An Interview and thus an overview

Ahh questions, questions, questions and a response for those who don't want to read back thru my blog.

Social life and Eczema
Eczema started with me in my young teenage years, first only a small area was affected and into my late teens spread on my face, neck an body. The docs were busy prescribing higher doses of cortisone which would appear to improve the skin, but really my skin was becoming addicted to cortisone in the pursuit to see "nice" looking skin.

I had scaley scabby skin, but never let that interfere with my social life, nor my sporting life. Growing up I realised that people had all sorts of hang ups. At A'Levels other slim gals would compare their body sizes against me, wishing to have my body size!!! Or they would comment about how much weight they've put on (they're slim!). Self-awareness is high on the agenda and skin disorders are rife amongst teenages - greasy skin, spots, dry skin, psorasis....and me with eczema. So I would just get the elephant out of the way and tell folks I had eczema and want that meant. Once that was out of the way, no one really cared.....well those that did kept on telling me not to scratch or hit my hand off my skin - which irritated me even more and made me scratch more vigourously.

I had to stop and not be forced to stop by someone else.

Eczema did not and has not stopped my social or sporting life because I did not allow it to.

Sport and Eczema
Sweat causes my eczema to become worst. On the eczema areas, this is because the skin is broken and becomes irritated. However have also found that during times of "low sleep" and "low hydration", the sweat can cause intense areas of itchiness. When am feeling that am going to be itchy during sport, I now take a quarter of an anti-histamine tablet before sport. When I have had good sleep and hydrated beforehand, there is none to low intensity of itchiness. Hydrating during sport is important to keep the itch at bay.

Winter and Eczema
The more active I am during winter, the eczema has a smaller area. This has probably to due with my skin being able to sweat out "stuff". Additionally I have been experimenting with taking 5000 iu vitamin D3. This appears to cause my skin, hair and nails to grow faster. Due to frostbite on my finger and it going necrotic, have increased the dosage to 10,000 iu + omega 3 oils. Probably throw in some ginger tea and gingko nuts to aid circulation.

My eczema toolkit contains some antihistamine and weak moisturing creams. Petroleum vaseline is no longer in my winter kit as it appears to aggrevate my skin.

Sleep and Eczema
We spend about 1/4 of our lives sleeping which is good for healing! Sleep deprivation (unfortunately I am a little bit of an insomniac) causes you to be stroppy and can cause the eczema to itch for no apparent reason.

With so much time in bed, clean and dust your room, to reduce dust mites. Sleep is really very beneficial. So if you find you're in that crazy lack of sleep due to itchiness, it is worth cleaning up your body (food and water) and taking a little antihistamine to help control the bad time. Once you're under control, ditch the antihistamine.

I don't like drugs, and have found a quarter of an antihistamine is sufficient as indicated above, especially a week before my period when my head does not appear to like sleeping!!!

Food and Eczema
When we have eczema, lots of different types of food can appear to cause the eczema to become itchy. When you clean up your body, those foods that appeared to cause the eczema to become more pronounced will have less of an effect. MSG, peanuts and peaches can still cause me a problem.

I cleaned up by eating raw, freshly grown veggies every day for a couple of months and fish. My skin cleared up totally and my local GP asked me what I did! I found I can now use seasame oil which once before would have appeared to irritate the skin on my throat!

I also do find herbal teas help to relax me if I am feeling itchy. Fennel is a favourite for me.

Holistic Approaches
Unfortunately I believe there are many GPs who are owned by the pharmaceutical companies. They are too fast to prescribe medicines when there are other ways to cure a disorder. During 2012, I had swollen fingers on my right hand and was prescribed anti-inflammatories. At the end of the year I was diagnosed with carpel tunnel syndrome (as well as restless leg syndrome) - more drugs and potential surgery. Thankfully a friend intervened and asked me to try massage therapy. This friend felt "blocked energy" from the shoulder down to the finger. After 2 weeks of massage therapy my fingers were no longer swollen. I returned to the neurosurgeon's clinic to have more tests. I no longer have carpel tunnel syndrome! My friend's details are here: Sarah Chevasse.

So look at your eczema problem more holistically before you start on the cycle of medicines and steroids. Change your life and begin to heal. I hope the above helps you discover what will work for you.

Fighting Winter with Vitamin D3 & Antihistamine

I think my skin loves the sunshine and dislikes winter.

During winter last year,  I took cod liver oil and primrose oil suppliments. However the arms, neck, face, legs and parts of the torso succumbed to eczema. Spring into Summer improved the skin greatly and nearly killed off the eczema. Was probably eating better but not sleeping better!

However back in the throes of winter, the inner elbows and neck have gone back to being eczematic. So am taking vitamin D3 (5000 IU) suppliments. There appears to be some improvement in the inner elbows and neck. Additionally am taking the next couple of weeks to sleep and allow skin repair. So let's see what happens.

Am taking a 1/3 of an antihistamine if it begins to itch during the night (a regular monthly occurence at the moment. Yes before that darn girly period!). This appears adequate to keep things under control so that I am not tearing out my skin.

Still moisturising with different moisturisers and have ventured back to other types of commerical creams that contain some parafin constituent. Skin seems to be okay with it all. It just doesn't like being clammy.

Hope you all are having success in discovering how to keep your eczematic skin under control.

Merry Christmas

Hard Water vs Soft Water or is it just Jetlag

Having been in a place with soft water for the last 2 weeks, it was interesting to observe that after a hot shower in hard water the eczema skin felt a little irritated. However this might be coupled with extreme tiredness from a long haul flight and perhaps the water was a little too hot!

Anyway whilst it is still in the 20s (degs C), am returning to having cold/luke warm showers.

There has been lots written about soft water helping eczema sufferers but from my point of view I have had great normal looking skin whilst still washing in hard water. So not sure about that.

4 days later:
Body has now nearly aclimitised and the hard water now has no effect on irritating the skin. Can only conclude that the supposition that soft water is better for eczema skin is questionable. In my case - no difference!

Sleep makes a difference

Little Niece Cleared Of Eczema

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 :-)

The Magic Cure For Eczema.....

....there is none but hard work to find out what your body is sensitive to and what seems to make it well.

As stated before in a previous post, steroid creams are a temporary relief. My little niece has had her steroid cream changed again but mother is starting to listen and make changes in her environment. The creams one eczema sufferer might respond well to will be different to what another eczema sufferer responds to. Just because one cream has helped one or two other sufferers, does not make it a cure for eczema.

So here is my cure for the moment and it appears that different parts of my body respond differently!

Legs/Torso:
The sunshine has cleared my legs/stomach of eczema thus makes me think that my body needs a higher quantity of the sunshine vitamin than other "ordinary" well-skinned folks.

Eyes:
At the end of last year I had a bout of conjunctivitis. This has cleared but caused eczema around the eyes. My own watery eyes seem to make the skin itch. Am now trying a cooled solution of boiled water + table salt to wipe around the eyes. It stings the skin but has appeared to dry up the skin. So will see if this works.

Neck:
The neck likes an intake of liquids (and I don't mean alcohol) thus dehydration through sweat and sport appear to to cause the itchy neck syndrome again. Am taking half an antihistamine to keep that under control in case water is scarce.

Arms:
The arms need sleep! I scratch when am tired and the recent bout of late nights have not helped.

In all cases, the body appears to respond well to herbal teas like fennel and the detox teas. So will keep drinking that. I am still moisturising my skin with off the shelf products. I do not believe expensive products are a cure. I've tried a lot of them already and am getting much better success doing the above to heal my skin.

So thank you to those that have offered me various skin products to try for free. I am looking to sort out the root of the cause of the eczema and not merely treat the symptoms to provide temporary relief.

The eczema has certainly cleared itself during the summer months. Now have to understand how to ensure it does not return during the winter months.

A Blast of Sunshine...

...Well there isn't any in the UK, so had an opportunity to apply some sunshine abroad!

It is amazing how some of the skin condition responds.

Whilst with the "discoid" skin condition, my skin felt clamy as if it was sweating and cold at the same time especially at night time under the covers. When the skin "sweat", the skin itched. Found talcum powder helped a little to keep the skin drier.

The blast of sunshine over 2 weeks seems to have dried up the skin condition and made it "fall off". Now for some of the deeper areas to be healed.

Come on Spring, make a better entrance into the UK!

Steroid Creams & Marketing Lies

Louise's comments:

"Did you know steroid creams can themselves be a cause for eczema type rashes?

Users typically treat a small patch with cortisone, only to find that it comes back after a week or two. This can lead to a spiral of addiction. Try natural methods for relief instead.

More info can be found at itsan.org. Itsan is a charity helping people who are suffering with steroid cream dependent eczema."

Thank you Louise for your comment. I totally agree! Thank you for the reminder. I admit after having clear skin and then seeing the eczema spreading up my body, I panicked and let the GP take control!

Steroid creams will give you temporary relief. They do not cure eczema. I believe steroid creams are a marketing ploy by the greedy pharmaceuticals. Basic marketing principles: create need, then you have a market. I am seeing this lie over and over again in industries (petrol cars, bagged vacuum cleaners, running shoes & diet!!!) I was in a Health Food shop today and a customer had asked for a specific product for a particular condition. The customer service/salesman told her that it appears that the product might not be effective from proof on the web. She bought something else, however the salesman's manager was not happy as this went against the principles of selling. The product is in the shop because we sell it and one has to sell what the customer has requested even though it might not be right because that customer will be back to purchase more in the belief the product was helping her.

I'm with the salesman on this occasion.

The only cure for eczema is to remove the irritant from one's environment. I became blaise with my diet; blaise with the amount of time I spent outside (my skin likes sunshine but like many I hate going outside in the winter months); blaise with my water drinking..... The only reward I have received is my body returning to the itch cycle although thankfully the skin is not flaking as badly as it once had as though I have patches that are very itchy, the whole body is mildly itchy (means I can tolerate it).

I have stopped using the steroid cream. The GP wanted me to wean of the steroid cream by first using it continuously, then every other day, then every 2 days, etc. I have done this before. The steroid cream did ease off the itching but the eczema returned once I had stopped using it.

This is to remind myself that using steroid creams is useless. It sucks you into believing, hoping that it will cure and then makes you step onto the treadmill of dependency! It brings short term relief but does not heal eczema. I wrote this many moons ago. I have just seen this on myself again and on a little niece whose mother is desperate to get her little daughter's eczema under control. GPs prescribed us both cortisone creams. The little one's eczema has got worst, so the GP prescribed a stronger cortisone. Have recommended to her mother to get her an allergy/sensitivity test.

Our greedy economics have integrated into all parts of our society. With the internet we can begin to unravel the lies corporates have got us believing! It is time to change our destructive economics.

Thanks for reading my rant.