Eczema?! Please help!

Firstly, it's not a disease, it's just a skin condition

Edit to add more

I have suffered from really severe eczema since I was around 4 years old. I was 20 when my dermatologist finally gave me a patch test to determine if I was allergic to anything. She said I'm allergic to Parabens Mix, Fragrance Mix II, Balsam of Peru and Nickel. There's so many different compounds in these mixes that I have to carry a card around with me, with all the different names and chemicals etc, for when I buy shampoos and just about everything else!
She also told me that I don't justhave atopic eczema, as I had always believed, but I have chronic hand eczema (I do get it all over my body too), severe atopic eczema, contact allergic dermatitis and Pomphylox. She also took me off my steroid creams and gave me a non-steroidal ointment.

I have tried every single thing going over the last 20 years and nothing has ever worked. It's incurable because they don't know what causes it, so they can't counteract it. Many people have theories and have suggested all kinds of treatments, including natural remedies, but I have never found anything to work. I use my doctor's prescribed moisturiser - I can't use vaseline, E45, Sudocrem etc because of my allergies - and if my itch gets really painful, I keep it in the fridge as it's soothing. I can only use one type of laundry detergent and I stay away from my known allerens and irritants, such as citric fruit juices, latex, dust, etc.

Please feel free to add me and we can share our experiences

Edit again! - When I was around 7-8 years old, my dermatologist suggested I cut out dairy - it didn't make a difference to me. I guess we just have to remember that every single person is different. What works for one might not work for another. I strongly suggest you have allergy testing done though, it makes it easier (still really difficult though!)

My 6 year old sister has terrible eczema. I make her an all natural whipped body butter consisting of natural unrefined Shea butter, coconut oil, Jamaican black castor oil and olive oil.....sometimes tea tree oil depending on the batch and her severity at the time.
I suggest researching all these ingredients and others and customizing a batch for your skin and symptoms. Mix it all with a hand mixer and you have a creamy, thick body butter.

Also short showers with cooler water as opposed to hot steamy showers or baths.

Hope this helps!

For at home treatment, well something to help it.... Athletes foot spray works great and hydrocortisone cream. Go to the doctor and if they deem it Eczema ask for Elidel....that cream works miracles!!!!! I had eczema really bad growing up.

Agree completely! You don't HAVE to do any medicine you don't want to. BUT you need to know what it is because if you start to treat it yourself you can easily make it WAY worse. Good luck!

Pretty much like everyone else said, see a doctor first. A couple of my coworkers use this stuff called black soap that they get at a farmers market for their kids with eczema. They say it really helps and makes the skin soft. It's an organic all natural product.

I have suffered from eczema for a number of years now. It first started on my breast and than went away only to pop up on my ankle. I scratched it so bad I took skin out and left an open sore. I went to a dermatologist and received some cream and another cream to help with the itching. The cream he gave me has helped immensely with making it go away. However, it seems to come back when I am stressed or sick. I haven't been able to completely get rid of but I have been able to get the redness down. It still isn't the most attractive spot on my leg. My diet really doesn't seem to be a factor on the breakouts.

You should go to a dr and see what he can give you. The amount of cream I use is less than a small nail full. They want you to use it sparingly.

Hope this helps one sufferer to another.

African black soap (found on Amazon/ebay/natural health food stores?).

It's worked wonders for me!

Also 100% Shea Butter. They also sell shea butter soap on Amazon that some reviewers have claimed helped their eczema, but I have not tried it yet.

This is coming from someone that suffers from psoriasis my whole life.......There are several natural healing books that deal with eczema and psoriais that I have read over the years. One in particular states that there are several trigger foods that causes inflamation of both skin conditions. Tomatoes and tomatoe based anything is extremely toxic for ppl who suffer from this, along with black pepper and any white starches.
I am one that has every treatment in the world (including natural ones) I have decided after suffering for years and now with having psoriatic arthritis from having psoriasis for years I would highly recommend seeking medical advice for the Dx and then make your determination about what Tx would be best for you. Unfortunately there is NO natural healing for myself at this point, not if I want to keep my ability to move. Good Luck on finding out what works.

Go to a doctor to have it diagnosed, but you may not have to use the steroid cream they may prescribe. I have eczema on my hands and face and Cetaphil cream really makes an outbreak go down. You have to use it every time you get the area wet until the eczema heals, but it works wonders. Just be sure to by the cream in the jar, not the moisturizer in the bottle.

Ok, so I found a dermatologist that would see me today. I was told that it is contact dermatitis. "Use a steroidal cream to clear it up, and an over-the-counter cream that I just happen to have a whole pad of coupons for..." Blah, blah, blah. Treat the symptom... Just as I knew would happen. Western medicine is so screwed up. I explained my concerns with steroidal medications. She insisted that I trust her. After all, she uses the same steroidal ointment, and she is pregnant. This was supposed to make trust her? It just made me think she is nuts. I'm supposed to go back in a week. If it isn't cleared up, then we'll do patch testing. But if it is cleared up, then we just ignore that it ever happened? Pretty much. That was that. No time for discussion, time to make $ treating the next person's symptoms... If I didn't have to take a half day off work for every appointment, I would shop around for a better doctor, but I have to work so I can keep getting this insurance to pay the ****ty doctors, and to get my paycheck so I can pay the ****ty doctors the chunk that isn't covered by insurance. Grrrrrrrr.....

My doctor did warn me that the steroid creme would thin out the skin where you are using it. Need to be very careful. I decided against it. Still think you should try my suggestion early in the thread before you consider a prescription. After a few weeks of using the Raileigh salve, I rarely have to use it anymore, and my hands were a total mess...basically open sores because of having to wash during the day so much. Very painful. They cleared right up.