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.

Bundle this was just to give an idea about chinese medicine we just had accupressure, that was all that was required and often is. Completely non evasive and perfectly safe. Have you had a negative experience with chinese herbs? Chinese medicine has a very different approach with children as they react so differently to adults. We haven't had any problems but we only have seen very experienced practitioners.

rebelmum,
i haven't had any personal experience of tcm but have interviewed people who have

Cured my dd's eczema and cure my eczema and urticaria too. We're happy customers anyway.

If you have a well trained, experienced practitioner who has a good grasp of English then I think it can be extremely effective. My doctor is also a medical doctor and trained in accupuncture and herbs in china for 10 years working in a hospital environment. I suffered with eczema and urticaria for 14 years before seeking treatment. My symptoms were alleviated in 2 weeks. I don't have either now. I thought that it worked extremely well.

DD's eczema (and then asthma at which developed at 2) are both most definitely related to diet.

I had to badger the GP to write a letter to seek private tests for food allergy as there is a history of egg refusal on her dad's side and with me, being Native American, there is higher incidence of cow's milk allergy.

Turns out she is allergic to both. Within 3 weeks of dietary changes her eczema and asthma had significantly improved.

RAST tests were done btw. I have heard that skin prick tests are not as reliable.

oh, she still refuses egg and it turns out she was sensitised to it through my milk.

agree rebelmum.

personally I wouldn't go near one who wasn't a medical doctor too. but a lot of them are trained in both at the same time (same with lots of traditional methods in Indian medicine)

Damn site better than Western Medicine which made it worse. Incidentally Bundle 30,000 people every year are hospitalised due to adverse reactions to pharmaceuticals if that was an 'alternative' it wouldn't be allowed to practice. I suffer with severe internal swelling if I take paracetemol, aspirin, opiates, neurofen, penicillin ... not exactly as innocuous as you might think..

I prefer to call them complementary not alternative as both can be used together

God I'm having a rant .. ..

I just can't convey the difference it has made to mine and dd's health. It's completely changed my life. I have never felt healthier or more energetic in my whole life. But that's just my experience.

glad for you, really

dd1's eczema cleared up when I stopped taking her for weekly swimming lessons when it was the end of term in summer

thankyou all for your kind advice and thoughts, i appreciate each child and their conditions are different but i feel so frustrated...so many of you guys made valid points.my ds had an allergy (basic)test and it turned out that he has a reaction to raw egg but otherwise the rest were clear, although this is not a conclusive result as many many other foods were not tested, for example milk (dairy) and he does get a lot of that.i did bf him upto his 2nd birthday but now its only whole milk and cheeses and youghurts.he has been drinking pure orange juice since the age of 6months and he loves it but as someone mentioned their lo had an intolerance to juice....so what now for my ds?how do i go about testing him for allsorts?we are from Bangladeshi origin and so he gets Bangladeshi foods in his diet as well as the healthy mix of all other foods.he does also indulge in the odd choclate and crisps which i fear are not good for his allergy let alone his health!I'm confused, how do i go to the basics and start again like when he was first weaned onto solids etc.He has a low weight anyway and i cannot seem to get any weight on him no matter how hard i try and so my worries are endless.I find his condition also flares up more due to having a slight temperature or cold as he has now, and this has also been dragging on for a few months, just lingering around, witha runny nose and temperature on and off!does anyone else find that this happens to their lo?
i'm so disheartened at the level of children out their with eczema, it seems their is atleast one child in every family with this condition, whereas when i was growing up this wasn't even heard of.why is this on the increase?why are our poor kids having to go through this?and why isn't there enough done about it?seriously, moving abroad seems like a good option as it seems it's really bad in this country!i feel like crying....

Please also bear in mind (or is that bare in mind - I am never sure!) that some chinese 'herbal' creams are actually steroid creams of varying potencies.

My son's eczema is a real swine - we thought we had cracked it and then it has all flooded back (great circles of red dry skin) and to make things worse he won't let me put any cream on. We have eventually managed to persuade him to have cream put on (aveeno again) but it is a slow slow process.

Not all GPs are crap with skin conditions. COI - I am a GP and would grade myself as average with skin things. Some I can sort out, others I refer on. But my GP that I see is fab at skin as it is her special interest.

Whoever said about the aqueous cream is absolutely right - it should never be used as an emollient (i.e. to rub on dry skin as a mosituriser). It is meant to be used as a soap substitute but somewhere along the way (prob because it is cheap) things got confused.

I like aveeno because it seems to absorb really well and smells nice but I did go to a lecture by a very good dermatologist who advised that changing the moisturiser frequently was often a good plan (as they do tend to get sensitized to the ingredients). Sort of 'change is a good as a rest' kind of thing and then cycle back round to the original ones eventually.

well, with aveeno, its so hard to get hold of anyway as some gps are quick to give it out while others swear its not even on the list of their treatments!aveeno is okay, but i have not used it enough to see a difference, especially because it is in such small quantity i feel bad using it all up in one go, as he has the rashes all over him!i will try and give this ago now for a week or two and see what happens.at the moment he is using e45 cream as a wash and hydrous cream as a moisteriser, but i find i'm having to apply it atleast 5-6 times a day to just keep him normal as he dries up quickly.

That is normal - to have to bung it on virtually all the time. In the derm clinics they used to do wet wraps on kids (been a long time since I was in a derm clinic so dunno if they still do them) that had really bad eczema - basically keeping the mosituriser on their skin all the time.

That is why I think I am getting no where fast, as my 3 yo will only let me put a tiny amount on once a day (and even that is with resistance!)

I find, and I know that lots of other people also do, that all the e45 products are very drying and sensitising. I'd stay away from them personally
Ditto Oilatum, terrible stuff
As a wash aqueous cream is good, emollients cetomacrogol is OK but some people are sensitive to it, diprobase is good (and the oil is v good as an emollient in the bath), aveeno is great

my top choice is diprobase in the bath, aqueous cream as a wash (but if using a big tub USE A CLEAN SPOON to get it out, not fingers, because it can grow bugs and then you are making the problem worse) and Aveeno afterwards.

but everyone is different

Why not just try keeping him off orange juice (and other citrus plus tomatoes etc) just for a while and seeing if it helps while you wait for a referral? Ditto dairy. (Before or after so can ascertain which if either.)

PS In my experience you have to go to the GP's and scream and shout to get a referral, refuse to leave until he/she has written the letter, if you don't feel up to it, take someone with you to do it for you.

I was in terrible despair with my daughter, her whole body was covered in red spots and flaky skin that she scratched constantly, but she's fine now.

I don't rate Oilatum in the bath either, PPH. My DS seems to do better with the Aveeno bath gunk and with Dermol moisturiser. I do have a tube of hydrocortisone cream on standby but we don't need to use it all that often. The other thing that has helped is reminding DS not to scratch with his fingernails - if he has to rub his skin, he knows to use his fingertips and go gently.

Aveeno is great stuff
It is 1/3 of the price in the states and you get it in much bigger bottles - worth remembering i fyou are there or know anyone who is going

Thanks for the tip, PPH, I am going to DC in May!