Eczema and problems with bathing/showers

[Blef74]

My 15 year old suddenly developed eczema from out of nowhere. She has creams, lotions, anti-histemines and steroid creams from the doctor. She's constantly scratching though, and her arms and legs look like they have been scalded. When she tries to go in the bath or shower she ends up sobbing as it hurts so much. She says it feels like burning. As you can imagine with a 15 year old showering and bathing are important. She's very hygenic and before the eczema started would often have a shower in the morning and a bath at night. Now she can't bear being in water as it hurts and she's scratching her skin off literally. Any advice?

[SilentBob]

I would guess (not a hcp) at stress exacerbating her symptoms- my daughter and partner both suffer from eczema and, with my daughter in particular, early teen years we're the worst. Hers manifested on her scalp and she has very long dark hair- you can imagine how well that went down in high school.

I digress, sorry! Just to say that if stress/hormones are at the root of it all, it does end!!! We controlled a lot of the day to day itching with coconut oil and gloves (we buy soft white cotton ones from the pound shop which can then be thrown away) so that if she itched she wasn't scratching, just rubbing iyswim.
Showers were excruciating so she confined them to a couple a week, with the shower head turned to an almost dribble setting, and cool. Baths again we're cool-ish and I put porridge oats in a washing tablet bag (muslin or an old stocking would also do the job) which she found soothing.

She is now 17 and it is not even close to being as big a problem as it was a couple of years ago.

Good luck op, there is hope!

Ps the partner deals with his the old fashioned way- shit loads of steroid cream and thick prescribed ointment and the aforementioned gloves. He looks like a snooker ref. during a bad flare up.

[Blef74]

Thank you. Coconut oil sounds interesting. She's tearing herself to bits at the moment. The creams aren't really doing much to sort it.

[overthemill]

'The doctor' is a bit vague - although many GPs are ace at eczema not all are. Perhaps ask for urgent referral to consultant paediatric dermatologist. Ours was fab and really helped. We saw their specialist nurse too and followed her advice to the letter for many many years. Her eczema is now at 16 not quite so bad, certainly containable and we know the triggers very well after 15 years of managing it.

My sister had stress related eczema in pregnancy and it sounds as horrendous as your DDs. Do push - your GP won't mind, they are after all just generalists

[chloesmumtoo]

I feel so sorry for your DD We went through this but our daughter was very young at the time. I felt like an evil woman getting her in the bath with the pain. Fortunately our DD is much improved now but still has eczema and allergies.
It is very difficult to advise.
Firstly, could pollen be the cause of flare up? My DD has a harder time this time of year with bare legs\ skin exposed to pollens. covering up may help in cool clothing as pollen sticks to hair and skin causing agrevation. If dd has been on the sports field she definately needs to get the pollen off asap. If this is the case we always tumble dry towels as to not be full of pollen allergens when drying the body off after a shower\bath.
Rather than trying to wash our DD in bath I would gently coat her in thick epaderm ointment prior to getting in water, perhaps your DD could do this. one to act as a barrier to help minimise stinging and two to protect skin and thirdly to act as a soap also. It's messy but worth a try. what about taking some painkiller prior to getting in also.

[chloesmumtoo]

Yes our DD also had cotton gloves already mentioned and various eczema clothing from cotton comforts to minimise scratching. 100% cotton bedding washed at 60 degrees to kill dust mites. ice packs wrapped in fabric to hold on hot skin.