Urticaria and Eczema, nothing working - Advise please!!

[barmymumma]

DD1 has always suffered from eczema and until 2 months ago have managed to keep it under control using chinese medicene and various moisturisers from the GP (eg Aveeno, Diprobase, Epaderm etc), however since May she started to get Hayfever and since then we have really struggled to keep her skin good. She has Cetirizine and steroid creams from the GP but as her skin gets used to them the steroid creams get stronger and feel we're on a slippery slope. A month ago she started getting the Urticaria rash as well in patches. The itching is driving her crazy. I am a fan of alternative therapies so if anyone has any hot tips it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading

thanks mumgoingcrazy, i may have to go down that route. i think i am going to have to see the doctor again, but gonna give it a couple of days, in the vain hope it improves.
i hope hemp seed oil continues to work for your little one

likessleep.... the trouble with trying these dif things is that all our children will respond differently. maybe you putting too much on or too frequently? i know they say moisturise loads, but if the oil very potent, could exacerbate it?
i started using aveeno on ds2 3-4 time a day, as someone had posted that that was wnat they had done and it worked. i found that his skin got worse, especially behind his knees!red and blistered with in 24 hours or so. think it just too much in a warm sweaty area. he sleeps on knee's too, so he gets really hot in knee creases.now i only use it where skin sore or dry and only 1-2 times a day and its fine. no miracle cure, but think it helping.
i'm trying hemp oil too, but very slowly this time.
hope that helps alittle, not ment as critisism though, just a thought as it error i made.i always seem to learn the hard way and at my boys expence!

barmymamma - thank you for your post, tbh his eczema has improved over the last 24 hours, so i think i may have spoken to soon (although i don't want to tempt fate by saying this!).
we have been using hydrocortisone on his very bad patch (so we could get on top of it to then try hemp oil to manage it) for the last few days and the hemp oil on the other parts.
all parts are now better and we have stopped using the hydrocortisone and now using hemp oil all over. hopefully it will be enough to keep it at bay. but if it does come back, then i think i will go and get some of that aveeno oil.
i have also stopped Oli having tomatoes the last few days, to see if that has affected things. so i will give it a few more days, hopefully it will stay as it is and then i can reintroduce tomatoes to see if it affects it at all (i hope not, as i use tomatoes in everything!).
fingers crossed we keep on top of it this time.

Well after 4 days of using hemp oil twice/day DD1's eczema has gone! I can't quite believe it. We started using Udo's choice yesterday and will probably carry on with it as it can't do any harm but hemp oil is amazing!

hi mumgoingcrazy, that's brilliant news!
after a patchy start, we are experiencing the same. ds eczema is now a very faint spotty rash, not angry at all. most importantly, i haven't seen him itch his legs once today.
hoorah!! hoorah!! hoorah!!

Use SOS cream
www.healthlines.co.uk/NATURAL_PRODUCTS/BAREFOOT_BOTANICALS/SOS.php
It is 100% natural/herbal and is amazing stuff.

likessleep....thats great news!!! funny thing is i'm noticing same thing with my ds2. skin is getting worse, some patches getting bigger and redder, but thanks to you i know to keep going and give it a good chance to work!!! thank you xx
if this works ill try it on ds1, who has it alot worse, the itching side especially. so great news to hear your ds not scratching, that would be a miricle!!!

barmymamma - we were using hydrocortisone on ds's worst patches (in order to get it under control, then to continue with hemp seed oil). the woman who works at the oil provider said hemp seed oil may not be strong enough to counterbalance a bad flare up. it works by pentrating/treating and nourishing deeper layers of skin, so it can take time for this 'treated' skin to get to the surface. IYSWIM?
but it has stayed at bay since with just hemp seed oil.
i really hope it works for you! good luck.
at the same time, i have tried avoiding tomatoes for last couple of weeks. am going to reintroduce them tomorrow - i so hope it doesn't return!

Likesleep, I'd be interested to know if the tomatoes played a part! Very pleased to hear the hemp oil is working for you.

Barmymamma - Hope it works for DS1 and 2!!

hiya guys, how you all getting on? ive been bit slack and kept forgetting to put oil on ds2!!!! bad memmy, so starting again. now on day 2, no worse no better.
mumgoingcrazy....how you getting on with undo's choice/ i'm thinking of ordering it too. where did you get it from in the end?the web site i found or diff one?

hi barmymamma,
eczema ok, but slightly worse tbh. not a flare up, but skin is much scalier and caught him itching a couple of times
not as bad as it was. just don't know if i am expecting normal skin and i shouldn't be.

know this will seem strange but porridge oats !!i use this for myself and kids as we use to suffer from eczema this, put some poridge oat in a old sock stocking clean of course ! and put it in the bath water !!its amazing also you can get something simular from the doctors but this worked for u try it a few times and you,ll get good results

hi debz, yeah we've been using porridge oats the last few nights. his eczema isn't flared up at the moment, but his skin is really scaly. it feels like we've tried everything and anything.
am i expecting too much - should i be happy with scaly skin that isn't flared up? is that as good as we're going to get it for a while? sorry, just feel a bit defeated with it all at the moment.
i have forgotten to cut his finger nails for a few days and he has scratches behind his knees too, which has made me feel bad.

i,d carry on the the porridge oats to be honest have you tried oilatam in the bath maybe one night porridge oats next oilatam bath oil i have a bath with oilatam now twice a week and at the moment the kids and myself are fine !!

Hi Barmymumma, sorry I havn't checked mumsnet for a while. I ordered Udo's choice from Amazon in the end. It worked out slightly more expensive but I found this was the only secure site to put credit card details onto. I'm having problems disguising Udo's choice in DD1's food, she now looks for it and is constantly catching me out and then says "now can I have a drink without the powder in". Her eczema is much much better, however like you, I slacked with the hemp oil (only did it once instead of twice a day) for a couple of days and then it was back immediately. We got on top of the bad bits with steroid cream (one lot) and then the hemp oil is now keeping it at bay again.

Likesleep, what happened about the tomatos?

hiya mumgoingcrazy... i'm getting really dishearted. i,ve been religous in applying hemp oil and now 2days in ive had to put steroid everywhere and the small patches which i thought would just disappear are growing, scaly and really red!!! feels like nothing works for us too!!!
loads of people have said about putting oats in the bath, but DEBZM62....can i really put just any old oats ina sock, or are organic best????
what really gets me down is that i'm trying this on my ds2 who's skin isnt as bad as ds1. well its a diff kind of eczema and hasnt been going on as long or as dramatically as with ds1. if i cant help ds2 how do i help ds1!!!!
anyway, moaning over. i'll keep going and see what happens. thats what we mums do xxxx

mumgoingcrazy - we have re-introduced tomatoes again, which seems to have coincided with his eczema getting worse. but it seems better today and he has eaten tomatoes today. so i am confused to be honest.
he had reflux until he was 9 months old, which was really inconsistent day to day.
i am sure there is something diet wise which is affecting his reflux (or did) and now his eczema. just feels like it is taking forever to identify what it is.

barmymamma - i hope things improve for you soon.

Barmymamma, has DS1 or 2 had an allergy test? I know that DD1's eczema is mainly due to hayfever which has recently greatly improved, and so has her eczema. I do know she has part allergies to various detergents and chemicals so I have to be careful what I buy, but we discovered this through our chinese herbalist. I slacked with the hemp oil for 2 days (did it once instead of twice) and she started getting the red patches behind her knees etc but it didn't flare up nearly as much as it would have a couple of months ago. I can't really comment on the probiotics yet as it's only been a few days and I havn't consistantly managed to hide it in her food.

I do hope it improves soon barmymumma and likesleep, it's so upsetting (and frustrating) to see them itching themself crazy, and making it so much worse but they can't seem to stop.

hiya mumgoingcrazy..ds1 has had both blood and skin tests for food allergies. he is allergic to all dairy,eggs,nuts,kiwi. skin test now -ve for wheat and he passed food challenge few months back. but i still struggle to get it in his diet as his eczema flares up day or so after eating it and he gets loose stools.he has sensitivity to soya, but i keep it in his diet cos we decided it was better to help him cope with his reaction to this than cut out such a valuable source of food!!! he now barely reacts at all, but his blood level is 3, same as wheat.we have epipens for his worse allergies.
sorry did you want that much info
sure he is sensitive to other stuff, but too affraid to explore what as id run out of things to feed him,lol.
in the begining tomatoes did cause increased irritation, but again his diet was already so limited that we kept them in. now he is fine with them.
ds2 hasnt had any tests. his eczema does get bit worse if he has too much dairy one day, but i havent removed it from his diet in case his body starts to see it as a foreign body and he then becomes allergic.would av eczema over food allergy anyday!!

hiya guys, well got ds2 eczema under control with steroid cream and now on hemp again. so far so good, but could be talkin too early as only been 2 days.
how you all getting on?

Hi my DS is now 2 and was 3 weeks overdue and born with postmature skin that was very dry and I feel irritated him from the get go. He also had bad reflux until about 7 months. Anyway we saw a specialist about five months ago who prescribed a steriod cream called cutivate which has been a miracle. We also use doublebase. But i have found that coconut oil is fantastic as a moisturizer, it is light, and absorbed by skin really well, it is also really cheap if u buy it from an asian food store. I put DS in pjs that have the the ends sewn which you can get from eczema clothing.com, pricey but worth it, buy a larger size so they last longer. My other tip is to stick to one cream that is working, i used to put on cetraben, epaderm, dermol lots of other things - just stick to one. Have never had ds allergy tested - do the tests work? I do think that its food related, but i have been reluctant to cut things out as he is a poor eater. The only thing that we haven't been able to improve is his itchy head!! really disrupts his sleep as it is very dry, use tar based shampoo to no avail. Hope this is useful .

Barmymumma, glad the hemp oil is going well. How has DS's skin been today?

motherunearthed, have you tried pure tea tree oil shampoo and conditioner from Holland and Barratt?

DD1's skin is great as long as we don't slip from using the oils. We do Hemp oil at night before bed and Hemp body butter from Body shop (less oily for the day) in the morning. If we slack even once you can see the patches starting to appear. Since starting with the oils we have only had to use our steroid creams once which is the longest we've gone without for AGES.

I have been suffering with servere urticaria for 14 years and now my son suffers too. I have tried absolutley everything, but the best thing I have found for relief and to stop it getting worse once a reaction has occured is Aqueous Calamine Cream. If you keep it in the fridge and then spread it thickly on thickly as soon as you notice the rash I will stop the itching. For me and my son it takes the itching and the heat and also stops it getting worse as it seems to contain it within the area of the cream, it also lessens the pain of my swelling which I get with the urticaria. You can buy it at most chemist but superdrug tend to have a good supply. I have several tubs in the fridge at a time.

Hope this helps

Hi Sianneflame, thanks for this. I have some from when the girls had chicken pox so next time she has a flare up I'll stick it on. Thanks again

When my DS had a bad flare up recently, I asked pharmacist about calamine (is that same as aqueous calamine cream?) and he advised against it. Because it dries quite 'dusty', he said it can irritate sensitive skin.
But I assume acqueous is different - it sounds like a lifesaver!