dear

Over the past several months my diet and finding an attentive dermatologist have dramatically changed my condition. I have recently seen a lot more messages and articles about how severe each years allergies are getting and how children and getting more asthma and eczema. My site has even gotten a lot of searches for eczema and people trying to find any sort of answer. Finally I have gotten a small handle on my eczema and it started with going to the dermatologist, keeping running lists of food sensitivities, and having past allergy tests on hand. The answer was simple to the eye of a good dermatologist.

The Symptoms

Severe itching and rashing from the neck up. My eyes have been itchy and watery. I live in a place where I am allergic to all, yes all, the trees that exist here.

The Diagnosis

The doctor knew the eczema was likely due to environmental factors due to the rash centralizing above my neck. She ordered me to consistently take and increase the dosage of antihistamines. She had seen this too many times and confident it would work. Of course I was in the office irritated, literally my skin was irritated, and I was frustrated too. Apparently the itching causes the rashing, which causes the eczema, which causes the restless nights and insomnia which causes stress which causes more rashing and it’s an infinite loop. Previously I’ve tried taking two (2) 24 hour Claritins in a day and nothing had happened before. But now I’m up to 2 in the morning and another at night. Prescribed ointments including Protopic, Clobetasol and Desonide Lotion for topical healing. Occasionally I take a prescribed antihistamine if it’s getting worse. Zyrtec and Singulair don’t have much of an effect on me some reason. Others have mentioned it working better for them.

The Results

So after the first week, there were dramatic changes. The rashing and itching reduced incredibly and I was sleeping a ton better and in turn my sleep deprivation and stress were reduced. Some prescribed Protopic ointment has helped in some of the healing as well. Protopic is incredibly expensive and not covered by many insurance companies, and even if they put it through, you will likely need to pay a deductible. Anyways, it’s been getting progressively better as the scars are slowly disappearing and dark spots lightening up. I’m not sure how long might be too long to be taking so many antihistamines. They say it’s fine, but I’m just not big on having to rely on medications and truly hope my body will become resistant to the pollens here over a few years. With the recent incredible changes I have snuck in some gluten and am seeing that the itching tends to increase with more gluten. I would not say it’s a full allergic reaction but it is clearly a high sensitivity towards it. Being gluten-free really does help and not to mention helps with ridding belly fat.

Other remarks towards food allergies related to eczema is the notion of reducing beef and dairy products as several people have mentioned before, yet I have not found that connection. Possibly it would have to be a longer trial of that food elimination in order to see the effects.

I truly hope people who are suffering from red scaly, flaky itchy eczema and any sort of inflamed skin reads this and hopefully gets a good dermatologist and allergist to figure this out. It will take some time to figure out the symptoms and creating a food diary or food blog to help find the culprits. Make sure to check with your doc before taking higher doses of over the counter medicines and remember that each person reacts to medications differently and are allergic to different things, so one persons remedies might not work for another. Good luck to all!