Aa
eczema
i have eczema and i have had a flare up for the last 3 weeks,nothing is helping i have been given steriod creams,oral steriods and 3 weeks of antibiotics and the doctor has finally decided to refer me but my appointment is in a months time<i cant bend my arms and in agony,i cant sleep with itching,i have been told that it looks like i also have a secondary infection,please help!!!
I have tried a cream called Rescue Remedy. Yes, just like the Dr. Bach Rescue Remedy that you may have heard of that is in the homeopathic drops that is sold under this name. But, it is a cream and I did find it helpful with the eczema rashes, too.
Eczema is a lifelong condition, so it's important to keep trying different solutions until you find something that works in order to reduce or eliminate the flare ups. That's why my first post was so long. Sometimes people don't know that diet does definitely play a role with eczema. And, often people don't know what kinds of options are available for personal care and home care that are safer for our sensitive skin conditions like eczema. I shared the long post, because it was such a struggle for me to figure this out. All because so often conventional medicine doesn't recognize something like diet playing a role or that there are many useful natural products that are so much gentler to the skin that help a lot more than the pharmaceutical creams and ointments alone. I found that it takes a combination of efforts to avoid so many flare ups. I have even been able to avoid having to use the steroid products as much as before I made these changes I already mentioned.
Definitely follow other suggestions from other eczema sufferers, too. Experience is life's teacher.
Eczema is a lifelong condition, so it's important to keep trying different solutions until you find something that works in order to reduce or eliminate the flare ups. That's why my first post was so long. Sometimes people don't know that diet does definitely play a role with eczema. And, often people don't know what kinds of options are available for personal care and home care that are safer for our sensitive skin conditions like eczema. I shared the long post, because it was such a struggle for me to figure this out. All because so often conventional medicine doesn't recognize something like diet playing a role or that there are many useful natural products that are so much gentler to the skin that help a lot more than the pharmaceutical creams and ointments alone. I found that it takes a combination of efforts to avoid so many flare ups. I have even been able to avoid having to use the steroid products as much as before I made these changes I already mentioned.
Definitely follow other suggestions from other eczema sufferers, too. Experience is life's teacher.
I am an eczema sufferer and a physician and I have found that the Arbonne baby lotion and wash, used exclusively and on a regular basis. Has helped me manage my eczema over the past 5 years with little use of steroid creams. You can see this line on the website www.arbonne.com. It's the Arbonne Baby Care line and adults can use it too.
Try natural remedy creams. Here they have a cream called carolines cream. i used it for skin dermatitis and it cleared up in 4 days.. it is popular here..
I know this misery well. Once I went on my first elimination diet for the digestive issues, that's when I discovered the true source of my misery: GLUTEN and DAIRY. The two go hand-in-hand. Look up key words like "eczema diet" "what not to eat with eczema". Conventional doctors usually miss this. I stumbled upon it myself when looking into my other health issues.
Other things to do: Your laundry and household products and personal care products need to be: fragrance free, dye free, sulfite free and as low on excess man made chemicals as is reasonably possible. Don't forget to look at your shampoo and your other hair products. There is a sulfite thread in the allergy community you can look up for some information about hair products. With laundry: When all else fails, use baking soda only to launder your clothes. It's what people used before modern detergents. Always double rinse your clothes. NEVER use dryer sheets and other fabric softeners. You don't need these things. We were all brain washed by the manufacturers to believe that we did. Not so. I haven't used any for years. If you do want fabric softening, add 1/2 cup white vinegar to the rinse cycle when you wash. When trying to get stains out, though, don't use the vinegar. Vinegar is used as a color stabilizer when dying clothes and will set stains. However, when it's not an issue and you want fabric softener, vinegar is all you need.
In general, you need to get to the root of the cause. That's why I think diet and especially gluten. I stopped getting flare ups that were on my hands in the worst way once I was off of gluten and dairy. There are other things, but these are the big ticket items. Our conventional doctors fail to mention this for some reason. Although one ER doctor still refuses to accept that I really can't eat gluten (chronic migraine issue), the PCP and the neurologist believe me. Gluten is associated with many neurological issues, including depression and brain fog. The neurologist is taking into consideration the migraine issue and the associated Tyramine Intolerance which includes gluten intolerance. The PCP has seen the difference of night and day with my eczema flare ups since going off of gluten and dairy, so she doesn't need the blood test to be positive to believe me. She has seen the evidence for herself. And, these are conventional doctors, but they do believe in the integrative approach. Conventional doctors who can't meet in the middle with integrative medicine drive me nuts, because integrative is going with what works best for the patient and isn't asking them to stop conventional medicine. In any case, you definitely need to get to root of the problem.
I'm familiar with the steroids not helping with flare ups. It used to take months for the flare ups on my hands to calm down. These weren't ordinary run of the mill tiny but annoying eczema blisters either. They were giant blisters an inch or two in diameter and miserable that were doing what your body eczema is doing. The secondary infections are so bad.
I don't know of anything else that really helps that is going to be like a quick relief. Like I said, I'm familiar with the problem of all those various eczema steroid creams and ointments not really helping. And, the problem with an internal oral steroid is that until or unless you can identify the root of the cause of the flare ups, it just isn't worth the risk of taking them. I've had doctors tell me that, and being one who generally shies away from pharmaceuticals, I'm inclined to go with the honest doctor who is telling me that it isn't worth it. These should always be used short-term. I also know that oral Benadryl probably won't do anything other than make you want to sleep but not help with the itching, even though allergies can cause eczema to flare up.
I still wish doctors would make suggestions toward the integrative approach with eczema, since a lot of us have food sensitivities.
Other things to do: Your laundry and household products and personal care products need to be: fragrance free, dye free, sulfite free and as low on excess man made chemicals as is reasonably possible. Don't forget to look at your shampoo and your other hair products. There is a sulfite thread in the allergy community you can look up for some information about hair products. With laundry: When all else fails, use baking soda only to launder your clothes. It's what people used before modern detergents. Always double rinse your clothes. NEVER use dryer sheets and other fabric softeners. You don't need these things. We were all brain washed by the manufacturers to believe that we did. Not so. I haven't used any for years. If you do want fabric softening, add 1/2 cup white vinegar to the rinse cycle when you wash. When trying to get stains out, though, don't use the vinegar. Vinegar is used as a color stabilizer when dying clothes and will set stains. However, when it's not an issue and you want fabric softener, vinegar is all you need.
In general, you need to get to the root of the cause. That's why I think diet and especially gluten. I stopped getting flare ups that were on my hands in the worst way once I was off of gluten and dairy. There are other things, but these are the big ticket items. Our conventional doctors fail to mention this for some reason. Although one ER doctor still refuses to accept that I really can't eat gluten (chronic migraine issue), the PCP and the neurologist believe me. Gluten is associated with many neurological issues, including depression and brain fog. The neurologist is taking into consideration the migraine issue and the associated Tyramine Intolerance which includes gluten intolerance. The PCP has seen the difference of night and day with my eczema flare ups since going off of gluten and dairy, so she doesn't need the blood test to be positive to believe me. She has seen the evidence for herself. And, these are conventional doctors, but they do believe in the integrative approach. Conventional doctors who can't meet in the middle with integrative medicine drive me nuts, because integrative is going with what works best for the patient and isn't asking them to stop conventional medicine. In any case, you definitely need to get to root of the problem.
I'm familiar with the steroids not helping with flare ups. It used to take months for the flare ups on my hands to calm down. These weren't ordinary run of the mill tiny but annoying eczema blisters either. They were giant blisters an inch or two in diameter and miserable that were doing what your body eczema is doing. The secondary infections are so bad.
I don't know of anything else that really helps that is going to be like a quick relief. Like I said, I'm familiar with the problem of all those various eczema steroid creams and ointments not really helping. And, the problem with an internal oral steroid is that until or unless you can identify the root of the cause of the flare ups, it just isn't worth the risk of taking them. I've had doctors tell me that, and being one who generally shies away from pharmaceuticals, I'm inclined to go with the honest doctor who is telling me that it isn't worth it. These should always be used short-term. I also know that oral Benadryl probably won't do anything other than make you want to sleep but not help with the itching, even though allergies can cause eczema to flare up.
I still wish doctors would make suggestions toward the integrative approach with eczema, since a lot of us have food sensitivities.
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