It's always something bothering me

[kirbyultra]

This month's been nothin' but trouble and it's driving me insane.

First I had the longest cold that I've sustained in a long time. It wore me out!

Work has been miserable and more miserable. Just when I thought it could not get more horrific, it does.

Ups and downs with buns. Toby was shedding, he had a gut slowdown. Possibility of a 3rd bun and now I decided I wasn't going to go through with it.

Now my eczema is acting up and I am itchy ALL OVER. The fall this year in NY has taken it's sweet time deciding whether it wanted to be warm or cold. The turn of autumnal weather always drives my eczema crazy. First it was crazy warm, then it droppedto freezing cold, then it was warm, and now it is cold. I feel like instead of going through this change of weather flare-up once, I've done it now 3 or 4 times. AHHH! It's so itchy!!!!

I have to cut and file my nails down to stubs because I'm afraid I'll scratch myself up in my sleep (which I do a LOT!). If I scratch a bleeder, it takes my skin, esp on my hands, likeA MONTH to heal. I hate my skin, I hate eczema!!

Anyone else having seasonal eczema hell?

 

[Kohana]

I don't personally but I know my friend does. Do you have a special cream that works? My friend found one creamhelps relieve her itchiness and she said that it is the cream that works the best for her by far.

 

[kirbyultra]

I have an arsenal of creams that help take the edge off, but it never completely goes away when the weather changes like this time of year. Half my patience in my waking day goes to just keeping my hands from ripping my own skin off - it's such a beast of a skin condition.

 

[Kohana]

I bet I would go crazy if I had it! I don't know how you manage. Well I hope you start feeling better soon. If you are ever curious (if you haven't already tried it) it's called Dream Cream from Lush. It's a tad expensive but is supposed to be really good.

Here's the link in case you are interested:
http://www.lushusa.com/shop/products/body/hand-body-creams/dream-cream

 

[kirbyultra]

Thanks so much for posting that Nicole. I am willing to try anything people have testified to working on their eczema at least once - I am so desperate! Most times it does help to take the edge off things. It's just the worst this time of year. If I alternative different creams I find that my skin will continue to react to them. The longer I stay on one cream, the less effeective it seems to become. All of my creams so far are medicated or some type of herbal remedy.
I have done some crazy things including changing my diet, bathing in ~insert weird vegetable/herb/chunk of the Earth here~, sitting in the sun, not sitting in the sun, taking cool showers (not hot and not cold, not even warm)...

When it itches like a fiend, it just itches like a fiend. Blah!

 

[Kohana]

Yea I once had chicken pox really bad when I was younger, my mom basically had to tape mitts onto my hands to stop me from scratching. No amount of creams or funky baths seemed to help. I actually have a dozen or so holes/scars on my body from scratching them

That cream there is mostly made from organic materials. If you ever get a chance to try it let me know if it helps at all. I really hope it at least does something for you!

 

[Michaela]

I suffered from it really badly as a young child, thought I got rid of it until earlier this year when it flared up again.

I have it loads of places but right now it's awful on my left wrist and my right hand, and on the backs of both knees. I think I feel it starting on my eyelids too... The doctor gave me a steroid cream for it, which works very well, but obviously I don't want to overuse it. I am keeping it well moisturised too, and trying not to scratch. But what can I do to stop myself scratching it in my sleep? I woke up yesterday bleeding badly from scratching it really bad whilst asleep.

 

[BethM]

I've got eczema on my hands.

When I was a kid, it pretty much covered both hands, plus I had it on both feet. One year of high school, I also had it behind both ears. I used to get itchy red bumps on my back and chest from being wet (shower, pool, etc) for more than about a minute, too.

I no longer have it on my feet (or behind my ears), and it's not nearly as bad on my hands. Mine is made worse by the fact that I also have hyperhydrosis (excess sweating) in my hands. They're not sweaty all the time, but some days they're pretty bad. My eczema does much better when my hands are dry, vs. moisturized, and I think it's because they're moist more than they should be, from the sweating.
(I pretty much try to avoid touching people, I feel so gross all the time.)

This year has been pretty bad for me, especially the last couple of months. In the past few years, I've mostly gotten it between my fingers, down at the bottom of them. This year, it's also along the sides of my fingers, and on my right palm. I get very very itchy, and find myself scratching a lot. I have also found myself scrubbing at them with my plastic shower-sponge-thing. My hands then crack, and bleed a lot.

This year, I tried Eucerin lotion, I guess some people find that effective. I found that it helped with the itching, but the more I use it, the less it seems to help. I also use a prescription steroid cream, it is the only thing that seems to actually clear the eczema up. Unfortunately, it messes with my blood sugar something fierce, so I try to only use it when I absolutely need to. The skin where I use it seems thinner, too, from years and years of using this stuff. I would love to not use it anymore, but I haven't found anyting else that works.

My worst breakouts seem to be during the week. I think that, since I am moving around much more, and am under more stress, it causes my hands to sweat more, and irritates the eczema more. (My job is not stressful, but things like writing make my hands sweat. And I have to hand-write a lot of things at work. Ugh.)

 

[nermal71]

Not eczema, but I have psoriasis so I feel for ya hon

 

[PepnFluff]

I <3 Lemnis Fatty cream. I used to get eczema BAD BAD BAD and used to have to be slathered in cream then put I suit thing on to stop myself scratching and to keep them cream on.....My friend who has ezcema (like in hospital for it) her Dr gave her this advice - which she said is really effective.

recent medical research has shown that having a full bath with 1/2 cup of regular bleach[/b] added to the water really helps. It works to decrease the bacteria on the skin surface.
If the bath isn't full to the top, then of course you add less bleach[/b].

 

[kirbyultra]

PepnFluff wrote:

recent medical research has shown that having a full bath with 1/2 cup of regular bleach[/b] added to the water really helps. It works to decrease the bacteria on the skin surface.
If the bath isn't full to the top, then of course you add less bleach[/b].

You can't be serious...??

I thought eczema is easily aggravated... wouldn't this make it a lot worse?

 

[BethM]

kirbyultra wrote:

PepnFluff wrote:

recent medical research has shown that having a full bath with 1/2 cup of regular bleach added to the water really helps. It works to decrease the bacteria on the skin surface.
If the bath isn't full to the top, then of course you add less bleach.

You can't be serious...??

I thought eczema is easily aggravated... wouldn't this make it a lot worse?

Yeah, I don't think I'd be able to tolerate soaking in bleach water. When my eczema is bad, even normal, mild lotion stings and burns. I also can't use Purell, even when my skin isn't broken out, it's too irritating. (I do sometimes use Burt's Bees Witchhazel hand sanitizer. It's a spray, so I can use just a tiny amount, and it isn't sticky like the Purell.)

 

[kirbyultra]

I never used to be like this but I have in recent months/years developed a need to wash my hands much more often which totally doesn't help he eczema situation on my hands.

I used to nver even bother with lotion. Didn't believe in it. Then I developed eczema at age 20, ironically when I started working for my crazy firm at my crazy job. My eczema is def stress and weather related. I'm sure I had it when I was little too but it was never apparent or very annoying at all. I only started to explode into flare ups as an adult.

The only moisturizer I use long term and that I found has helped on most parts of my body is Cetaphil cream. I buy it at Costco for cheapest price per oz and I buy a whole tray, 12 jars, at a time. It is my miracle cream for 80% of my eczema hotspots. When I first got eczema real bad, I didn't know what to do, it was ALL over me, face too, and literally couldn't show myself in public because I kept itching, twitching, and scratching. Cetaphilis a miracle cream. I use it as a treatment for long term. Steroid creams as necessary. Clobetasol is so strong that I can't use it too often but when I need it, it's so sllooooooow to kick in

Cetaphil is not as good for hands which is my chronic problem. I have a lot of it on my knuckles which is kind of weird. Also on the tops of my hands, every so often. I need to find a good, not so greasy hand lotion that moisturizes and protects. I liked the aveeno lotion that was a blue bottle top because it seemed to have a bit of menthol to cool offthe skin but it was sorta filmy, not greasy. Feels a bit odd on hands. Especially since I keep washing my hands, I keep reapplying and it seems like the filminess gets thicker and thicker after a while.

 

[aurora369]

I developed a type of eczema a year and a half ago. It started when I was going through a lot of stress at school and in my personal life. It's different than normal eczema, it's only on the tips of your fingers and toes, normally around the nail bed. I'll get it on the sides of my finger tips, or along the bottom of my finger tip. I had a huge patch that covered the bottom of my right big toe, and that would crack and bleed when ever I walked. I also got it under the nail on my left middle finger and it makes the nail grow all funny.

The type of eczema I have is called Dyshidrosis

I tried a couple of different creams from my doctor and non of them really did much. So I started researching holistic treatments for eczema, and found that a lot of people have had success with acidopholus. I started taking that, and it made a big improvement.

Next, I found out that fish oil (best is wild salmon oil) reduces the skin's inflammation reaction, so I started taking that too. It's been about a month since I started the fish oil, and my toe about 80% healed with no new out breaks, and I can see that the new nail growing on my finger is unaffected.

The effect was noticeable within a couple days of taking the supplements. I was shocked that it worked that well. I stopped using the creams and have been taking daily vitamins with acidopholus and salmon oil supplements religiously for a month and it's the only thing that has made a difference for me.

Also, majority of eczema is caused by dust allergies (something like 70%). My mom was telling me about a study she read about that took people suffering from eczema and did a total clean of their living houses. Kept them clean for a month and about 70% of the people had their eczema clear up completely just from having a clean house. So you can try doing things like putting covers over the mattresses, washing bedding frequently, vacuuming and dusting often.

--Dawn

 

[PepnFluff]

BethM wrote:

kirbyultra wrote:

PepnFluff wrote:

recent medical research has shown that having a full bath with 1/2 cup of regular bleach added to the water really helps. It works to decrease the bacteria on the skin surface.
If the bath isn't full to the top, then of course you add less bleach.

You can't be serious...??

I thought eczema is easily aggravated... wouldn't this make it a lot worse?

Yeah, I don't think I'd be able to tolerate soaking in bleach water. When my eczema is bad, even normal, mild lotion stings and burns. I also can't use Purell, even when my skin isn't broken out, it's too irritating. (I do sometimes use Burt's Bees Witchhazel hand sanitizer. It's a spray, so I can use just a tiny amount, and it isn't sticky like the Purell.)

Yeah I know I was like youare officially nuts when she told me haha. But she said you can't smell it and it had a mild stinging sensation but it helped reduce the spread of her eczema...She started off just dipping her feet in (that's where she got it real bad) And she said it stung like a (insert bad word) but the next morning it was a lot less red and angry looking.

 

[BethM]

I have some probiotic something or other with acidopholus in my fridge that I keep forgetting to use. Maybe it will help.

I've tried several different fish oils in the past, just for the Omega-3's, but every one of them leaves meburping the flavor of cheap fish sticks for hours after using them. I've tried veryepensive brands promising they would not have that effect, and they still did.Could be something about my digestive system that makes these unpleasant for me.

I don't know about the dust allergy thing. I am allergic to pretty much everything that can be airborne, plus dogs, cats, dust,........ But my eczema has gotten worse moving from a very dusty apartment building, to a quite clean house. I now have wood floors, vacuum frequently with a Dyson, and dust much more often than I used to. But my eczema is worse this year than it has been in several year. Or maybe I'm just one of the 30%. *shrug*

 

[BethM]

I've also forgotten to mention that eczema runs in my family. My grandfather (mom's dad) had it, as did his mother. From what I've been told, Great Grandma had it REALLY bad, though I suspect it's partly due to a lack of treatment/management options back then.

 

[kirbyultra]

When I moved from my old apt that was simply miserable with mold behind the walls (I was surprised the whole structure didn't cave in from all the mold) to a brand new construction building, my eczema got ten times better. I used to get that type you are talking about Aurora - same clustering blister formation on the tippies of my extremeties. Sometimes right underneath the nail which I did not think was possible until it hurt when I put pressure on my nail and then a few days later I saw a tiny blister appear through my nail... it definitely made my nails grow thin and bumpy for a while.

The dust aggravation is probably true... I can benefit from vacuuming this week. It's been very busy

My derm told me that eczema is almost always genetically passed down. He was surprised to hear that I had only developed issues with it at age 20, but like I said, my life never got that hectic until then.

I should look into fish oil.

 

[aurora369]

Kirby, I also only developed it when I was about 22ish. This type of eczema is normally developed around that time, where as the normal eczema is normally started in childhood.

For the fish oil, my old roommate takes cod-liver oil, and she says she notices a huge difference for hers on her hand. I take a wild salmon oil I buy at Costco, works wonders for me.

For the dust allergies, you need to do things like get a dust proof mattress cover, new pillows, wash the bedding frequently. Vacuum often and dust often.

--Dawn