Eczema
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Eczema
Poor DS has always had eczema and we have managed at times to relieve the symptoms (Chinese medicine / emollients, etc.) but it’s particularly bad at the moment and has been for about 6 months. He is allergic to lots of things so it’s no surprise really.
I have been reading about Vitamin D deficiency and how taking supplements could help. A friend whose child had the same problem tried UV therapy at 16 and said that helped too.
DS is 20. He’s old enough to look into these things himself but he’s incredibly positive and stubborn. This is a terrible combination, believe it or not. Whenever I speak to him about his skin and what he could be doing to look after himself better, he will cheerfully announce that his skin is better than last month / last week / yesterday / a second ago. It never is! He will also insist that anything that might improve his skin but doesn’t particularly appeal (e.g. damp dusting his room) won’t make a difference. How would he know when he hasn’t given it a try? His skin has steadily deteriorated since starting university - he will deny this - but he’s 20, so it’s difficult.
Oh, and the doctor said today that Vitamin D supplements and UV therapy won’t help as he has eczema and not psoriasis. I have to be honest here and say that I really don’t have time for the doctor that he saw as he is dismissive of everything, so even if he’s right I need to hear it from someone else.
I have been reading about Vitamin D deficiency and how taking supplements could help. A friend whose child had the same problem tried UV therapy at 16 and said that helped too.
DS is 20. He’s old enough to look into these things himself but he’s incredibly positive and stubborn. This is a terrible combination, believe it or not. Whenever I speak to him about his skin and what he could be doing to look after himself better, he will cheerfully announce that his skin is better than last month / last week / yesterday / a second ago. It never is! He will also insist that anything that might improve his skin but doesn’t particularly appeal (e.g. damp dusting his room) won’t make a difference. How would he know when he hasn’t given it a try? His skin has steadily deteriorated since starting university - he will deny this - but he’s 20, so it’s difficult.
Oh, and the doctor said today that Vitamin D supplements and UV therapy won’t help as he has eczema and not psoriasis. I have to be honest here and say that I really don’t have time for the doctor that he saw as he is dismissive of everything, so even if he’s right I need to hear it from someone else.
Re: Eczema
You've / he's probably heard of and tried all this but just in case not...
Ds used to suffer when he was little and still gets the occasional bout. We were recommended to use goat's milk, bamboo pyjamas and clothes where possible, and Aveeno cream. We changed to all three at the same time so I don't know if it was one of those or the combination which made the difference, but his skin improved massively. He's 13 now, we don't bother with the bamboo any more (as it's expensive!), he still drinks goats milk most of the time but not exclusively and if it looks as if he's starting to get a flare up , we dollop on the Aveeno and that seems to hold it at bay.
Sorry if I'm telling you stuff you've already tried
Manon
Ds used to suffer when he was little and still gets the occasional bout. We were recommended to use goat's milk, bamboo pyjamas and clothes where possible, and Aveeno cream. We changed to all three at the same time so I don't know if it was one of those or the combination which made the difference, but his skin improved massively. He's 13 now, we don't bother with the bamboo any more (as it's expensive!), he still drinks goats milk most of the time but not exclusively and if it looks as if he's starting to get a flare up , we dollop on the Aveeno and that seems to hold it at bay.
Sorry if I'm telling you stuff you've already tried
Manon
Re: Eczema
Thanks, Manon. He has tried Aveeno but I think he prefers Epaderm. He looks like he has permanent heat rash all over. We tried goat’s milk when he was younger and we tried as much as possible to get 100% cotton. Never heard of bamboo pyjamas. He knows I’ve posted on here and doesn’t mind. I’m just hoping that there’s something out there that could make a significant difference.
Re: Eczema
Bamboo is like a really, really soft cotton. It might be worth a try. Apparently it has its own anti bacterial qualities. I'm afraid I can't help with where it's best to buy from, the company we used to get ds's pyjamas from only did sizes up to about age 10 and that's when he stopped wearing them. He used to wear the tops as t shirts too, you'd never have known they were actually pyjama tops!
Manon
Manon
Re: Eczema
Did he offer your son a blood test? If not, the NHS have a home blood test service which just requires a few drops of blood. You would at least know if he was deficient. I believe there are studies linking low vit D with eczema but as a non medic I’ll leave it to those better qualified to comment.
Re: Eczema
Unfortunately not. He dismissed it and said don’t go down that route. Other doctors at the surgery are more sympathetic even when saying no, but this one has a reputation for being rather rigid. He’s been told to take 2 allergy tablets a day instead of one and to use steroid cream. Fingers crossed there’ll be some relief.
Re: Eczema
I know nothing about eczema but was interested in the bamboo pyjamas as I have lovely soft bamboo socks. If you Google "bamboo pyjamas" there is lots of bamboo clothing out there. No idea if it will help, but I hope he gets some relief soon.
scary mum
Re: Eczema
If you think vit d could be a factor its possible to do a private blood test by post. I used an NHS lab that does it as a side line.
Many dieticians suggest a much lower result than the NHS guidelines as being problematic.
You can buy supplements otc but if he needs a high dose its worth trying another GP as he should be monitored for side effects.
Most people in the UK have low vit D levels come spring so its possible its deteriorated over the last 6 months due to lack of vit D over the winter.
I'm guessing you've checked things like washing powder etc if hes buying his own at Uni?
And frequency of laundry?
By brother's eczema used to get much worse when he was away from home due to poor diet - maybe feeding himself in student digs isn't helping either?
Apologies if your DS is better trained than mine - their domestic skills at Uni were dismal!
Many dieticians suggest a much lower result than the NHS guidelines as being problematic.
You can buy supplements otc but if he needs a high dose its worth trying another GP as he should be monitored for side effects.
Most people in the UK have low vit D levels come spring so its possible its deteriorated over the last 6 months due to lack of vit D over the winter.
I'm guessing you've checked things like washing powder etc if hes buying his own at Uni?
And frequency of laundry?
By brother's eczema used to get much worse when he was away from home due to poor diet - maybe feeding himself in student digs isn't helping either?
Apologies if your DS is better trained than mine - their domestic skills at Uni were dismal!
Re: Eczema
Bamboo clothing - might give it a try. I think that’s going to be a long-term thing. Luckily he’s not to fussy about clothes and is more than happy for us to get him stuff.
KB, we buy his washing powder because we know he’ll have some excuse - he’s never wrong - for buying the wrong stuff. I asked him how often he washed his clothes and his answers were ‘whenever I need to’, ‘when I run out’ and ‘what do you mean how often?’ He eventually said he doesn’t wear tops, etc more than once but they could be sitting in his laundry basket (more than likely on the bedroom floor) for a while. So not that great really. I think his diet is ok on the whole. He eats a lot of spinach and tries to cook reasonably healthy meals. He did get sick of the food at college and was quite excited about having home cooked meals again. Having said that, he will put a positive spin on anything, so I’m only guessing.
I think we will have a private blood test. I’ll try anything. Our usual Chinese medicine doctor has left the area otherwise we’d be going back to him. Thanks, everyone, for your thoughts and advice on the subject.
KB, we buy his washing powder because we know he’ll have some excuse - he’s never wrong - for buying the wrong stuff. I asked him how often he washed his clothes and his answers were ‘whenever I need to’, ‘when I run out’ and ‘what do you mean how often?’ He eventually said he doesn’t wear tops, etc more than once but they could be sitting in his laundry basket (more than likely on the bedroom floor) for a while. So not that great really. I think his diet is ok on the whole. He eats a lot of spinach and tries to cook reasonably healthy meals. He did get sick of the food at college and was quite excited about having home cooked meals again. Having said that, he will put a positive spin on anything, so I’m only guessing.
I think we will have a private blood test. I’ll try anything. Our usual Chinese medicine doctor has left the area otherwise we’d be going back to him. Thanks, everyone, for your thoughts and advice on the subject.
Re: Eczema
Ds2 is quite similar with a number of environmental allergies and there are some foods that aggregate his skin too. This year his hayfever seems to have started particularly early.
I'm sure that you have tried all the usual treatments (Aveeno, Eumovate etc) but I did buy myself some handcream from the health food shop that DS tried on his elbow creases and it worked really well. It's made by Optima Health and Nutrition and is called Allergenics they may do body emollients as well.
BAM do adult bamboo clothing, I have some of their socks and they are the softest most comfortable socks I've ever had.
I'm sure that you have tried all the usual treatments (Aveeno, Eumovate etc) but I did buy myself some handcream from the health food shop that DS tried on his elbow creases and it worked really well. It's made by Optima Health and Nutrition and is called Allergenics they may do body emollients as well.
BAM do adult bamboo clothing, I have some of their socks and they are the softest most comfortable socks I've ever had.
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad !
