Don't want more drugs so what do we do now?

[ajsmom]

Ds, 4.5 has the rash. It began when he began to go outside when he was 15 months. It was pretty limited with flare ups on wrists, a bit on the elbow crease and behind the knees. No total body stuff.

Last summer he had a huge flare up which I thought was related to poison oak that he may have touched on dh's clothing or shoes. They both looked horrible but eventually healed.

Beginning in January, visiting cold, dry Michigan for 3 weeks, he flared up big time but it never went away just hung on in areas.

He was better but we finally went to the dermatologist to find out what the cause was. The nurse practitoner asked to see his arms then asked what I was willing to give to ds drug-wise. I agreed to Zyrtec and a hydracortisone cream .05% for 2 weeks. One week into this he flared up big time and even has a rash all over his torso.

Today when we went in she told me to keep up the Zyrtec and gave us a prescription for a higher dose steroid cream. She also gave us cortisone oil spray samples.

I stopped the drugs last night because they have done nothing to help him and I am very suspicious about increasing his dosage.

We have seen a homeopath who diagnosed sulphur. It doesn't help keep his skin moist so we are using calendula ointment mixed with unpetroleum jelly. We trim his nails and he gets omega oils and acidophilis every day. I have not noticed any reaction to foods. He gets very itchy from freshly mowed lawns.

Here's the thing, whatever the trigger is he really only scratches when he sweats or has a bath (which he now hates) the warm heat.

We are going to Maui in a week and I just want him to enjoy being in the salty ocean - he loves to swim - without it hurting so much.

Any insight would be very much appreciated!

[~*max*~]

My ds is using sulfur for his allergies as well. It takes a while to see improvement, at least a month. Have you looked into possible food allergies as a cause? The book, "Is This Your Child?" by Doris Rapp helped us tremendously. When my ds has an outbreak after baths, while his skin is still damp, I rub on some jojoba oil. That seems to help a lot w/the dryness and itching. It is also all natural. My homeopath advised against hydrocortisone creams, stating that medications that inhibit the rash push it back into the body. When this happens it often manifests itself in other illnesses, particularly asthma.

[Najiasaidi]

Oh, please don't use the hydrocortizone or any other of the creams prescribed by your dermatologist. We suffered an entire year before successfully overcoming our son's rash through the help of a good naturopath. He healed completely once we eliminated dairy, surgar, eggs and yeast. We had seen everybody from dermatologists to homeopaths but nothing helped. The sulfur didn't help us either. The use of cortizone promoted hair growth on some of our son's patches. We brought him relieve from bathing him in baking soda in not so hot water. Our son, loved the water before his skin condition but I think warm water was hurting his scrathing patches. We also used tea tree/ or evening primrose oil. Good luck!!

[ajsmom]

No more drugs...

We are done with the drugs. I see no point since they didn't help, even for a short time, and no one knows what the long term effects are anyway.

We just bought Jojoba Oil so we'll do that. What are your thoughts about oatmeal baths? My husband thinks they helped and my SIL liked them when she was a kid for her eczema. Ds does not like them right now but he hates baths currently too.

I plan to read Is this your Child after I finish Easy to Love, Difficult to Discipline - silly title but a great book. I haven't noticed a difference with ds on dairy, wheat, sugar or yeast. Eggs made his vomit when he was little and he doesn't like them so we know that. I still think it's related to dry air, stress - that's what my SIL and an afflicted friens tell me, and plants. I have reduced the sugar and wheat intake but it's pretty hard to completely eliminate.

He woke up 2-3 times last night scratching and it is at these times I am at a loss because he just scratches away until he falls back to sleep. He sweats and this wakes him up itchy...

[~*max*~]

Poor little guy! About the baths, others may know more, but aren't long soaks in the tub contraindicated for eczema? I thought I read that somewhere. That could be why he hates baths - it makes him feel worse. Perhaps a quick shower or in and out bath? For sleeping, what is he wearing & sleeping on? There could be some allergens in the bed, bedding or PJ's. 100% cotton for PJ's & bedding is best. How old is the mattress? Maybe try one of those allergy covers for the mattress. Just some thoughts after reading your last post.

[ajsmom]

He has a bath once a week but loves going to the pool. I put unpetroleum jelly on before and after swimming, it's great. He sleeps in cotton on cotton sheets. Under the sheets is a wool blanket that soaks up little spills and provides a cushion between the sheets and waterproof pad. His futon is untreated cotton with no core but we have a memory foam pad on it with a cotton covered waterproof pad. We use a down filled duvet, very light-weight with a cotton cover. He moves a lot in his sleep so he isn't always covered up.

We have no carpet in his room. We do have a cat who does not sleep in the room but is in the house. He isn't wheezy or sneezy. Just itchy!

[daekini]

Just wanted to mention that you often need to eliminate a food for 6 weeks to determine if it causes the allergic reaction.... severe eczema in my dd seems to be going away now that we've eliminated dairy...

[ajsmom]

Did she say sedative?

I happened to have my annual mole and freckle check with the dermatologist yesterday. She said that there was no root cause for eczema but that allowing kids to sleep through the night without scratching really helped so she thinks my son could use a sedative!!!!

I don't think so!

She did say that allergies were different and eliminating the source in that case does help.

Ds is already so much better than last week. Even though this bout spread to his torso he's scratching much less.

The doctor said tepid baths will help remove the sweat and skin so we are going to increase their frequency. Jojoba oil has been very helpful in speeding recovery.

[sarahariz]

baths, etc

A ten minute "hydrating" session once or even twice a day in warm water, after which you slather on the oil or lotion can help the dry skin. But in my experience, what really got rid of the ezcema on my dd was changing my diet (she is exclusively breastfed). I went on a strict elimination diet for about 8 weeks. At about 6 weeks was when her face really started to clear. I eliminated gluten, sugar, chocolate, eggs, dairy, tree nuts, nightshades, citrus, soy, and in terms of meats only ate turkey, chicken, lamb and game meat. I also was dedicated to taking good oils-Omega 3's and probiotics. I also gave dd probiotics once a day. Before my diet, even the 1% hydrocortisone didn't make the ezcema go away, it just kept it from exploding. Then we started going to an NMT practitioner. She prescribed Chinese pearl powder cream (made of crushed abalone shells) to use instead of the hydrocortisone and that stuff is amazing.

At this point, I think what really aggravates her is my eating too much of anything processed-white sugar, flour, and pasteurized diary. Some people think this could be related to yeast overgrowth. I'm not sure if it is that or just a build up of toxins. Her skin will look like it is going to break out, but now it goes away overnight.

Something you can do to relieve the itching at night is to sew the sleeves shut on his pjs. It is best if you turn them inside out so the seam will be on the inside of the pjs-then the most scratchy part is inside rather than out.

Good luck!

[ajsmom]

Thanks for the info - how does the pearl powder cream work? I can probably find some locally, we have lots of natural healing stores here.

It's interesting dealing with this with a baby vs. a 4 year old. When my son was scratching his cradle cap we put socks on him. now he will only wear certain pjs (with construction machines on them) right now and we cut all the cuffs off so they wouldn't bind so sewing them won't work. He also says he hates baths and does itch a lot when he comes out so we aren't bathing him every day.

He has a cold right now too so we've been up a lot at night coughing AND scratching.

But hey! this issue of Mothering has a great little article about treating eczema naturally...just in time.