Eczema cures! So incredibly desperate!!!!

[Kissmenever]

Hi all,

My lovely dd (5) has suffered from eczema from the age of 3 months, but recently has an awful flare up to the point it’s causing her so much distress, she will cry and say “I don’t want this skin anymore mummy, I want skin like yours” this is breaking my heart so much.

We have tried:
Hydrocortisone creams / steroid creams
So many ointments and creams
Several different non bio washing detergents
Cutting out dairy

Her school teacher has even called me up saying DD is struggling to concentrate in class!
Drs just fob us off with creams and washing lotions, I have asked drs for a referral to a dermatologist, but they say it isn’t “bad enough” yet.
I have attached a photo of the eczema on her neck currently.
I’ve also heard good things about “happy skin” eczema clothes, can anyone vouch?

Thank you so much.

Poor thing 😢 looks so sore.

My son had it really bad under his knee and we use to give him porridge baths which helped.

Another thing that helped a lot was going to the sea, which I know isn't a good suggestion atm. But when we went on holiday a few years ago his eczema went and didn't come back. This was after he had suffered with it for 2 years

That looks awful, poor thing. Def push for a referral but one thing I didn't know is to apply something like aveeno after applying steroid cream to stop it rubbing off - made a huge difference to DD. Otherwise I would look at diet (dairy and sugar) whilst waiting for a referall. Really hope you find something that works

The only thing that soothes my skin is, putting porridge oats in tights and cutting and knotting it to make a soothing sponge .
I wet it in the bath a wash with it .
My skin feels soothed instantly.
I also use green aveeno lotion as it contains oats.
It's all trail and error though.
Sending sympathy and hugs to your dd

Aveeno twice a day and portion when it is really bad. really helps my DS. His eczema was very red and sore round both wrists. And scratch sleeves at night to stop him scratching.

Do steroids not bring it down? Or is it that it pops up again?

I would make a stinking fuss with the GP, don’t take no for an answer - if she can’t concentrate in school then she needs to be referred. If you can afford to go private, I would.

You need to stick with dairy free (permanently) and maybe also gluten free. Also cut out all the sugar and junk food she is being fed and make sure her diet has more fresh fruit and vegetables. Do you have any pets?

Is she earring clothes that rub too? I'd be looking for deep v necks, emollient and steroids. Is it just there? You could look into wet wrapping.

www.scratchsleeves.co.uk/

It's very angry could not be infected? I'd go to the pharmacist to check in the am

@Plantpotpot hi lovely , yes we have 5 guinea pigs I am wondering weather that’s triggering it also?

Okay…look up Child Farm products and buy the lot! They work great. Carry on using the hydrocortisone cream until it settles down and reduce the amount of time spent in water. At this age a child can go in the bath once a week and be clean (I was told this by a midwife and completely agree with it). The key is to keep the area as dry as possible while the steroid cream does the work (a little at a time) and then the long haul is to not provoke it…hence the Child Farm products. Worked for my children and they have now out grown it. Good luck!!!

@Luredbyapomegranate hi! Yes steroids bring it down slightly , but after a couple of weeks we are back to square 1

Sorry - also moisturising at least 2, sometimes 3 times a day is really vital. And making sure she can’t scratch - bandages or gloves at night, and cut her nails very short.

Make sure you are using steroids long enough - the eczema is in the lower layers of skin, so you need to use it longer than you think.

It’s trial and error what moisturisers support, but work your way though all the brands as you keep her moisturiser.

I don’t know about the specific brands but soft natural fibres are key.

Eczema society I presume you belong to -

Your poor DD. Mine isn't that bad but what I find helps is masses of steroid cream - maybe every hour and then it's not needed for a while.
But also - cotton gloves and wrapping arms etc. in cling film after being creamed to stop itching actually scratching the skin and to stop fibres being attached.

And yes to "triggering" clothes. Cotton all the way.

Vaseline is amazing too.

Poor DD. It's awful.

Fresh air and no central heating. (Difficult this weather!). Do you live in a hard water area? That makes it worse too.

Good luck.

Before bed:

Put epsom salts in her bath. Make it as hot as she can stand and get her to soak in it for 1/2 hr.
Cover her in aqueous cream when she comes out
Put sudo creme on the very sore bits then cotton pjs and sleep.

Cut out dairy.

Sorry to hear this.

My son had a miracle cure after homeopathic treatment (one of the practice GP's was also qualified homeopath). We had tried everything else with no improvement and eventually one of the other GP's said not very encouragingly. "Hm, I SUPPOSE there's nothing to be lost by asking Dr X for his witch-doctory. " We did, it worked.

I know lots of people sneer at homeopathy so don't bother telling me its all a fairy tale . I'd feel the same if I'd never seen it work.

Hi OP, my 4 Yr old grandson was suffering dreadfully with Eczema, so much so he was referred to dermatology at our local hospital. A clinical friend if mine suggested Dr Lucas Paw Paw Cream, (Australian brand) which I bought on Amazon , and his eczema cleared up in a week. It was visibly better after 24 hours. It may or may not work but it did for us x

I know you said you’d tried all the ointments but the only things that helped me when I had it in my teens right where she has it were Doublebase and Dream Cream from Lush. I was dubious about the Lush because the shop just smells like a flare up in itself but it worked.

I still get little patches on my neck and backs of my knees if I have too much dairy so it’s worth keeping going with that. On the whole though I can offer you hope that I did grow out of the worst of it.

Sorry OP. This looks so sore.

I had bad childhood eczema. For me it was as much cutting stuff out that helped. It took me years but realising I'm allergic to soya and cutting it out made a huge difference. It's important to check soya because if you cut out dairy you're likely using some soya products as replacements.

Avoid using any products in the bath/shower that you aren't sure about.

Tepid shower better than hot bath.

I'm allergic to polyester. Fleece in particular would bring me out in bad eczema on the skin around my neck.

I'm also allergic to nylon and wool and can't wear these at all without it bringing me out in eczema.

Like pp mentioned, sea water is a miracle worker.

Aveeno skin relief cream seems effective but gentle.

Trying avoiding paraffin/Vaseline based creams.

Sorry - that's all a bit of a jumble but worth a try if you haven't already.

Can you look at her diet a bit more and try to work out what might aggravate it or contribute to a flare up?

Obviously this isn’t easy but is there something in particular she’s eating a lot of which might make it worse? My DC was eating a lot of citrus, obsessed with little satsumas, when I read up on it I saw that they can be an eczema trigger for some people so we cut all citrus out, including juice etc and their skin has cleared up so much. It’s not perfect but huge improvement.

Poor thing, it’s heartbreaking when they’re so uncomfortable

Ps. His eczema seemed to be worse when the central heating was on and up high ( flat was like an 9ven) , got his mum to reduce the temperature which also seemed to help.

That looks so sore, your poor DD.
DD suffered with eczema when she was younger. As a PP said it is trial and error but what worked for her was:- avoiding perfumed laundry powder/liquid; the really greasy ointments made it worse so we stuck with creams for everyday eg. Cetraben; Oilatum in the bath also made it worse, but aqueous creams were ok; soft cotton clothes helped; shampoos aggravated it but randomly we discovered the John Frieda blonde range didn't (?).
We did have a stronger steroid cream which got nasty flares under control amd used hydrocortisone for less bad ones but you need to do a weaning off with steroid creams (sorry, I can't remember how).
This is a few years ago but our GP referred us to a nurse led eczema clinic which was helpful-they went through various creams and explained the correct way to use to steroid creams including the weaning off.

My grown up son has suffered all his life from eczema. He has now got it under control by using germolene by the tubefull when it was awful. The germolene contains a painkiller as well as an antiseptic and a moisturiser.

Now that it's controlled, he uses Honey I Washed The Kids soap from Lush, and Child's Farm baby cream which comes in a pump dispenser. He is meticulous about using the cream every day after a warm shower while his skin is still wet.

When he was little we stuck to loose clothing and made sure he didn't get too hot. I used to put his base layer clothes on inside out so that the seams didn't cause irritation, though I think you can get specially made seamless clothes nowadays.

Oats in a sock are wonderfully soothing on the skin in a bath

Poor mite, it looks so sore! So sorry for you and her, OP.

I’d suggest keeping a food diary and see if it flares up after specific foods? There is a possible link between skin conditions and coeliac disease (where the body attacks itself when gluten is eaten). DD has it, and she had a whole range of ailments through early childhood until it was diagnosed. It affects 1 in 100 and comes with a portfolio of other conditions. Worth considering.

I would push the Dr hard for allergy tests, and stick to liquid clothes wash .....ds needs non bio liquid to stop him flaring. Make sure that clothes are erring on the big side. Feel all round the seams to check they are soft. Be mindful of irritating labels especially.

When my nephew was little, his skin looked raw all the time, and they got special soft dressings, like tubigrip style, which they had to dress him in every night after applying ointments and creams. We tried this with ds but it made his skin worse, I think because it made him too hot.

Sorry if this is teaching granny to suck eggs, I'm just brainstorming.