Mega dry skin
Hi anyone who can give advice or help,
I have had ezcema since I was about 8 years old. It’s been severe
on a number of occasions, but I’ve always eventually been able to
control it. Recently, it has covered my neck. My face is so dry it
basically crumbles when I wake up in the morning, causing cracks and
red lines (I couldn’t open my eyelids without the skin above folding
unnaturally, due to hard dryness of the skin of my eyelids last
week). I layer on aqueous cream until I feel like I have jelly on
my face, but my skin soaks it up like a sponge and I feel dry
again. It flakes away to the touch, and I need something to be done.
I’ve decided to cut dairy out of my diet, avoid meat (other than
fish) and try to maintain a balanced diet. I also drink more than
my fair share of water a day.
If anyone has any suggestions, I’m all ears.
Thanks for listening,
Peter
May 30th, 2005 at 9:31 pm
Hi Peter,
Have you tried avoiding foods with yeast in them? Yeast seems to be a big
factor in eczema. Try it and see what happens. Good Luck!
Alison
_____
Hi anyone who can give advice or help,
I have had ezcema since I was about 8 years old. It’s been severe
on a number of occasions, but I’ve always eventually been able to
control it. Recently, it has covered my neck. My face is so dry it
basically crumbles when I wake up in the morning, causing cracks and
red lines (I couldn’t open my eyelids without the skin above folding
unnaturally, due to hard dryness of the skin of my eyelids last
week). I layer on aqueous cream until I feel like I have jelly on
my face, but my skin soaks it up like a sponge and I feel dry
again. It flakes away to the touch, and I need something to be done.
I’ve decided to cut dairy out of my diet, avoid meat (other than
fish) and try to maintain a balanced diet. I also drink more than
my fair share of water a day.
If anyone has any suggestions, I’m all ears.
Thanks for listening,
Peter
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_____
May 31st, 2005 at 3:25 am
Hi there Peter
I feel for you as I have suffered from eczema with very dry skin all
my life, I am now 27. I have not "fixed" my problem yet but I feel
that I am making some good positive steps towards finding some
answers. The product that seems to work the best for me is called
Cetaphil cream (not the lotion) for dry skin and using it after
bathing is best (i’m sure you have worked this out!)
I also use a tacrolymus preparation on my face (it only seems to work
well here?) this reduces the immune response (the inflamation), I
have found this a god send as you well know when it occurs on your
face it can be pretty awful coping with comments from others, plus
dealing with your own self-esteem.
I have been to many "quacks" over my life, spent bucket loads of
money in the process. I have visted many doctors who imediatley put
me in a box and treat me only with a cream (usually cortizone), this
as you may realize is only a very short term relief and quite
damaging to the skin’s overall structure, not to mention frustrating.
Finally I have found a doctor that would test me…and for the things
I wanted to be tested for. So only recently I have had a few blood
tests which tests for the ‘immunological’ antibodies detected in the
blood (IgG & IgE - look these up on the internet.) It came up with
the following for me.
IgE test showed:
1. highly allergic to dust mites
2. highly allergic to grasses & pollens
3. allergic to cats/dogs
the IgG (food allergy) showed that I should avoid these foods (it’s a
long list!)
The ones that came up with a really high reaction were:
brewers/bakers yeast
wheat
cow’s milk
pineapple
cola nut
This was the rest of the list of foods I should avoid
barley
durum wheat
millett
rye
egg white
egg yolk
sheep milk
crab
prawn
trout
tuna
aubergine
avocado
carrot
cucumber
leek
lentil
peas
soya bean
grape
grapefruit
almond
cashew nut
coconut
hazelnut
peanut
walnut
chilli pepper
carob
coffee
mushroom
rape seed
May 31st, 2005 at 10:20 am
Hey hi there, I know the problem I too myself have had excema flareup
since March, and it is very dry on my face, I feel I have aged 20
years in the last 10 months, I am only 37 and look 57 with the dry
skin on my face, I at tyhe moment use pure vaseline and it seems to
ease it but like you wake up in the morning with it very dry and non
elasticy it drives me mad, I also have it that it is very red and
inflammed and sometimes swollen, aso maybe try the vaseline, I know
it dont look so good but if your indoors alot like me then noone sees
you, good luck with this and take care
Mylo
May 31st, 2005 at 8:19 pm
Hi, Peter,
I went through a spell of bad eczema last year on my legs - was scratching
them to bleed and even that wasn’t enough! I also have psoriasis, but the
doctor said it was eczema. He gave me creams that I turned out allergic to
(anything with menthol makes me itch worse). The way I calmed it (won’t
say fixed - I had a mild flare a couple of months ago that went away) was to
take extra folic acid (800 mcg/day split into two doses with meals) and B12
(1000mcg a day, split the same way). This is on top of a multivitamin and
a B-50 each day - so the total doses are more like folic acid: 1600 mcg =
1.6 grams (this is still small, if you take certain drugs like methotrexate,
you are prescribed 1-5 GRAMS per day) and B-12: 1200 mcg, depending on your
vitamins. I am also considering adding more B-6, since that is also
supposed to help the skin, so next time I have another eczema flare, I
will).
I do a lot of reading, newsgroups and articles, and this was a logical thing
to try - and it worked! Sometimes, our skin needs more nutrients than we
are giving it.
Also, taking these extra vitamins can’t hurt you (like vitamin C, whatever
you don’t use is flushed away), and thankfully, they don’t cost much. Give
it a try? Could take a few weeks to see a result - if you haven’t after a
month, I’d increase the doses you are taking a bit, not all vitamins are
absorbed by each of us the same way, which means we only get the use of a
percentage of what we take).
Good luck!
Geri
June 1st, 2005 at 1:00 pm
I’ve tried vaseline. I put it on a night once, and woke up with
good skin. But I think my skin got used to it, and almost got
dependant on the stuff. I’ve stopped using it since, and normal
moisturisers (although you have to cake them on) work better - and
don’t leave you looking too shiny!
Vaseline apparently (now this is secondary knowledge - not my own
experience) doesn’t let your skin breathe, so its not good for your
skin if you use too much.
Thanks for the advice thou. Really appreciate anything anyone has
to offer. Try something like Aqueous Cream (pretty cheap and does
the trick). If you decant it into a squeesy bottle, you can carry
it around and wont have to be housebound.
Hope it gets better, and good enough for you to feel comfortable
outdoors.
Take care
Peter
June 1st, 2005 at 7:32 pm
I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’D VOTE FOR BUSH!
I’ve tried vaseline. I put it on a night once, and woke up with
good skin. But I think my skin got used to it, and almost got
dependant on the stuff. I’ve stopped using it since, and normal
moisturisers (although you have to cake them on) work better - and
don’t leave you looking too shiny!
Vaseline apparently (now this is secondary knowledge - not my own
experience) doesn’t let your skin breathe, so its not good for your
skin if you use too much.
Thanks for the advice thou. Really appreciate anything anyone has
to offer. Try something like Aqueous Cream (pretty cheap and does
the trick). If you decant it into a squeesy bottle, you can carry
it around and wont have to be housebound.
Hope it gets better, and good enough for you to feel comfortable
outdoors.
Take care
Peter
U.S./Canada
June 2nd, 2005 at 5:46 am
This will work for you Peter, Omega fatty acids and lots of water. Cut down
fried and fast foods. This kind of fat over works the liver and leaves the skin
dry.
You’ll see a huge difference with the Omegas in a matte of days. If you get too
greasy, cut back.
Hi anyone who can give advice or help,
I have had ezcema since I was about 8 years old. It’s been severe
on a number of occasions, but I’ve always eventually been able to
control it. Recently, it has covered my neck. My face is so dry it
basically crumbles when I wake up in the morning, causing cracks and
red lines (I couldn’t open my eyelids without the skin above folding
unnaturally, due to hard dryness of the skin of my eyelids last
week). I layer on aqueous cream until I feel like I have jelly on
my face, but my skin soaks it up like a sponge and I feel dry
again. It flakes away to the touch, and I need something to be done.
I’ve decided to cut dairy out of my diet, avoid meat (other than
fish) and try to maintain a balanced diet. I also drink more than
my fair share of water a day.
If anyone has any suggestions, I’m all ears.
Thanks for listening,
Peter
June 2nd, 2005 at 9:58 am
Hi, Peter,
I went through a spell of bad eczema last year on my legs - was scratching
them to bleed and even that wasn’t enough! I also have psoriasis, but the
doctor said it was eczema. He gave me creams that I turned out allergic to
(anything with menthol makes me itch worse). The way I calmed it (won’t
say fixed - I had a mild flare a couple of months ago that went away) was to
take extra folic acid (800 mcg/day split into two doses with meals) and B12
(1000mcg a day, split the same way). This is on top of a multivitamin and
a B-50 each day - so the total doses are more like folic acid: 1600 mcg =
1.6 grams (this is still small, if you take certain drugs like methotrexate,
you are prescribed 1-5 GRAMS per day) and B-12: 1200 mcg, depending on your
vitamins. I am also considering adding more B-6, since that is also
supposed to help the skin, so next time I have another eczema flare, I
will).
I do a lot of reading, newsgroups and articles, and this was a logical thing
to try - and it worked! Sometimes, our skin needs more nutrients than we
are giving it.
Also, taking these extra vitamins can’t hurt you (like vitamin C, whatever
you don’t use is flushed away), and thankfully, they don’t cost much. Give
it a try? Could take a few weeks to see a result - if you haven’t after a
month, I’d increase the doses you are taking a bit, not all vitamins are
absorbed by each of us the same way, which means we only get the use of a
percentage of what we take).
Good luck!
Geri
June 3rd, 2005 at 2:05 pm
sorry, one correction:
vitamin D3 is a hormone, not B3. my mistake
–
William Knox
resume: williamknox.net
June 3rd, 2005 at 5:19 pm
Amen to that! I’m big on coconut oil, inside and out.
Carisa
Hi, Peter,
I went through a spell of bad eczema last year on my legs - was scratching
them to bleed and even that wasn’t enough! I also have psoriasis, but the
doctor said it was eczema. He gave me creams that I turned out allergic to
(anything with menthol makes me itch worse). The way I calmed it (won’t
say fixed - I had a mild flare a couple of months ago that went away) was to
take extra folic acid (800 mcg/day split into two doses with meals) and B12
(1000mcg a day, split the same way). This is on top of a multivitamin and
a B-50 each day - so the total doses are more like folic acid: 1600 mcg =
1.6 grams (this is still small, if you take certain drugs like methotrexate,
you are prescribed 1-5 GRAMS per day) and B-12: 1200 mcg, depending on your
vitamins. I am also considering adding more B-6, since that is also
supposed to help the skin, so next time I have another eczema flare, I
will).
I do a lot of reading, newsgroups and articles, and this was a logical thing
to try - and it worked! Sometimes, our skin needs more nutrients than we
are giving it.
Also, taking these extra vitamins can’t hurt you (like vitamin C, whatever
you don’t use is flushed away), and thankfully, they don’t cost much. Give
it a try? Could take a few weeks to see a result - if you haven’t after a
month, I’d increase the doses you are taking a bit, not all vitamins are
absorbed by each of us the same way, which means we only get the use of a
percentage of what we take).
Good luck!
Geri