Help me not be sad - Atarax or Hydroxyzine

[eastkygal]

We have battled DD's severe eczema since she was 6 months old. We have seen several docs... I've researched extensively... Tried everything (mostly natural remedies and homeopathics)... Seen a naturopath. Finally, we took her to the allergist today. This allergist was recommended to me by crunchy mamas, and he was very understanding, informed, and kind. He did not discount or criticize me for believing that immunizations were the trigger for DD's allergies, and for me stopping them. He is a breastfeeding advocate.
Anyway, DD is allergic to dairy (as we suspected from elimination diet), allergic to our dog (was the worst), mold (our house is 108 years old and would be impossible to eliminate the mold from), and dust mites. She has chemical sensitivity (which we knew). We've dealt with the dairy. It's going to take some time for us to find a new home for our 9 year old dog (whom we've had since puppyhood), but that will have to be something we do. We do plan to move, but that too will take awhile. The doc prescribed Atarax (Hydroxyzine) to help control her itching. I've researched it and it is used commonly for this purpose, yet it is also a anti-anxiety/sedative. The pharmacist said some get used to it and some don't. We also got a cream. I'm desperate to help my DD. She is miserable and can hardly sleep at night - even when the eczema looks better. We get comments from strangers wondering what is wrong with her. I just hate for her to be drowsy. I know the stuff is for use off and on as needed for symptoms. I'm sad and hopeful at the same time. I'm ready to go this route, but I'm sooo sad about it. Please help me not to feel like I'm doing something bad and good at the same time.

[momofthree771]

I don't know which meds are better, but I just wanted to say that I think every mother goes thru this. My oldest ds has asthma and I HATE the fact that he needs his meds every night or he can't breathe. If natural things weren't working then don't feel bad. You did what you could and hopefully dd will out grow it...my ds's eczema is much, much better. I remember those days of sleepless nights and bleeding skin. Hang in there!!!

[kjbrown92]

Somehow I just lost my whole post. I'll be more succinct this time.

Since the dog is probably the quickest, I would work on that the hardest. It's possible that by removing 1 out of the 3 everyday allergens, your daughter will be able to handle the others better. And remember even after the dog goes, the dander takes another couple months to be removed completely from the house (even with cleaning/scrubbing).

Have you tried a regular antihistamine? They make non-drowsy ones of those.

Anyway, I would pick a drug and try it, while trying very hard to find a new home for the dog (since that will be quicker than readying a house for sale). And maybe you'll find that those two things will allow you to stay in the house with the mold/dust. Every house, no matter how new is going to have dust and mold. Our house, which we had built, is 14 years old, and the north side is covered in mold. And my DD has a dust mite allergy as well. There are other things you can do (hardwood floors instead of carpeting, roller shades instead of dust-collecting miniblinds and draperies, no stuffed animals in the room, encasing the mattress and pillows with allergen covers, etc.) short of moving. Air purifier in her room would probably help as well.

I know it's hard to get rid of an animal. It turned out DH was allergic to dogs as well (found out after we got 3 Dobermans). It turns out he can tolerate an American Hairless Terrier, so there's hope that your daughter someday could have a pet. But not now while she needs to heal.

Good luck.

[WC_hapamama]

If it reassures you any, my oldest son took atarax nightly for about 3 years. It worked well for him. It's value is really more for it's sedative properties... kept him from clawing himself raw as he was falling asleep. His eczema was very severe though. His dermatologist at one point wanted us to try doxepin, which I said absolutely not to.

Atarax did not work well with my daughter... made her hyper and even itchier.

What helped my daughter the most were wet wraps. We'd apply meds and moisturizer straight out of the bath (blot dry first), then wrap her arms and hands in wet gauze and then cover with a layer of dry gauze, then put cotton PJs over that. I know people who just used a damp pair of cotton pjs under a dry pair for eczema on the torso.

[eastkygal]

Thanks for the responses. We took Atarax last night at the smallest dose first. She stayed up over an hour afterward, so I don't believe it made her drowsy, but DD fights sleep so... However, I only saw her scratching once in her sleep on a spot on her face where we can't put her new cream. This morning there were no signs of new scratching! She sleep through the night, which is very rare for her because of the itching and nightsweats. This may actually work... I so pray it is worth it all.

[weddell]

Dd has used atarax at night for over a year now. I think it helps with her scratching. We also put socks over her hands to keep her from hurting herself in her sleep. Those two things I think have helped keep down the secondary infections that she was getting from so much broken skin. Our allergist said that the atarax was the LAST eczema medicine we should give up. We have been trying to use fewer and fewer steroid creams on her skin as she has gotten better, but he said to keep with the atarax longer since it had the fewest potential side effects.

[caedmyn]

If you're still up to looking for new solutions, you might look into food chemical sensitivities if you haven't already. My DD's eczema was caused by naturally occurring food chemicals called amines. www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info www.plantpoisonsandrottenstuff.com

[Wugmama]

My heart aches for you and I hope we don't end up in the same boat. My dd is approaching 6 months and we've tried so many things, and so many different types of practitioners for help. I am currently on day 11 of a really strict elimination diet, and she is on about day 5 of topical steroids (again) and looks so much better. But she is almost clawing herself to death at night as well.

s

~Tracy

[PeonyJen]

I have a bloody, oozy, not-sleeping baby, and I've never heard of atarax. Good stuff to know...
It's nice to find other mamas dealing with this crap. Makes me want to start a local support group.

[karin95]

What a rough situation - *hugs*.
we had something very similar where our son had oozy, gross eczema and ended up CAP-RAST testing positive to milk, soy, eggs, wheat, peanuts, most tree nuts, cats and dogs.
We had 2 cats that were our first children, to say the least. Now they're with my partner's mother. One of the saddest days of my life, when i had to drop them off.

I've never heard of Atarax. Our allergist prescribed a different anti-histamine, Zertec, but it made him a zombie and didn't seem to help at all. I didn't like that we'd have to give it to him constantly in order for it to work at all.

What worked for us was a TED (we started out eating 6 things, total), triple-antibiotic twice/day on the oozy parts, and 1% OTC hydrocortisone twice/day.
We also did wet wrapping on his arms/legs/body for a while and that seemed to eliminate the eczema in those places. We don't even use steroid there anymore - just on his face, where we couldn't wetwrap.

Hopefully you'll find a way for your babe to be comfortable.

[mclisa]

Don't forget the dust mites! You need to get an allergy cover for her pillow and matress. Adults can get away with just a pillow cover, but my kids move all over their beds so we are doing both.

I found that Claire does the best with Zyrtec after trying atarax and claritin. We do the 10 mg chewables cut in half.

[tla34]

It was so good to stumble across this thread. My 5 year old dd has been taking hydroxyzine faithfully for 1 yr now. No matter how much the pharmacists and doctors assure me that it is not addictive and there is no harm to it, I still feel horrible that this is the only way she gets any sleep.
We eliminated all dyes and most preservitives from her diet and that made a remarkable difference in her daytime behavior. But the poor thing still thrashes and makes horrible noises all night long if I do not give her the med before bed. It was nice to read the posts of other moms who have been using it for long periods of time and all is well.

[Abylite]

Zyrtec comes in a liquid form and I just started it a week ago for DS...he "seems" to sleep a bit better....every 2-3 hours instead of more often. I keep him swaddled at night (to prevent clawing....)....

I'm bummed to be going through this too....

eliminated alot from my diet....I'm hungry all the time.

Good luck mamas

[SDHotMama]

Hello! I am new to this board. I share your concerns, misgivings, and hope.

My son has moderate eczema that has been progressively getting worse these last 3months. We've tried all sorts of natural soaps, creams, detergents, etc. I was very reluctant to give my now 6-month old son any pharmaceuticals, but he is so miserable at night with scratching. I took him to urgent care today and saw an allergist/immunologist, who prescribed atarax and triaminicilone (?). He also had a blood draw for allergy testing, but only a quarter of the blood needed was drawn. I am not looking forward to bringing him back.

Good luck!

[Abylite]

Hello...just curious if the atarax is still working? How is your DC????

[WC_hapamama]

Originally Posted by SDHotMama

Hello! I am new to this board. I share your concerns, misgivings, and hope.

My son has moderate eczema that has been progressively getting worse these last 3months. We've tried all sorts of natural soaps, creams, detergents, etc. I was very reluctant to give my now 6-month old son any pharmaceuticals, but he is so miserable at night with scratching. I took him to urgent care today and saw an allergist/immunologist, who prescribed atarax and triaminicilone (?). He also had a blood draw for allergy testing, but only a quarter of the blood needed was drawn. I am not looking forward to bringing him back.

Good luck!

That's a pretty standard course of treatment. Pretty much the same one my oldest son was on at that age.

Once you get over the hump and get most of the eczema cleared up, you end up using the meds less often. My kids, who once had severe eczema, now only use topical meds in short bursts for flares.