Eczema Parents! Found out something interesting today.

[chegirl]

My washing machine broke down again last week. It does this a lot but luckily my OH is fond of extended warrenties and it worked out well in this case.

The machine man came round today and was very nice. I was chatting about how much use the machine gets due to DS's severe exzema. He said 'do you use creams?' i said yes, lots. He then said 'I bet Iknow what your door seal looks like' and he was right. He has now ordered me a special door seal designed specifically for people who use eczema medications . My machine is a whirlpool and he wasnt sure if other makes have developed one.

He is coming to fix it on Thursday. I am pathetically excited.

I get pretty fed up of people suggesting that my child with nut allergy ought to eat nuts to desensitise them. Someone died recently trying that without proper supervision and it would be very difficult for us to get to Cambridge. But if a friend hadn't shared their gluten excluding story with me I'd still have skin bleeding in winter, be exhausted, falling asleep after meals, fat from lack of exercise and depressed by all of the rest of it. So I can kind of see both sides of the problem.

I had a friend at primary school whose child had really bad eczema, who was doing wet wraps and like you was fed up of trying eveything. But their child did grow out of the worst of it when they'd given up all hope of that happening. She didn't think she'd changed anything and couldn't identify a reason. It could still happen.

I hope so. At one point I was sure he was getting better. Now his skin is awful again . Still, he is not as bad as when he was little.

hiya chegirl.

i am a mum to 4 girls with eczema. two are diet related, two arent. all are 'atopic'

dd1 is the one who has the worst eczema. at birth she was scaley and sore. and it has caried on for 9years. hers flares up if she eats artifial additive riddled food. [yuk]. also if she sits on the grass, gets to hot, too cold or too stressed.

dd2+3 are just because. no links to diet wit their eczema.

dd4 is onyl 7months. has had eczema since birth. however hers is link to her milk allergy. since i've removed most milk from my diet (stil waiting to see a dietician and dd4 blood results regarding soya before i cut it completel) her skin has improved immensely over the last 2 months.

i used to feel like i wasnt doing enough, the worlds worst mother, when dd1 was so sore her skin was bleeding. but over the years i have relaxed and just accepted i have itchy kids, and how best to treat them. dd1 has the added complication of developing allergies to creams after prolonged use. so i do sigh a bit when people say 'oh have you tried xxx for it'. if i'm chatting to other mums of itchy kids i try to say 'oh what are you using, have yu heard of this stuff as well? its meant to be good' without making them feel bad.

chin up chuck, dd1 skin has improved to almost normal, its taken a while, but the end is in sight. her dermo was predicting her skin would be clear by the age of 8, but at age 9, its not wuite there but a vast vast improvement.

regarding door seals, the greasy emmoillants can rot the rubber, so its best to wipe them after washing emoillant soiled clothes with a soapy cloth. i find faiy liquid works well at breaking down the greasy deposits.

Hi Misdee,

What a lovely post - thank you

I dont know how you manage with all those itchy girlies. How on earth do you keep on top of all the skin care? We are just getting DS to do a bit now he is 6. We would have started earlier but his skin was so bad and he has some learning difficulties.

I do like to have a chat about different approaches. Its helpful to feel you are not alone. Unfortuantely I have had a few really horrible comments on MNs and its put me off a bit. I get DLA for DS's excema and LD and was told I was making money out of him. Nice.

I think its hard for people to understand what severe excema is and how it impacts on the child's and the family's life.

But I know a little girl who has a skin condidtion FAR worse than even the worse excema and I count my blessings.

Thanks again for the pep talk

that's interesting to know. One of my washing machine seals was perished to buggery with the creams

he is coming tommorow so we shall see