I have appalling eczema on my hands, arms, neck and face. How can I deal with it?

I feel extremely uncomfortable and grumpy a lot of the time. When I go out people kind of stare and look uncomfortable too. The eczema flares up more when I'm stressed. I've always had it, somestimes worse than others. I avoid dairy products, meat, sugar, alcohol, chocolate (all the things (except meat) I'd love to eat) !!
The steroid creams and more modern ones work a little for a few months but then the skin kind of rejects it. Same with moisturisers - the skin seems to develop an intollerance to them and ends up going hard but greasy. It's horrible. My partner is really supportive and caring even though I feel ugly a lot of the time (on the surface!). We have a new baby of Christmas eve 2007. He doesn't like the feel of my skin which is sad.

Can anyone please help? Thank you for your answers : )

Adam, hello. I suggest that you should try anti-eczema cream and spray combination by Champori. It is herbal, free of steroids and works faster and better for my eczema than anything else I tried. My patches cleared in just 2.5 weeks and I haven't had a relapse in more than a year now!
Best,
Bernadette

I suggest you start avoiding wheat products. There's a lot of info about eczema being a gluten intolerance. Give it a go.
I have really bad psoriasis which is very similar and this article made me laugh.
Have a read
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/315/...

I sometimes get bad heat rash/eczema, depending on my environment. It's usually in the summer, and several years ago I worked night shift at a supermarket. The temperature in there was ridiculous and my skin flared up badly; I only usually get it on the inside of my elbows, but it turned up on my forehead too. I tried all kind of creams, E45 etc and none worked. I went to my GP and he gave me a cream called Fucibet. This worked wonders, and with only a tiny amount. Don't know if they still make it, but it's worth checking out.

My sister is the same so I can totally sympathise with you. You know what might help is if you use a sun lamp on your body. The sun helps exzema to clear up. I know sun lapms are not so healthy these days but if will help you I am sure.

Heat can be a factor too, is your house too hot etc - I know this is silly but my boss suffers terrible and we have to have the windows open for him or his skin itches. Go see your GP and ask to see a skin specialist. don't use any perfumed shampoos, gels, or hai treatments and try to keep your stress levels down.

Try moisturising your skin with almond oil, which you should buy at the chemist in order to get an unadulterated quality. almond oil is nearest in it's composition to the natural oils in the human skin. It's purported to be very useful in dealing with excema. Good luck.

I have the same problem. Certain creams will work for a while and then quit. I used body butters, like shea butter or cocoa butter and my skin has yet to reject it but it's working really great. Maybe try that.

Hi Adam, It's not much fun having eczema like that. You might like to try a brand called Therapeutics which is naturally made and has helped a lot of people. You can find it on http://www.nontoxicbeauty.com It contains essential oils to help heal the skin and also to kill off the bacteria which cause itching, which breaks the surface of the skin and then leads to more infections. So if the bacteria get killed off then the healing can take place. I don't have eczema myself but patches of psoriasis and use this. I have a friend who has very bad eczema and he uses this to great benefit. On of the things he likes is that there is shampoo and creams in it. Also you can us ethe moisturising oil for shaving which is good and helps keep the face healthy too. I hope that this is useful for you and good luck.

Ok, this is going to sound grose, so I apologise in advance. Also, I haven't had to try this, but I have heard that urine is supposed to be good for eczema. Someone I know was told this by a homeopath. Not too sure if you want to be rubbing it on your face, but if things are desperate then it may be worth a go on other parts of our body.

i suffer with eczema really badly too-i get it on my legs and in my breast. i too find my skin starts to 'reject' all the creams that the gp gives me. i find germolene helps with the itch, which means i dont scratch and it heals a little. I hope this helps.

This is a long shot, but it worked for me. I was diagnosed by two drs. as having eczema on my face and arms and scalp. I used a prescription shampoo which is now available in non-prescription called Nizoral. Not knowing the scalp issues were related to my face and arm issues I used this Nizoral. It was like the umpteenth shampoo I had tried. Within two weeks all traces of the skin problems were gone after dealing with them for years. Not saying this will help in your case, but you never know! It's available at wal mart.

My husband suffers with eczema, he heard if you find out what your blood type is and read the book "The eat right diet" by Dr. Peter D'amo and try to stick to whatever blood group diet it recommends that it will work to clear up the eczema.
He started this diet for his blood type which was A so therefore vegetarian, 7 years ago and has found it really good, he has only had 1 break out since then and this happened whilst on a cruise when he found it difficult to stay on the diet properly. He does not eat any dairy products only soya and goats milk, no meat what so ever,. Hope this helps as it has him.

hi ah you poor thing you sound stresses, well i no how you are feeling as i am covered in eczema 2, i do use fuciden h steroid cream & this kind of helps as mine is quite active at the moment & very painfull also i use the aveeno moistureser & this is one of the best ones around, my 5 year old daughter uses both of these as she has real bad eczema all over.
Have you tried putting the wraps on yourself? alls you do is wet the first layer which will go direct onto your skin, apply lots of moisturiser before applying the bandage, then cover the first bandage with k-band, i find this works 4 me but i need to put a little steroid cream under my bandages, also we have a aloe vera plant & you open the leaves & apply it to the skin this is very good to.Iam sure you have probably tried these things but just thought ad say, hope i have helped you, & i wouldnt care if people stare at you as they obviously have nothing better to look at! good luck xxxx

I use HC45 cream for any small bouts of eczema that I get. You can get it over the counter at most pharmacists.
I hope this helps