My Bloody Clementine - 10 / 10 thread

[FrannyandZooey]

For anyone who wants a boost to their general health. The suggested goals are:

EAT 10 PORTIONS OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLES EVERY DAY - if you don't usually eat much fruit and veg I would build up gradually or you could upset your digestion.

DO (AT LEAST) 10 MINUTES OF EXERCISE EVERY DAY - can be yoga, stretching or something more energetic. The plan is that the idea of doing 10 minutes is not too daunting, and having started you may well find you want to do more.

There are no restrictions on what you eat so long as you get your 10 fruit and veg as well. The focus is not on weight loss but on improving our energy levels and hopefully our general mood and well-being. Sign up below and post here to tell us how you're getting on and how you are feeling.

Basic guidance on what constitutes a portion of fruit and veg here and you can download more detailed information by following the link at the very bottom of the page

ok so help me work out the next course of action
shall i give up wheat? this is going to be an absolute bastard if i do
i just have hunch it is food related
i could however try for fricking years to find a cause and never work it out
ffs let it not be dust mites
i'll have to go and live in avi's house

avi explained that really well there....steroids are great to break the scratching cycle...but yes, unless you have since eliminated the cause....it will return...however, you than will know that what you have done so far hasn't eliminated the cause.
So, you next could re-introduce some things, and see if they aggrivate or make no difference....
and once identifying this that you could look at eliminating other things...

Franny what do you wash DS2's clothes in? Sorry if you have been through this.

I tried no wheat / dairy with my eczema and never came to a conclusion alhtough I found it pretty difficult to cut both out 100%.

I feel so sorry for DS2 and anyone who has it extensively - i have two little patches on my elbows and they itch like buggery.

I didn't get eczema until my 20s. My sister had it really badly as a child and it totally disappeared by the time she was 5 or so. Mine is now classified as dermatitis rather than eczema but I don't really know why. I am apparently allergic to something but no-one knows what. Last guess was nail polish but avoiding that doesn't help.

I do sympathise and wish I could help.

Gosh...you lot have been swearing talking a lot!! .

Have skimmed but there is a queue for the 'puter..so excuse me for not catching up properly.

Franny, have you tried giving DS2 something that has a bigger distraction factor than scratching? I know there can't be much, and all I can think of at the moment is an empty crisp packet. DS used to love the sound it made although I can't remember exactly why we gave it him...I think he had curious fingers when his nappy was full!!!!!

I got out for a run yesterday!!! Lots of couples out, taking romantic walks!! Lolol

I even forgot to get a card! (which having made some to sell was inexcusably really!!)

...I inheritted some money and treated the family so redeemed myself a litttle bit though. It was so nice to treat the children and be a bit extravagant.

Pink I am getting so excited for you... wiosh I was close enough to really do your ironing for you. Might start doing 'maternity vouchers' as gift ideas..

I hope every body has a great day ....xx

Thanks honey I'm a bit excited but mostly frustrated about the unpredictability of it!!

I'm wondering how mean it would be to put 'stop and grow' or similar on dd's nails. She's woken up this morning saying she's got sore toes cause she's bitten all the skin off the ends Might start a thread.

Good lord -- biting toe nails.. that's a new one..poor dd Pink. We had nail biting conversations a while back and I think cures were suggested.

morning At. Treat sounds nice.

Franny can you keep a diary for two weeks of everything and ds2s reaction. Eating, feeding, sleeping, clothes washing, cot toys, vaccuuming, everything. Is that eggs and sucking? Don't know -- I'm sure you are very well aware of his changes. But sometimes we can't see for looking.

Mushrooms.

stuffit no i have thought that might help
but there are so many variables - and i can't control them all day to day
looking back over the last month there have been seceral new things we have tried which have coincided with improvements, which i have thought 'this is it'
but the improvement doesn't last
i do suspect the only consistent thing is the steroids

from advice on this thread it seems like people think it might be straightforward to work out the cause and eliminate it? which is not what i have been told by medical profession at all
isn't bunny's experience either unfortunately
sorry to hear that bunny

i know i am stressing a lot about it but in the grand scheme of things it is not that bad
he is a happy chap most of the time, and it is not severe or anything - quite mild i think
it just means things aren't PERFECT and i have a problem dealing with that
so an inappropriate amount of whinging on my part, sorry

oh washing clothes - eco balls (ie basically fresh air )
it could maybe be improved by 100% organic cotton clothing? which he doesn't have all the time
so that will be the next £60 to blow on something that doesn't work

Aw Franny, it's understandable you want to stop it hurting him Don't worry about running things past us as often as you need to. Have you started a thread in allergies? Like you say thought there are so many variables so it's hard to know. I can't imagine that organic clothes would help Franny. Surely by the time you've washed them once, they're 'contaminated' by the water, even if you don't use washing powder.

Stuffit, was the nail biting on a 10/10 thread? I might try and find it. I've started a thread as well.

Half a banana, by the way.

Hi Franny,

I do feel for you, both mine have got it, and recently while DD has been ill, it has got awful, and she has scratched herself into scabs all over, poor thing.

Don't think it needs to be organic clothing, but cotton is v important IME, however I am pretty sure you would do that anyway.

Just a though, do you bath him in a bath oil, or just water or something else? Are any of the non-steroid creams you are using anti-pruitic? I have found that these help to break the itch/scratch cycle, which does help to improve things.

Probably all things you've tried, sorry for blethering on.

Of course you are stressing Franny, and I, like you need to have things right, so you are not unusual in that. I suppose people are trying so hard to come up with a solution, but in reality it is never that simple. I suppose these things wouldn't be problems if they were so easily solved.

It is also weird how different things work so extremely for each case. The aloe vera thing really works for H. The search for a solution and the suggestions you are getting are not fruitless though (i'm not suggesting that you thnk they are).....something will click into place and you will feel in control of your need for perfection....it is just human, so not an inappropriate amount of whinging

franny
I don't think it's inappropriate whinging, I had a niece who suffered and the squawking was pitiable

Pink, it made its way here but there was a whole thread on it. There was talk of pus.

no, thanks wombling, it's all helpful
sorry if i haven't replied to all suggestions, btw, i'm grateful for all the thoughts

we have h/c 0.5% and 1 %, don't know if either are anti-pruitic
he does try to scratch a fair bit, but we mostly prevent it, or limit it - it's through clothes except on his head, which does help. it would be harder if he was older

we're using oilatum in the bathwhich did seem to ease itching when it was bad
we don't use anything else, never have

i don't know how the organic cotton is meant to work, pink, just what people say?

Oh and as far as DS ;s bedding is concerned, popping his stuff in the freezer is a simple way of dealing with the mites on the stuff that he is immediate contact with....we do it for DD's asthma.

feel free to whinge franny - I do a lot of that myself. DD never had exzema but if she had, I would have been exactly the same. You feel as though you should be doing something even though realistically you know there's nothing you can do.

Pink, I would try it, the nail stuff. Have you not had that baby yet?

You sound chirpy atilla,

(in a bin liner or pillow case)

i just think long term it might be helpful if i could control my need to 'cure' this
from others' experiences it may not be possible
and i could spend the next 5 years trying to fix something that i have been repeatedly told by medical profession can only be managed

ds2 sleeps with us so it# our bedding to deal with

i did wonder - he is swaddled at night - how could the dustmites get IN to his skin? i don't really understand the dustmite thing so sorry if being dim

...I am feeling more like my old self thank-you TF. I had forgotten that I actually have a sense of humour. Everything doesn't feel quite so insurmountable now...

Was surprised to clip a toenail last night and discover a small pea sized hole though!!

How are you TF? Is your MS quelling at all?

would a site like this help Franny?

GLad to hear it Atilla - the tone of your posts is so much happier. MS controlled with evil drugs but still makes its presence felt occasionally. I can only eat dry, crunchy, carbohydratey things with any success. I feel better in myself though so not all bad. I've lost a stone now

(see franny you are not the only self absorbed one here )

Even if you do eventually have to accept that it is not going away Franny, maybe you will feel better when you are in control of IT, rather than the feeling that it is controlling an aspect of your life.

I do feel, also being an eczema sufferer, that mostly it is a managed, rather than curable condition in the main. I have seen a homeopath who did manage to get my horrendous weeping eczema and scalp psoriasis which caused my hair to fall out under control. I discovered that mine is stress related, and does reappear in a mild form if I am run down or under too much stress.

I use a bath oil called balneum plus on the children and myself, which has an anti pruitic = anti itch ingredient, and the same emollient cream. I only use topical steroids when it get very bad: weepy & scabby or dried out and very sore and red.

franny, I'm so sorry for you and Lil L - I get dermatitis when stressed and also prone to unexplained hives peridoiclly. but my sister copped for asthma and nut allergy, my brother with terrible scoriasis and migranes. So in our family, it seems to be hereditary, rather than triggered IYSWIM.

My friend is majorly into homeopathy and it has taken 2.5 years to stabilise and improve her dd's excema, despite her incredible lentil weavery patience and talents. I don't mean to depress you, but the simple fact is, her dd does seem to be 'growing' out of it. (and she avoids dairy)

franny - i have no advice but i really feel for you.

i know that little helpless baby reying on you feeling where you search and search and serach for 'it' and every corner which seems golden with promise turns into a dead end.