Controlling Eczema So the Skin Heals

I'm not sure why people keep asking me how to control the itch at night unless what I am writing is not clear.

3 years ago 90% of my body was covered in eczema. I tried a book about controlling eczema by keeping hands occupied, using a counter and using steroid creams (think it is called the Eczema Solution). Found it never worked for me due to the intensity of the itching and the length of time for the itching to pass. Instead I got tired hands from clicking the stupid counter so much and then after 1/2 an hour of clicking, I had a good long scratch!

I threw the book away and went on a journey of self discovery. Today I have a little insignificant eczema (down to about 1-2%) but it is all under control. There are environmental factors that we need to do detective work to understand what is promoting the itch but there are also factors that are overlooked such as the following.

Some things I learned:
1. If say an hour after applying your prescribed moisturising cream/emollient you are itchy, find another emollient. I found having stopped using mine (ran out and the pharmacy didn't have any more) and using something else the itching was not so intense. My creams/emollient never caused my skin to itch immediately and I always thought it was because of the hard water area that am in that caused the itchiness. I was wrong! This has to be sorted first (assuming you already have a nearly dust free environment)

2. When the skin has been badly damaged - continually and constantly moisturise. At one point during the day, this was every 15-30 mins and every time I woke up at night (about 4-5 times from scratching). You will be able to reduce the moisturising when the skin returns to a better condition. I now moisturise with a regular cosmetic cream 2 times a day.

3. Sleep is REALLY important. 2 hormones are manufactured and released into our bodies when our bodies are in a state of rest that help infections and skin damage to heal. I used to sleep on average between 4-6 hours. I now get a more regular 8 hour beauty sleep most of the time. My skin feels rested when I have had a good sleep. I used to knock myself out with antihistamines as well as daily shake out and vacuum all bedding and surrounds to stop those nasty dust mites infesting my bed. I have reduced the "room cleaning" to about 3 times a week and still daily sun out my bedding. Click here to see my research on the sleep hormones.

4. Drink more water. I used to survive on a 2-3 mugs of water a day. I now drink at least a litre and also drink a little more before playing sport. My sweat rarely causes me to itch anymore when playing sport.

5. Sunlight has helped my skin to heal from the scratch damage but so has taking a small dosage of vit D3 thru winter. This is not any vit D. D3 is the vitamin that is produced when our skins are exposed to sunlight and again is used in cell repair. However beware about over dosing on vit D. The best for me is going out for a run and getting some natural rays.

Timings:
- time it took me to begin feeling less itchy results - days that turned into weeks
- time it took my skin to feel smooth - 1-2 months
- time it took my skin to look normal - 4-5 months


Conclusion:
Sorting moisturisers/sleep/water hydration are the top 3 changes that I would recommend to everyone who suffers from Eczema. After that environmental factors and any food sensitivities will become more obvious and anything you thought was causing it may have just been coincidental.

We can't rid our bodies of eczema and I do get symptoms appearing every now and then but I now know with certainty that we can control the source of it. The only thing that the docs can help you with are the symptoms but these are NOT long term solutions. If you do not sort out what is causing you to itch, be warned that the doctors' solutions are just temporary.

Hope this helps someone here because my skin is so much more normal than it has been for nearly 30 years of my life and you don't have to read my book to get it sorted! err no I have not written a book - just a blog :-).

Eczema On Hands

I am responding to someone's posted query about eczema on their hands:

i have eczema on my my hands im not sure what food causes it or how to stop eating that which provokes it but i have two questions

1. what foods did you cut out,and did it go on your blood group?

2. does exfoliating help? beacuse my hands seem beter after moisturising but now is flaky??


Firstly I am not a doctor so what ever advice you take from my blog is from observations about healing myself. Not all eczema conditions are the same.

I had eczema from my face and scalp to my ankles. Thankfully the palms of my hands and under my feet did not have eczema.

Focused Areas with Eczema
To me eczema in concentrated areas of your body such as only on the hands or on the feet could mean other things other than food and sleep. For example a friend had eczema on his foot (that's what the doc told him). I observed he always had socks on. I told him to try to air out his feet. His condition improved when he began to walk around in sandles and let his feet breathe!

So perhaps the eczema on your hands could be either from:
a) chemicals that you are using - e.g. soap, dishwashing, shampoo, etc
b) excessive washing of your hands
c) dust
d) or just plain stress. I have noticed people who have eczema on their hands scratch it more intensely when they are getting emotionally stressed or tired.

Food and Eczema
For me, I identified food as being part of my problem because my condition is widespread. I do like eating junk food (crisps, biscuits) and plenty of it especially in the job that I do. If you want to try this, then perhaps you might try excluding cooked oils first which will include meat! I also cut out eating most fruits for a good long while as I observed that I was sensitive to fruits like kiwi, peaches and cherries. That's why the raw veggie diet was convenient for me and is one I return to when my skin feels it wants to be itchy. It has worked for me but certainly has taken a while to prove itself.

Exfoliating and Eczema
I wash with salt and don't use soap. In the latter healing stages of my skin, I have definitely found exfoliating with salt has helped. Only because if I didn't exfoliate the dry flaky skin, I'd either pick or scratch it off instead. I'd then apply loads of moisturising creams/emollients which the skin would be able to receive better without the interference and obstruction of skin flaking off.

Do note when my skin was raw and sore, applying salt straight on the skin felt like it was burning it and then made it even itchier!!! Using salty water was easier when my skin was really bad.

Moisturising and Eczema
This is an important step and the amount you apply depends on how dry your skin becomes.

Good luck to you and hope you are able to find the root of the problem of the eczema affecting your hands. Do let us all know if you find a total cure!

My Friendly Advice to First Steps

I saw some friends today and was sad to see that one of them has a worsened eczema condition that has had side effects on her physical health. On talking about actions that I have taken to dramatically improve my conditions, it became apparent that there were similar things that were affecting both of us. The difference is, is that I became determined to do something about it.

My dear friend who I think is a wonderful humble person has put everyone and everything before her own health. We have chat before in the past years, but now this has become really obvious. How to let go of trivialities, and make oneself a priority to get better at least for the sake of her husband, kids and family.

It is a hard mental game but sometimes for our own physical health we have to, or otherwise scratch ourselves to the grave.

My dear dear friend please sort out:

1. By the end of next week: Your home helper so that you can concentrate on helping yourself. No more procrastinations.

2. Now:

a) Moisturise your skin much more regularly. With your skin condition, I would have cleaned out a 500g tub of emoillient plus a softening cream after 2 weeks! I was applying the moisturisers ALL the time every waking moment......that included when I found I woke up during the night because I was scratching. It is expensive, but you are worth it!

b) Your sleep patterns. Get yourself back into the habit of sleeping! There is a time when sleep wants to come, note the time and look at going to bed closer to that time. Forget everything else. The web has a number of sites as how to overcome insomnia. Your sleep is priority. Here is what I found out about how sleep helps to heal: http://skinurghs.blogspot.com/2008/12/sleepless-itch.html

I use exercise to help me sleep better. Short term you might consider using a strong anti-histamine that will make you sleep or a sleeping pill - best to get advice from the doc.

3. Once you've started getting your sleep under control, consider the food you eat. You have indicated that you are sensitive to foods, then don't eat the ones and the foods related to that group! Research on the web what food groups they are under.

4. Everything else we have discussed.

All my hugs and positive energy to you that you will want to do something about your condition now and no more excuses about why you can't. If you don't try you will never know if you can be better.

So make the life change and improve your eczema!