Is any1 else fed up with the medical explanations for eczema?

[kutilputil]

Please bear with me as this could be very long!
My ds of 2 years has had eczema from 5 weeks of birth.It peaked when he was about 1 years and then declined and completely vanished by the age of 1.5.Initially i was told by gp that it was nothing, dry skin, milk rash etc and then finally the enlightenment came and i was given the works for treating the condition from steroid creams to bath oils etc.
Then something different started on his bottom that was dry and scaly but not like a rash as in eczema.He would scratch it and make it sore and this went on for some time.This patch appeared on the crease of his elbows and i went to see the gp again.I was told it was a fungal infection and to use steroid creams and moisterise.This made things worse and so i went back again and gp said its eczema and to go back to the original treatment and so here i am today.My beautiful boy's skin is covered in circular patches that flare up red and bumpy and often he scratches it and breaks the skin.When its not sore its dry and scaly and rough.Its all over his arm especially on the crease of the elbow, behing his knee and all over his thigh, on his neck lower cheeks and ears and is devastating seeing him suffer.To top it all up all ten of his finger tips are peeling off!The skin suddenly blistered up and all the tips peeled back and now all his fingers look sore and painful.I have tried to get an appointment with the gp but will have to wait, even then i'm not sure why i should bother with the gp.I feel so let down by them, there was no follow up, no care whatsoever toward my son's condition and each time being told a different thing was just unnecessary, and one gp never read the other notes and verdicts, they just went ahead and gave their explanations and its only my ds who is suffering as a consequence.I going to geta referal to a dermatologist as these guys are useless.I truely feel the steroids made it worse, but now i cant stop them as i need to use it to bring the rash down.I just dont get eczema and am not happy with this the current medical explanations for it, that its dry skin, it might go away, you have to moisterise, and thats it?why does it happen?whats the triggers?why does it get better and then worse?
When we go abroad to warmer climates his condition is fab, non existant, i feel so sad about this i am considering leaving England for good!I'm not sure what i'm looking for in this conversation, maybe just a kind ear to listen to my pain.

Maybe need some antibiotics if he has round patches as DS had it and it was infection of his excema - we have cleared up his excema using Aveeno - have you tried it?

Don;t use aqueous cream so many kids are allergic to it - sorry - at work so didn;t read post properly - I do sympathise with you we had this with DS although thanks to Aveeno his skin is much better now.

my ds3 has had eczema badly over the last year behind his knees which spread to his legs.

From the sound of things, could the tips of his fingers indicate that he has been scratching the cream? The steroid creams can thin the skin.

Loathe to advise as one can spend a fortune on creams and many do not work. We had 2 sets of steriod creams plus aveeno and tights to stop him scratching, it would nearly go, then he would have one night of scratching and off we would go again in the never ending cycle.

What has finally made it disappear is a combination of Aveeno and Weleday Nappy Change Cream, infact the weleda has helped all 3 children when they have had various reactiions and rashes.

I will try and find a link.

Could it be Psoriasis?

www.weleda.co.uk/products/name/calendula-nappy-change-cream/product_id/105009 weleda nappy change cream]]

I also use it with a combination of the Baby Weleda Moisturising cream, alternating between the both at least 5 times a day.

Talked to someone in a health food shop last month and he said catagorically all eczema was a reaction to cows milk.
This would be impossible to test as my ds 3's diet is very limited and he loves dairy.

Try again...

weleda nappy change cream

Barking, I hate to contradict the advice of someone in a health food shop, but the dermatologist who treated my DS's eczema said just as categorically that there was no solid clinical evidence that eczema was associated with diet.

GPs are notoriously bad at dealing with ezcema and skin complaints
You need to go back to the GP and request (demand) a referral to a paediatric dermatologist. If the waiting list is very long, and you have a spare £250 or so (who does - but if you can possibly manage it), then get him to refer you privately. A single consultation with a good paed derm will put him right IMO (3 out of my 4 have needed this - ds2 was so awful at 6 mths that when I saw the derm he said "Goodness me! I need some photos of this one". I cried!). We only saw him once for each child, but by doing what he told us to do we knocked it on the head and have had no more problems (well, some minor flare ups every so often but nothing we can't manage).
If you are in, or within an hour and a half of London I strongly urge you to get a referral to Professor John Harper at Gt Ormond Street (has his private clinics at the Portland Consulting Rooms W1). He is marvellous, he has always sorted us out beautifully, he tells it like it is, and he EXPLAINS everything - what is happening, what you need to do, why all the things he is telling you to do will help etc. £250 extremely well spent, if you can manage it.
HTH

Well bluestocking Prof Harper says that in the under twos it CAN be related to milk and or wheat intolerance but OVER two it is v unlikely to be diet related
Something to do with the maturity of the gut.

Or if you have private health insurance they will cover Harpers fees or a similar derm

Hi Princesspeahead what worked for your dc's? Have they all needed different treatment?

Agree with pph,you need to see a dermatologist.
Ds was lucky enough to be referred at 6mos to one which gave us access to the dermatology clinic at Salisbury hospital whenever ds' skin flared up or we weren't coping with it well.
It was a godsend.
If the Gp won't refer you it is worth the ££ for a private consult.

Erm, difficult to remember, last time I saw him with DS2 it was 4 years ago - he had bad ezcema at 4 months, tried to see Harper but he was away in Australia for 6 weeks, saw him at 5.5 months. In between he had got TERRIBLE chickenpox, which had sort of infected the ezcema, and the whole lot was an infected mess. Poor boy looked like a burns victim. He put him on oral antibiotics, had to bathe him 2ce a day with emollient oil in the bath, had to then put on emollient cream all over in the morning and steroid creams at night, different steroids for face and body, also had an antifungal and antibiotic cream for his face, and before every feed had to put on a barrier ointment all around his mouth and chin - it was some regime! But within a fortnight his skin was healed and lovely with just slight redness on the cheeks, within another fortnight he was perfect. Ongoing after that we bathed once a day with emollient in the bath and emollient cream afterwards, and used steroids if we needed them (barely ever do). Now (4 years later) we just bathe in water and put emollient cream if he feels a little dry.

My local dermatology service has a nurse practitioner who is very good with this sort of thing, and runs an excema clinic, so if there was something like that local to you maybe your GP could refer you there? Or if you cant go back to the GP then maybe phone your HV? They will have seen this sort of thing before and will know what services are available locally for you.

Seriously, homeopathy (practised properly!) would help a lot. Unfortunately, it seems the majority of homeopaths don't actually follow all the rules. Depending on where you are, I may be able to recommend one.
Let me know if you want to know more.

No concrete advice, but lots of sympathy with gps being crap with skin conditions. I had inflamed skin on my thighs for years as a child, diagnosed by gp as fungal infection - FINALLY saw dermatologist - turns out it was eczema. My mother had a patch of inflamed on her shoulder for a year diagnosed by various gps as eczema/fungal infection - FINALLY saw dermatologist - turns out it was benign skin cancer. Forget the gp and get to a dermatologist. Do hope you manage to get some answers for your poor little boy.

Princesspeahead, I used to do research into eczema using samples from John Harper's patients... met him a few times, he was lovely, like a favourite uncle! Imagine he would be very good with children.

My dd's eczema has been vastly reduced through chinese medicine acupressure, we only get occasional flare ups now when she is under the weather and I take her for treatment and it goes again. I went on an accupressure for children course and met lots of parents who have experienced the same success and said the same in terms of the western explanations. The chinese medical explanation made sense for us. There are practitioners who specialise in treating children. I also know of parents who have had similar success with cranial osteopathy.

Rebelmum - what was the chinese medicinal explanation?

The main difference with chinese and western medicine is that it's not a one size for all approach- it's the indvividual's imbalance. So each person is different and the treatment is different for each person. It was to do with 'liver congestion' for us basically weak digestion which causes dampness in the body, runny noses, runny bums, and eczema. There are different types of eczema, dry, damp, hot. This needs to be established first and a full diagnosis made. It's a very different physiology.

there's been quite a bit of research [[http://www.cccm.co.uk/63.0.htmlsearch here]

here

more here

i think that the problem with chinese herbal medicine is that the herbs can be of varying strengths/potencies - there's no doubt that there are active components involved by it's the accuracy of dosage that can be an issue.

My daughter had terrible eczema from a very young age. I took her to the London College of Homeopathy and to see a consultant dermatologist and tried every cream and alternative remedy going (not all at once!) Finally, five years later, as suggested by a homeopath, I cut out orange juice and it went literally over night. I think food intolerances are something really worth looking at, even if just to rule them out.

GP can be terrible with eczeam. dd1 was the worst affected of my dd's. she looked like a walking scab. it took 18 months to get the GP to refer her to dermo, that was after months of infwections and the GP trying everything they could think off.

dermo gave her dermol500 lotion and steroid ointment, not cream, as dd1 skin requires greasey ointments and not creams. it cleared up her skin brillianty. but then a couple of years ago dd1 had an allergic reaction to the dermol500 lotion, and is now using aveeno. not sure where we go if she reacts to the aveeno as i think we have exhausted most options now.

i remember reading things when dd1 was young and re-addressi8ng the gut flora to help eczema. i never tried it myself, but some people had good results with pro-biotics/pre-biotics.

i dont agree that all eczema is because of diet. dd1has enviromental allergies, her skin flares up because of changesi nweather etc. she is allergic to food colourings, but her skin is worse with enviromental things and cats.