What causes eczema?

[Little Linguist]

It's driving me CRAZY!!!!!

I went to the doctor, and he told me it's not a fungus or an infection - just eczema. I start by getting little round dots full of fluid. When they pop, my skin dries out and gets all flaky and itchy....

So he told me to use cream. I'm using cream, and sometimes it gets better. No dots anymore. But itchy, dry skin that's driving me MAD!!!!!!!!!

If no one has any good ideas regarding

a) where it comes from and
b) how to get rid of it

I think I will have to go to the doctor again.

And, yes, before any of you get cute: I do take 1-2 showers every day, wear clean clothes, and take care of myself. When I asked HIM (the doctor) where it comes from, he told me when the weather is hot or cold, your skin can get really irritated. But I wonder if the problem is something I eat. I'm not really that stressed right now - so it can't be that. Argh, what's causing this? It's usually on my right hand and right toes - nowhere else. Really weird.

 

[Beorn]

I had that problem on my hands and legs for 2 years. I tried expensive steroid creams, but nothing really helped that much. One day it just went away.

Sorry i can't be more helpful.

edit: Also I saw two general practitioners and a dermatologist about it and the only thing they could do was prescribe me expensive creams. No explanation of where it came from and no solution on how to get rid of it.

 

[angelhair45]

As far as I know eczema can have various causes. My mom and niece both have it. I know for my mom stress is the key factor. When she is under stress it flares up, and the creams do little to help... My niece's is caused by food allergies. When she avoids the allergens she doesn't have issues.

My son has celiac disease (gluten intolerance), and whereas he doesn't have eczema I do know it is a common symptom of celiac disease.

 

[rav3n]

I've got two dime size spots, one on either hand. The Body Shop body butters remove the symptoms but don't cure it.

As for getting rid of eczema, there's something called phototherapy that works for some types.

As far as topical steroid creams are concerned, I refuse to use them since they thin the skin.

 

[mmhmm]

my doctor prescribed synalar ointment (steroid)
it would provide relief, but the eczema never
fully went away.

i ended up doing an entire overhaul
on my diet and lifestyle. i guess a
holistic approach. i started with
watching what i ate. and take notice
of how it affected my skin.

takes a while to get in tune with your body.
but it's simple enough: avoid processed foods
and alcohol. eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables.
just start by lowering the acidity in your body.

i went on a raw food diet for 6 months.
and it went away.

this german dude i know, ate only 4 kinds
of vegetables and rice for three months.
he had it all over his chest and arms.

it's tough though...drastically altering your diet.

 

[Haphazard]

Is eczema the same as sebohreic dermatitis?

Oh wait, it's a mild form.

I can't really help, then. Mine isn't so bad and it doesn't drive me crazy. I avoid a lot of dark colored clothes, though.

Mine is probably caused by something stupid. I'm allergic to rain, so maybe my skin is allergic to air.

 

[Little Linguist]

First, thank you and to everyone who answered my question because it was really driving me crazy.

my doctor prescribed synalar ointment (steroid)
it would provide relief, but the eczema never
fully went away.

i ended up doing an entire overhaul
on my diet and lifestyle. i guess a
holistic approach. i started with
watching what i ate. and take notice
of how it affected my skin.

takes a while to get in tune with your body.
but it's simple enough: avoid processed foods
and alcohol. eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables.
just start by lowering the acidity in your body.

i went on a raw food diet for 6 months.
and it went away.

this german dude i know, ate only 4 kinds
of vegetables and rice for three months.
he had it all over his chest and arms.

it's tough though...drastically altering your diet.

I have started doing something similar. I have stopped working crazy hours (basically I have taken a little hiatus before the craziness starts again).

And I have all but stopped eating processed foods (I even make my own müsli and stuff); I eat fresh fruits and veggies 5-7 servings a day, and dried fruit (including ginger, figs, etc.) and nuts and seeds. Since I have started that, it has been getting better too. At first I attributed it to the cream, but maybe it is the change in diet as well.

I'm hoping it really goes away because it used to itch so badly it hurt....if you know what I mean. It was probably mild, but it felt like hell to me.

Might just be a low threshold for itch, though. For me, itching is worse than pain.

It was just recently (two days ago) that I read about acidity-base balance in your body. The fact that milk/dairy, meat, and veggies have acid whereas fruits/other veggies/water, etc. were basic - wow, that was totally new for me. Since I started reading about it, I've watched and made sure I have a healthy balance of both, counterbalancing healthy but acidic veggies/dairy with basic fruits/veggies.

It's *starting* to improve. I hope to goodness it goes away fully because argh. It's good to know that it helped you, too.

***burst of insight*** I really never connected my eczema to my diet. I mean, I intuited that it MIGHT have a connection, but I didn't know HOW, which was frustrating me. And how odd that I should read about it 2 days ago, and you have just confirmed it.

***hopes it works****

 

[Amethyst]

Eczema can be hereditary, or can be caused by stress, allergens, chlorine from pools, sweat, anything that can affect your skin to make it dry or itchy.

I don't think diet has much to do with eczema. I've had it my whole life, and my diet was always the same for the most part (although increased amounts of vitamin D, E, and fish oil supplements will help), but it would come and go and break out whenever it wanted to.

The best thing to do for it is to air out the skin (don't wear tight clothes depending on where it is) and GET SOME SUNLIGHT! That was the best thing that worked for me, since UV rays supply nutrients to the skin directly. Creams don't work, they never have for me, they only ruined my clothes, so I wouldn't use them too often.

Good luck getting rid of it.

 

[Octarine]

There are lots of potential causes, eczema is just a type of generic skin response.

In my case, avoiding eating wheat stops the eczema on my hands/feet. I've tested this over 50 times now, its a clear trend.
I don't have coeliac disease, or a typical (IgE) allergy to wheat either.

I've been off wheat more or less for about 5 years, it is not that difficult.

Other common dietary causes include dairy/lactose.

 

[mmhmm]

***burst of insight*** I really never connected my eczema to my diet. I mean, I intuited that it MIGHT have a connection, but I didn't know HOW, which was frustrating me. And how odd that I should read about it 2 days ago, and you have just confirmed it.

***hopes it works****

changing your diet also has to do with food combining.
again, it's about listening to your body. keep your intake
as simplistic as possible while you're trying to figure out
what works for you.

i went on the raw diet because i realised i just needed a
nutrient densed diet. in order to do this i drank green
smoothies from the start (greens have to enter the
digestive tract in liquefied form for best possible absorption bc
it's high in cellulose, making it hard for the digestive
system to break down)

have you done an acidity test yet? you can just get some pH
paper and stick it on your tongue.

 

[Haphazard]

If you're looking for something nonsteroidal to get it to stop itching, try cocoa butter. If it doesn't work, you'll at least smell like chocolate.

 

[highlander]

It's driving me CRAZY!!!!!

I went to the doctor, and he told me it's not a fungus or an infection - just eczema. I start by getting little round dots full of fluid. When they pop, my skin dries out and gets all flaky and itchy....

So he told me to use cream. I'm using cream, and sometimes it gets better. No dots anymore. But itchy, dry skin that's driving me MAD!!!!!!!!!

If no one has any good ideas regarding

a) where it comes from and
b) how to get rid of it

I think I will have to go to the doctor again.

And, yes, before any of you get cute: I do take 1-2 showers every day, wear clean clothes, and take care of myself. When I asked HIM (the doctor) where it comes from, he told me when the weather is hot or cold, your skin can get really irritated. But I wonder if the problem is something I eat. I'm not really that stressed right now - so it can't be that. Argh, what's causing this? It's usually on my right hand and right toes - nowhere else. Really weird.

I had this as a kid. I think it had to do with a combination of allergies, the heat, sweating, and the wrong kind of material against my skin.

I think the following might possibly help: air conditioning, taking showers right after exercise, cotton clothing and antihistamines. Steroid cream for a couple days works for the occasional slight flare up if you catch it early.

 

[coconut]

I knew someone whose kids had bad eczema; it went away when they started a raw/less processed diet.

Food allergy can also manifest in eczema. They say wheat is one of the more common causes, but I've heard of people who had eczema when they had milk products. The body is such a mystery; there seems to be variation in the specific response each person will have to a specific substance.

 

[highlander]

I
Food allergy can also manifest in eczema.

I know this to be true because I've experienced it.

 

[kyuuei]

I have it where my shins get so itchy it has made me cry, wake up in my sleep, bleed from scratching it so hard.. my shins, for a while, looked like a lawn mower ran over them. I never got much relief, I went crazy. I tried everything. Changing my diet severely, no-perfume-dyes-fragrance-sensitive-readingrainbow-style soaps, detergents, etc. I tried no cloth rubbing on my legs. I tried keeping my legs covered. My shins continued to just drive me crazy.

Finally, I went to my primary care physician. He sent me to a dermatologist who was a bitch. After a while, I got her to do a biopsy, and she said it was a form of eczema.

She tried to give me expensive steroid creams, but there's no cure for eczema. Steroids I found only made my situation worse. How you ask?

I figured out that shaving my legs REALLY irritates the eczema. Which is really problematic Being a girl that likes to wear shorts in a hot-weather-based part of the country. Not to mention being single. I've had to switch up the way I shave my legs, and be choosier about when I shave them, which sorta sucks but it's the best I can do until I figure out something else.

Even then, they still annoy me. I slather on lotion all the time, and that helps if they aren't already itching. But there's nothing that really stops it. I hope it just goes away eventually.

 

[cafe]

My daughter has it on her hands. I switched her to a simple, homemade Castile soap and she uses Avalon Organics hand lotion. I am not sure that Avalon Organics is particularly special except that it smells so good (we love the lemon and mint varieties) she likes to and will use it, but the fragrances are not irritating to the skin.

I have psoriasis, so I know what a pain these incurable skin conditions can be.

 

[Tiltyred]

I got psoriasis just in the past couple of years and yeah, the itching drives you crazy. For me, if I'm not using steroidal creams, I'll scratch till I bleed. So I try use the cream as soon as I feel the itch, and it does help. But the breakouts go hand in hand with stress and poor diet, by which I mean too many starches/sweets (which is what I turn to when I'm stressed).

 

[cafe]

I think that's probably true. I modified my diet dramatically in the spring/early summer and a lot of the psoriasis went away. I went back to my crappy diet and it seems to be coming back. It's not even stress that makes me eat badly, it just takes more work/thought than I really want to devote to something as boring as eating. I got tired of messing with it.

 

[mmhmm]

i also pull virgin coconut oil everyday.
it helps immensely when combatting psoriasis.
it works be detoxifying your body, removing
toxin and allowing your body to heal.

i do one tblsp twice a day morning/night.
i swish the oil in my mouth by pushing
pulling and drawing it thru teeth for
abt 20 min. the oil 'pulls' out bacteria,
picks up the ickies.

do it on an empty stomach.
best time is before a meal.

you don't swallow the oil bc it's loaded
with bacteria, toxins, pus and mucous.

one of the immediate effects you'll see right
away after is how much brighter and whiter
your teeth become. you expel a lot of mucous.
mucous drainage is how our body removes toxins.

 

[Tallulah]

i also pull virgin coconut oil everyday.
it helps immensely when combatting psoriasis.
it works be detoxifying your body, removing
toxin and allowing your body to heal.

i do one tblsp twice a day morning/night.
i swish the oil in my mouth by pushing
pulling and drawing it thru teeth for
abt 20 min. the oil 'pulls' out bacteria,
picks up the ickies.

do it on an empty stomach.
best time is before a meal.

you don't swallow the oil bc it's loaded
with bacteria, toxins, pus and mucous.

one of the immediate effects you'll see right
away after is how much brighter and whiter
your teeth become. you expel a lot of mucous.
mucous drainage is how our body removes toxins.

I've been wanting to try oil pulling. do you do it before breakfast and dinner?