At end of my tether - eczema and stupidly itchy dry skin - HELP!

[Theoneandonlyitchymcitch]

As I sit here, smothered in aveeno, instead of being out with all the bright young things, I am begging for any advice or wise words. I have had ezcena since I was 18 months old (I am now in my 30's) and have learnt to manage it pretty well. However, I have had a pretty rough time recently (relationship woes, work stress, etc, and my bastarding skin has decided to make my life even more difficult by going completely crazy. It is red, flakey and unbearably itchy. I average about two hours sleep a night because of the itching, which makes me unbelievably grouchy at work. I can't wear most of my clothes as I cannot tolerate anything other than pure cotton on my skin. People at work have started making snide remarks about fleas as I literally cannot stop itching and do it without thinking. I literally bathe in emollients and Aveeno, am popping antihistamines like they are going out of fashion... Can't wear dark clothes as my skin is flaking so badly. Have to wash my hair every day as the skin on my face flakes into my hair and looks like I have horrendous dandruff. Then it gets so dry that trying to bend my arms and legs is absolute agony. GP doesn't help, I am more of an expert than them having had bad skin for so long (see a different one Everytime and they just google) ... It is seriously denting my confidence, my sanity and I am begging you lot to suggest something else I can try... Sorry for the essay, but I am literally at my wits end. Help anyone???

I will. Thanks for the many recommendations! I am super tired and actually itching seems to have calmed down, must be all the mentions of lovely
Calming ezcema products and a few glasses of wine Although asthma has now reared its ugly head, so on the old ventolin. Gah. It sucks to be me

I really feel for you OP. Hope you sleep.

I think ( touch wood )I'm finally growing out of my eczema ( in my late 40s) as it has really calmed down in the last couple of years once I started using aveeno. I did have times a few years ago when I felt just like you.

The aveeno cream is what has made the biggest difference along with elocon cream ( I didn't get on with protopic as i found it too hot). I also used Haelan tape which is a medicated tape about 3 inches wide which also means you can't scratch as badly.

I would also suggest you push for a referral to a dermatologist.

Ask for tests for allergies, I had horrendously itchy arms until I gave up gluten.i was convinced tiny mites were living in my skin.

Luckily it has eased right off now though I am having sympathetic itching after reading the thread.

I hope you get some sleep, bless you x

Thank you all, just went a bit wild on Amazon as well, buying coconut oil and aloe Vera stuff. Just had a massive allergic reaction (possibly to indian take away) hey ho. Now aiming for sleep. It's not going fo happen is it! got the epi pen at the ready. And tiny mouse eyes as my face is so swollen

Oh poor yoy op. How was your night in the end? I hope you are still asleep

Nice. Just what you need!

Hope the reaction eases soon.

I am on this thread, just namechanged.

Have you tied Jason Vale's skin deep programme? I have psoriasis and eczema and I know that juicing helps with mine. I haven't tried his plan, which I think is a combination of juicing and diet changes, but keep meaning to after I saw this video of someone who had awful problems and is now "healed" :

Sorry I was asleep (finally), and then had to have a power 3 hour nap this afternoon to try and get over the tiredness. Bit annoyed as now I am late going out... Reaction has calmed down, still a bit red and sore though. Going to stock up on more antihistamines and more flipping aveeno and moisteriser the deep skin thing looks interesting, I'll check it out later. As an aside, on the allergy thing, does anyone know if you can ask for phernegan over the counter in the chemist?

No idea about phernegan but do you know you can get aveeno on prescription?

Yes I know that, but it works out more expensive when I have to pay for prescription which is crap. Currently in the middle of another hideous swelling and redness episode. Joy. Thanks for that anyway.

Apologies, I haven't read the full thread but wanted to share DH's experience.

Have copied and pasted this from another thread I posted on, for spear as DS is crying for me.

Will read the thread in full tomorrow.

DH has had eczema his whole life but only had minor flare ups the last 20 years until he had really bad flu a few years ago. Dr prescribed steroids (tablets and cream) it got better but a few weeks later it flared again, he was prescribed more steroids creams and it would clear up and then come back. He has been seeing a dermatologist (private) for a few years and has been on various tablets but increasingly strong steroids.

By chance be saw a dr at a walk in clinic and he mentioned the eczema. Dr told him he should be using strong steroids creams on his face. We have been researching online and he has all the symptoms if topical steroid addiction, spoke to a different gp today who agreed. He has been cold turkey for three weeks and his flare up covers his stomach, back, arms, neck and face. Could take 2 years to get back to normal.

I beg you to be very cautious using steroids, the stories of children with TSA are aw

Op you are where I was 6 years ago. What worked for me might not work for you but for itching relief that would last long enough to fall asleep, I did this..... Oat bat in Luke warm water, placed oats in some cut of tights and tied the ends. Ran under the water whilst running my bath, then whilst in the bath I dabbed the tights in my skin got out of bath and patted skin dry.
I then applied lashings of aveeno and covered my limbs in blue line tuber grips from the doctors ( I stored these in the fridge) . This was the only relief I could get. I tried steroids and allergy test and was under a dermatologist. It got better when I discovered I was going through early menopause and started taking Hrt. It is completely clear now, although I do still have little flare ups if stressed . for you, I feel your sleep deprivation and pain

I've been using steroid cream since I was a toddler. So to be fair when the Doctor tells me it's to be used sparingly I tend to roll my eyes and nod.
But as I have got older I can see the damage it has done... It's a rock and a hard place - look like a hideous troll with weeping skin, or set yourself up for really thing skin which ages you later... That said, I am forever getting ID'd in my thirties preens must be the industrial amounts of moisturiser I cake on my face every day. Sorry to hear about your DH. I have had an antihistamine or five and shovelled the aveeno on, so hopefully will get some sleep this evening... Although as soon as my brain thinks sleep, my body thinks itch. Bloody nightmare.

I've heard about the oat bath, I'll give it a go
tomorrow. To be honest, as I think I said upthread, even having a bath results in about an hour or so of itching, even though I use unscented and sensitive skin stuff. (Either sanex, aveeno or Dead Sea salt - or if I am desperate then a combination!) itching like mad at the moment. So much for a peaceful night's sleep before Monday...

Which Sanex are you using? Sanex is a bloody nightmare - it markets itself as sensitive skin but 99% of the products aren't and still have SLES in. I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole. Ask your GP to prescribe you some Dermol 500 to wash with. If you have bad ezcema you should be getting all your wash stuff on prescription, it's awful that you aren't!

Equally Aveeno is OK but fairly mild on the emollient scale. While there is no right emollient you are using one of the weaker ones rather than one of the more hardcore ones for seriously bad eczema. Sounds like you are using Aveeno cream - creams are a middling form of emollient. They sink in but aren't that good for itch.

For itchy skin you really want an ointment - they are greasy and take a long time to be absorbed and may stain your clothes but (I found 50:50 was OK). It's a matter of personal preference but examples are Epaderm, 50:50, Hydromol and Emulsifying Ointment.

Then you have your bath additives like Oilatum which I found was brilliant but made me fall over in the bath

Interestingly enough oilatum did the opposite for me (I know what you mean about the falling over the bath!) so the sanex I am using is the one for very set skin. Seems to soothe, but I find the temperature of the bath really winds my skin up- too hot and you can imagine the fall out, too cold and the itching is unbearable. It is hugely annoying that prescriptions are so expensive. I can easily spend about £40 - £50 on them I am going to go back to the gp this week and demand a dermatologist. I can't cope with this little sleep and with looking like an angry snake has shed its skin on me anymore. Weirdly Nivea seems to help with the dryness... Either way, I am really worried about going on holiday next month if this is not fixed. The thought of being in a foreign
Country without the possibility of being able to run out and get moisteriser really worries me....

Bit late to this discussion. Can I suggest Balneum plus for the bath, it will stop the itch for a good while, stronger steroids such as betnovate to get the worst bits under control. Twice daily for couple of weeks. This should really help. And coconut oil all the time applied in place of moisturiser. And take fish oil supplements every single day. And eat avocados as often as you can.

Don't you have a prescription pre-pay certificate?

Get a prescription pre-payment certificate. You should have one of these if you are likely to need more than 12 items a year or 3 in 3 months:

www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Healthcosts/Pages/PPC.aspx

And check the ingredients on your Sanex- I checked on the website and all of the contained Sodium Laureth Sulphate which is the worst thing you can be putting on your skin when you have ezcema. It's very very drying and irritating. Can you tell I can rant about this for hours

Effectively you are stripping you skin when you wash it and then having to massively repair it again afterwards.

I agree with not using Sanex. It doesn't matter how many times they write mild or sensitive on it, it isn't!
You need to wash with something like dermol.

The only purse friendly shower gel I have found is Johnson's baby top to toe in the yellow pump bottle.

Here is Guys and St Thomas' guide to emollients:
www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/resources/patient-information/dermatology/emollients.pdf

If you are in London ask for a referral there, they are the best for skin stuff.

We were referred to a dermatology specialist nurse (do oh have one locally-she was fab) for our son who really underplayed the role of steroids in skin thinning and advised we should be using fingertip units with respect to cream 'dosing'. Basically you use a fibgertip worth of cream for an area as big as your hand. She advised that eczema whilst active will be thinning your skin anyway and you th gently need to get it fully under control with steroids and emollients and then maintain with emollients. We use steroids in a tailing dose once the flare has settled. We never use soaps etc and use dermol as a soap substitute, double-base dayleve for at least twice daily application (but not with broken skin as it stings-we use a parafin based cream then). We used a emollient pack from GSTT to see which worked most effectively for us.

Times where we he swims too
Much or spends too much time in water eg when we had a shower no bath on holiday is a recipe for bad skin with us.

Good luck sounds miserable.

Finger tip units;

dermnetnz.mobify.me/treatments/fingertip-units.html

I have dishydroric eczema on my feet and have finally got it under control after years with 400g ibroprufen. Stops the itching with 20 minutes and elemis treat my feet cream .
Summer will be my next hurdle as the heat and sweat and grass make them worse.