Wits end. Bleeding eczema

[jilted]

Dc3 has very bad eczema. Been seen by paediatric dermo and has Eumovate along with numerous other creams. Keep smothering in cream (epiderm, dermal, hydromol) but this week has been really bad. He keeps scratching and bleeding and I just can't get on top of it. Asked chemists if it looked infected and they didn't think so yet but said he should see Dr anyway. He's 15 months and every time I put him down or am not watching he's scratching himself to bits. I've got blood everywhere. On his clothes and bedding ect.
I'm going to take him to GP tomorrow but I really don't know what else can be done?
He's had allergy tests and only has mild allergy to peanut which we don't have anyway.
I tried wet wrapping last week but was back to square one the next day and I don't think I can wet wrap anyway now if it's bleeding?
Chemist said I shouldn't cover it as it could cause infection or get worse.

Dc1 had all this but she had cleared up bybthis age and had numerous allergies too. She was actually put on Elecon for a while.

Anything else I can do?
I can't even put him down to sleep in his room, so I'm just sitting up with him.

[drinkscabinet]

Scratch sleeves and a sleeping bag will help stop him scratching. What about giving him some Piriton to reduce the itch and help him sleep? Do you use any steroid creams on his skin? You can't apply any if it's already bleeding but for future you should thinnk about it.

[neolara]

You may need something stronger than eumavate to blitz it. Betnavate? Once it is under control, moisturising will probably keep it at bay.

[nickelbarapasaurus]

Been there, done that :(

Dd was prescribed montelukast by the allergy doctor. It really helped - muxh morw than steroids.

Tge trick is to get the right emollient. We went through several before settling on hydromol.
Some made her worse, most made np difference.
And we found different effects from.the lotion or cream or ointment (hydromol cream does nothing whereas the ointment is great on dd)

The most important thi g is to stop thd it h scratch cycle.
Antihistamines are good, but it's equally important to stop the scratching every single time.
Cut fingernails right down, put hands on tops (I make special pyjamas and also sew hands onto shopbought ones). Every night, and long journeys. And sometimes nap times if she's particularly itchy.

Mine gets hot too, which makes her itch ans scratch, so keep an eye on that.

Our deematologist said you can't put too much emollient on - even every 10 minutes if necessary.

Regardjng the allergy test - did you have a RAST test? Because they only test for tge major things, and with us, they only had enough blood to test about 7 things.
We got a skin prick test wgen she was 3 and we were able to choose what to test - based on what she ate and her environment.

Her rast test came up with mild peanut, dust mite, cat, dog, tree and grass pollen. Her skin prick test showed up sesame. And no other nuts because we were very particular about that.

[nickelbarapasaurus]

You can wet wrap if it's bleeding.
You want viscopaste bandages and cover them with the comfifast clothes.
That wirked brilliantly for us until she was able to peel the bloody things off

[jilted]

Thank you. He has piriton too. Neo, my worry s the GP won't give anything stronger. (they are really anti the dermo prescribing any, had the same with my dd1) I'll see what they say tomorrow. Nickel, yes, he had a RAST test. I was quite surprised he didn't have any (though I never received anything in writing, I had to call and ask?) as my other daughter has a lot of allergies and asthma ect. Severe ones to fish, egg and nuts, but grew out of milk allergy at about a year. She still gets bad at night and often has to have p iriton at school for itchy eyes, nose, swelling ect. I'm guessing that is a dust allergy perhaps. Would rast show up dust allergies or is it many fr foods?
I will definitely have to get something on his hands though. Even when I take him out shopping I'm very conscious of people looking at him now and I just want to shout ' he has eczema, no he hasn't injured himself' Bless him.

[jilted]

Sorry for all my typos. I'm half asleep!

[jilted]

Oh, ok, I'll try doing that again then. Can I get these at a pharmacy?
I'll do anything nw!!

[nickelbarapasaurus]

Ignore gp not wanti g to prescribe anything more severe - we have piriton and also cetirizine (piriton os chlorphenamine which makes you drowsy - we had hell with that because when she was tired she itched and svratched more. Still dies) but cetitizine can be used in the day as it's nondrowsy.

I thought the rast test tested for loads of things, but as I say, they didn't take enough blood to text for enough stuff.
They can test for anything at all, whatever you ask for.

Until we got the montelukast tablets she was on almost monthly steroid creams - elocon and eumovate and hydrocortisone.
Very stressful.
It's all trial and error, and she still goes through rough scratching patches, but it's so much calmer now.
We never bathe her.
She has a wash once a month, and that's mainly through her wanting to play with the water in the bathtub.
If she's Mega itchy, she'll scrat h till she bleeds and then I'll wipeher arms with baby wipes (she hates a wet flannel!) And then smother the cream on.

Apparently, according to our allergy dr, dust mite allergy is pretty much a given!
pollen is very common, but hard to test for because it comes and goes...

[HerrenaHarridan]

Best big kid scratch mits is a pair of tights cut in the crotch and worn so the crotch is a head hole and the waist band is a chest band.

That's my limited help im afraid.
I read it in here and recommended it to a friend who dd is plagued by it

[Summerworld]

we have been there. None of the creams the dermatologists ever prescribed helped my son. He could not sleep at night, constantly scratching. I had to use strong steroids continuously and they did nothing, the skin was the same bad the next day. Then I heard about Salcura on the neighbouring forum and I thought, well, we have got nothing to lose. It cannot possibly get any worse. Started Salcura Dermaspray Intensive and Salcura Zeoderm Moisturised in July last year and by October my son's skin looked NORMAL, I have never seen it normal since he was 6 months. My son was 5 at that time. We did go through a fair few bottles in the first few months and it is not cheap. But I am pleased to say I have not used ANY steroid on my son since we have been Salcura, the skin healed by itself, he started to have good nights sleep at night. It is not available on the NHS, and it is somewhat pricey. But my word, it is worth its weight in gold.

[lulu12345]

As a (now mild, used to be much worse) eczema sufferer myself I would second the suggestion to keeping bedroom temp low overnight - freezing cold stops me scratching. Otherwise I found it took (years of) trial and error to find a moisturiser that didn't irritate further. In the end up I found that almond oil and cocoa butter work best for me, lots better than any of the paraffin based emollients. Good luck finding something that works.

[lulu12345]

To add to my above post, those moisturisers are preventative in addition to steroid creams.

[Postchildrenpregranny]

DH has suffered from severe eczema-stress triggered- since he was 18 (he is 63). Yes heat definitely makes him worse. Cold water soothes it . Holidays in a very hot climate a no-no for us . He won't wear short sleeves or shorts as he's so self conscious about it. Rather depressingly, has never found anything that really works . Has been allergy tested, food exclusion diet, photo therapy (that had it's funny side -had to take a sock along to cover his 'bits') wrapping (he couldn't stand that) and the usual prescribed emollients (and everything else under the sun) and steroids . Anything with lanolin makes him worse. He gets hay fever and has been asthmatic since his early 50s too . Do hope your DC grows out of it as it can really detract from quality of life
Never heard of Salcura. Might try that one!
I breast- fed both my DDs as it's supposed to help? Fingers crossed ,DD2 gets tiny paches but has never developed into full scale eczema . (shes 25)

[bananaandcustard]

I would ask for environmental allergy testing, and if you have peanut I take it egg and soya are ok for him to eat?

I would push to see an immunologist, as a skin doc on own doesnt take in to account that food allergy,plus eczema plus environmental allergies are all linked. Can you get referred to a children's allergy clinic ?


check with gp that skin is not infected.
if not and possibly tree pollen linked to time of year, maybe try a different antihistamine, get GP to give advice on this.

mark the calender if you think its linked to environmental allergies, such as tree pollen, and make sure daily antihistamine is taken 2 weeks before season.

[Guyropes]

There are lots of suggestions on here, but instead of telling you what worked for us, I will echo what others have said, which is that it is a case of trial and error to find the right regime for your child. When we saw the dermatologist she referred us to the eczema nurse who saw us for the follow up appointments. She was brilliant at showing me how to do the bandaging, and she asked about our daily routine and told me exactly how to fit all the stuff in that she wanted me to do. Then when we went back she would review what our routine was and make adjustments. The dermatologist was there to make diagnosis and order tests and write prescriptions. The nurse was there to tell me exactly how to apply those prescriptions.

Do you feel you have been given the instructions fully?

It will become more manageable. It's so hard with a child that age. Every sympathy to you.

[nickelbarapasaurus]

Postchildren - i do the "hollow laugh" thing at the breastfeeding helping - dd has never had formula and is still bfing now at 3.4, but she's still got it bad.
my sister told me that my breastmilk must be causing it

that said, if she hadn't been on BM, who knows how bad it might have been...

jilted - dd slept about 3 hours last night.
if that.
she was awake while i was posting. when i wanted to sleep, she then rubbed forabout 3 hours until dh had to get up for work. she followed him downstairs and has been awake since. (he got up at 1/4 past 4)
thankfully, these hands-on-pyjamas means that she rubs but doesn't bleed. and it doesn't get infected either. like an exfoliator.
i'm exhausted from trying to keep her from scratching all bloody night.

[BeverleyCrusher]

We found the cotton wet-wrap suits made things worse. We have now got silk suits (which are available from baby to adults). Think they are called Dream Skin. They are very fine so they keep the skin cool (heat massively aggravates DS's skin) and much smoother than the cotton ones. We put them alone or under a vest at night (in sleeping bag) or instead of a vest under clothes. They have integral scratch mitts.

You do have to hand wash which is a pain, but they've made a real difference for us.

[BeverleyCrusher]

Which probiotics snow?
I would like to try but we have milk allergy

[fruitpastille]

Scratch sleeves (google it) are v handy to prevent scratching. Like a little bolero with silk mittens. Ours our loose enough for DD to still hold things like her dummy.

[shewolfroar]

cytoplan or biokult probiotics are good. salcura good here and pure potions good....we mix it about. wr have also cut out all dairy (including mine as still feeding a bit) and gluten for her...finally sleeping in 3 years! evening primrose oil under armpits and in groin to get into system. oat baths...it is tough...I feel your pain.

[momtothree]

Buy an aloe vera plant - break.leaves and apply 3 times a day for a few days. Tesco do aloe vera soap,.and its expensive but aloe vera sun cream - kids ezxema dissapeared after the plant except very hot summer days behind knees - lovely soft skin with the sun cream. All natural.

[AccidentalAnarchist]

My sons eczema cleared up in less than 2 weeks when we started using aveeno lotion. The emollient had been prescribed did sod all so I tried this off recommendation and now have a prescription

[nickelbarapasaurus]

the best thing about threads like this is that, because it's trial and error, so many people have tried so many different things

you'll always get a chance to see something you haven't yet triedest thing is seeing people's "the only thing that worked for us was..." when it's something that hasn't worked for you at all.
That can be a positiive or a negative thing, depending on how bad you're feeling right now.

So, take the rough with the smooth, see what people have tried and try them if you haven't already ( even if they're things that they say haven't worked at all)

If he's only 15 months, then you can probably still put him in proper sleepsuit scratch mimtt cuffs - when dd got to 12 months, asda stopped doing the scratchmitts up to 24 months in their sleepsuits, in the disney ones.
but if you look on ebay, you will probably still find some.
it's worth having a look (make sure you look in the pictures, because the new style don't have them above 3-6 months)
do a search for "george disney sleepsuits" and you'll find them.

if you can sew, i can help you with putting hands on his pyjamas.

[HumphreyCobbler]

Someone on here, who had received up to date advice from a Harley Street expert, advised putting on the emollient so thickly that you could write your name in it, not rubbing it in but waiting for it to soak in, then applying whatever steroid you are using.

THis advice was extremely helpful to my ds.