Eczema - Clearing Up

My eczema flare up seems to be finally subsiding. What made it go could be one or a combination of prayer, hydrocortisone, tonnes of diprobase moisturiser, unique eczema ointment from West Wales or ointment and tablets from a Chinese medicine shop.

But with it now, slowly ebbing away, I don't want to forget what it was like because when it happens, the shock can be frightening and it can make you wonder if it ever will go away.

So here, in public view, are my memories of what I had. I fully acknowledge that what I went through is nothing compared to what other have gone through and go through every day, but I want to encourage anyone who stumbles upon the blog entry to know that if you don't normally suffer from the condition, but you got it bad right now, there's every chance it will go away.

It started with the itch, and I can promise you that there's nothing that compares with scratching an eczmatic itch. It didn't seem so bad on that first day, but when I woke up with blood on my bedsheets and deep red skin all over my torso, I guessed something was up.

I started trying my limited supply of hydrocortisone but it was like the jet fighters against the aliens in Independence Day - it just wasn't enough to handle this kickass invasion.

I got advice to moisturise and moisturise and moisturise and moisturise. This is what I did and while it slowed down the rash's progress, it didn't make it better.

Hot days were bad because the rash was all over and into my back so I couldn't sit comfortably in my car to drive because it would get hot, sweat and then sting like there were needles being pushed out through my skin (yes, out).

In some ways, nights were worse because I'd have to 'grease up' and wear a t-shirt to bed and that meant feeling too hot to sleep. Sometimes, I'd wake up to find myself sitting on my bed with lumps of dead skin under my nails and a horrible feeling in my back and shoulders... A feeling like someone had just gouged out a bunch of skin.

I remembered back when I was around 19, when I had my last flare-up, and some exclusive ointment from a pharmasist in Carmarthen cleared me up in three days. I tried to get hold of it and my parents tried to get hold of it but it took more than a week. One memory that sticks in my mind is that of being at the pharmasist's and being able to see jars of the ointment on the shelf but because my ordered lot hadn't arrived, I couldn't have any! The desperation was so intense, I even considered shoplifting! I did offer to pay double, but that wasn't acceptable either.

I got some in the end and, greasy though it was, I started using it and although I didn't get it fixed in three days, it did start to make it better.

Last Saturday, I fixed on trying my luck at asking some Chinese herbalists for help. They gave me some ointment and tablets to try. It cost... A lot. But over this last week, I have seen improvement; my skin isn't as red, I can sit in my car and handle heat better. I don't itch as much and I'm able to walk on a warm day.

I still try and keep my clothes few and loose, but things are getting better. Yet, I have found that where the redness was, dryness now is. This dead skin falling off has made me shower twice a day (instead of my usual once) and is a little distressing, but I guess it's a sign of healing - but waking up to a neck that looks like it's about to crack like dry mud isn't exactly something that makes me feel sexy.

As I said, it's getting better, slowly, and so I can do little more than hope and drink more Goats' milk.

Thank you for reading.

Eczema Flare Up

Back when I was in my late teens, my GP told me that I should have grown out of my eczema by then. I'm now in my mid thirties and eczema is one of the many things that I have yet to grow out of.

What I have found is that when you tell someone you have eczema, they imagine that you have a little patch of red skin on the back of your leg or maybe on your elbow. Most of the time, that is the case, which is why I say that I have mild eczema (my uncle has extreme eczema where he's even managed to get it behind his eyeballs).

This common assumption that eczema is primarily a patch of red tucked away somewhere hides a nasty truth that many people live with all their lives. For me, I have had to live with a slightly more severe form for the last few days.

I've always had some on the back of my neck or behind my knees but recently, it has spread like wildfire and it is all over me like the proverbial rash. Apart from gallons of hydrocortisone, I don't know what to do. So far, these are the steps I've found that I can do;

• Drink lots of water so that if there's a toxin in my system that has caused this, it'll wash out
• Drink less cows' milk and more goats' milk
• Moisturise with unscented moisturiser
• Stay calm (yeah, right)
• Stay cool (temperature, not style)
  
• Don't scratch
  

I'm trying the above, but it's particularly hard to moisturise when the rash has spread over my entire torso (front and back), my arms and legs and neck and face. It's almost impossible to not scratch and while I am drinking goats' milk, it's not as nice as that of the cow. As for staying calm and cool, it's a struggle but I'm trying.

But that last one is the corker because whenever someone tells me "don't scratch", I just want to smack them in the face with a flaky fist because if there's anything an eczema sufferer knows he shouldn't do, it's scratching but if there's one thing that an eczema suffere can't stop doing, it's scratching.

It's not funny and it's more than a hindrance.

It can stop you from walking, from being able to concentrate or from being comfortable in a social situation yet there's no scope for me to take sick leave because of eczema because eczema is perceived as merely a deficient appearance, but I promise you, when you got eczema, your appearance isn't always at the top of your list of concerns.

Sometimes, all you want is peace and you ain't got it because every square inch of your body is crying out for attention, screaming for you to scratch or rub or stroke and all you can do is wish that one night, just one night, you could sleep right through until morning without waking up every hour finding yourself scratching the living daylight out of yourself.