Eczema- help please!!

[madmumNika]

My DS (2.5) has bad eczema and we have been to a dermatologist in addition to frequent trips to GP but it seems to be getting worse & worse... It is all over him but especially raw behind knees, elbows & wrists. He is incredibly ithcy in spite of using Piriton as often as you can. Can anyone offer advice? I am getting desperate!!

We are currently using:

1. Doublebase emollient gel (tried diprobase, epaderm, aqueous etc)- applied as often as 5 times a day
2. Prescribed bath oil (has a bath every 2-3 days)
3. Eumovate steroid cream
4. Polyfax antibiotic cream

Plus have been given Protopic but am wary of using as very new and is an immunosuppressant...

He is currently on antibiotics due to skin infection, and we have just started (as of Friday) a milk-free diet on the advice of the GP. He hasn't had any allergy tests though.

He is kept in a scratch suit at night to stop him tearing himself to pieces but needs watching constantly in the day as he is so itchy in spite of everything.

Have read loads but am at a loss- he wakes quite a bit at night as he gets so itchy. I am using non-bio washing liquid etc. and just don't know what more I can do. I keep him cool & nails short.

Pleas help us!!

have you tried dermoll 500 lotion?

this was a lifesaving for us, as it helped prevent infections and stop the itch scratch cycle.

also have you possibly considered a belt and braces approach to breaking the cycle as well? dd1 was put on anti biotics, topixcal steroids and oral steroids all at once, just in an attempt to stop the cycle. it wasnt a cure, but gave us enough of a break to get her skin more under control and try and get a grip on the infections. this can only be done under GP/consulatnt care though.

Thank you for your replies- we are using Balneum bath oil which is soya oil (no lanolin). We tired Epaderm and Dermol 500 but both seemed to make him worse?! Diprobase & aqueous cream too... our last resort at the moment is Doublebase.

I do hoover his mattress but it doesn't have a dust mite cover- where can I buy these?

I think it is allergy based so will start keeping a food diary.

sKerry- sounds like you have had a very bad time with your DS's eczema. My DS has never been hospitalised with it thank goodness but it causes him so much distress I'd do anything to help him.

We have never been offered oral steroids but at this rate I will be carting him back to the GP again as can't let it get much worse!

when i was little my mum used to wrap me in Icthopaste bandages. they are messy and time consuming but they were the only thing that stopped me scratching.
i am surprised they prescribed Protopic for such a young child and understand your concerns about it, but i used it couple of years ago and it is the only thing that has ever worked for me. i had previously tried pretty much everything out there, including the steroids, emollients, antibiotics you describe.
I only needed to use it for a couple of weeks and my eczema rarely comes back now, when it does i use it for a few days and it clears up again.
good luck, you WILL find something that works.
xx

Feel for you MadmumNika, been there. I second the advice on bathing in Dermol 500 lotion. Was never sure whether the oil in the bath aggrevated the condition. I cant quite remember what the double base is like but have tried it all ourselves in the past. Dd is always on the diprobase cream emolient now and has greatly improved over the years but used to use the epaderm with wraps and at stingy periods. Have you tried wet wraps yet? Although no good with infection. Our dd was found to be allergic to lots of foods, which I always expected due to the constant suffering by day like you mention. We was the same, in actual fact she lived in enclosed eczema clothing. To be honest she still has leggings put on after school now, wouldnt be without them. she still wakes up at night now 5yrs but has greatly improved by avoiding certain foods, I believe. Your post brings back the horror stories. No one seems to realize how bad it is and what you are going through do they. Its horrid. When you see your dermotologist dont put on a brave face. Let them know exactly how it is. I would strongly recommend you to pester for some skin prick tests. Also do as someone else has already said. Wash all the bedding on high temperatures to kill any dustmites, use anti dustmite mattress covers,quilts ect and freeze teddies for 24 hours to kill mites. I use surecare washing liquid and extra rinse everything. Use only cotton. My dd's tests were positive to dustmite also so we had to get rid of all the carpets in desperation. Even the seatee had to be changed for a leather one. Getting there slowly but it all takes time. You sound like you are spot on with everything and doing very good. Chicken pox, yeah skerrymum! Worse time of our lives when she had that. Stupid doctors didnt help at all. Went twice to them for help. If I just spoke to dd she would stumble to the corner of the room as fast as pos and curl up wanting to be alone,it was horrific. Would put eurax lotion on half of her body at a time and she would be such a state with the ordeal she would like collapse into a sleep before I had finished. Phew, terrible. Well good luck for now and hope you can get loads of info off everyone. Poor ds (sad)

best thing we did was to ditch all the chemicals. she has an oats filled sock in her bath, only baths maybe once or twice a week. all bath oils and treatments left her red. oats leave her normal skin coloured. also, ditched the washing detergents. her clothes are now washed in soap nuts (inasoapnutshell.com). i did a test the other week, washed her clothes in non-bio to see what would happen, she promptly came out in eczema again. took a week to clear up again using steroids.

madmumNika - I really feel for you. It's like wading through soup trying to find the causes isn't it. DS(20mths) has eczema which is mainly caused by food intolerances. He also can't tolerate petroleum/paraffin/lanolin based products on his skin either so we use Gammaderm which is evening primrose oil based(saw a thread on MN and asked my GP to prescribe)which is great but uncomfortable on broken skin He has very few baths but we use oat filled socks too.

DS is allergic to sesame (ie face swelling and potential for increasingly severe reaction) but food intolerances include salicylates (in all fruit, beans, peas, soya, tomatoes, peppers - to name a few) dairy, poultry, eggs and, to a lesser degree wheat (he overloads easily) I've discovered most of these through sheer bloody mindedness and lots of trial and error. He's had one blood test but clearly they can only test a few things at a time so I'm trying to get a referral to St Thomas' Hosp in London at the moment since they're apparently brilliant in sorting this kind of thing out.

I hope this info (along with everyone elses) has given you some pointers, i'd be inclined to push for a blood test at least and if you can get referred to St Thomas' you may stand a better chance of getting ot the bottom of the problem. Good luck.

I am using the Aveeno Baby range of products on ds to hopefully avoid him developing eczema like I had as a child. It contains oatmeal, but unfortunately I have to either buy it on ebay or get a friend to ship it over from the USA. It is working as his skin is back to normal after changing texture when I used Johnson Naturals and Weleda products, but it hadn't actually broken into eczema IYKWIM.

So, if you have any friends who are in the USA or are living on USAF airbases in the UK, talk nicely to them .

(you can get aveeno in this country)

icthopaste bandages and wet wrapping worked well for dd2 when she was really bad, along with her steroids.

Yoou can get normal Aveeno in the senistive lotion / potion section of Boots, but I am yet to find the baby range on the highstreet, so if you could let me know where you found it I would be very grateful pretty please

oh sorry. Didn't see the baby range part.

Thank you so much for all your advice. His eczema is actually improving after the really bad flare up last week, so long as I can keep him from scratching at it... But I'm not sure whether it's the antibiotics that have helped or the lactose-free diet?! His last AB was this morning so I guess time will tell. I think if it continues to flare up as often as recently I will go back to the GP with all the info you've given me and press for allergy tests. In the meantime I'm going to go back to bathing him twice a week max and using oats in the bath (which I used to do a while ago).

Just out of interest what do you use to wash hair? I've been avoiding any shampoos but his hair doesn't seem to get that clean by just using bath water?

Thank you xxx

My 11 month old had really bad dermatitis and eczema and tried everything from the doctors and in the high street, someone recommended aveeno and its gone now, whenever he has a bit of dry skin that could flare up we slap it on. He had such bad dribble rash under his chin he looked like a burn victim and now its lovely and normal. You can get it in any chemist, its not on the shelves so you have to ask at the counter, usually about £6.99, in boots or any of the supermarkets that have a pharmacy will give you it, good luck.

I really feel for you as ds2 had severe excema, which thankfully cleared up alot once we found out about his allergies, now he just has it mildly.

A thought did spring to mind when you mentioned the bath oil containing soya oil. IF your ds is found to have an allergy to dairy, he would have a 50% chance of being allergic to soya too. Just a thought.

Heartmum2Jamie - food allergies are a good point to bear in mind with skin products. Some of the Aveeno creams have sesame oil in and many others contain peanut/arachis and sweet almond oils too which may make htings worse.

Haven't read the whole thread, but dd was terribly allergic to the prescribed oilatum bath stuff, and anything based on petroleum products. Also, terribly allergic to baby oil - again because it is mineral based.

I remember readin an article a few years ago about a lady who had invented a cream based on marigolds (the plants, not the rubber gloves) that was totally vegetable based, that was a great success for her own child. I can't remember more about it though.

This is going to sound mad, but when I took dd swimming in the pool on holiday, her eczema improved dramatically. I have no idea why. It just goes to show that every child is different, and it is really a case of eliminating one thing at a time and keeping a diary.

Have just done a google search on marigold cream eczema.

Might be worth a look.

My ds is coming upto 3 now and his eczema has almost gone. We believe it is partly down to our care as if we stop with any of the following, he comes out with a severe bout of ezcema imediately. Our son's eczema routine includes:

• daily baths with aveeno bath oil
• wash with aveeno body wash and a natural sea sponge
• Moisturise whole body with aveeno lotion 2x per day
• Cream face with SOS lotion 4 -5 times per day
• use only cotton clothing
• wash clothes/PJs/towels after each wear/use with ecover - NO fabric conditioner used
• bedroom kept extra clean, laminate flooring/anti allergy bedding
• eczema sleepsuits worn at night
• organic foods
• 1 pro-biotic yoghurt per day A big hug to all of you whose children have ezcema. My ds was so bad at one point - he looked like a burn's victim and was registered as disabled. I hope you find somethong that works for your child from this range of advice. Good luck

Well we are off back to the GP on Friday. After a very brief reprieve, DS's eczema took another turn for the worse on Sunday and he has again scratched himself to pieces in spite of my best efforts. Even 2 mins in the car and he gets scratching, or if sat eating etc. Yesterday I kept him in his eczema suit most of the day he was so itchy. And yet we had changed nothing food-wise or clothes, washing liquid etc. He is just being driven crazy by the itching and the piriton is barely making any difference to his itchiness. Again the skin is torn so again infections set in making it even itchier. I wish I could do more for him. So I am taking all the suggestions here to my GP, and the food diary I've been keeping, and also found an NHS allergy clinic not too far away that take children with atopic eczema so going to push for a referral. My other DC has cystic fibrosis and it sounds awful but DS's eczema is just one thing I could do without, and it is just making him (and me) so miserable

Thank you for all of your support xxx