Eczema - could it be dairy?

[MaisyMoo123]

Hello. I've already started a similar thread in general child's health but thought I'd post in here too as I'm so desperate for advice!!

In a nutshell we are really struggling to get my 6 yr old ds's eczema under control. He's had it since he was about 2.5 and since then we've had spells when it's ok but for the past year it has been flared up pretty much all the time and in the past month it has gone from bad to much worse. He is covered in a bumpy rash pretty much from head to toe. He has pimply spots on arms and legs and is red raw in the classic eczema spots behind knees, inner-elbows, neck and waist.

It feels like we've been through all the creams and treatments available over the years but at the moment we're using epaderm ointment morning and night and emollin spray through the day. We also regularly use betnovate but recently switched to protopic but stopped using that as it caused extreme stinging.

We do everything we are told to. I'm constantly googling for new things to try - but still it feels like we're going backwards with it. I know there's no miracle cure and it's trial and error ( believe me I know that only too well!) but we really do need to get things back under control especially as it's starting to affect his self esteem.

On the allergy front we have been through the allergy tests and he's not allergic to dust mites, pollen, grass or egg. They didn't test for milk allergy as paediatrician said it was unlikely due to the fact he didn't develop eczema until he was over 2. I'm not sure how right this is - does anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks for reading and any advice would be very gratefully recorded!

My DD didn't get eczema for some while in spite of her dad being a sufferer. In his case eggs and dust mites can provoke eczema and he only discovered he was allergic to dairy in his 30s, thanks to one doctor who said, "Don't just cut down, eliminate it from your diet".

DC1 never had a problem so I thought great, bf has helped and DH's allergies won't surface.

With DD her first two years sailed by. Looking back we first noticed dryness on her eyelids of all places and then a flare up in junior school - classic behind-elbows- + - knees. It first seemed random then became more frequent then was at its height in mid teens which we thought might be exam stress.

She like DH has turned out to be affected by dairy products. It seemed a good place to start, eradicating these from her diet because of her dad's intolerance.

I do think it can be luck of the draw regarding doctors. She saw a different GP at uni. Like any teen she was self conscious and made miserable by increasing discomfort. Initially she dropped cow's milk now she gets a reaction to goat's milk too. Currently she is fine with soya milk.

It seems to be under control. She is a normal healthy girl who plays sport and is careful out in the sun, (she finds quite a few sunscreens can irritate her skin). She uses Aveeno products and avoids highly perfumed products and certain cosmetics. (I suspect that alcohol has some impact on her skin but at 6 your DS is not at that stage yet!).

Non bio washing powder is best and at night she finds cotton bedding comfortable.

She takes showers not baths and afterwards when her skin was sore a hairdryer on a cool setting often helped so she wasn't rubbing her skin dry.

Sorry for the essay but whether the sensitivity was there all along and triggered by something or just manifested itself, I wanted to say that DD's intolerance wasn't apparent to us until after 2. Good luck with your little lad.

Thanks for replying donkeys. Your dd's story is interesting. Every dr/paediatrician/dermatologist we've seen has asked us about family history of eczema and associated allergies but we have no cases on either side which seems to surprise them a bit. I'm not sure if his eczema is dairy related but I'm just trying to gather as much info as I can. We need to get on top of it somehow.

Similarly my DD now 6 was just around 2 when we realised dairy was affecting her. I can sympathise with your situation as we've been there (and still are to some degree).

From my experience I would say that your DS is reacting to something in his diet that he is being regularly exposed to. The fact that with steroids you can't get his skin clear would be a sign of this according to my DD's consultant. For my DD we had eliminated dairy and it wasn't until last year when she had proper blood tests that we found out she was also pretty allergic to soya and eggs. From the tests we found she has a very high reaction to dairy. Another friend has a DD who's skin really flares with the lupin family (potatoes, tomatoes, peppers etc I think) so it is important to pin down for your own child.

Recently we have had intensive use of steroids (eumovate and stronger elocon) to get the skin in to a good condition (over a 6 month period - highly monitored and controlled in terms of dosage and laddering up and down). As we haven't been able to wean off properly without flare ups we are now on protopic and we warned that it might sting/burn. Fortunately it hasn't caused stinging but it does take patience with protopic before you see results. Also I understand that they don't work well on broken skin you really need to get the skin in a good condition with steroids first.

In terms of emollient I was a real fan of epaderm and DD used it for years in massive quantities but last year I didn't feel it was working as well so we switched to cetraben ointment and also diprobase ointment both come in tubs like epaderm. They are a little less thick and clarty but I have been impressed particularly with the diprobase ointment and think it says in DD's skin for longer and is really helping to keep her less dry. (At school she used diprobase cream pump so they don't have to scoop out the ointment).

It is a mammoth effort and I have been exhausted by it emotionally and physically. Creaming whole body 4+ times a day and leaving half and hour between steroid and/or protopic and then emollient etc etc. Prior to that we did paste bandages so I know what it's like - infact for a couple of years she was bandaged pretty much all the time (this was before we found out about the food issues).

We are starting to see results but haven't yet tried to wean totally off protopic/steroid. A big one is that she is less itchy and doesn't claw at her skin as much. We're not out of the woods yet but hoepfully we are getting somewhere.

I know you've posted in chat too and you will be overwhelmed with different responses but I felt I needed to share our story as there were similarities with you.

Is it possible to ask for more detailed food allergy testing? DD had RAST blood tests (which confirmed dairy and showed soya and egg issues) and also skin prick tests (which showed grass pollen, mould spores and dog dander were also contributors).

Good luck and keep us posted as to how things go.

Also meant to add we bath once a week mostly - twice if we really have to! Minimum time in water as the poor skin is having to deal with so much and it doesn't need to deal with lots of water too. Emollient on before bath, wash with Dermol 500 then out, pat dry and use steroid/protopic, half an hour later emollient. I encourage showers but she still likes the bath!

Thanks so much for your reply greencyberbunny. It's so good to hear from someone in a very similar situation. It feels like a real relief in fact!

Interesting what you say about you dd and dairy. As you say, the fact that ds's eczema is hard to control even with steroids does suggest that it could be something he's eating all the time. I can see the logic but have to admit to feeling very daunted by the thought of trying to work out what it is! I guess we could ask about more detailed allergy testing but as he showed no signs at all of any allergies in the prick tests he's already had, I'm not sure they'll think it's worthwhile?

Our eczema nurse is still adamant that daily baths are the best approach. We're going to try cetraben instead of balneum as bath additive and see if that makes a difference with itching afterwards. Might ask about a different emollient too.

I couldn't agree more that the whole cream routine feels like a mammoth task! Sometimes it's such a battle too. We've just started bandaging at night so that's an extra stage to add to the already protracted bedtime routine. Sometimes I really envy those parents who just have to worry about bath, pjs and story! If only!!

Your story has given me hope that we'll get out of this rut. I'm just not quite sure how yet.

I would ask for RAST blood tests - it brought up major allergies for DS at 6 months. He was raw with eczema, had reflux and was having hives. We were put on neocate formula and he stayed on that until 4, when he grew out of his soy allergy.

Here are some things that helped him through it -

Daily baths with oilatum junior - Derm told us that it was more important to reduce the bacterial loading, than the risk of drying the skin. Dermol in bath if really bad. Gently pat dry, but leave some water on skin and apply Epaderm generously. At 6 months- we were doing it every 2 hrs. With a six yr old - I would suggest before school, on pickup and before bed.

Now DS is healed, we use E45 bubble bath for a treat - with no issue.

We use Method laundry wash, previously used surcare but this is better for my DS and we use it for the whole family.

If his skin is raw, he my need antibiotics to bring it under control and heal. Along with stronger steroids.

Ultrasun sun cream seems to be the best for our DS - less sweating than others.

We use a USA brand for shampoo, conditioner and body wash - its free of chemicals and best of all does not leave DS looking greasy. It is expensive in the UK, but a little goes a long way.

www.amazon.co.uk/Pharmaceutical-Specialties-Clear-Conditioner-Bottle/dp/B0006FMK70/ref=sr_1_6?s=drugstore&ie=UTF8&qid=1429139133&sr=1-6&keywords=free+%26+clear+shampoo

Wrapping DS made him worse, rubbed and woke him up, we found using tighter PJ's worked for us. NEXT snuggle fit ones work brilliantly as an alterative, make sure they are the 100 percent cotton ones as they vary.

You may have tried some of the above, but I have just listed what works for us and it may give you some new ideas.

Also, at six you can go dairy free on your own (if he is not allergic to soy) - Alpro plus 1 soy milk had added vits / calcium and they do alterative yogurts, etc. You need to do it for a good period though, it took us at least six months to fully recover his skin. Talk to your allergist and they usually have a dietarian who can help.

It's quite late - so sorry it's quickly written.

Maisy,
There are two ways that allergies work; IGE mediated and non IGE mediated. Skin prick and RAST only pick up the IGE mediated. My DS has multiple allergies which are a mix of both. Most of his non IGE mediated allergies give him eczema (as do his IGE mediated allergies, though they often come with other, more sudden results). The only real way to test for non IGE allergies is to FULLY cut them out of the diet (for at least 2 weeks, ideally 4); then add them in again slowly building up amounts and take a clear diary of when the food type is eaten and what reactions are seen (photos help too, for comparisons). Reactions can take days to come up. It's a faff, and you may not realise how much dairy (or whatever it is) is in your day to day food & non food products.. however, if the eczema clears up and then reappears, it's a clear indicator. You can take the diary to your doctor for help on what to do next....

We use Aderma exomega cream, hc steroid and this makes a huge difference - fucidin topical antibiotic. Good luck

Getting a good emollient which doesn't block the pores can really help, such as cetraben, epaderm, doublebase, diprobase. The one that works well for my little dude is cetraben, and we use it as 'soap' as well!
Dairy is known to be a big causing factor for eczema becoming bad! Have you eliminated dairy? Or kept a food diary to see if it could be a cause? My little dude has suffered with dreadful eczema from 8 weeks old, primarily due to multiple allergies which were undiagnosed until he was 16 months! We had a big battle to getting allergy testing, which then gave us the chance to start to get him better!
Now, even with a very restricted diet (he's df, ef, gf, wf, and also tomato, strawberry and citrus free) he still suffers. But we can control it with cetraben and topical steroid creams x

Intolerant; have you ever managed to be clear of the eczema? I managed to get DS completely free (df,ef,gf,wf,, also corn, soy, nuts, peanuts, in fact all the legumes, plus gourds, peppers).... until he started nursery and the big wide world, and now he's got it all over his cheeks again .... (though at least just his cheeks). So few people cut out a wide range of foods, it's interesting to see how they go too...