Ezra has a rampant case of eczema that is driving most of us crazy. It got a lot better over Christmas and then came back on his cheeks with a vengeance. We have no idea where to look for triggers anymore or how to isolate them if we have theories. I've been off dairy completely (well, not all baked goods with dairy in them) for 11 days and it's also making me crazy. It hasn't seemed to help a whole lot although apparently the dairy can stay in my system for up to two weeks. I'm going to try to stick it out for three to rule that out. I've already pretty much confirmed that Ezra reacts badly to nuts, chocolate, tomatoes and citrus *sigh*.
All these food changes have made me aware of how little meat I have been eating - a few times a month at most. I've started to think more about protein and where things like my calcium are going to come from, it's a good learning experience but frustrating at the same time. I don't know what I'd do without eggs right now. Or the salt and vinegar chips.
UPDATE: For anyone still following this, Ezra's skin has improved a LOT in the last few days after being the worst it's ever been on Wednesday. The great news is that I'm now quite sure that it's not diet related (my diet or his - yay!). I saw no improvement after 16 lean days so I went back on dairy and he's been getting better.
The intentional changes we've made have been:
- To get the down comforter off the bed he's in with me - yes, yes, I know, call child protection for it being there in the first place if you have to.
- With the help of a pharmacist I know (and NO help from my doctor), I found a cream I'm really happy with - Spectro Kids Eczema Care. It's apparently not drastically different from Glaxal but it's worked much better for him for some reason. I use it on his face and any other bad spots. I went basic and am putting Aveeno Baby fragrance free lotion on the rest of his body which seems to be working out fine.
- I think the winner is that we've switched back to his original bottles. We finally clued in to the bottle idea after reading Teri's soother tip, the fact that his cheeks were the worst spot and also that he improved when we took a one week vacation without that brand of bottle.
-Ezra's grandparents would all claim divine intervention - whatever the reason for the improvement I'm very thankful and hope it keeps going that direction. It's so nice to see him getting some relief from the constant itching.
Thanks for all the comments and ideas, I appreciate the support on such a frustrating topic.
12 comments:
After Silas my eczema got really bad. I actually thought I had allergies and asked my doctor to refer me to a dermatologist for allergy testing. I did not have allergies, but she was really helpful about how to minimize my symptoms. You're right tomoatoes, citrus, eggs are triggers. But she also advised me to use only Ivory soap, to stay away from lotions that had any food products in them ie. aloe vera, vanilla, Vitamin E, cocoa butter. So I use Curel unscented lotion, and I use Dove shampoo (since I haven't found any Ivory shampoo yet). After Sinéad my skin flared up again. But by now it seems to be back under control. Eczema is related to stress too, although I'm not sure how much stress a 7 month old has :)
Hope are able to figure out how to get a handle on it. Allergies or sensitivities are definitely difficult to deal with.
Christa M
Thanks for the advice Christa, I certainly haven't been avoiding eggs...I've been eating way more of them. If I give up on the dairy project that might be an idea. Ezra doesn't get any soap and I've had trouble finding a lotion I feel good about that works. Maybe I'll give the Curel a shot.
Regarding the stress idea - the eczema did get worse as he started teething but didn't ease up at all after the teeth came through.
We'll keep muddling through different ideas and I'll advertise it far and wide if something works!
Eczema is a frustrating thing to deal with. I have it and so does Athena. I usually up her fish oil when she has a flare up and that takes care of it. Also, you can apply a bit of Evening Primrose Oil right on the affected areas. Also, crank up the humidity in your home. We use glaxal base cream. Better than lotion but... derived from petroleum. It does do a wonderful job of moisturizing the skin though. Good luck Tannis.
Yup. Glaxal base cream is great. that's what we use for Megan's hands. There's also a great spa that we use made by Rocky Mountain Soap Company. I found it when I was in Edmonton, and after doing research on finding it in BC realized that Art Knapps in Penticton is a distributor. It's pumpkin patch soap and it's fabulous. It's even made a difference to my skin for my psoriasis. Rocky Mountain Soap company has a website, so you can read about it.
Thanks for the ideas, I may try them all!
The Glaxal was the first cream I had recommended to me. It worked okay but I'm hoping to find something that isn't petroleum based, doesn't contain toxic preservatives and doesn't smell - a tall order. The cocoa butter and straight oils aren't doing it but I haven't tried evening primrose oil.
Michelle, do you think it would make any difference if I take the fish oil? Is there a specific kind?
Vicky, I'll check out that soap company too - I don't want to leave any stone unturned. Within reason of course.
Sorry VICKI, I didn't check my spelling before posting.
I am not sure if it would make a difference or not. Can't hurt to try as it is good for all of us anyway.
does he use a soother? a friend of mine's son has really bad eczema and when they took away the soother (what the dermatologist tole them), it got a whole lot better.
hope it clears up soon
Please NO, not the soother! His eczema is the worst on his face though, right around the soother line...makes me wonder too about the new bottles we started him on in December.
I know what you mean about the soother! Jake will be 3 in June and he's more addicted to the stupid thing than when he was younger! Blah! I'm not looking forward to the day we have to take it away from him! It's coming up fast. At least he's short so people think he's younger than he is. LOL!
Good call on the new bottles, too. Might be a different type of latex or something.
Ah, kids and their soothers (or thumbs). Ella finally ditched her "ni-ni" shortly after turning 4! For quite a while we had already been careful to give it to her only to sleep and then pull it as soon as she was out. In the end it was her choice to move on and she had only 2 really tough transition nights where she needed "extra snuggles". It wasn't nearly as bad as we were fearing it might be.
good to know, tannis :) i have a feeling that jake will keep his until then. we had him down to just naps and bed, but he was sick at Christmas and really whiny and we caved (why would we do that? we know how hard it is to break the kid of the habit!). Oh well, he won't go to kindergarten with it :)
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