On Eczema...............

July 22, 2009 I have a 10 year old daughter who has had eczema since she was two. I have tried so many different things I could fill up this page. After many years, we have finally got it mostly under control, and I thought I would share some of the successful strategies with you! Omega 3 – Adding this to her diet helped control the flare-ups. Eating Salmon, taking liquid fish oil, and adding freshly ground flax seed to the diet all provided a good amount of Omega 3’s. Diet – we removed virtually all artificial colors and chemicals from her diet. We found a direct correlation with the eczema flare ups and the artificial colors in particular. Every time she ate candy or lollipops at a school party she was itchier by the night time. Prescription medication – as much as I hate to use it, I had to use a cream (ellidel) as sparingly as possible, and only on the worst spots. By using it this way, we ended up using it much less in the long run. Moisturizing – This was the biggest challenge. Every lotion I tried only made her itchier, which led to more flare ups. For a while we did not use any lotions at all, and this actually helped. But the skin on her legs was dry and scaly and she hated the way it looked. Then I tried a natural sugar scrub  – just a drop, very gently scrubbing, and just once a week to start. The results were great – it got rid of the dead skin, and softened her legs. There was a very minor increase in itching in just a few spots, but it got better after we used it a few more times. I hope this information is helpful, and saves you some of the frustration we went through! Health and Happiness Karen