Holiday has cleared up the whole family's ailments - am baffled......

[ManicMother7777]

I really can't decide if this is all psychosomatic or if there's more to it. Just spent 2 weeks in Spain, lots of swimming, lazing around etc. Bliss.

My constant backache has cleared up - but probably down to not getting in/out of car all the time, and bending and stretching cooking, washing, working in an office. DS1's hayfever has completely vanished, and DS2's eczema has cleared up. Most baffling is that DS1's scabby irritable scalp (like cradle cap even though he's 11) has also cleared up despite no change in shampoo.

Any thoughts? BTW have tried everything before for DS1's scabby scalp and nothing has worked, we live in a hard water area, TBH it's like he's got a limescaled scalp.

Is it just down to change in climate?

Sun will have helped. But so will relaxing. I am a great beleiver in de-stressing to get rid of minor health problems. We have managed to clear up everyone's sniffles and general rundownness by a week in (nor-sunny) Cornwall.

The water may have affected his scalp -- I believe there is some suggestion that softened / filtered water is better for children with eczema and a flaky scalp isn't a million miles away from that. It might be worth fitting a water softener at home (and actually I might take my own advice; DS has what sounds like the same scalp thing but as he's only 4 I've been putting it down to very resilient cradle cap and assuming it will go eventually; 11 is longer than I was planning to wait, though)

We found that sea water cleared up eczema in DS - sea salt in his bath also helps, now we have made the association.

Stress tends to make auto-immune disorders (allergies and eczema included) much worse, so lifting stress could well have helped.

Sounds like a good case for more holidays!

as an almost interesting aside, my dds both had cradle cap until they got head lice and we used 'full marks solution'. the flaky skin just came away with combing and has never come back.

glad youre all so well. i always get colds in the holidays!

Thanks all! Yes, the stress free environment must be a factor. Hadn't thought about seawater's effects. How much sea salt do you put in the bath NSD?

I'd say a mixture of:
lack of stress
sun
salt water
soft water in shower/bath (have you noticed your hair is lovely soft and shiny?)

I have a flaky scalp and it normally improves when I go to Scotland (soft water). I did read somewhere recently that stress and dehydration makes this condition worse, so relaxation could help. DDs teenage spots always improve in Scotland too.

Noonar, I have used various head lice treatments (thanks kids) and always find my hair feels in great condition afterwards! Almost tempted to use it just as a deep conditioning treatment.

Was the water rain water that he showered in?

I am a great believer in the power of fresh air.

My first thought for your back improvement is that your bed at home needs replacing or a new mattress.

...Hayfever and eczema maybe down to the sun & sea air...but what was the place like that you stayed in? Carpeted or hard flooring? My guess would be the latter and living without lots of soft furnishings (& therefore dust mites) has improved things.

The scalp issues I would put down to the sea - salt water is an amazing cleanser...and all that ex-foliating action from the sand would have helped as well.

I was wondering about your bed too.

Its amazing how you can just sleep night after night in your bed at home and forget/not notice how old/lumpy/too hard/too soft it is.

Also all the sunshine, fresh air, lack of stress everyone else has said.

My hay fever always disappears when I go abroad. It's because hay fever is caused by allergy to specific pollens which are around at different times. In my case tree and grass pollens.I don't suffer quite as badly as I used to but I always try to take my holiday in late June which is peak hay fever season for me.
It's absolute bliss to have 2 whole weeks without symptoms.

You must move to Spain immediately for the health of your family!

It may also be allergies--or lack of in a dry Mediterranean climate.

My daughter's asthma vanishes in the Med. Usually in August it's bad in our arable area at home. If I win the premium bonds I'm buying a holiday home in Majorca and we will spend August there.

A couple of my friends have psoriasis in their hair could this be what you son had? (produces the same symtpoms; itchy flaky scalp)As sunlight is renowned for improving this condition, it's all to do with the Vitamin D thing! Holidays should be available on the NHS! have to say we've just returned from a trip to IBIZA and as soon as we landed I noticed how dirty this country feels....in IBIZA they were cleaning the streets at all hours of the morning, the marble type floors were immaculate and even with all the coaches coming to and from the hotel all the time it didn't seem to be polluted because IMHO the sea air 'cancels' it out! Another thing I noticed was the 24hr doctors surgery was empty - I never saw one person in there, granted it was only a small resort but I thought to myself good god if they opened one of them in this country there'd be a queue a mile long!

We went back to our favourite place in the whole world - Rhodes - for the last two weeks in July. The temperatures were so high and we all had to adjust to them - even the speed we walked

DS4 has loads of spots on his back (he is 12) they cleared up. DH's diabetes became really stable and easy to manage. My menopausal hot flushes went worse but I couldn't care less

I lost a stone in the two weeks - due to beautiful fresh food and loads of swimming....now if I could live there for the holiday season I would become a normal size.....holidays are just the greatest 'battery rechargers.' We are already saving for next year.

DD's end-of-term flare up of eczema always clears up on holiday.

May be the sun and salt water or maybe just not being stressed out at school???

A stone!!! Wow.

On the exczema note: I'm buying Dead Sea salts from Boots. If you soak in them for 20 minutes or so every day/every other day it does seem to moisten up the skin and heal it.

I agree about our relative lack of cleanliness. Most British pavements could do with a good hose down and brush. And the stashes of fast food containers don't do much to enhance our appeal.

And yes, it's so easy to eat well when you have gorgeous ripe fruit and veg.

Yes the standard of living in warm places with fresh lovely food will work miracles. Our ailments clear up too - this is why I put aside for a family holiday as an absolute necessity - our well being

We haven't had one this summer because we've had some big expenditure and a new puppy arriving tomorrow. Now I'm starting to feel !