• Women skiers, this is the place for you -- an online community without the male-orientation you'll find in conventional ski magazines and internet ski forums. At TheSkiDiva.com, you can connect with other women to talk about skiing in a way that you can relate to, about things that you find of interest. Be sure to join our community to participate (women only, please!). Registration is fast and simple. Just be sure to add webmaster@theskidiva.com to your address book so your registration activation emails won't be routed as spam. And please give careful consideration to your user name -- it will not be changed once your registration is confirmed.

I hate Eczema!

persee

persee

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Sorry. Just need to gripe. I've been battling Eczema on various body parts for a few years now. It comes and goes, affects different areas, sometimes is gone completely. Well right now it's flaring up on my neck of all places! Worse is that unlike other places where I can cover the area to keep the temptation of scratching the itch at bay there is not much I can do to keep a physical barrier up to scratching, which I *know* will make it worse. gah!:mad2:

Anyone else here battle this condition? The only thing I've found to do is just slather Aveeno/Eucerin (ie good quality hypo allergenic moisturizer) on it and just tough it out. Any other ideas? When I had an outbreak on my elbows the doctor gave me this mega strength cortizone, but I found that it didn't really help relive the itching and the side effects/warnings on the package made me not want to use the stuff. :eek:
 
DH has it, worse in winter. Just dug through his bathroom drawer, he uses Betamethasone Diproprionate ointment 0.05%, it's rx, seems to help?? I don't see any mega-warnings on the tube, so maybe this is different from what you were prescribed?
 
I have a large patch on my forearm right now. it looks nasty, but so far it's the only one I have. I've just been doing like you, toughing it out and slathering it with ointment. Luckily, the first week it broke out was the itchiest, or maybe now Im just used to it, because it doesn't bother me anymore. It just looks gross :(

K.
 
My mom suffers from excema terribly. Part of the reason is that she has for a huge portion of her life slathered medication including steroidals all over it. It has truly only made it worse. When my daughter was very young she had it also, mostly arms but also on the top of her pretty bald head. Gross. Her pediatrician warned me against treating it and said they were finding that the steroidals etc were actually counterprodutctive. she encouraged me not to put anything on it. So I didn't. And it went away. However my Mother whom still puts crap on hers all the time, is completely miserable in her skin 24-7 after all the years of treating it it has gotten worse. Although my daughter never gets rashes anymore, she will get itchy from you know highly perfumed bath products etc. So we avoid these and she is fine. So you might want to try just not covering it up if you can stand it and avoiding even laundry detergents that have lots of perfumes and chemicals. Hope this helps. I think there is alot of information out there regarding the use of steroid products and excema, at least there was when we researched awhile ago. Good Luck! Let me know if you need a list of non-itch products.
 
Eczema... fun times right? Not! I've cared for several children with atopic eczema. When I started at one job the little guy had numerous spots on his body that were bleeding because he had scratched them so much. I made it my mission to figure out what was causing the flare ups and to provide him with relief from his misery. After numerous appointments with his Pediatrician and a Pediatric Dermatologist we were able to come up with a solution and an almost fail proof knowledge of his what caused his eczema to flare.

This is what I did while we were in the process of figuring out the cause:

1. I only used Aveeno Wash & Shampoo to wash him.
2. I used aquaphor 4-5 times a day on the areas of an outbreak. On areas where I knew he was prone to break out but, was currently clear I would apply it 2 times a day.
3. If he was really itchy I would put him in the bath with an Aveeno Oatmeal packet.
4. I did occasionally use steroid ointments as a last ditch effort. Using the first 3 treatments I've been able to avoid using steroids on children with less severe eczema.

As far as the cause:

1. Allergies: He was allergic to dairy, soy, eggs and wheat. Other allergies commonly associated with eczema are fish, animal dander, rough fabrics (especially wool), dust and hay fever.

2. Illness: I could almost always predict when he was getting ill. He would flare up the day before.

For many other people changes in weather (extreme temps) and stress cause flare ups.
 
Allergies are definitely one of the common causes, as well as changes in weather. I get terrible eczema on my hands in the winter, but never used to. Since I'm a highly allergic person it could be my dust mite allergy (which is worse in the winter)... or it could just be the drier air.

In any case, I found some relief with un-petroleum. It's like aquaphor but there are no petroleum products in it - all natural. Plain old coconut oil works great, too.
 
Yep, here too. Been dealing with it for the last 25 (god I'm old!) years.

When I was 16 or so, I developed a terrible case of eczema on my hands and the bottoms of my feet. Had deep fissures in my feet, and the itching was so bad it would wake me up in the middle of the night. Hands were swollen, bumped up and bleeding. After a visit to the dermatologist, I got some ointment that I slathered on my hands and feet at night. Did this for a couple years, plus had to wear "mittens" every night on my hands to keep the ointment in place.

After a couple years of this misery (I couldn't even wave at people because the palms of my hands were so gross!), it finally disappeared to a manageable level. I get occasional itchy flare ups now, but nothing like I used to have. The eczema on my feet went away completely.
I use Eucerin religiously, all year round. I also found that I have to stick with Ivory bath soap, as most of the other stuff would cause a flare up.

I also have to be careful with earrings and jewelry. I have an allergy to nickel plating, so I try to stick with gold products. Oh, and the usual hay fever, etc. in the fall. Comes with the territory, I hear.
 
My both kids have it. Elidel seems to help if you don't want to use steroids.
 
My all time favorite application for cuts, scrapes, dry skin problems & even chicken pox is Calendula Oil. When my son had chicken pox, I used it freely & often. He never itched, no spots became sores & none scabbed. Everything just disappeared in 3 days. And we read 5 books btwn naps/sleeping.

Evening primrose oil- EPO- is also an approved herbal for eczema & skin irritation(dermatitis). I personnally take 1-2 capsules internally each day 1 week a month & experience no PMS or headaches or hormonal migraines as a result. In case anyone has that issue it does help.

So I would recommend the Calendula Oil, or try the EPO. I love Eucerin for ski/weather chapped lips/skin. Good luck ! If you want more info about Calendula send me a pm. But try it ! excerpt from the Green Pharmacy - it is antibacterial, antifungal, anti-infammatory & antiviral, speeds wound healing.
 
re-read some posts. Severine brought up coconut oil. This is a nice oil to use. I use it for cooking in, but also use it in smoothies & sometimes on my skin. Cocoa butter is also a really nice moisturizer. Needs to be warm to use. In the winter I just hold it in front of the hair dryer for a few seconds & it will liquify enough to use. Summer time both oils liquify above 80 degrees.
 
Well I do have allergies and Asthma (luckily I outgrew my food allergies, but still have environmental and some meds), so I would normally think the cause was Allergic, but my flare-ups seem to correspond to stress. I always use no-fragrance/no-dye laundry soap and fabric softener as well as only using hypo-allergenic skin products so those aren't my likely causes either, unfortunately. If only it could be so easy!

However I will keep some of the oils/butters in mind for a moisturizer...

As for Elidel the warnings on it have scared me away just like the steroid cream. So I guess I'm just stuck. What I really need is to get rid of all my stress... then I'd probably be free and clear.

Just for reference I've had outbreaks on my inner elbows, wrists/hands, tops of my feet, inner thighs, back (i nipped this one in the bud thankfully), neck, and eyelid. Uggg! The one positive thing is that I recognize it now so I can usually start treatment early.
 
I developed eczema when I was just a few months old, and suffered terribly throughout my childhood. I hardly ever have patches anymore, but over the years, I've learned to more or less control it.
For what they're worth,here are my tips, a few of which echo those of other divas:

Stress aggravates it, and so does perspiration.

Moisturize every single time you shower and even when you've been swimming. The best lotion I have ever used is the Curel "intensive", their richest one. It forms a barrier that keeps the skin moist until you shower again.

Dryness in the air is bad, so that's why it gets worse in winter. Use a humidifier.

For cleansing, I use Cetaphil, not soap.

I never wear wool next to my skin. It's a recipe for disaster.

I do not use those steroid creams. I guess I'm a bit leery of their long term effects.

I take a fish oil supplement every day.

When my flare-ups used to be really bad, I would take a warm (not hot) bath and put cornstarch (yes!) in the water. It's very soothing to the skin.
 
Another suggestion that really helped my daughter is a foam called Verdeso. Its unGODLY expensive...but when we use it several days in a row her eczema goes away. (her's will get severely cracked, oozing & raw...nice hun?) Also, like most others here have suggested using a wash like cetaphil, then cetaphil or aveno for moisturizer (again it was suggested that we put it on in the shower before drying off) then the verdeso. You might be able to get a sample of the verdeso before committing to a perscription. Good luck!
 
I'm a lifelong eczema sufferer, and have the "atopic triad"--eczema, hay fever, and asthma. As a result of the severe eczema I had on my hands as a kid, I now have moderate arthritis in my fingers. Not fun.

I try to stay away from cortisteroids--god knows what was in the multi-colored creams I had as a kid, pink, yellow, white and whatever else. I don't moisturize as much as I should, and I'm really picky about things like fabrics, detergents, and I only use very mild soaps and cleansers on my skin. For soaps, Dove Sensitive Skin works well for me. Otherwise, I'm using a lot of Aveeno products.

Makeup is Elizabeth Arden, for the most part. Does wonders for my face, and those ceramide capsules even work a little bit on my fingers.

Oral antihistamines such as Benadryl and hydroxyzine (often used for hives) will also give some relief from a bad eczema flare.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 1,016 (members: 3, guests: 1,013)

Forum statistics

Threads
27,713
Messages
530,460
Members
9,769
Latest member
cgrierson
Back
Top