AIBU to think that there must be something more we can do for this eczema

[namechangeforthispost123]

Hello! Posting here for traffic.

Our two year old has always had mild eczema but over the last month it's got significantly worse... The itching all through the night is unbearable for us all.

We've tried all potions and lotions available both over the counter and prescribed and now the GP has said that he has no further solutions but that lots of children live with and then grow out of this type of eczema... We've booked to see a dermatologist privately but can't be seen until the New Year.

Does anyone have any advice?

@namechangeforthispost123 I wonder if this is an impact. I obviously don't drink it now but the impact to my eczema when I apply it to my skin is incredible. Pain gone and clears up really quickly.

52 year old long term eczema sufferer here. Chronic childhood eczema.

Tomorrow morning I would bath in a bath containing only salt. Cut out all creams - I am allergic to most of them including those prescribed by GPs. Use nothing but a mild steroid on her skin (hydrocortisone etc.) for a couple of days. Don’t be shy of it. It will nip it in the bud.

Change the bedding. At bedtime give some antihistamine.

I recently discovered Balmonds and I get along well with that. I’m allergic to most moisturisers.

I hope your dc will feel more comfortable soon.

Definitely get contact allergy tested
A lot of toiletry preservatives can cause reactions like this

Most likely cows milk allergy or FPIES flared up by stopping breastfeeding

We use Doublebase in the bath once a day and it really helps x

My son had skin like that and blood tests revealed an egg and dust mite allergy .

Please do not dismiss the allergy aspect . My sons skin cleared up 99% when we cut out the egg allergen .

The allergy consultant we saw told us that most severe eczema is an allergy .

My GP was terrible and we were seeing a paediatrician for something else who advised us to get a referral to his paediatric allergy colleague . It changed my sons life .

Please get allergy tests .

@namechangeforthispost123

We use Piriton for the maximum dosage every 24 hours...

I've been using coconut oil and it seems much better, but still not much improvement.

We use Fairy non-bio.

This is just her legs but it's all over, apart from face and hands.

Thanks for all advice so far! I'm noting down the things we haven't tried.

As a mother of kids with allergies and a life long suffer of eczema like this. This is what I found works. Bicarb of soda baths for the itch, it's amazing. You need to get certaban ointment to wash her in and you need to get her smothered in it and then wrap her in cotton bandages or the equivalent. Stop using coconut oil. Your doctor should be prescribing steroid creams to get this under control. I know they're very unkeen with children but it's only short term. I use to put cotton tights/leggings on my ds when he was like this. Nails short. Get soap nuts to wash her clothes in and don't use softener on anything she uses, inc towels and bedding.

Never use soap or anything with SLS in when washing, stick to water. Do not use e45 or aqueous creams, they are irritants. This includes hair washing! Put oilatum or certraban in the bath, body temp water and don't soak her in it for long. Wash her hair over a sink if you're using shampoo and conditioner. Do you have pets? Hoover the house frequently and damp wipe frequently including her bed incase it is a dust allergy.

Give her pain killers at bedtime while you get it under control. Soft clean clothes, constant moisturisers not rubbed in but literally smothered on day and night and a secure clothing/bandage layer on top. You can't have enough moisturiser/barrier cream.

Once it settles it's easy to manage.

Advise I had from a dermatologist for similar eczema on my daughter was : if you’re going to change food you need to do it properly and for several months, ideally 6. Don’t ditch milk and keep feeding yoghurt for example. (We tried soya milks for 6 months, then goats, neither was the issue)

Things I found : keep nails v v short, shorter than you think is comfortable - I’ll never forget the sound of my daughter scratching in her sleep, it sounded like sandpaper on wood.
Ditch anything perfumed. No bubble bath, even be careful about shampoo. We got a liquid emollient to replace soap. One for the bath.

Don’t listen to anyone about x emollient being best. What works for one might not work for another. Try them til you find one that works fir your kid. Diprobase was the only one that worked here but others will swear by aveeno or whatever. Try it, change if it doesn’t work.

Be careful about clothes, some fabrics can really irritate or be more ‘sweaty’.
Never put on new clothes without washing first.
Same with sleeping in a bed at someone else’s house… the sandpaper night was at grannies. I hadn’t checked they had used fairy non-bio and found out it was some harsh as hell Lidl bio stuff.

Be patient. My daughter mostly grew out of by 4 but still has flare ups as an adult.

Two of my dils absolutely swear by Tamanu balm by Tropic.
I know nothing about it but my grandson’s eczema has completely gone since he’s been treated with it and my granddaughter who had extreme, weeping eczema has improved by 90% I would say and I think she also had treatment from a homeopath.
Please give this a try as hopefully your little one will respond well too.

My DS had severe eczema as a baby. Aveeno cream, Aveeno oatmeal bath sachets and varying strength steroid creams helped clear his up. We tried dairy free (soya milk) for a month but it made no difference.

Wet wrapping made him worse so we gave up on that.
We didn't go down the allergy testing route. We got it mainly under control with regular lotions and potions as above. It did eventually get to a point where he was virtually clear and only had the odd patch here and there - mainly in places where he got hot such as back of knees and inside of elbows. He would flair up whenever he was ill but otherwise it virtually disappeared. He's 25 now and although he'll always have dry skin (still uses Aveeno cream) he hasn't had any eczema for about 15 years.

You need to work out what is causing it rather than patching up the problem . Get allergy tests and log reactions etc . I had infantile eczema and grew out of it if that is any consolation.

Remove obvious possible irritants:
Feather bedding/pillows
Cut flowers/flowering plants
Use the extra rinse cycle for laundry. As others have suggested use non-bio only and no conditioner.
No scented soaps for washing hands
Oilatum for washing, not too hot or too cold.
Try epaderm cream for soothing after/ in between steroid applications.

Forgot to say. Straight after we got a referral, before appointment even arrived, we called up the dermatology secretary (through hospital switch board), spoke to them about how severe it was and they saw us a lot sooner than they otherwise would. Obviously only do that if really need to but don't feel like you need to wait on the list whilst child gets worse. The waiting lists are made up of many like my DD, who after lots of treatment are not in urgent need and they can move them down the list for those who are.

Not read the full thread. But look up Dr Aron. Changed my life. Good luck xx

I've had eczema for 50 years and it's disappointing how little treatments have changed since I was a kid. DD also has eczema and she was offered most of the same treatments I was as a kid.

As others have said you need to get DD allergy tested. Also If I'm mildly allergic it takes four days before reaction kicks in so watch how long you try stuff for.

I would 100% stop using the coconut oil, stick to the emollients given to you by the doctor.

@ijustdontknow123

My 4yo has eczema on his legs and it has always been a battle with the scratching, especially at night. I got the Comfifast Elasticated Tubular Stretch Viscose Bandage from amazon last week and the difference has been great

You can get viscopaste on prescription, along with the tubigrip bandages... will save you a fortune!!

My brother had eczema as bad as this as a child & his elbows, knees & fingers all used to open up & split, his bed used to be covered in blood every morning. It only properly cleared up when he had his tonsils & adenoids were removed & his asthma cleared. My mum used to put emollients in his bath & oats to calm the inflammation & wet bandaged the worse areas like elbows, knees & fingers, she must have used gallons of emollient & steroid creams but he eventually grew out if it. Have you tried washing clothes in pure soap instead of washing powder & eliminating all chemicals like fabric softener? I know my brother could never wear new clothes until they had been washed to remove all the dressing put in by manufacturers. I would recommend using sudocrem or Vaseline, have you seen a dermatologist? It may takeseveral different combinations of steroids & emollients to find something that works, is it worse in winter? Could central heating be contributing?

Ask doctor for zinc wraps....they clear up a raw outbreak and gives skin a chance to heal.

And at the time 1-3 years old I was asked more than once if it was burns on her face it was so red and often infected and/or weeping. She’d eat, and being a toddler it would go on her face and certain foods would react like acid.

It looks allergy related.

Sudocreme is really not great on bad eczema. If it’s infected you’ll need a prescription for antibiotic cream, if not you’ll likely need a steroid cream

The way I got our GP to listen (and actually do something other than blame me because they thought that if it wasn’t getting better it must be my fault for not putting the cream on right, because ‘eczema isn’t caused by allergies’) was to print and take the nice guidance in and point out what made this severe eczema and what the guidance said needed to happen. Up to that point we had about 7 years of being fobbed off with various different creams, none of which worked. He’s fine now, and has been pretty much since he saw a decent dermatologist (NHS) who worked out within 15 minutes that he’s allergic to loads of things.

I forgot to mention that I’m allergic to Eumovate, if that’s being used I would stop for a few days and go steroid only. My mum used to put me in cotton gloves at night but I would just rip them off, the urge to scratch is too much to resist, antihistamines help with that.

@ineedsun

The way I got our GP to listen (and actually do something other than blame me because they thought that if it wasn’t getting better it must be my fault for not putting the cream on right, because ‘eczema isn’t caused by allergies’) was to print and take the nice guidance in and point out what made this severe eczema and what the guidance said needed to happen. Up to that point we had about 7 years of being fobbed off with various different creams, none of which worked. He’s fine now, and has been pretty much since he saw a decent dermatologist (NHS) who worked out within 15 minutes that he’s allergic to loads of things.

Nothing has changed then my childhood GP blamed my parents for my eczema and that was 40 years ago! I think most sufferers just learn what works for them over the years… until that changes and suddenly we’re allergic to something we’ve had for years then the process begins again.

Can I just say that some people are allergic to Fairy non-bio or other non-bio products! I used this for years and one of my children had a persistent eczema problem that just would not clear up, it was even weeping. I tried changing conditioners/non-bios/to Fairy from other products. Then we heard about these washing balls which use no washing powder whatsoever, I bought two of those, washed all her stuff separately, so we could all still use washing powder, and it's cleared up a problem that went on for years and years.

I do all her washing separately to the rest of the family, with these washing balls, no powders or conditioners, it makes it much easier than doing it with other things, dry it separately in the tumble drier. I did all the clothes in her wardrobe the first time out, took a few loads, now everything of hers is stored in separate washing baskets and done separately.

Stopping using washing powder altogether has changed everything!

DS had this - he is 3 now and it's mostly gone. He is on a steroid preventer for asthma. So, steroids and more steroids basically. 1% cream applied generously and for a long period. We tend to worry as parents about skin damage etc but it works.

We also stopped daily baths, only used prescribed emollient and switched to Wilko non-bio.