We do appreciate that our ‘daily struggles’ are trivial compared to many parents’ whose children suffer from more serious conditions. But, one of the reasons we wanted to share a little of what life is like is that we have met many parents who feel like we do and it always helps to know you are not alone.
Eczema and non-life threatening allergies are rarely considered by GPs (or even other parents!) as too serious or having an impact on daily life. However, if you are reading this, you probably already know that, unfortunately, this is not true. GPs have a hard job and I can understand and appreciate that they have more serious complaints to deal with, but it does mean there is little support for the rest of us and nowhere for us to go with our small questions and worries.
Sometimes the small stuff does build up to a big impact. If any of our story helps even one family, it will make me happy. I want others to know that they are not alone and not ‘making a big deal out of nothing’.
Hi There.
I’ve got the same problem with my little boy. He is 10 this year. His eczema is caused by Food allergies. Im always heartbroken for children with eczema. It does effect them a lot.
I’m looking for 100% grey socks for him for school but unfortunately cant find any in South Africa.
Regards
Socks can be such a battle to find! I guess it’s because they get worn out quickly and need some elastic but we’ve struggled so much in the past. I have found that looking for socks with companies specialising in clothing for kids with sensitivity issues quite good as they tend to be a soft material if not 100% cotton and steer away from any scratchy bits. Have you tried bamboo? They might be easier to find?
Hi, I’m reading your posts with real interest and tears in my eyes. I too have a beautiful itchy boy, he’ll be 9yrs this summer and we’ve struggled on and off with his eczema since he was a baby. He too finds it isolating and struggles to understand why his skin is torn to pieces while his friends are fine, it affects his sleep, his mood, sometimes his work at school. I’d love to know of any other support networks you know of? I’m in worcs.
Our Gp is lovely but the standard treatment is emollient and steroid which 1) doesn’t work and 2) Has side effects I’m not crazy about. I’m a nurse by background and am now studying MSc in Nutritional Therapy, which has opened up the world of functional medicine. As a result of that I’ve learned so much more about eczema and it’s links to gut problems which in turn link to allergies and a whole host of issues and, very importantly, potential solutions. I don’t want to take up your page with all the info but if your interested in finding out more please do email me, I’m happy to point you in the direction of info of this nature; I’m still learning myself and it’s a tricky journey for sure.
In the meantime I’ll say thank you for your lovely page with lots of top tips, I’m going to check out the bedding links now.
Wishing you luck and soothing-skin day, Thanks again, Pam
Hi Pam
I have broke down in tears too just trying to find out ways to help my boy who will be 8 in January. Sounds like we have a similar experience. Would love to have someone to share ideas with and any new information you have found out through your studies. If my email could be passed on to Pam that would be great.
Thanks Miriam
Hi, my LO is 5 months old, he’s got severe eczema over most of his body and I believe also has a dairy allergy… we now on Nutramigen formula. I’ve started to wean but following a big flare up after some bread and butter, I’m terrified of giving him anything that will do the same again. He has diarrhoea a lot and poo really smells, I worry about what’s going on in his gut. Would love to hear more from Pam about nutritional studies etc. Sophie x
Hi there my little boy is 5 and suffers from severe eczema, multiple allergies, asthma and nephrotic syndrome (a life threatening kidney condition). If you would like to learn more about him we have a page on facebook called Morgans mission. We are based in Surrey. Can I ask where you are based, as my son feels very lonely and I would love him to meet another child who understands what it’s like to live with eczema xx
Hi there, we had the pleasure to meet Morgan recently at St Thomas during supervised feeds. We’re not super close, but not too far either. You can email me at hello@myitchyboy.co.uk
Thank you very much for your detailed reply, it is very much appreciated. Thank you.
Hi, I have just stumbled on to your site and I am glad. My son has had severe eczema from 3months and is nearly 2 and a half now. It started off on his cheek and now is on 90% of his body. He is under the care of a dermatologist, consultant immunologist…etc..potent steroids topical and oral.. Nothing working. He doesn’t sleep at night, has to be held all night in my arms.. The itching is constant, the bleeding, the weeping… Cries for me to take his skin off, or bite his wrists and ankles and other areas… After exhausting himself he finally falls asleep around 6 or 7 in the morning for about 2 hours of light sleep.i am on my second sabbatical for my son..He has to be supervised at all times during the day time. We use cotton bedding… Vacuum the bedding frequently… He eats dairy free products… Out of a week he usually has flare ups 6days out of 7. We have recently been told he has dust mite allergy amongst other allergies.. Can you make suggestions on what else we can do? What type of mattress does your boy use? Soap powder? Other tips plz..
Hi, so sorry to hear you are having a terrible time. Sadly eczema really can take over the lives of all the family.
Have you seen a dermatologist? If not, then you have to insist that you see someone asap. Prevention is definitely better than cure, but in the meantime, some topical treatments will give you all some respite so you can sleep and gather your thoughts on how to make sensible changes to prevent flare ups.
It is also important to see not just a dermatologist, but an allergist and then possibly a dietician too. Without the holistic view, it can be hard to pinpoint the cause. Even with it, it can be hard!
We had a diagnosis of dustmite allergy, but I am not sure it is a huge contributing factor in my son’s case. We do vacuum his room and change his bedding frequently, always wash it on a hot wash. We use a mattress that is good for allergies, and all cotton bedding – including his duvet. He is highly sensitive to polyester – not sure why. Other things that flare his eczema (rather than other strong, traditional ‘allergy’ symptoms) are egg, stone fruits and toiletries. We use BioD laundry liquid that I buy online from http://www.biggreensmile.com. It is the one that I am sure makes no difference – too many I think are fine but can’t be 100% sure. It is a bit of trial and error – expensive trial and error! – to go through them all. We rarely use shampoo but use a very mild baby one when we do and for his skin, we use a mild soap at the moment since his skin has cleared up. Now he doesn’t have a shower every day either but when his skin was open and weeping we did, to avoid infection and to clean the old cream off as it was quite sticky and seemed to attract a lot of fluff and dust.
Sleep is vital and we relied heavily on antihistamines to get a decent night’s sleep. We found Zirtek liquid better than Piriton as Piriton is short action (4hrs) so we would still get night waking. Again, a dermatologist or allergist can suggest a stronger one that will pretty much knock him out. Sounds horrid, but his skin needs sleep to repair itself, you need sleep to give him the best care, plus the antihistamine should prevent more damage that night. Trying to stop the itch-scratch cycle is hard work!
We also found Scratchsleeves to be wonderful in helping the itch overnight. They can scratch, but not damage the skin. With MyItchyBoy we tell him to call out in the night if he is itchy enough to take the sleeves off to scratch.
I would ask for more time with an allergist to check any other cause – it helps I think to make lists of everything they do/eat/touch throughout the day and see when the skin reacts. It can be tiring to do and sometimes the reaction is up to 24hrs later so it’s not really too helpful, but it might show up something you’ve not yet thought of.
And, you know, it’s really hard. Really hard. You’ll get little sympathy from anyone who doesn’t know what you are going through, but there is a lot of support online. I have found Twitter to be a wonderful place for keeping my sanity on many an occasion.