Homeopathy for eczema

[EmmaTam]

Hi just reading your posting about nutramigen. If you have read these last posting you will guess my baby has pretty bad eczema in doctor turms acute or severe which at times has covered most of his body but the main problem is his face which at times looks like weepy crazy pathing. His rash is mainly concentrated in his creases like under his arms wrists ankles etc. The rash has whole red patches and also areas that are spotted. My baby is fully breast fed and I have always suspected that food or my breast milk could be a cause so I had tried on various occaisions to get my baby to take a bottle feed like pepti junior. To cut a long story short on a recent trip to UK my baby picked up a pretty serious virus which left him and me throwing up and on the toilet. He was in hospital over night and he was denied milk and was only given diaralyte which luckily he drank from a bottle no problem. With all the stress of everything and being so ill myself my breast milk nearly dried up. Basically the baby was screeming for milk and there was nothing there. Unfortuately its not easy to get special feeds in UK you need to order so I was forced to feed him a regular feed that night my baby's eczema was really really bad his whole head was red swollen and watery. I changed him to nutramigen the next day (on the advise of a UK health visitor) lucky for me my milk started to come back and I only had to suppliment with this formular however for the week that I used nutramigen his skin was worse than exclusive breast feeding. I also paid privately to see a pediatrician in UK and she suggested that it may have been better to try Neocate than nutramigen but both are oK but in my case she thought that it was best that I returned to exclusive breast feeding which was the best result as his skin levelled out and went back to how it was which is not good but a lot better than on formular whichever one. When I saw the doctor I asked her about Pepti Junior but she said she prefers that for babies over one year but she did not seem to have a specific reason why. I know mummybee is using this with good results.

I do not know if telling you this helps you but I think that if your not sure if your baby has eczema or not go to the doctor and find out. However be very careful what medications they give you I found out a lot of things about eczema while in UK especially about steroids. I don't have time to go into it now so Ill sign off if this helps or you are interested in anythig let me know ill write again when I have time but my babe is a full time job!!

 

[itrinh]

hi, anyone know about a seminar about eczema & how to manage baby with eczema which will be held this sat 19/1/08 at Hung hom. I registered but forgot to write down the detail & i went back to the linked website that i found last time & it is not there anymore. Pls notify me if you know! Thx!!!

 

[jacoby]

hi emmatam!i have been to numerous dr's who have diagnosed my son's condition as eczema, urticaria to netherton syndrome. i sometimes get the feeling that the dr's dont really know what he has :-( he does have red rough rash on flexor areas, on his thighs and on his forehear, eyelids, around the mouth. he doesnt scratch so much (only when he's sleepy) but his sleep is always broken/interrupted. when he wakes in the middle of the night, he can be quite inconsoleable (but not scratching) and difficult to put down on the crib/bed. i dont have a choice but to give him the steroids the dr's prescribe. i hate giving it to him but it's the only thing that clears up the rash. is there anything else i can do? he's on extensively hydrolysed milk, rice porridge, brocolli and squash. his clothes are washed in ivory snow. i've tried bioderma, eucerin, physiogel, aveeno, cetaphil--nothing makes a difference. one of the dr's i've seen said that his eczema is still in an active phase and has not levelled off. have you heard that fr any of your dr's? pls help!

 

[mummybee]

Hi jacoby, so sorry to hear abt your son's condition persisting. i have received your PMS as well and will try my best answering your questions. my answers are of course based on my OWN experience with my own child and i do find that some 'treatments' work better for some kids. at the end of the day, you are the best judge of what methods improve your son's eczema so keep a daily journal to mark down the days where your son may even have a slight improvement in terms of rash intensity so you can refer back.

for emulsifying ointment, get your brother to go to any Watson's Pharmacy (many branches). ask the salesladies but do NOT trust them when they say it is out of stock cos they tend to shy away from the long english term! ask them to direct you to the aqeous cream / moisturiser section. BTW i ahve great success with emulsifying ointment but many mums also report favourabler esults with aqeous cream. maybe you want to get both to try. the latter is the same as EO except there is some water in it. with EO, use sparingly if you are to apply direct onto skin or you will suffocate skin with result of pimple-like spots. these are very different from eczema spots: excessive EO-use pimple-like spots are like adult red pimples with white/watery centres whereas eczema spots are pin-like red spots (very tiny) with no centres - well, that is my observation anyway.

with my child, her eczema skin manifests either (1) tiny red spots on normal looking skin; (2) red spots on roughened neutral-colour skin; (3) red spots on roughened and raw red-coloured skin; or (4) raw red-coloured roughedn skin with no spot at all. the common link is the skin is dry. she scratches only at night or when she is bored.

no one can pinpt your son's condition except an allergist. I strongly suggest you go see a paed allergist and/or do a skin prick test with a qualified doctor. i woulnd't try naturapath unless you know someone u trust (you are in Philipines as i recall correctly). with skin prick test, you will know what your son is allergic to - esp the ones he is severely allergic to - and at least you as a mum can go from here. i am a bit ocnfused - he still getting BM only or have yous tarted solids? i thot you started rice, brocoli etc? if so, be mindful. there are mums in this forum who have said their kids are allergic to rice! my child herself was allergic to brocolli till 2 years old. she was also allergic to my BM when i was exclusively BFing her - from one month onwards. turned out she was allergic to the eggs and pork i took in my own diet. again i stress this is my experience. like i told Emma before, i made the difficult decision to restrict my diet down to chicken+rice every single meal for 2-3 weeks and cos i saw a marked improvement in my child's skin, i continue for months by adding foods one by one back into my diet. this is how i know my child is allergic to pork and beef and oyster sauve! please please do not try this diet unless you are sososososo desperate and KNOW from mother instinct that something you eat is affecting your son's skin. one of the telltale signs for me is when i ate eggs and during the next BF feed, i found my dauhgter had a flareup - ie her skin suddently became red - abt 30mins to 1 hr after BF. she turns out to be severely reactive to eggs (to pt of analy. shock).

like all mums i don't wish to ever put steriod on my child too but in the end i did cos, yes there is no way better to allerviate the scratching and interrupted sleep (isued to have to bound her arms tight in swaddle nightly). Yes, Jacoby, now that my dauhgter is 2.5 years old, looking back, i DO find there appeared to be a "peakinG eczema" period for her, although doctors never sais this to me!!!!! another mum in this forum also confirmed this to be true for her son's case. my child has eczema since one month old. I find her eczema peaked at abt 7 months coinciding solid introudction and teething (esp her mouth and necK). her skin became even rubbery like eraser feel! this is also the time i switched from using hydrocort/unicort (ie 1% hydrocortisone) to flucinolone to elocon (strongest steriod?). i used it daily once a day at night for perhaps 1 week intervals TILL SKIN IS BACK TO BABY-NORMAL COMPLETELY. yes, the rashes came back 3 days i stopped - then i put steriod again. then i started to reduce usage of steriod at abt 9 months old - but by then i became smarter and knew at least tsome of the foods she was majorly allergic to - and all of a sudden at 22months old, i STOPPED using steriod altogether and now at 30 months, my steriods are sitting idle on the shelf. i was told by many mums that the magic mark seems to be one year old, and at least in my case, i do agree with this.

i so have great success with pepti-junior. if your brother is in hk and wants to buy it, you can get it from Mannings Pharmacy (must go to the ones with Pharmacy Section). but i think PJ and Nutrimigen are of the same type ie extensively hydrolysed formulas so i am not sure whether your son will react better with PJ. 99% of kids allergic to cow's milk tolerate N or PJ; only 1% needs the most specialised neocate. maybe your son is that 1% or maybe you are mistaken that he is allergic to cows milk.

hope i haven't written too long an email. excuse grammatical errors too cos my daughter is sitting in front of me while i type! most willing to share my two cents....

Hey Emma, how are you??? Have been thinking of you lately beleive it or not. i have relocated to s'pore recently - tried calling your mobile but you must be still overseas. how was your trip and did you manage to go to see a specialist? hope your son is doing better.

MB

 

[mummybee]

BTW Jacoby, you might want to try this bizarre thing that works for my family: wash your hands thoroughly and brush teeth after every single time you and rest of fmaily eat BEFORE touching your son. it is totally crazy i know but seems if we eat sth she is allergic to and then touch / kiss her, the skin that came in contact with us would become red and rashy minutes to overnight! esp eggs and nuts - they can penetrate vai skin contact not necessary direct consumption. sth you might wanna try since you said your son always get rashes regardless of his diet / BM.

 

[jacoby]

many thanks MB for your advice! believe it or not, i learn more abt eczema from other "eczema moms" than fr dr's here. i will try to have my brother go to watsons for the EO. does it have a brandname? anyway, your daughter's eczema rashes do sound like my son's. he also scratches only when he sleeps at night. thankfully, he has not scratched to the point of it getting infected. (one dr even said it's not eczema bec my son doesnt scratch). my problem is i cannot seem to control the rashes. they come out everyday regardless of what i feed him. even when he was on nutramigen, the rashes would come and go in varying intensities. i was very hesitant to start him on solids bec his eczema was incontrolleable as of yet. but he was not getting enough of nutramigen at that time and seemed very eager to start on solids. i did read that some babies are allergic to rice but i didnt know what to start him on. when i started him on rice porridge (ard 8 mos old), he had some minor rashes on his body (since he's never had a single day of clear skin anyway). after his intake of rice porridge, no new rashes appeared but on the third day of eating rice porridge, new rashes appeared. i then applied steroidal cream on the rashes but continued with the rice porridge. the rashes would improve but not totally disappear (they never do, they just reappear in another area). to cut the long story short, the rashes would just come and go, get worse and improve throughout the "rice porridge" chapter. the reason i think he might not be allergic to rice porridge is that the rashes actually improve/lessen for a few days but come back too! it's all so difficult! i've tried asking the dr's here how i could possibly tell if he is allergic to a new food i'm introducing if he has rashes everyday. but they just say i cant. how frustrating is that? the dr's also say that he is too young for a skin prick test. we tried to get an ige blood test but they couldnt find a vein and it was just too heartbreaking seeing the lab techs stick a needle and wiggle it inside his arm just to find a vein :-( i am being pressured by the dr's here to give him meat (ie turkey, lamb) but i'm worried he might be allergic to it too. unlike your baby who gets the red rashes 30min to an hour after taking in the food, my baby's rashes dont come out till 3days after. i used to think it might be delayed allergic reaction but then it could also be that it's part of the eczema process (meaning: the eczema was on it's way to progressing or worsening). am i making sense here? i feel like the eczema has a life of it's own, like nothing i do seem to make any difference (except for the steroids). it seems to have its own progression/spreading pattern and i just cant tell anymore if the food i'm giving is causing the rash or not. if i take out the food, the rashes dont get better or lessen anyhow. has anyone had it this bad?

his eczema was doing well a few weeks ago then bang! 3 days ago, the rash started coming out again bad and it's all over his face and arms and legs. we had to go back to the strong steroidal cream. i'm beginning to think steroids is his daily cream :-( i just wish i could have a day of clear skin for his entire body. i think the best day i've had so far is half a day of rash free skin. i dont even know when he's flaring up bec he has rashes everyday anyway.

anyway, sorry for making this so long. thanks MB for your advice and words of comfort. i'm happy for you that you're over this nasty nasty disease. if you think of anything that could help me, would really appreciate it. as i've said, the dr's are of no help...

 

[jacoby]

btw MB, my son had a skin prick test when he was 4 mos old and he was negative for dairy, soy and mites. but when we gave him soy, he broke out in hives. that's when we switched to nutramigen. things were quieter with nutramigen till after a month after. he was abt 6mo old and his rashes were terrible. in your experience, do environmental allergens cause terrible eczema? i'm racking my brains trying to find the trigger for my son's eczema! and failing miserably :-(

 

[mummybee]

Jacoby, yes, eczema is truly a miserable experience. I have my fair share of it earlier on, judging from the no of posts i had here and in other forums. I am not over it yet - I just become more aware of the things my daughter is allergic to. recently we went to Manila and she had two nut-related allergy attacks with her eyes swelling up like crazy and her nose dripping literally like a tap at full force. i had to rush her (running) into the hotel bathroom and poured water all over her face to "cool" her down.

I was told that before 1 year old, a negative result in a skin prick test may not be accurate but a positive result is real. so unless your boy shows a positive reaction to a certain food, you can't be sure. that is why his negativity to dairy soy and mites can't be trusted. my daughter tested negative for 16 / 16 foods too at 4 mths but results were dramatic at 1 year old with the same 16 foods.

oh sure environment can cause eczema. Emma commented her son's condition worsens when she moved to HK city and pollution (but mine had eczema even in Australia). other things you might want to consider: use latex mattress (prevent dustmite poo) and special zipped-up mattress protector; we used Dreft laundry detergent for whole family (she reacted to Pigeon baby detergent and ything with frgrance or softener; bought from Gateway in HK); we don't use harsh cleaning agents for floor/cleaning; she is allergic to common moisturisers like Eucerin, Cethaphil, and oatmeal-based types (she tested positive to oat). I mention these cos his rashes seem constnat so maybe he is reacting to sth u placed on him everyday eg laundry detergent or cream?

The EO in Watsons has no brand. David Craig sells EO also but you get this from some health shops.

hang in there - it WILL get better....

 

[jacoby]

thanks MB. m trying aqueous cream right now but i read in the internet that a study was done in britain. accdg to the study, children reacted to aqueous cream when it is applied directly onto the skin. but same children did not react to aqueous cream when aqueous was used as soap susbtitute. so now i'm using it as soap substitute and bioderma as his body lotion and aquaphor for his drool rash. i know aquaphor has lanolin and i'm not certain if he's allergic to lanolin. but it's been a week since his major flare-up (we had to apply betamethasone+petroleum jelly from paed) and so far his skin's been clear (except for roughness on the forehead and red rash on the upper lip). it's been his best week so far and i'm really scared to see another outbreak:frown:. we havent changed his regimen nor the food we've been feeding him so i dont know exactly why his skin's been good for a week now. i'm enjoying it while it lasts. i do know, though, that he's teething (increased saliva and refusal to feed) and eczema gets worse everytime he's cutting teeth. i will definitely consider doing a skin prick test for him as he's turning one next week. i too have cried rivers everytime he flared up and cant wait for him to outgrow this!!

 

[jacoby]

p.s. what shampoo do you use on your daughter MB? my son gets bad dandruff that he scratches a lot. and did you ever try homeopathy or giving your daughter acidophillus/lactobacilli? sorry to hear about your bad experience with nuts in manila too. manila's restaurants can be quite notorious for not disclosing what's in their food. my niece fr the US broke out in terrible hives after being served pasta with cheese even though her mother explicitly instructed the waiter to omit cheese fr the pasta