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???

Sorry I havnt read the full thread, but a poster on here wrote a few months back in Style & Beauty.

She had been away for a week and her skin had changed dramatically for the better.

She worked out that her parents (I think) had some sort of hot water cylinder that had no limescale.

I cant find the thread, sorry.

Cactus- re limescale (which is inevitable in hard water area, which is most of UK) - I find when I stay in soft water areas (South West, Wales etc) my skin and hair improve and flaky patches on the scalp go, my DH's persistent dandruff disappears, my baby with exzema could have a bath without emollients when we stayed in Devon! So if the OP lives in the hard water area, maybe it's worth installing a water softener?

Thanks for all the advice. It seems I may have rejoiced too soon, woke up this morning like lizard woman again sitting here smothered in coconut oil + aveeno + moogoo + steroid cream (such a lovely thought for you there, not) before I can attempt to leave the house. Itching woke me up in the middle of the night, skin is angry, red and flaking. ARGH. Surely in this day and age they can find some sort of cure for this nightmare?!? Going to make another docs appointment after the bank holiday and DEMAND a referral. Feeling rather sorry for myself right now.

Ps nodown I used to live in Devon and my ezcema practically disappeared. It also goes away in the sun. Perhaps a whole new life is in order... Or maybe as a PP suggested, sunbeds...? Although that is a controversial issue, obviously.

This is what I am dealing with... All sodding over me

As I think I said up thread, you have had bad advice in the past about skin washes Sanex and emollients not strong enough and it wouldn't surprise me if your steroid advice was wrong too now. And I can't believe no-one in your surgery suggested a pre-payment certificate either - am really cross on your behalf.

You so need to see a dermatologist - fingers crossed for you on Tuesday.

Thank you. I will ask about the pre payment thingy as well. The other highly irritating (pardon the pun!) thing about ezcema is that the same thing doesn't seem to work for different people... So frustrating. And I am doubly frustrated as it is a beautiful day here and I am stuck inside waiting for cream to soak in before I can get dressed. Not that I feel like leaving the house looking like this

I don't believe in alternative medicine and only went because someone else was paying and twisted my arm (long story) but Dr Ke at the Brackenbury Clinic solved my lifelong, all-over eczema in my mid 20s. This is him:
brackenburyclinic.com/hammersmith/practitioners/dr-song-xuan-ke/

You don't get the pre-payment certificate from the surgery. You can get one on line but the website's crap or phone up for one. Make sure you get it just before you get a prescription so it's valid for the longest possible time.

apps.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/ppcwebsales/patient.do

A dermatology clinic usually has a pack of 'stuff to try' as they know the same thing doesn't work for everyone. But the fact you haven't been prescribed stuff to wash with is ezcema 101 so I think there is a huge amount that can be done for you.

Thanks both. Phew, just seen the prices! But I am willing to pay anything to sort this out! Did you do the acupuncture and the herbal medicine, just out of interest? I think j mentioned upthread that when chinese herbal tea was first introduced, I was a guinea pig for it on trial... It tasted absolutely foul and stank the house out. My poor mother spent hours each evening trying to get me to drink it! Can't really remember if it actually helped though as I was about 7 or 8 I think

Just the herbs plus a topical oil (which I rarely used) and some dietary advice. No acupuncture.

I still think it shouldn't work, but it did. And I'd tried a lot before then, and was not sleeping, completely lost confidence, unable to wear lots of types of clothes etc.

I'm going to have to say, see a mainstream dermatologist first. You really haven't had 5% of what evidence-based medicine has to say on ezcema yet before you start exploring herbal alternatives. It has also been shown several times in investigations of Chinese treatments of ezcema that miracle results are achieved by the herbs actually containing very high doses of medicinal steroids - not saying this is the case for Dr Ke obvs.

Oh I will, don't worry. My mum found something in the news about an immunosuppressant cream (think someone else mentioned it upthread) so I am going to insist on doctor looking at this as well. Problem is when you only get ten mins or so, it's very difficult to talk about everything, and I always get worried I am taking up their precious time, stupid eh? On application of about 3000th layer of moisteriser now, still red, angry skin and can hardly bend legs sorry, this has turned into a poor me thread... I just want to go out in the sunshine!!! Argh.

Eleuphrat is my steroid ointment of choice, and Advantin Fatty Ointment is my back up.

You are right that lately it's been getting worse. Silly late winter.

Yes, that's one reason I was sceptical. But it did work and didn't come back (which it would have done if it was just hidden steroids dealing with the symptoms). I did a lot of background checking on Dr Ke before I went, for all those reasons.

I blame the constantly changing temperature and also my work environment, which is unsanitary to say the least. A few of us with allergies have noticed that they have been playing up recently, but none as spectacularly as mine! I've had to miss work on a few occasions as well, and worried that could impact on my future there, as they don't seem to understand how debilitating it is... Checked Eleuphrat out, but it seems to be only 0.05%? Just checked the label on my current steroid cream (sourced from the med for a fraction of the price and no need for prescriptions there ) and its 0.1%. And still not bloody working! I am making a long list of all the suggestions you lovely lot have given me. GP is going to rue the day, isn't he/she?!

train if you don't mind me asking, where did you see Dr Ke? And what was the actual treatment? I will get a referral from my doc for a dermatologist obviously, but it is really helpful to know more details about alternative therapies IYSWIM

Different steroids have different potencies - it's not as simple as seeing that 0.05% is less than 0.1%

One of the reasons seeing a dermatologist is so beneficial is not just that they only do skin but that you get a lot longer than 10 minutes! Really it's amazing the GP gets anything done at all in such a short time.

Will see if I can google something about steroid strengths for you.

Pm'd you, OP.

And I'd agree with seeing a dermatologist first - I did, but after he failed to help I got desperate.

OK results of my googling your current regime:

Sanex - so you know I hate it, you absolutely need to avoid sodium laureth sulphate and sodium lauryl sulphate like the plague. Ask GP to prescribe Dermol 500 while you are waiting to see Dermatologist because they are going recommend this anyway

Dermelex-- assume you are not getting this on prescription? Oats and oil sounds nice but not nicer than anything else you can get and it must be costing you a fortune. It took me quite a long time to find out the ingredients as they are much busier making claims about how great the product is which always makes me a bit suspicious. The clinical proven bit seems very overstated. Also some people find shea butter an irritant - if this is you, then your skin isn't liking it.

Aveeno - not sure if you have the cream or the lotion. You can get them prescribable for ezcema but on prev link for emollients they are at the v mild end of emollients - your poor skin prob needs something more hardcore! Also it's another oatmeal product so the Dermelex and Aveeno are kind of doing the same thing twice.

Betnovate 0.1%: This would be classed as a potent steroid. But if your emollients are wrong, your washes are wrong, it's up against it. And a dermatologist might recommend other steroid sparing treatment as well.

A few links (there is more info in the downloadable factsheets if you click on them):

www.eczema.org/atopic-eczema

www.eczema.org/emollients

www.eczema.org/corticosteroids

You will not be wasting the dermatologist's time. They will be angry that you haven't been referred sooner with skin like that. Mine was!

True! I get cross when people are referred late to see me and have had months of inadequate treatment for something I could solve in 20 min.

Partly it gives me the rage but partly I'm pleased I have something easy to do for a change

I have a shower filter that I buy from Amazon. I find that helps as I live in a hard water area.

We had a water softener installed. It doesn't make as much of a difference as I expected, though we use far less cleaning stuff now, so that also helps. I thought it would be like when we go to soft water areas, where I barely need to moisturise after a few days.

What do you do about brushing teeth? When I flare up around my mouth the toothpaste stings horribly.

I agree with Trainbridge on seeing a Chinese doctor. I got to about 28 years old with terrible flair ups. The worse they were, the more stressed I became, and the worse the itch. A terrible cycle!

Saw dermatologists, homeopaths. Everyone.

I was working near Neals Yard where they used to have a shop with Chinese herbs in. In complete desperation I went in one day, saw a doctor who was working behind the counter. She checked my tongue, then my pulses, and disappeared downstairs and reappeared with a tub of powder. I had to drink it mixed with hot water every night. It was foul. I tell you, foul.

By day 3 there was a massive improvement. I went back for more powders, then had some acupuncture with her. That was about 20 years ago, and I rarely get a flare up now.

I would, however, suggest you also watch your diet. When you have your skin under control, take a good look at including more anti inflammatory foods in your diet, and limiting the stuff that fires up your system. Try and take your whole body down a notch in terms of its ability to react.

Lastly, if your GP is crap, go see someone else for a second opinion.

HTH.