eczema - the root of the problem

[HOLLY5]

i wonder if anyone can help me. I have a 16 week old son who has had eczema since birth. He was breastfed for 3 months but after 1 month developed green stools. these were tested and he was found to not be taking any carbohydrate. He was moved onto Nutramigen which again he tolerated for 1 week and then his eczema flared up again. He is now on Neocate and the same pattern is happening. He still has green nappies and is covered head to foot in weeping eczema.
He has never slept for more than 1 hour and was givin piriton which had no effect on him what so ever! it doesn't seem to be what he eats rather what his body does with it which causes the eczema - has anyone else has this experience?

He has tried every cream going and wraps and is seeing Dr Atherton next week.

I know as he was born with the problem he cannot be reacting to outside influnces and as the doctors say he would respond to piriton if that were the case.

[emily05]

ahh! Holly I really sympathise. Ds had this sort of eczema all over hos face and it was really distressing. SO I can imagine how much stress it would be all over the body.
Things I tried

1. using only cotton
   
2. changing washing powder to that surcare and not using fabric conditoner
   
3. using that steriod cream
   
4. Having his allergies tested by a homopath
   
   Some of this helped. We also changed his milk loads. In the end because he wasnt getting any sleep the doctor prescribed phenergan! (a sleeping drug)
   
   In the end one day it just cleared up! As quick as it came it just went! Very strange. It was when he stopped on formular milk and went to cows milk it cleared up! I also suffer from eczema and mine just cleared up one day.
   
   It could be food related. Hopefully Dr Atherton will be helpful. I really feel for you. I remember once ds was weeping so much we took him to casulty and they thought he had been burnt! awful. let me know how you get on x

[jampots]

I was tested for allergies/intolerances recently and after eliminating certain foods from my diet Ive found that Im not suffering nearly as badly with hayfever (probably 95% better) and my scalp and hairline no longer has eczema/dandruff (sorry if TMI). This is after literally 25 years of suffering - definitely see a homeopath or similar

[HOLLY5]

Thank you for your advise, my son too was taken to casulty looking like he had been burnt.

I really believe he releases the wrong things from his food into his body and gets rid of the good stuff resulting in a reaction. The eczema usually is worse 2 hours after eating.

[PrincessPeaHead]

Holly, if you are seeing Dr Atherton you are seeing one of the two best people in the UK (His colleague Dr Harper is the other one). Do exactly what he says and I'm SURE you will find everything so much better. My ds2 was similar to you (when I took him to Dr Harper he was so "impressed" by the state of his poor skin that he took a photo! aurgh, can't bear to think about it) and he made him 80% better within a fortnight and 98% better within a month.
I will warn you that it involved oral antibiotics, antibiotic cream, anti fungal cream, 2 types of steroid cream, 2 baths a day etc etc etc but that was absolutely necessary to get his skin under control. Now at 21 months (18 mths later) he has a quick slosh over with aveeno after his bath and that is it.
Good luck.
PS Harper says that piriton doesn't help the itching because it is an antihistamine and ezcema isn't a histamine reaction. But he does sometimes prescribe another one (can't remember what it is called) for the sedative effect - you give it before bed so they are too doped out to scratch themselves in their sleep, all part of the plan to let their skin heal and recover). Anyway good luck, you are in great hands with dr atherton.