The Dehydration Itch

When hives begin to appear the time can be stressful. And that stress manifests itself to more rash. By the time you regain control over yourself, you have scratched yourself to shreds and eczema begins to take control.

I was running with a friend and for the first 8kms we were fine. I drank lots of water but my friend only drank a sip of water once at 8ks. We headed on and by 15ks she was starting to get a bad case of hives on the arms. She was stressed and she reminded me of me when the rash appears and we just want it to stop.

We stopped at a water point and I got her to down 300ml of water against her wish as it would make her feel bloated. She was looking at her arms worsening and as panic started to set in, so were her neck and face starting to itch. She wanted an antihistamine now! Anxiety normally makes an itch worst and requires a good distraction. I gave her something to hold and got her to drink more water (500ml usually helps me) and then she was to replace the word "itch" with "water" or "ice" if she wanted to tell me how itchy it was. I had hoped using cooling words would take some of the heat of that itch.

I believe my friend's body was telling her she was dehydrated and that she had not recognised it. I normally find that drinking water dilutes whatever toxin is trying to come out of my body and reduces the symptoms of itching. However it is not an immediate effect and can take about 5 minutes.

It was time to talk about other more positive things like:

- What do you like to eat?

- What is your favourite ice cream?

- What is the best adventure you've been on?

I banned her from looking at the hives and feeling the lumps appear. And after a km, the itching subside, but I never asked her about her itch until the end at 25ks if she still needed an antihistamine.

She was proud to say she did not and thankful not to have to knock out her system with it. As those who take strong antihistamines know, it can cause drowsiness and for me a very heavy head.

So in conclusion:

- drink more water when you feel itchy symptoms appear

- distract yourself and never focus on the itch

Cortesone Stopped

Oh well. As expected, have stopped using the cortesone for 2 weeks and am now back to scaling itchy skin. Soooo now to bare with it and get back to sorting it out naturally.

Time to Face the Cold

So back out to the cold and hopefully will return with better skin and no frost nip ;o)

When Cold Is Hot

Hmm having gone down the chemical route, using a cortesone cream (fucibet) to control the symptoms (well had a skin infection last week!), a strange reaction is happening.

Running in the winter is great as one tends to wear less clothes (I was in shorts and t-shirt) and still feel warm! And so I went for a run. A long run for 4 hours. I was hot but my skin was cool as the breeze (@ 12 degs c) stroked my bare legs, arms and midrift (well I was hot!!).

At the end of the run, I stretched and my legs began to feel prickly....itchy. Entering a warm room made everything worst. Soon a heat rash caught hold of the top of my legs, arms and midrift. Had to scratch the unbareable itch......and quickly plunged myself into a tepid bath which seemed to ease the symptoms with......of course sea salt and a tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda in the water.

This is the first time I have suffered with these symptoms from the cold, and can only guess the cortesone has made my skin more sensitive. Hope my skin can grow back once I stop using the stuff.

Keeping the Regime Going

Sometimes it is hard to keep on track. If you deviate a little, you can find you've lost some ground.

It's like a diet or training. You start off with good intentions and when things are going well, then for whatever reason you are tempted to do something different. This might be environmental or of course being a woman, hormonal.

Bath-time:

• One tablespoon full of bicarbonate of soda into the bath water seems to ease an itch!
• Dead sea salt will bring down a rash. Had a hooouge itchy lump on my arm recently. Bathed it in dead sea salt and it went down pretty soon after.
• Currently trying to wash my scalp in dead sea salt water.
  

Moisturising:
Am moisturising at least 3 times a day now, down from the 6 times a day, with top ups during the night.

• 100% natural coconut oil. No additives. This seems to have eased the shedding skin even further. Have been using this on my scalp and this has had positive results. Still working on the dry scalp problem.
• Epaderm covering after applying coconut oil. I am one very greasy person!

Chemicals used:

• Cortesone Cream:This has been cut back to twice a week and only on the legs.
• Antihistamines: Twice a week.
  

Diet:
This is the hardest part of the regime.

• Drinking lots of water - at least 1.5 litres, if not 2 litres
• Very little diary or wheat
• Potatoes, rice, fish and lots of green veggies are regular items in my diet
• Suppliments of Thistle, 1000mg Evening oil of primrose and 500mg Cod Liver oil (lovely!!!)

If I can stick to this, the itching eases off and I can even sleep without scratching on occasions. But a bad night's sleep and central heating can make my body begin to feel uncomfortable. And you all know when you're feeling tired, waiting at a train station for your home coming train, it is soooo easy to be tempted by the smells wafting of freshly baked bread, or cornish pasties or croissants.........

Cooky Coconut

My cousin has been using coconut oil on her child's eczema and found it has been effective in reducing the symptoms and keeping the skin hydrated.

So I took a sample and found it has been really good on the "craddle cap" scalp have been suffering with since all this started. The only downside I have is the greasy looking hair the oil causes. But who cares when the itch has subsided.

So now trying it on the rest of my body to now try to fight the effects of "heating" on my skin as the radiators are turned on for winter. Seems okay 3 days in.

When Pain is Good!

Had a bad rash attack. It could have been due to being overtired, or having eaten bad food for 2 days and no exercise. What ever it was, it wasn't going away fast. Hives were breaking out all over and the normal distractors of praying, trying to send myself to sleep, keeping my hands occupied were not helping the stress of the itch.

Instead a luke warm shower with dead sea salt rubbed all over my body, substituted the itch for pain. Well by the time I got round to having another shower, I had already created scratches on the skin surface.

The pain was hard, but the dead sea salt did the trick and perhaps leached out something that had got onto the skin surface. The rashes calmed down almost immediately after!

I want clear skin by the end of this year!!!