Warm boot recommendations please

[Margalot]

Hello,

 

Wondered if anyone had any tips? My son who is about to turn 13 has broken out in severe eczema starting in his flexes, but has spread all over his legs, arms and tummy. Now I consider myself to be quite an old hat at this as both my children had severe eczema as babies and children and my daughter spent many months wet wrapped and hospital visits etc.

 

Now we have been to the doctors and got the diprobase cream and 1% hydrocortisone cream. so have now been applying the steroid cream twice a day for the last 2 weeks, but it has got worse so took him back yesterday to see the same doctor. Now have the oilatum plus for the bath and more steroid cream. The doctor advised applying the steroid cream first, then covering it with a layer of dpirobase to hold the steroid in place? but I am thinking that the diprobase on top will dilute the power of the steroid cream? From what I remember I used to do was have an oily bath, then liberally apply the diprobase all over , then about an hour later apply the steroid cream, as the diprobase would have softened the skin a lttle? I was hoping that someone with similar experiences could offer any advice??

Thank you

Michelle

 

Also it is always in September that his allergies seem aggrevated? His asthma started in September when he was 3, and his always gets wheezy at the start of Septemebr? I wondered if there was a type of pollen around about now that could be causing this? I am also giving him an antihistimine daily to try to help. I dont think it could be change of temperature as it hasn't really dropped dramatically yet, just a nip in the air. I am not adverse to using the steroid cream as I know (hopefully) that it will only be short-term and cannot begin to count all the creams my daughter had for years when she was small! and thankfully she has beautiful skin now.

[Old Speckled Hen]

diprobase cream and 1% hydrocortisone cream, oilatum plus for the bath and more steroid

 

My grandson is the same and he does MUCH better on this home-made concoction

 

30g beeswax

120 ml safflower oil (with more in reserve to adjust thickness)

70ml cold pressed hemp oil

70ml extra virgin olive oil

3/4 Tbsp tincture of plantago

3/4 Tbsp tincture of calendula

3/4 Tbsp tincture of chickweed

1 tsp essential oil of rosemary

1/2 tsp essential oil of eucalyptus

 

grate the beeswax in a cheese grater. Melt over a low heat with the olive oil. Take off the heat and add the other oils and tinctures. Check the consistency with a cold metal spoon and add more safflower oil until a thin soft-wax is obtained.

Rub small amounts onto effected skin morning and night.

 

It does wonders for the dishydrotic excema on my hands too

[Bramble]

Hello! I cant help here very much at all, but I did have quite bad eczema as a child, about your Son's age and have the odd flair up every now and then. What I now realise is that its almost always related to stress, I was terribly unhappy at school and my eczema always improved dramatically in the summer holidays. Maybe your son's condition coincides with back to school? Hope you manage to get it under control (a trip to the seaside for a dip in the sea always worked wonders for me!) Good luck

[craftyhunnypie]

Right this may sound odd, but get him drinking lots of 7Up. There is something in it which benefits eczema. A friend of my dads had it very severely & was told by the doctor to drink 7Up. I'm not saying it cleared totally, but it helped a real lot. Another thing is either E45 cream - or another strange one....Cows Udder Cream! I presume you can buy this from an agricultural shop or online? My dads friend knew someone who worked in Animal Pharmaceuticals, so was able to get it quite easily.

Good luck!

 

Emma.x

[Chucky Mama]

Can't help a huge amount but putting the steroid cream on followed by the diprobase is something I was advised to do when DD had a bout of eczema. I found that she was actually very sensitive to diprobase and it was not a good cream for her at all. She responds really well to daily vitamin C (halibonbons are the best tablets that I have found as they taste nice and don't contain artificial sweeteners etc). Cream wise we have had good results with Bee propolis cream and to keep the skin in good shape when the flare up has stopped - cocoa butter.

[Griffin]

My youngest daughter has suffered very bad eczema since she was born four and a half years ago. This summer she saw a paediatric dermatologist at the hospital and now looks like a different child! We now swear by Aveeno cream. It's made by Johnson & Johnson so you should be able to find it in a chemists but she gets her on prescription. She has the Aveeno cream in the morning followed by a steroid cream called Elocon half an hour later. You are right, the skin needs to be softened before applying the steroid, it helps it to sink in. At night she has Hydromol ointment. She uses the Aveeno cream as a soap substitute too. I've been taking her backwards and forwards to see various doctors and health visitors since she was a baby yet nothing she'd been prescribed totally made it go away. Aveeno has and I am so grateful to her dermatologist. It is the best thing since sliced bread!

[ClaireG]

DS had really bad eczema and food allergies when he was younger. He has mostly grown out of it now but has the odd flare up if he's stressed or ill.

We found the most useful things were double rinsing all his clothes and not drying his clothes outside. Cream wise one's that work for him are Aloe and Bee propolis

http://www.pakcosmetics.com/brand/Forever-Living/Forever-Living/Forever-Living-Aloe-Propolis-Creme.html

and Lush Dream Cream

http://www.lush.co.uk/products/skincare/hand-and-body/dream-cream_332.html

Diprobase didn't have any effect at all.

[..lay a little egg for me]

I believe that the cause of asthma/hay fever in autumn is moulds.

 

In fact, yes, I have found the following on an allergy website

The main causes of hay fever are tree pollens from March to June, grass pollens in June and July, and mould spores from July to October. The moment a pollen grain or mould spore lands on the moist lining of the nose, the conjunctiva in the eye or the mucous membrane lining the bronchial passages, the allergen begins to leak out of it. If there is an allergy, sneezing occurs at once in an attempt to get rid of the allergen. Release of the allergen from the pollen grain or mould spore happens very quickly, and the repeated inhalation of thousands of pollen grains or mould spores day after day causes incessant sneezing, itchy eyes, and sometimes asthma.

In the damp British climate the pollen season is succeeded by the mould spore and yeast season which lasts until late October. Hay fever, and especially asthma, also occur at this time, and are even more closely linked to the weather.

 

Millions of mould spores get airborne during the day, especially in the afternoon, and because spores are much smaller than pollen grains they get inhaled into the depths of the lung. In the early hours of the morning billions of yeasts appear in the air, especially in low-lying river valleys. When there is a spell of wet and damp weather enormous numbers of yeasts in the air will persist through the day. These patients are better to keep the windows shut at night.

 

The season for mould spores extends well into the autumn and causes not only hay fever, but also seasonal asthma. The season is much longer than for pollen only, often not ceasing until the first frost.

 

See here for the full article (the authors are all well-respected allergologists whose names I recognise from when I did my PhD in asthma research).

 

Eczema, asthma and hay fever are all possible symptoms of allergy to airborne allergens such as pollens, house dust mite and moulds.

[Chucky Mama]

Another vote for Aveeno cream here.

[lillybettybabs]

I get very painfull itchy skin when i get stressed, I use Cetraben cream (i think you can get it on Perscribtion aswell)

I also use this below to wash in.

http://www.lush.co.uk/products/shower/smoothie-shower-soaps/dreamwash_36.html

[chickinboy]

Don't know if its any use, but I get this on one knee, and when I was younger, I had it on my head. It gets worse over the course of the year, and then once a year I go on holiday for two weeks, and it disappears by the time I'm home. Over the years I think I've worked out that it's the water. I live in a very hard water area, and most of the holidays I've had have had very soft water, and I think that's it. I even notice a difference if I stay with friends for a weekend, where the water is soft.

 

I'm even considering get a water softener!

[BarbaraJ]

As another eczema sufferer i too use dream cream and dreamwash. Also lots of Simple Derma Intensive .

[Tiggy]

the allergy/mould thing is true, as is trying to reduce the amount of house dust mites you have, not easy I know but they love our carpeted central heated houses, its their poo that causes the problems thats why people with skin problems are better in hospital, its nothing to do with the treatments, just boil wash sheets & covered mattresses.

 

My own ezcema responds well to aveeno, & porrige oats in a pop sock & put into the bath, kids love squishing the goo out & using it as a soap

[kinsk]

Agree with not drying his clothes outside, you could also try switching washing powder.

 

I used to have really bad eczema on my hands, it was only when I got a new horse who suffered quite badly with mud rash that it cleared up. Twice a day I was washing his legs with hibiscrub and then applying either udder cream or sudocreme, so my hands were also getting a good dosing too, by the time his legs had cleared up so had my hands! I swear by it now and the slightest flare up out comes the hibiscrub and udder cream but it's pretty much gone for good now.

 

Certain foods can also make the condition worse.

 

I hope you manage to get it sorted, it can be so distressing.

 

Agree also that stress can flare it up or make it worse.

[paddy1709]

Another vote here for Aveena cream. My son had severe eczema as a child. Tried all the various creams and this one was the only one that worked. A friend of mine recommended it as she has had severe eczema all her life and it is absolutely fabulous.

Another recommendation not for your son is the soap and glory range from Boots. She has tried every face cream going and this range is the only one that doesn't react with her skin. The company was set up by the person who originally set up Bliss Labs in America (very expensive products but very good) and she has used all the know how to develop a very cheap skin care range.

[Kirstine]

I also had terrible eczema as a child, and it was only by my late 20's that it reduced to the odd flare that would respond to 1% Hydrocortisone. Basically, as I think everyone else has said, you need to keep the area moisturised as well as adding the steroids. The moisturiser you use will be down to experimentation as your son is likely to be sensitive to some products which will just make it worse. When I was young (late '70s early '80s) the GP was able to crank up the level of steroid to a point where it was strong enough to clear the eczema in a week or so, and just requred maintenance after that. Don't be afraid to back to your doctor and ask for something stronger if your current steroid isn't working. I also used to ask for the stronger steroids in ointment, rather than cream, form as they were more moisturising. My flares seemed to be mainly in Autumn and Spring, when the weather changed - no idea why.

Lastly, when I was little my Nan used to rub my creams in with her little finger, which was SO soothing - gentle rubbing helps the itch without damaging the skin.

[Geoid]

Make sure he doesn't scratch, I know its hard (I have had eczema all my life), but eventually the itchiness goes away.

[skillick]

My youngest daughter had bad excema all over until she was 5 and a half. Then I saw a tv programme with David Bellamy talking about natural remedies. He suggested using porridge oats in a muslin bag (or old pair of tights) tied aroung the bath taps, you just run the water through the bag. We did this for two weeks and her excema was much, much better and she started sleeping through the night for the first time. She used the bag of porridge oats like a sponge as well but this is optional.

 

As far as creams are concerned we found aqueous cream to be the best moisturiser for her.

[sadietoo]

(a trip to the seaside for a dip in the sea always worked wonders for me!)

 

Sadly sea water (especially in combination with neoprene) is one of the things that aggravates my son's exzema ...although it doesn't stop him surfing and sailing... I'm interested in some of the suggestions here. at the moment he has doublebase on prescription from the doctors, but I'll get him some dreamwash to use for washing as it's always a problem to find something which doesn't make it worse...and I might try him with aveeno too, as I have some of that here although I'm wondering if it's a special type and not just the usual body lotion you are referring to?

[BERTIE MCSQUIRTY]

put a few tablespoons of porridge oats in his bath with his oilatum, its a natural itch reducer and emollient (also good for chicken pox)

 

skin always looks redder whilst its healing as well

[Griffin]

...and I might try him with aveeno too, as I have some of that here although I'm wondering if it's a special type and not just the usual body lotion you are referring to?

Georgia uses the cream and the lotion too. I think we have the entire range here

[Margalot]

Thank you all for your tips and replies, sorry its taken so long but had a really busy weekend swapping cockerels for hens and gardening. I got my daughter to pick me up some dream cream from lush and we are appyling it on one of his arms which is the most eczema free at the moment so we can be sure its not going to irritate him. I have also been using the oats in the tights in the bath trick so we will have to see what happens. Sea water for us is a no no when ever we go on our hols mine and the childrens eczema gets worse. It definately something about the time of year for him and have been lookin into the mould theory! I know he is not irritated by dust mites as he has had allergy prick testing for his food allergies and house dust mites was one he didnt react to.

 

It is so horrible to see him suffering, but I know that it will die down soon. Any way He was cheered up by the arrival of 2 new hens on Saturday, but I will post about them later in the chicken forum (If I Get time today!)

Thank you all