Eczema. Treatments, Help, Advice and Pictures for Mild to Extreme Cases. - HubPages
Eczema. Treatments, Help, Advice and Pictures for Mild to Extreme Cases.
Eczema treatments. Help and advice for sufferers.
There is no doubt that eczema is a terrible skin disease, even in its mild form, for sufferers it can quite literally ruin their lives. I hope to give some useful help and advice on homemade treatments that really do work. Hopefully, you will learn which are the best treatments for the disease. Unless you, or someone close to you, suffers from eczema it is hard to imagine just how terrible it can be.
Not only is it a very painful condition but it can also be quite disfiguring too. Eczema often affects the face and hands, making it a very public disease. Women sufferers often find it virtually impossible to wear makeup of any kind, so they can't even try to mask the redness with a little concealer.
There is hope. You can treat it by following a few very simply rules and by using some very good homemade remedies. These remedies can also help to save you money as well. So many of the over the counter remedies can cost a small fortune and prescription drugs are also very expensive.
Believe it or not this is a picture of a mild outbreak of Eczema .
Believe it or not this is a mild example of an eczema rash.
When my son was a baby I noticed an angry patch of what I assumed was nappy rash around his middle.Within days, it had spread over almost his entire body. The poor thing even had the rash, which I now know was eczema, around his eyes.
There followed years of Doctor's visits, creams, steroids, changing washing powders on a weekly basis,trying differents diets, and a cleaning routine that included vacuuming the whole house including his mattress twice every day.
I can still remember his first day at school, I don't know whether it was excitement or nerves but he had a massive flare up of eczema symptoms the night before, and as I helpd him get into his brand new school uniform in the morning I have to admit he looked awful.
There are many different types of eczema, my son had Atopic, they are all painful and can all lead to the skin splitting and bleeding, which, in turn, can lead to serious infections. My little boy had scratched his face raw during the night and his face looked like ground beef. Even his teacher had a slight recoil in horror moment when he walked into the classroom. I guess it won't come as much of a surprise when I tell you that my poor son suffered years of bullying at school.
Triggers and diet control for eczema sufferers.
I kept a record of the things we tried in our fight against eczema, here are the non medical things that really worked for my son.
To help the condition of the skin try running your bathwater through a clean tea towel or muslin cloth filled with a handful of oats. I bought a bulk order of muslin from the internet and they were perfect for the job. Tie the cloth bag around the hot tap, the water should look milky. Add a small amount of a gentle bubble bath, something without any detergent. Soak in this mixture for at least fifteen minutes a day but don’t have the water too hot. As soon as you get out of the bath spread some emollient cream on the skin, I found that vitamin E oil worked well, don’t dry the skin first as it’s best if you can trap some moisture in.
A big trigger food group for eczema seems to be dairy, another is anything with wheat and gluten. Many people suffer from food allergies without realising it, they can go their whole lives suffering when simply cutting out certain foods would help them. Cut out foods and then re-introduce them one at a time over a number of days.
Eat as many leafy green vegetables as possible, the chlorophyll helps to reduce inflammation. Of course, when my son was little getting him to eat a plateful of nice green vegetables was about as easy as getting him to wash behind his ears but if I blended the vegetables together, added some of the cooking water and then poured it into a bowl and called it slime, well, he couldn’t get enough of it. I bought a cookie cutter in the shape of a bat and used that to make bread to float on the top. You can use cabbage, spring greens, kale, leeks, spinach, watercress even stinging nettles. Add some chopped onions and a little pepper but no salt. It actually tastes pretty good.
Try to include a good amount of fresh fruit in the diet too, you can make fruit smoothies using fruit and crushed ice and dairy free ice cream if you can find it. Try to avoid acidic fruit though. I gave my son a small bag of almonds to take for a snack at school every day as they are rich in vitamin E, which is very good for the skin and they work out a lot cheaper than sugar rich processed snacks, so they save you money as well. A real win - win situation.
Seafood - especially shellfish
Wear cotton next to the skin and avoid anything woollen or rough feeling. Wash clothes in a gentle soap and give them an extra rinse, don’t use any fabric conditioner. Use natural cotton bed linen and always wash anything new before you use it to get rid of any dressing chemicals.
Keep the house a little cooler than normal, especially the bedroom, as overheating can make eczema worse, wipe hard surfaces over with a damp cloth to keep dust levels down and vacuum the house daily, including the bed.
Pets can be a real problem. If you have any animals try to keep them away from eczema sufferers as much as possible especially the bedrooms. I know that this can be difficult and there is evidence that shows pets can help to lower stress levels. Stress can be a major cause of a serious eczema flare up. So you will need to find the right balance between enjoying your pet and staying healthy.
I hope some of these things are of help to you, eczema is a nasty thing to suffer from, especially for children. My best advice is don’t despair, children often grow out of eczema as they get older and it can be controlled. My son is now a happy and healthy twenty year old with a glowing complexion.
Pets are wonderful but they can cause a problem for eczema sufferers.
My cute cat Tom.
You can beat eczema.
Always remember that as dreadful as this disease is help is at hand and it can be treated and controlled. Follow a few simple pieces of advice and you too can beat eczema.
Sara Johnson from United States on October 18, 2014:
That is, indeed, a lovely cat! As for eczema, I enjoyed reading this hub and learned some new things. https://hubpages.com/health/Eczema-Treatment-A-Gui...
Galaxy Harvey (author) from United Kingdom on January 15, 2011:
The oats really do work well, SkinSurvival and I guess you could grind them up like you say. I'll have to give it a try. Thanks for commenting.
SkinSurvival from Manchester, UK on January 14, 2011:
I hadn't heard of the green vegetables tip - might give it a go. Lots of dry skin creams have oat in them now - but using pure oats is definitely cheaper! You can also grind them up and put them straight in your bath.
Salad crisper! Wish I'd thought of that. I'll have to try it with my favourite chocolate!
Galaxy Harvey (author) from United Kingdom on March 31, 2010:
Hello, thank you for commenting and for the nice welcome.
Eczema is a terrible thing for anyone to suffer from, especially children, I'm so glad that the oat thing worked for you too.I know what you mean about teenagers, I found that the safest place in my house to hide anything from mine was the salad crisper!
My children both suffered excezma when they were young and the oats worked really well. Getting them to eat greens was easy then too, now they are teenagers well that's another story! Welcome to HP.