Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

General health

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Eczema herpeticum - help!

6 replies

nicecupofteaplease · 26/05/2014 19:02

Can anyone help? My 8 month old has this and apart from medication - we have oral acyclovir, antibiotics and an antihistamine - we've been given no info about management or timeframes as to when we can expect to see an improvement.

Could anyone share their experience? How long do blisters keep forming for? She got a huge batch on the first day, there were a few new ones on the second day but nowhere near as many as day 1. Temp seems to have gone down, and I'm still putting Aveeno on her as it's so sore and dry looking. A bit late now I think but should I be wearing gloves? I don't have eczema but I guess the herpes is transmittable.

Did you have repeat attacks? I've read this can happen but that they're milder. Did you see a dermatologist and were you given any advuce about longterm management?

Her hands look so sore and awful I can't imagine they'll come out of this unscathed, poor little mite.

OP posts:
RidgyTipper · 26/05/2014 19:08

It's often associated with coeliac disease so I'd think seriously about doing a gluten free trial.

TheAbominableWoman · 26/05/2014 19:35

I have had several attacks of eczema herpeticum. The first was by far the worst, requiring hospitalisation. It covered the whole right side if my face and there were grave concerns about it spreading into my eyes.

In my case, I noticed the first blister on a Friday and by Sunday it covered about two thirds of the right hand side of my face. I was admitted to hospital and started on a maximium dose of acyclovir immediately and I'd say the blisters probably stopped forming on the Monday. I was discharged from hospital and by the following Sunday (so, a week from admission to hospital), you could barely tell that I'd had it. The acyclovir is really good stuff at killing it off. So, although your wee one's hands look bad now, don't worry too much about lasting scarring. I have none at all and babyish skin heals better than adults does generally.

Subsequent flare ups haven't been as severe and it's now been a few years since I had one. I did see a dermatologist but, to be honest, he hadn't seen enough cases to be able to give much advice on long term management.

It's a really unpleasant thing to have so I really feel for your DD. Hope she makes a speedy recovery.

nicecupofteaplease · 26/05/2014 19:54

Thanks Abominable Woman - good to know it cleared up. I am wondering whether I should have asked to be admitted with her so she could have acyclovir intravenously. She's having it orally and occasionally sicking it up. Gaaaahh. She's well in herself so I'd like to avoid being in hospital if possible. Seems silly to ask this on Mumsnet, but 111 were less than useful and we weren't seen by a dermatologist in A & E so I feel a bit stuck about who to ask.

Anyone had a child with this?

OP posts:
mimilovell · 30/05/2014 23:56

Eczema and other skin conditions like this is an symptom of a problem with the gut and digestive system. When any part of the digestive system isnt working properly /damaged/inflamed the toxins are then excreted through the skin. My little brother was hospitalized at 7 months because of Eczema, and it was horrible as the more medication they kept giving him worse it seems to get, as he then got other problems. Ie he then quickly developed asthma. Both was really bad, and at school my brother was the only one who suffered from these two conditions, so the teachers were not very clued up.

They then realized the vaccines was the cures of inflammation of his gut. Back then children were given less vaccines than they are today. Inflammation is one of the side effects and so is an autoimmune response. But the doctors told my mum it best to continue with the vaccination program, as the benefits outweighed the risk. So she did it. And in hindsight she wished she didnt.

My brother was in and out of hospital (more in hospital for 5 years), and it didnt seem to get any better. My neighbour recommended a famous Chinese herbalist, who is trained in western medicine as well as herbal. With nothing to loose, my mum took my brother there. Everytime they he needed a repeat prescription, my mother needed to travel all the way there with him. Most people would think that herbs wont is just hocos poscos new age rubbish, when in fact people have been using it for centuries. Because the idea is ti heal from within, the recovery process is long and not shown immediately. This is better as there are no side effects. After 2 years my brothers eczema was healed but the only problem is because of the damage that was caused to his digestive system and skin, combined with the prolong time he was left untreated especially during the crucial stage of development. He is really sensitive. If he eats the wrong food or in contact with toxins/dirt etc... he gets itchy.

It was only when the andrew wakefield case came on, when I found out that he saw children who had the combined MMR vaccine who had inflamed guts, that I understood that my brother is not a one off. My brother did not have the combined MMR vaccine. The fact is the antigens in the vaccines caused inflammation which resulted in eczema and asthma.

Saying this, In our house, we dont really have any plastics/ stuff made China, to limit the chances of being in contact with toxins. Apart from fairy non-bio detergent and washing up liquid, household cleaning products are a no no, to limit the amount of toxins. Also in our house we eat organic and grow our own food. We had a garden, and more natural stuff. And at 7 months, my brother was not old enough to eat gluten laced stuff, play with lost of toys, and my mother was every careful. So no one can say to her, she was a bad mother and the environment triggered the auto immune response. So this made it quite easy for the consultant to focus their attention on his body reaction to the antigens in the vaccine.

I would suggest on going natural and requesting an endoscopy for your child. Just a word of warning that most doctors are clueless when it comes to the side effects of vaccines. My mother had to be very annoying and did a lot of reading into various possibility and demand test before they do anything. It was lucky that we had an consultant that time, who specialised in digestive system, so he looked into this my brothers illness with his expertise.

There are plenty of websites you can research on whcih will give you natural ways to boost your child immune system, and heal the gut.

Best of luck

MadameDefarge · 30/05/2014 23:59

mimi, that is, quite frankly. Tosh.

PacificDogwood · 31/05/2014 00:05

nicecup, typically skin will clear up within a couple of weeks or so.
It sound like your LO is on a good combination of meds for this combination. I hope your DD is better very soon. The mainstay of treatment afterwards will be very frequent and generous use of emollients to prevent broken skin from eczema so the viral infection cannot get to her.

People who are prone to eczema are more likely to get a more severe problem if exposed to the cold sore virus (herpes simplex), so treatment with antibiotics and antivirals is important.

The skin condition associated with Coeliac's disease is dermatitis herpetiformis, not eczema herpeticum, so don't worry too much.

Mimi, I would love to see one little shred of evidence to support your points.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread