please help!!!!

[marie1979]

my son has medicine for his ezcema to stop him scratching but its not working has anyone got a suggestions please i am going mad here i feel so helpless he wont stop and hes still up and got school in the morning and his legs are full of blood

Oh Marie, >

thankyou have to go to bed now well try my sons still up have to get to sleep by itching him and no doubt i will have to b up in a hour to do it all over again sorry think im feeling a bit down today thankyou for all ur replies xxx

Poor lad

Sorry I think I'm out of emergency solutions. I'll come back if I think of anything else.

If you don't think your gp is especially helpful, could you ask to see a different one.

I was very lucky, my gp at the time was fab with kids (had 6 of his own so had been there, done that) and after me trying to get something done for dd for months I eventually insisted on seeing him instead of the locum they had been giving me appointments for and he had me referred and an appointment for the hospital that afternoon.

marie, I will ask the lady I was talking about to pop in on this thread and let you know what dietary changes she made. I think its incredibly ignorant of the GP to say it 'probably' isn't diet related.......eczema is caused by a variety of different things and until you have worked out what seems to be the biggest culprit for setting it off then you can't rule out diet.

I had hideous eczema breakouts when I was little. It cut deep into the back of my legs and creases of my arms/wrists, eyelids. The itch was awful, i remember it well. The aqueous cream was a great moisturiser but, tbh, I used to find it made the itch worse when it was at its height as it gave my skin something else to feel yucky with. The cream would heat up with the heat of my skin and thus felt slimy and thus the itch cycle began again.

Key in treating my eczema was to keep the skin really well moisturised everyday to prevent a bad breakout. When the breakouts came I had a very mild Betnovate cream (steroid) which healed it fast. Its not healthy long term to use this cream but it is ok if it is short term, just to get the breakout under control, and then back to moisturising with aqueous or similar. Betnovate is only available on prescription.

As an adult, I still get the odd breakout (funnily enough I have one at the moment) but they are few and far between. I always have dry skin though and I should moisturise daily. I manage 2/3 times a week. Aqueous has always felt slimy on my skin and, personally, I have more joy with Aveeno which you can buy from Boots. Its smooth and feels nice on the skin. Its been hailed on MN a few times as being good for eczema.

My eczema has lessened with age. I thought I had grown out of it totally but lately its back. Its never been as bad as when I was small.

My advice would be to look at his diet. Dairy can be a problem. And to moisturise his skin as much as possible once the breakout has passed. Its totally possible to get him/keep him more comfortable than he was last night but I'm not sure you are getting the best advice/training/creams to handle it.

How was the rest of the night? And this morning?

Also, I notice you posted this in allergies. I have never thought of eczema as an allergy. Its a skin condition. It might sometimes be set off by certain things but.......an allergy? Maybe someone can enlighten me. Is it?

I guess there are different eczemas and some may be allergy based. My doctor explained to me that my eczema was the type that wasn't always totally visible on the surface, it would be attacking a layer of skin somewhere below the surface and driving me bonkers.

Sunshine does amazing things for my skin.

Have not read all the posts but brought back memories with my dd. She would be like this and on med all the time. Heartbreaking and would make herself bleed. Very upseting and totally exhusting emotionally for you. I definately agree about the possibility of allergy to things in his diet. My dd eventually had the wraps/epaderm and also I brought the special eczema clothing too which was a godsend to protect her skin from the scratching and worth every penny. She lived in them at home. Very expensive. www.eczemaclothing.com We still see a dermatologist now but since our dermo sent us for numerous skin prick tests we learnt the immense allergies she had to foods. cutting these out is far from easy but she is a happy girl now and not on wet wrapping treatments anymore. She still wears her eczema clothing after school on itchy days and always to bed but life is loads better and her skin is looking fab. We use dermol lotion as a soap sub and school has some too. She moisterises with diprobase cream emollient. I know things will get worse now summers comming but things are much improved,her skin looks beautiful. If at school I keep her in cotton trousers to protect her legs and always long sleeved cotton shirts to protect arms else things get bad. One day at xmas wearing a party dress with no sleeves at school gave her an infection where she scratched. she has dustmite allergies, life threating peanut allergy, allergies to green beans, peppers,kiwi, sweet corn/maize, tomatoes, carrots, banana,potatoes, minorly to lettice celery and cucumber. Probably something I have forgotten oh yes grass pollen. imbroprofin aswell! From experience I recommend testing. Med didnt help her when food after food was triggering her off. Bath times were hell. Hope something helps here and definately get on to being refered to a dermatologist. We were lucky to be refered in the end by a fab doctor who had spent time on an eczema ward training and finally got us seen, whereas other docs weren't so helpful. Good luck

Sorry just read you have a dermatologist and the suits ect. Didnt read all the posts. what med did you give. My dd lived on periton and that was anaphylactic doses. By mistake on my part. Doctors gave it for her nut allergy really but I had to keep using it in despiration for her eczema/itching at the time as had no real help then. She still has it now for if I think she is triggered by food but the allergist also gave cetirizine for a longer usage one for more dust and pollen induced reactions. I cant understand why they dont want you using anything. Ours have even given stuff in past to stop itching and to make her more drowsy aswell for at night but I read the side affects and decided against it. I thougt it was more for my benifit than hers really!

I say allergist but we are not that blessed. He is a peaditrician really.

yes frumpygrumpy i think thats what happens with my son the cream he uses makes his itch worse but the derma told me to put it on all the time so i do regliously, yeh my soon has tried many creams a the steriod one u metion is the one i have used bfore if i remember righty when i touch his skin its burning hot and with him being at school i cant sit and watch that he doesnt scratch he came home with his shirt full of blood the other day and on his leg it was swollen. tried to see other docs at surgery but they are all the same

frumpygrumpy i didnt know where else to put it?????

chloesmumtoo my son hates wet wraps and screams when i do them i have to fight him to put them on. my son loves friut and veg tomatos cucumber bannanas carrotts i dust clean and wash regilously too its driving my mad!!!

I have had really bad eczema all my life - I used to find a warm shower helped distract from the itching. And diet definetely, I was always worse after eating anything sweet. Also like someone else said getting too hot or stressed really aggrevates it. I feel really sorry for you and him - I used to feel like he does. My ds3 has just been diagnosed with it at 3 months.

the derma told me not to use it as he will become more dependent on it and it will not work the doc gave me chlorphenamine elixir and also told me to use priton but im not going to use both as i think it is far to much for his little body to take dont get me wrong i dont mind stopping up with him all night and applying creams and more bandages i just really feel sorry for him i used to have it only a bit on my arms and it drives u nuts scratching!!!! i read at the ezcema socity are having a thing for ezcema at the hospital in may so goin to take him to that see if i can get any joy running out of options tried every cream and med going???

its awful didnt understand how bad it could get till i had my little boy i have to peel the bandages off his arms sometimes. he wont get in warm bath only cold but he still thinks its hot and also most nights dont know how hes going to b in the bath most of the time he screams blue murder

Yes marie my dd used to cry in pain when applied wet wraps too. Heartbreaking. Getting her in the bath was terrible and having to dribble water on her poor skin. just trying to sit her down was a challenge in the water. You feel so cruel. I remember running to and throw chemists with weeping ankles sticking to her socks not knowing what to do.

Its so so hard. Feel for you. I know I was the same about some meds. You dont like to over use. How old is he

We use to sit for hours rubbing and rubbing her poor body to settle her. Does he get hives often

hi he gets them sometimes, hes 6 yrs old he had a break for a while thought it had gone then it came back with revenge

yeh u do feel cruel have to pour water over him while hes in the bath with him standing up and he just sobbs his little heart out even when im washing his hair

taking him on holiday for easter to haven so hopefully the sun air will do him some good

i meant fresh air not sun air duh???

lol. Have a little think about keeping a food diary and when he has hives and bad times make a log of it. I have before and it has helped us to ask for certain foods to be tested. May notice a pattern. I know its hard. Many times I started and stopped but you can look back over it. I know its a horrible thought having to exclude foods but to be honest when we came out of the hospital with lots of positive results I actually felt that atleast I knew what was causing it and could do something about it. I always felt there was more to her problem. Now we have acted on that and her life is so much better. yeah I agree, washing their hair is a real problem too when it stings with just water let alone shampoo.Remember it well. I drain the bath still today and shower the shampoo off her head as to not have her sitting in it.

my dd is 7 now but she started out with eczema from about a week old. We had alot of food allergies confirmed around school age and she has improved immensley since. Playschool age was sheer hell.

Marie, have you tried bicarconate of soda in warm(not hot) bath. It does wonders for my DS1 and calms him for the night.

The other thing is did you know Chlorphenamine elixir is piriton? Don't mean to offend but just in case!

Hope things aren't too bad today.

my son is in the bath right now got him in when the going was good no screams yehhhh