The Eczema Tribe - Page 20

[eternityi2i]

Originally Posted by mahinas_mommy

Thanks, eternity, for telling me about the bumps on your DS. Our sound different though, because they go away on their own, and never get very big. I've had them on me too, and I'm fairly confident that I don't have staph. Hmmm...very interesting all the stuff that can happen to our skin!

Oh thats good, my DS also has red bumps without any white all over his skin which only went away after 2 months when the dr gave him zyrtec. I dont like giving him lots of meds but it hasnt come back since then so we havent needed any more zyrtec

[mum2be]

mahinas mommy-That's exactly what I have all over my hands. The white bumps are what itch like crazy and they eventually open up and ooze stuff if you scratch them. Then it gets all dry. They itch, sting and are so painful! If you find anything that works, let me know!

Good luck

[mahinas_mommy]

mum2be-
I'm so sorry that you're suffering from the same bumps, but it's comforting to know that someone else has the same thing. One more question-do your bumps have white centers, or clear blister-type things. I get the clear blister things on my hands (between my fingers) but these new white ones I hadn't seen before.
UGH!!! Isn't there a magic spell that will just make them go away?!?!

[mum2be]

I get both-clear blisters and white bumps. The white bumps seem to be the worst though as far as itching and pain. I am at the point where I can not put my hands in water at all. I have to wear gloves in the shower even. It's not fun!

[RiceMomma]

I have eczema too. I used to just get little patches on my hands that didn't really bother me, then this summer, I just broke out all over on my hands, arms, chest, neck and face. It would just ooze, itch, then dry up and hurt. It was horrible. I was seriously ill- couldn't take care of my kids. I tried a billion different things- I went on a elimination diet, tried a chinese doc (he couldn't give me herbs because I'm nursing.) I was desperate. I finally got a steroid shot and cream. Not the route I'd like to go, but I have to function! The eczema is under control now, I am still using the steriod cream.

Eczema is more then just dry skin, as most of you I'm sure know. It is an immune system malfunction. They allergy tested me and no foods came up, but I tested very allergic to ragweed, mold, grass and dog dander. My symptoms started when weather turned warm, so i guess it could be the pollen. The really weird part is that I have no respiratory symptoms. So I'm trying Claritin too, to see if it will control the allergy.

We recently took a trip to the beach. We were there for 3 days, and my eczema totally cleared up. No ragweed or grass blowing in from the ocean.

I wish there was some way to stop my body from freaking out. Has anybody had success with a raw diet? It sounds very healthy.

I was studying the chinese medical model, the whole yin/yang thing, and illness is the body being out of balance and how they treat illness with disease. They say eczema is "too much heat" in the body. they talked about eating cooling foods, and lots of raw foods, sprouts and very little animal products. They also recommending putting raw honey on it. I can't remember what else, but it was interesting.

Just wanted to share.

[mahinas_mommy]

Well, we're still here, still fighting off the eczema, or whatever is causing it from our insides!
I bought us both a multivitamin, an immune booster for DD, and probiotics for both of us.
Also, lotion with canendula (sp?) in it for both of our use.

The actual scaly, flaky eczema is healing, so now we're just dealing with the bumps on DD. She says it's not itching as much, so I'm hoping we're on a slow natural road to recovery.
If all of this doesn't work, we'll start elimating things in our diet. Fun times!

[mahinas_mommy]

RiceMomma-
That Chinese diet thing sounds interesting! I am going to have to look into it. I really think that both mine and my DD's eczema is seasonal and allergy related. I go through the same cycle everytime the seasons change, and I noticed that she would get dry skin, but she never broke out with the bumps and full-blown eczema.
Luckily, it doesn't seem to bother her as much as it bothers me to look at her poor little body!
I'm going to start reading the "healing the gut" thread too, because I want to make sure that I fix whatever is causing our insides to be unhealthy so we can try to avoid another seasonal flare-up.
Anyone else been trying anything interesting?
Also, what's the consensus on taking sea salt, baking soda, etc. baths? I notice that they really seem to help DD's skin while she's in the bath, and slightly after, but then even with tons of moisturizer, the dryness comes right back.
Alrighty, well I'm going to quit rambling. Thanks for everyone's comments in here. I've learned so much!

[BusyMommy]

Originally Posted by RiceMomma

We recently took a trip to the beach. We were there for 3 days, and my eczema totally cleared up. No ragweed or grass blowing in from the ocean.


I was studying the chinese medical model, the whole yin/yang thing, and illness is the body being out of balance and how they treat illness with disease. They say eczema is "too much heat" in the body. they talked about eating cooling foods, and lots of raw foods, sprouts and very little animal products. They also recommending putting raw honey on it. I can't remember what else, but it was interesting.

Just wanted to share.

fyi: 1. Ds' eczema entirely goes away at the beach.
2. re: heat, we use sulphur to break a flare-up--it works to cool his system
3. I put honey all over his legs & covered w/gauze after a horrible break out and it cleared overnight

[mahinas_mommy]

Regarding the honey-what kind of honey? Does it have to be raw?
TIA!

[mum2be]

I've had another breakout

My hands are getting worse and I think it's spreading to the back of my hands and down to my wrist. So far it's only stayed on my fingers and palms of my hands.
Also, my ear lobes/outside of ears have been itching like crazy. It feels like eczema type itchiness, but no signs of really dry skin there yet.
And, last but not least, I have it all under my eyes again. It just appeared overnight. I had this during the first 3/4 of my pregnancy too, but after I eliminated a lot of food from my diet (I did a blood test to find the culprits), it totally cleared up. Now it's back. I haven't eaten anything new or different.
My eyes are watery and red and my nose feels slightly blocked up. I'm thinking it's environmental allergies. But how do I find out what?

One thing that is getting to me is the fact that I am *hopefully* having a home waterbirth in the next week or so. I won't be able to put my hands in the tub because I can't get them wet. It just makes them 100 times worse! How weird is it going to be to wear rubber gloves with elastics at the wrists to keep the water out?

I am getting hopeless here! There has to be someone I can see who can tell me WHY this is happening...

[cobluegirl]

owie...that sounds miserable.

I would suggest seeing someone who practices applied kineisology to test for further allergies..they are typically more accurate than bloods tests.

(((HUGS)))

[wryknowlicious]

Hi!

Just found this thread - My DD Isabella is 2 1/2 and has had eczema since the begining of last summer , a bit after she turned 1.

At first irt was just some very annoying dry patches on her arm. they were circular and ridgey so at 1st we thoiguth they were ringworm. But the Dr. nixed that idea.
He didn;t think much of them and prescibed some stupid cream that just dried her out really really bad and made matters worse.
By the end of the summer they had gone away.

Well this march they came back and are here to stay.

scaley red itchy p[athes around her elbows and knees... also some rough pathes on her chest and sides. I pray those don;t flare up as well.

Our new Ped had no trouble diagnosing it as eczema (i guess the 1st one was just an idiot as he looked at them 4 times nad could never give me an answer).
He wanted to give me a steriod cream butI refused and have just been lotioning her up daily and treating her with an OTC baby eczema cream i found at the grocery store.

Lately BagBalm has worked really realy well for her latest flare ups. I covered the patches with it and then put her dad's socks on her knees an d arms and the next day they were completly gone.
yeah. makes me want to buy stock in BagBalm. I've had this jar of bagbalm since I was 13.... if it works for cows udders sao well don;t see why I didn't think to use it on Isabella till 3 weeks ago.

anyway - I am just starting to really do research into this as I now have a diagnosis and it;s obviously not some passing thing.
looking forward to reading more in this thread.


oh - and i notice alot of "triggers" mentioned.
we have no pets and don't eat dairy.
Isabella weaned (I lost supply) while I was pregnant so she doesn;t have breastmilk any more buyt I am considering expressing some to rub on her "owies".

[EBG]

Originally Posted by mum2be

I've had another breakout

My hands are getting worse and I think it's spreading to the back of my hands and down to my wrist. So far it's only stayed on my fingers and palms of my hands.
Also, my ear lobes/outside of ears have been itching like crazy. It feels like eczema type itchiness, but no signs of really dry skin there yet.
And, last but not least, I have it all under my eyes again. It just appeared overnight. I had this during the first 3/4 of my pregnancy too, but after I eliminated a lot of food from my diet (I did a blood test to find the culprits), it totally cleared up. Now it's back. I haven't eaten anything new or different.
My eyes are watery and red and my nose feels slightly blocked up. I'm thinking it's environmental allergies. But how do I find out what?

One thing that is getting to me is the fact that I am *hopefully* having a home waterbirth in the next week or so. I won't be able to put my hands in the tub because I can't get them wet. It just makes them 100 times worse! How weird is it going to be to wear rubber gloves with elastics at the wrists to keep the water out?

I am getting hopeless here! There has to be someone I can see who can tell me WHY this is happening...

This is exactly what happened to me. Fingers, hands, ear lobes, during pregnancy... and stayed after that. Thought I was allergic to soap, then foods, then I learned it's due to candida overgrowth. Which makes sense as I did a lot of abx for UTI and GBS plus I had a high-carb low-fat diet. BAD.

It was extremely itchy after eating sugary stuff like donuts and chocolate.
So I've been tying to heal my gut (seen the thread?) since DEcember. it's so much better but still not gone. I think it'll be a long battle. I have probably had candida for more than 10 years. I just didn't know all my sysmptoms pointed to that.
So no sugar, dairy and grains for me.... :-( Lots of enzymes, probiotics and garlic and animal fats.
but it's worth it. Right now I have only minor rashes on my fingers and rarely itchy. I can handle water and even non-natural soap in moderation. I only use coconut oil to moisturize after I have to wash hands a few times (diaper duties) Before the diet I could not put my hands in water, had the worst time changing diapers, rubber gloves made me itchy, I used to moisturize which gave me staph infections.
I have high hopes that I'll be able to kill off the fungi which is not really a fun guy to live with.

[Star]

Hi everybody. My daughter has really bad eczema. I decided to put her on an elimination diet and the first target was milk/dairy. It's now been 3 weeks today and her eczema is still there - infact it has gotten so much more worse. I had thought it was her body detoxifying, but I'm pretty sure I read on this thread or another one that 3 weeks is the amount of time to wait, and if it's still there, to move on. The thing is, I haven't changed any other part of her diet, except subsituting the milk/dairy (I HAVE to have a exact substitue for daycare) with soy milk and soy cheese slices. My question is - should I keep her on the milk/dairy elimination longer? Or should I try soy next since that's the only change? Or just book an appointment with an allergist? ANY help is appreciated!

[dillonandmarasmom]

Hi all,

I am finally posting to this thread. I have had dry skin and now ecsema all my life. My mom says I was born with dry skin
In my 20's I worked in a deli and on came the serious ecsema. First on my fingers and the knuckles on the backs of my hands, then my inner elbows, behind the knees...
now it is on my inner thighs. It has been particularly bad this summer. I have had really itchy nad painful hands for about 4 months and the inner thighs flared up about 1-2 months ago. I have been using Ucerin lotion (though not very regularly) and that seems to relieve the itching/pain a bit, but I haven't really done much else. In my 20's I was given TAC cream, but that stuff is really bad.

So, here i am, posting in desparation. I, too, have a hard time in water. SOme days, even putting on gloves to wash or do dishes hurts. I haven't tried any diet elimination. I am wondering where to start. I haven't had chance to read thorugh this thread or anything else to help me. So, any suggestions on where to start??
I am also wondering about the rash my 17 mo. dd has on her mouth/chin area (sometimes with little satellite bumps on her cheeks). She nurses and it seems overnight it dries up and looks better, but after ea day of nursing nad drool in this heat, it looks awful. People always let me know she has a bit of a dirty mouth I have the joy of saying, no, that's a rash...)

Thanks for this thread. I will try to read it more when i ge the chance.

Itchless painfree days to you all!

[bluets]

Originally Posted by Star

Hi everybody. My daughter has really bad eczema. I decided to put her on an elimination diet and the first target was milk/dairy. It's now been 3 weeks today and her eczema is still there - infact it has gotten so much more worse. I had thought it was her body detoxifying, but I'm pretty sure I read on this thread or another one that 3 weeks is the amount of time to wait, and if it's still there, to move on. The thing is, I haven't changed any other part of her diet, except subsituting the milk/dairy (I HAVE to have a exact substitue for daycare) with soy milk and soy cheese slices. My question is - should I keep her on the milk/dairy elimination longer? Or should I try soy next since that's the only change? Or just book an appointment with an allergist? ANY help is appreciated!

our visit to the allergist was useless. allergy tests aren't reliable until a child reaches at least 5, sometimes even 9 yrs of age. i didn't start to have success until we started seeing a naturopath. in your area, naturopaths are likely licensed so you can probably get waivers for daycare with a note from the ND (and probably an MD as well, but they don't generally know much about nutrition). NDs aren't licensed here, so i have to get my MD on board as well.

[Punchy Kaby]

Originally Posted by Star

Hi everybody. My daughter has really bad eczema. I decided to put her on an elimination diet and the first target was milk/dairy. It's now been 3 weeks today and her eczema is still there - infact it has gotten so much more worse. I had thought it was her body detoxifying, but I'm pretty sure I read on this thread or another one that 3 weeks is the amount of time to wait, and if it's still there, to move on. The thing is, I haven't changed any other part of her diet, except subsituting the milk/dairy (I HAVE to have a exact substitue for daycare) with soy milk and soy cheese slices. My question is - should I keep her on the milk/dairy elimination longer? Or should I try soy next since that's the only change? Or just book an appointment with an allergist? ANY help is appreciated!

Soy is also high on the list of allergens. It could be that she is sensitive to soy and when you gave her so much more in her diet her body reacted. Poor thing! I am about to book an appt with an applied kinesiologist, sometimes they can be helpful with allergy related problems.

[cobluegirl]

I agree with the applied kinesiologist...they can be helpful so long as they practice the allergy testing. my chiro does ak for sports injuries etc..but not the allergies... ..I was totally bummed..

[wryknowlicious]

UPDATE:

BagBalm is working very very very well as a treatment.
So far almost all of the redness is gone, itchyness is about completely elliminated, and some of the rough but not red yet patches have lost roughness.

It stains clothes and is pretty thick - but it;s working and providing Isabella some major relief.
I am rubbing some in 2x's a day plus laying it on thick at night and covering the areas with pads or toeless socks.

[Star]

Originally Posted by bluets

in your area, naturopaths are likely licensed so you can probably get waivers for daycare with a note from the ND

What would the waiver be for? Sorry, I don't understand.

Originally Posted by wryknowlicious

BagBalm is working very very very well as a treatment.

Where would I find BagBalm? My daughter's is getting so bad that it's now bleeding pretty bad when she scratches.