mix of 5 drops of lavender oil with 100 ml Aloe Vera.

I am really impressed with how this mix has reduced the itching and swelling. When I have an itch, it definitely soothes it and reduces. This has to be done at the first signs of itching, otherwise if have got myself into a massive scratch, then there is nothing on earth that will stop that itch other than me cutting out the affected flesh!!!

It used to have a slight burning effect. But now the skin has healed, it has much more of a soothing effect. In fact speaking of healing, the skin has been healing rapidly. Do a web search on the properties of Lavender Oil.

This is one that I would say try and tell me how you get on. So I know I said I don't believe in a miracle cure, I believe this mix has been great to reduce the itching so that my skin can heal.

I have also reverted back to eating lots of salad and oily fish which also helps to keep things calm. Anyhow you'll know in a year what I think of this mix.

Let me know if you do try this.

Friday 14 October 2016

Urticaria! By Jove I think I've got it

Today on the BBC, a friend showed me an article about Aquagenic Urticaria. Suddenly the light bulbs were flashing. My doc had decided the second skin condition was perhaps infectious eczema as it didn't look like ring worm nor psoriasis. The anti-biotics did not help sort this out. Although it did help sort out a poorly stomach! The anti-fungal tablet and fungal cream certainly sorted out the fungal infection (phew)

But this second skin condition was different. I thought it was a stronger fungal infection but now it is clear that the condition is Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria (CSU). It sounds correct from the images. It's so nice to be able to give the condition a proper name.

This skin condition is welts on parts of the face, stinging at times, itching at other times and visually not very appealing when there are welts and skin drying and dropping off. This same skin condition is also on my body, having suddenly appeared when I had gone for a run. I thought it was my clothing that caused that outbreak.

However Italy had a healing effect on the CSU! Also I found the Malaysian cream was only helping to soothe the irritation as it had a nice menthol effect on the skin. I stopped applying the cream and can only think the the sun and water were actually helping to heal my skin. I was eating salad everyday and the skin healing progressed incredibly rapidly.


Lavendar Oil and Aloe Vera
The CSU had now been reduced to a smaller area on my face and was lesser on the body. As I scratched away at the smaller area, my friend put a little bit of neat lavendar oil (yes it says you are not supposed to put it on neat) followed by some aloe vera. The oil had a slight burning sensation but it felt good and those smaller areas dried up and the itching became less intense. Lavendar oil is supposed to have a healing effect + is supposed to help with cell regeneration (lots of great qualities if you look it up).

So I have now mixed up a concoction of Lavendar Oil and Aloe Vera and it certainly is having a more calming effect on the CSU. I'll try it on the inner arm and neck eczema to see if it makes a difference. Sorry I can't tell you provide exact proportions....but my guess is about 5 drops of Lavendar Oil in about 100g of Aloe Vera.

Back Home
So coming back home everything flared back up: the eczema and the CSU. Welts started appearing on my face and body. I am now only washing the areas that need to be washed. The face and body is not touching any water. The eczema was flaring up at night....my fault I should have washed my bedding after 2 weeks of not using it. Now with clean bedding, the eczema has been much calmer. The Lavendar Oil/Aloe Vera mixture has dried up the welts and they are not as angry looking, though have become crusty. Hopefully will start to see some healing over the next few days.

Ahh the joys of sensitive skin.

Hope you find the Lavendar Oil + Aloe Vera mix helps your skin. I'll report back at the end of next week.

Friday 30 September 2016

Miracle Cure?

Nah - just changes to make in oneself.

So my face....my torn up scraggy face. GP just said it's eczema and that I should put a concoction of a very mild fungal hydrocortisone (Daktacorta) on my face. Gosh it was so tempting. But I kept away from it. The only place I used it was on the fungal part of the body which blasted that black stuff off!

But on my face? Sure hydrocortisone will burn the crap skin away, but it sure won't cure it. It will jump back on and I'll just have more sensitive skin.

Anyway this week have returned to Italy to work. Sunday, my skin is a horrid mess. It is itchy, dry and flaking. I plaster my face continuously with cream. I've had to do this several times this year. Monday, colleagues comment on the skin on the face as it looks red and the swollen skin on one eye looks like someone could have slapped me!

I am constantly slapping cream on my skin during the day and applying a non-parafin cream from Malaysia that a friend gave me to try during the night. Also with the lack of distractions, I am sleeping early.

After the second night of good sleep, it feels like a miracle. Sleep is such a great cure, especially when I suffer from bouts of severe sleep deprivation. The skin is healing rapidly. By Thursday the face skin looks pretty normal and those same colleagues that noticed the bad skin, have noticed the changed skin. In addition the rest of the eczema skin (neck and inner arms) have also been healing but not as radically as the skin on my face.

So what changed?
- Environment
- Water
- Diet
- Sleep
- More sun
- Application of a non-parafin cream

Will see when I return to the UK in a week's time if this cure holds!

Wednesday 27 July 2016

Salads and Frost Bite

Diet
The leafy greens in my veggie patch are flourishing which is awesome
- Rocket
- Mustard leaves
- Pak choi
- Watercress
- etc

Cucumbers and tomatoes are also fruiting :)

So for the last 2 weeks I have enjoyed fresh salad everyday with different items:
- Blasamic Vinegar and Olive oil
- And sometimes mozarella / makeral / avocado or what ever else I feel like adding.

I have also cut out sugar/processed foods most of the time (people keep giving me cakes/ice cream/biscuits). After all sugar tends to cause inflammation in the body. I realise now that the January rash may have been caused by the Christmas bingeing. Hmm will see if I can eradicate the rashes from my body and abort eating the normal Christmas feasting.

The skin is feeling less itchy after 2 weeks of salads :)

Frostbite Reflections
Recently I've rediscovered Aloe Vera...... In 2014, I had grade 2-3 frostbite on one finger from playing in -50 degrees Celsius. I had minor frostbite on the rest of the fingers. The one bad finger suffered more than the rest as it had been broken the year. At St George's hospital in London, my frostbitten finger was treated like a rock star with the consultants. They all wanted photos of it! And the hand specialist from St George's wanted to chop the finger off!

I contacted a professor up in the Midlands (Professor Imray) who had an interest in frost bite (he's a climber and spent time in Chamonix) and he recommended applying aloe vera.

I religiously put that stuff on day and night. 6 weeks after the incident the hand specialist from St George's still wanted to chop the finger off despite there being no infection (I had to return to see him on a follow up appointment) and pressed hard to see if there was any life. I was pretty mad with him and changed my consultant.

12 weeks later I had a shiney new finger (the black outer dead skin fell off). I attributed that to the aloe vera that helped the healing and bathing the finger in salt water baths when the black outer layer became cracked.. I applied salt water at the end of the day to disinfect any bacteria from my normal day to day activities.

Back to July 2016
So I had a pretty bad scratching session one night, ripped apart my skin on the inside of my elbow. The creams of course were stinging when I applied it to the skin. Then I remembered the healing power of aloe vera. After enduring 1/2 day of stinging with constant applications of aloe vera, the skin appears to be rapidly healing again, better than when I was just applying "the mosturising creams".

Anyway been doing this for 2 days and there is a better improvement versus the mosturising creams by themselves. Let's see how this goes for 10 weeks.


Wednesday 20 July 2016

The Miracle Cure

For those people who have been sending me miracle cures.....I have tried a lot of miracle cures and really am dis-illusioned. The testimonials that I read are short term cures. I have had a lot of short term cures. So when I read the following reviews for a miracle product, I think great but has anyone provided a review a year later.


As for babies, there is infantile eczema which is short term and doesn't mean anything to an old girl like me.

For me, eczema is a symptom of an imbalance in my body. It is for me to hunt the imbalance and thus find a holistic long term cure.

I have rid my body of eczema and had clear skin for months. I have had some success with diet. But I lack discipline to continue it long term.

Anyway have decreased junk foods like biscuits and crisps. Let's see if I can continue that into winter!

Doc Review

The good news first:

Having gone the pill popping route and put some Daktacort on the fungal infected skin, the fungal infected skin is of course much improved as well as  a candida infection which I think was cleared by the anti-fungal tablets. Additionally the stomach has been a lot better since taking the anti-biotics.

When I first looked at the state of my tongue, it had a thick coating of cruddiness. I also was suffering from a cold. Since taking the tablets, it is now a fine coating of cruddiness.

A week of sleep put energy back into my being woo hoo! 

...and now the nerk news:
The Febrauary rash had temporarily improved after taking the tablets but since then went back to how it was. The January rash also has not improved, although whilst on the tablets, there was a temporary reprieve of itchiness. Am feeding the body back with probiotics

Sleep has returned to being poor again and thus a cycle happens with the rashes worsening.

The doc recommended I put the Daktacort it on my face, neck and arms. At this moment in time I will hold off that option. Perhaps I am masochistic but I now believe everything can be sorted long term with food and proper sleep.

Summer is here and there is an abundant amount of summer produce we are enjoying. I love my organic fresh greens. They taste so much better than the shop bought. Had to count angels 3 times last night to fall back to sleep.

Have a positive day

Sunday 10 July 2016

A Fight on My Hands

So off all tablets now.

Have developed a mild rash on the back at the end of day 6 on antibiotics but completed a course. Concerned this is an allergic response to penicillin. This is the 3rd time I have taken antibiotics in my life.


The March rash is more in check. Well I have been burning it off with a fungal cream and tablets. Let's hope that continues. The bonus is the IBS seems to have cleared up.

Can't believe the skin around the eyes are slightly swollen and whites are back to looking irritated. Probably due to the itchiness in the eyes. The face has returned to itchiness. Obviously if you change nothing else, symptoms return. The January rash (normal eczema) has also returned to itch mode!

Okay I have had my temporary madness and desperation of returning to vile medications (I am human!).....I will look at it as cleaning out the entire system - the bad and good stuff.

Time to fight this all off with an improved diet. (yes I let my diet slip in November 2015) and let's see if I can rebuild all my good bacteria back with strong dosages of probiotics. And hoping the foods will take care of rebuilding my immunity.

Looking forward to eating home grown vegetable:
- Rocket, lettuce, mustard leaves
- Tomatoes
- Beans
- Courgettes

Loads of berries in the garden now :)

Wednesday 6 July 2016

Day 6 of Antibiotics and Antifungal

The Flucloxacillin Antibiotics (500mg) really taste and smell "yuck". Must remember to get some probiotic bacteria to replace my good bacteria.

The Fluconazole anti-fungal tablet neither tastes nor smells.

The February face rash appears to be withdrawing. Additionally the excessive skin droppings has also become nothing. The January rash is tagging along.

The March rash has also improved greatly. Although this is an area that I have also been applying Daktacort (2% miconazole nitrate and 1% hydrocrotisone). For the first 4 days I applied the cream morning and night. I have now been applying it once a day. The skin now looks dark brown as if I have a tan rather than like an almost black colour.

Whites of Eyes and Stomach
I have also noticed the whites of my eyes appear more white. Way back in March 2016, my little nephew asked me why my eyes were so yellow. They have looked yellow for soo long, I thought it was from tiredness. My skin colour looked normal so in my self diagnosis didn't think much more. Which brings me to the stomach. November 2015 I had Salmonella poisoning. It was horrible and my gut has never really recovered from it. Though I did take some probiotic tablets which appeared to help somewhat. Yes my gut seems to be way better, so can only attribute that to the antibiotics am taking.

My system was probably beginning to veer out of control and I continually ignored symptoms. So I am thankful to the March rash for being so persistent that I was forced to the GP and although my doc is sorting out the one rash, the rest of my body has thankfully benefitted.

I have one more day on the anti-fungal and 8 more days on the antibiotics.

Monday 4 July 2016

A Case of 3 Rashes

Perhaps all the folk offering me different potions wanted me back here as I rejected all of them! Okay that's a little cynical eh ;)

During January a small bit of eczema came back inside the elbow. I accepted this as one of those things that I could sort out. I was able to control it.

During February a small rash appeared on my forehead and by June had spread to around my eyes and cheeks. My tears appeared to burn my skin and yet I had hardly scratched my skin and soon it was in a cycle of shedding skin for the sake of shedding. I felt I had dandruff on my face and around the left eye, it felt there was something crawling underneath.

During March something weird was happening on my butt cheeks. I thought it was ring worm so treated it with an anti-fungal cream. It got worst. After 4 weeks I treated it with an antiseptic, this reduced the itching and appeared to heal the skin. Unfortunately it spread round to my groin and soon on my thigh and began spreading upwards. This rash turned my skin very dark (my mother says it looked black and I am pretty fair skinned). I observed that eating sugary sweet foods seemed to be feeding my March rash.

Even more irritating each rash responded differently.

I finally gave up on the March and Feb rash and went to the doc at the end of June. Yep kicking and screaming.

The doc took one look and agreed that it seems I have been nurturing mushrooms....(sick attempt at humour). Yes doc said immediately - fungal infection!

I knew what the doc would prescribe - hydrocortisone.....combined with an anti-fungal cream as well as antibiotics for 14 days and an anti-fungal pill for 7 days.

I am on day 3 and applying the anti-fungal hydrocortisone only to the March rash. The aim is to do it for twice a day for the first 3 days and then to reduce to once a day after the next 2 days and then to reduce to once every other day. I really have no idea if this will ensure my skin does not become addicted to hydrocortisone again but at least I have been able to sleep.

The January and Feb rashes appear to be sorting themselves out without applying anything further. It might be the anti-fungal tablet is sorting out the February rash and the better sleep is sorting out the January rash.

Am sure I'll do an update later. After all I was supposed to have created a new section.....well writing takes time....so I thought I should work first, blog later.

Hope all your skin is feeling great.

Friday 22 January 2016

New Sections Being Created

I thought I wanted to finish with this blog as my skin overall feels pretty awesome though I do need to continue to keep up the life regime to keep the "rash" from ever smacking around my system ever again......but a dude whose code name is Rick researched "eczema" for his PhD and asked me if I'd be interested in seeing if his thesis can help someone out in the big wide world. I thought about it and thought it would be useful to compare the views of those who have tried to understand this disorder and compare it from my own experience.

So am going to share what his research has understood about chronic eczema........atopic eczema.....atopic dermatitis.

However think these are pretty good as stickies. So enjoy the new posts as pages :)

Monday 18 January 2016

The Train Man


As I commuted on the train back from work, I noticed a man incessantly scratching and applying a "nasty cream" (that is my opinion as it did not help relieve his vigourous scratching on his face, ears and hands). His skin had that odour of skin that had been weeping.....I felt sad as I watched him fight himself. So I thought I'd provide myself as a distraction.....I sat next to him and talked about his condition and my condition. He asked me what I did to drastically reduce my symptoms and I said "hard work/trial and error". I started off with my diet and immediately he told me how he loves his food and likes a couple pints of beer after work. He wouldn't want to change that.

So I told him, at the end of the day it is your choice about whether you want to heal properly or not. The quick "medical" fixes will only be temporary for our long term eczematic conditions. I am thankful that I am able to adapt and change. Not wanting to change and adapt your lifestyle is an obstacle to your healing ability. The sooner you get over it, the sooner you will find out how you can heal yourself.

He then shared with me that the doctors had "given up" on his condition and the only thing was to increase his steroid dosage to get temporary relief.

I smiled and told him to write a blog about his condition so that he can observe/reflect on what is going on. At the end of the day, it is down to you to fix it. The doctors really can only guide you and give you a quick fix.

In my opinion the quick "medical" fixes are a waste of money. I am so much happier with the long term healing I have found in diet, herbal teas, non-usage of soaps, washing powder (non bio), keeping the dust levels low in my room and so many more things.

Anyhow the distraction worked and as we conversed he scratched less and less. By the time he had come to his stop, he had completely stopped scratching :) Distrations are great when we're itchy so that we focus less on the itch.

Saturday 16 January 2016

Ahhh I have not defeated winter yet.

Before I continue this post, I want to talk about the folk who are leaving comments. Firstly thank you for reading my blog posts. However to commenters who want to give me sample products, that is great.  Let's list some of the freebies you have offered:
- Soaps: I am not using them any more except on my hands and down below!
- Creams: I tried using "natural creams" when my eczema was improving, (only ingredients were jojba oil and shea butter). I was so itchy after using it. I will now only use creams that have gone through my test. No itchiness

Winter has always meant my skin quality worsens and the skin seems to tingle more with itchiness with the short days of sunlight, the cold dampness and the dreaded heating. This is true of this winter, however with the healing of my skin going into winter, it has been more resistant to the winter effects. Thus I slackened.

DIET
Last year I had learned about a ketosis diet and so I increased my medium chained triglycerides (MCT) fats in my food (uncooked olive oil; rapeseed and coconut oil for frying) and eating less carbohydrates. This may have added to my skin feeling silkier.  I did not gain or lose any weight. The verdict on whether carbs reduces inflammation or not seems to have a mixed response when researching on the web and might be due to who is sponsoring the research! Anyhow you might find these 2 articles of interest:
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/83/4/774.full
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/05/140508095415.htm

Though the last study is a conclusion of patients with type 2 diabetes we can learn from all disorders that are food related as think these will exerate the things that are going on in our own bodies.

Notice-ably I have been "carb-bing" much more over the festive season and had a whole load of cakes and "crap" left over from the Christmas period which I didn't want wasted. There would appear to be a down turn in my skin quality since the change over of a higher carb diet.

Am now returning to my pre-festive diet - higher in MCT fat and veg and much less carbs and some protein.

OUTDOOR/EXERCISE
I was out most of the time last year winter, doing something. This time round the grey days and rain has kept me inside. The rashes have reappeared on my face and will need to return to taking vit D3 suppliments again or get me arse in gear to get outside. Endorphines are great too to help beat the winter blues.

I am very specific about the sun's effect on my face as I have found that if am indoors for a couple of days working (am a computer programmer), my eyes, cheeks and forehead can become itchy. The sunshine on my face tends to relieve that itch!

SLEEP
Eczema sufferers tend to lack good sleep. I have been taking a quarter of an anti-histamine pill when I feel any itchiness at night. This normally happens 2 weeks before my menstruation but has been feeling a little more regularly itchy with the increase in carbs.. Am now playing with arnica pills to see if that will ease off the itchiness and thus the skin inflammation.

Wishing those who are true eczema sufferers, less itchy days and enough distractions to scratch less.