my neice morghan is 3 1/2 years old. and she has eczmema SEVERELY! her older sister madisyn (5) had it too when she was first born but it went away b4 she was 1. morghy however didn't develop eczema til she was about 18 months old. and she has it so bad that she scrathes the skin off of her little fingers, toes, wrists, knees,belly, etc. we have done absolutly everything to help her, seen specialists left and right, got tests, but nothing seems to work. she is on zyrtec and singulair right now, and it is helping a little bit, but she still wakes up in the middle of the night itchingand screaming. we have tried ellidel, and she gets infantigo everytime we put her on it. does anybody have any tips to help her scratching?we already had allergy tests done and elliminated all that she is allergic to, but she still itches! it is tearing me apart not being able to help her. (i live with her and help care for her)and she is getting scarred from it. any ideas please? thanks!
~meggie~

I really think that you should take her to see an ND (Naturopathic Doctor) and try the alternatives in this case. They practice homepathy, herbal medicine and acupuncture.

At this age, kid are very responsive to homepathy and it can really work very well in eliminating cases of eczema. I think you have nothing at all to lose by trying it and especially if the conventional meds that you have tried really do not seem to be working.

You can find an ND by looking in the phone book or on the Internet.

Good luck

Have you tried prescription strength steroid cream?

Also, if the problem is that bad, maybe you could try liquid prescription prednisone (or a derivative). I know it won't solve the problem permanantly, but it might give her and you guys a little break. Then maybe you could apply the high-strength steroid cream before she starts getting too bad??

Also, if you bug the same doctor over and over again, surely he/she will let you try something else. It's not right to let her go on like this if anything can be done. I'm sure you've told the docs about her waking up in the middle of the night crying, and scratching her skin off, scarring, etc...

My daughter used to have excema too. Hope she gets better soon. Sounds like hers is really a bad case.

Unfortunately, as you said yourself, steroid creams and steroids are not the answer to treating eczema.

Steroids suppress symptoms and stop them coming out on the skin, but they DO NOT CURE. They will suppress and in later life a child with eczema that has been suppressed could end up with asthma. This happens because steroids suppress and send the disease deeper into the system. When the steroid cream is applied it will disappear from the skin but will go much deeper down and asthma is more of a threat to life than eczema is. Eczema maybe unsightly and irritating at times, but it is not life threatening.

Go and see an ND and get it treated with the alternatives which will cure rather than just suppressing it. Kids are very responsive to alternatives at this age and it works very effectively with them.

Good luck

my son has the same issues ..altho its not as severe.... i use eucerin lotion when its not flared up to prevent it and the steroid cream when his rashes are bad...is this child on milk?? if so u mite wanna try subbing soy for a while and see if that clears it.. i heard milk and excema dont mix... good luck!

thanks guys http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif although i don't think steroids are a good idea because of the suppression thing. i will talk to her mom about seeing a ND for sure. she has been doing "okay" but the past week she has flared up and last night was especially bad(i ended up just sleeping with her and waking up to her crying and putting on eucerin lotion where she is itching) i feel so terrible for her. we previously tried using soy with no noticable change( we had allergy tests done and they told us she cant get near animals). we also think that maybe she is allergic to something outside in the grass cuz her little toes get really irritated everytime she goes out to play. benadryl seems to be doing a ok job at making her itch a bit less, but we ran out yesterday (hence the late night last night) if anybody has ANY other ideas i would be GREATLY appreciative. good thing though she isn't scrathing her face up like she used to (her face used to be scabbed and red all around her lips and her eyes) but thankfullly she doesn't itch there as much. now just to rid the itching on the rest of her body. http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

The eczema could be caused by allergies. You said that she is on allergy medication but have you had her tested? If not I would highly recommend it because it could possibly be a food allergy that is causing the eczema and if that is the case then the food can simply be avoided.

She is very young and skin testing maybe rather difficult on her so ask about blood testing. There is an allergy blood test out called ImmunoCAP where they simply draw a little bit of blood and then in 2-3 days the results are back and the results show how allergic she would be to the specific food. Hope this helps.

RedHead,

I was allergic to cow's milk as a child, and used to break out in terrible eczema behind my elbows and knees. I don't know what my mother used to treat it, but I do remember wearing gloves some nights to prevent scratching myself raw. When I got older, I was prescribed fluocinonide cream. I don't know if it is a steroid cream or not, but it works wonders. I get occasional flareups on my shins and fingers, and the cream works within a day. Good luck with your niece.

My little sister (5 yrs. old) has severe eczema, it sounds a lot like your neice. She also has asthma. She is on singulair, flovent, zyrtec, and prednizone. One of her doctors said that sunlight/ UV rays helps the itching. So, once or twice a week, she goes to a tannng bed and keeps a crop top and biker shorts on, and stays in for 5-7 minutes. Afterward, she applies aveeno lotion. Her eczema has cleared up a lot, and she hardly ever wakes up itching anymore, and no more bleeding.

Unfortunately, it is wrong to say that having your 16 months old son on steroids will not damage him.

Steroids, even in cream form cause suppression. This will suppress the eruption of eczema and your son could end up with asthma in later life due to this. By suppressing skin eruptions, it pushes the disease further into the body and this then causes more life threatning symptoms such as eczema.

I suggest that you treat this more naturally and this could help and prevent further problems later.

Good luck

My 3 year old sister has eczema very bad and has since she was only a few months old. My mother uses Curel, and it works great. And its over the counter lotion. My 7 month old son has always had very rough dry skin and we started using the curel and it clears it all up within days. Good luck!

With my 3 year old, she has had eczema patches in the past and will break out and she has also had respiratory problems especially bronchitis. We found out that Adrie has severe allergies especially seasonal and she is currently on Singular and Zyrtec for the allergies. When the eczema shows up, her dr as prescribed hydrocortisone valerate cream which we use until the patches go away and then we use cocoa butter lotion on her, Palmers has been really good. Unfortunately there is no cure for eczema, but a good dermatologist will be able to help her mother to help her when these outbreaks happen. From what was explained to us by Adrie's dr., the use of the hydrocortisone valerate cream will thin the skin on the infected area to the point it sloughs off and brings out new skin. I don't like using steroids especially oral ones for too long because of the risks, in fact prednisone should never be used more than a week at a time, but we never use this cream for longer than a week anyway. As I probably mentioned before, my daughter's is not severe, but any adult hates to see a child suffering. I hope you and her mother find something to work on your niece.

Another thing I wanted to tell you is to research everything. I did this with the hydrocortyisone valerate cream ( also known as Westcort ) and it doesn't cause suppression.

Sorry, but you are wrong. Any steroid, whether it is taken orally or put on the skin most certainly DOES CAUSE SUPPRESSION.

The skin is a good place for discharges to go and anything on the skin is the body's way of getting rid of it. If you have a child who has a skin rash and you put a steroid cream on it, then it will go away, however it goes away, but will go deeper within the body, which is why so many kids with eczema that has been suppressed with steroid creams go onto develop asthma in later life. It just pushes the problem further into the body and lets face it, eczema may look unsightly, but in the end it is not life threatening in quite the same way as asthma is.

So, yes, any steroid suppresses whether you take it orally or put it on your skin.

Steroids do not cure disease, but only treat symptoms that will return or go to a deeper level within the body.




[This message has been edited by Sarah68 (edited 09-26-2003).]

Steroids ( Prednisone is given for severe asthmatics in a response to a crisis )I have been given this one for a severe allergic reaction to Sulfur and again with Morphine. Steroids has there other downfalls , raising bloodsugar, fluid retention, sodium retention, thinning of the skin and several other problems, respiratory is NOT one of them. I always research meds that are given to my child and me for potential problems.

I am not saying that steroids are the solution to every problem but they do have their advantages as well as their disadvantages.

I am really not sure that you understood my post that clearly?

What I am trying to say is that if you use a steroid cream for a skin probem, then yes, the skin problem will go away, but because a steroid cream does not cure, it suppresses, then the skin problem can re-emerge at anytime, so it will most likely come back at another time in your life, but this time worse than before.

The other scenario is that if you suppress a dischage on the skin, then rather than it being on the skin and then getting better, it will go deeper into the body. Discharges are good, whether they be via a cold or a discharge on the skin and if you then suppress these, then they have nowhere else to go but deeper within the body, so that later on if these things have been pushed down, then you can get lung problems and possibly stomach or other problems.

That is the point that I am trying to make, that the less you suppress things the less chance you have of ending up with more things that are internal rather than external.

The body is very clever you know and has inate healing properties. No drugs heal or cure you, it is your body that does that itself. You body knows what it needs to do to try and deal with things and this is the one reason that things such as skin rashes occur. It is your body trying to get rid of things in the best way it knows how. This is an externalisation and one of the best ways is to 'dump' stuff out on the skin or evacuate it through the bowels, giving you diarrhea. That is why when you get food poisoning, then you would get diarrhea and vomiting and it is your body getting rid of the bad food and this should not be suppressed either with drugs such as Immodium.

I have to say that it is very interesting that you said that you had a reaction to Sulphur. You perhaps should not have taken prednisolone for this and it would not have been the best thing to take either.

I don't know if you know this, but one of the greatest HOMEOPATHIC remedies is in fact SULPHUR and if you had a reaction to something with Sulphur in it, then you should have taken Sulphur in homeopathic potency.

This reaction probably shows that you are sensitive to Sulphur and if you have skin problems and breathing problems, then this would be one of the first remedies to consider. You can get it from a healthfood store.

Good luck.

Hello! I can very well relate to the agony of watching a child suffer with excema. I have a daughter who is now four years old. She has had severe excema since she was three days old. Her skin would become so bad that it would break open and bleed even before she was old enough to scratch. She was diagnosed with a milk allergy at 6 mos. old and as switched to Prosobee formula. Her skin was clear in two days. She still suffers from many different and ever changing food allergies. Some cause suddle symptoms and some like peanuts and fish/shellfish she has to carry an "Epi-pen" for. So I know what it is to battle tough, re-occuring excema.

I read that you have had allergy testing done. I am quite familiar with the whole process. They are very useful and quite sensitive, however, they do have their faults. For example, my daughter is highly allergic to grass/skin contact and presently has excema pretty bad on her face and arms because she comes in contact with it at school. However, she has never tested positive for it in allergy testing. Also, we used to feed her fish all the time and have never had a problem with it, however, when she had fish tested in a scratch test on her back, the spot well so badly that it covered another test spot rendering the other sample unreadable. Just something to think about when ruling out food allergies. Just use your senses...if she reacts badly to something whether she tests positive or not, remove it from her diet/enviornment. Also keep in mind that food allergies can change. My daughter has had 4 foods removed from her list of allergies and 3 added over the past 2 years. Although it can be difficult especially as they get older and more independant, you just have to watch and be aware of their every move.

As for treatment, I've heard the pro's and con's of it all. My advice is just do what works best for you, and it may change from time to time as well. We are currently using a combination of Hydrocortizone Plus, Dye-free Benedryl (she's allergic to red dye), and Elocon Cream 1% (mometasone furoate cream). The Rx cream IS a cortiosteroid and we only use it sparingly on severe trouble areas (never on the face!). It seems to help to alleviate the serious itching and scaling within an hour or so, but the ONLY WAY to elliminate the rash it to find out what caused it and remove that from her. This will likely be a lifelong battle, you just have to learn what to watch for and educate your child!! They are much, much smarter than we give them credit for and will understand when you expalin what the rash is and what makes it appear/worse. They will do their part to avoid the misery even if it means giving up something they love. My daughter has made those decisions on her own many times and hasn't looked back. Just hang in there and teach them avoidance!

As I posted before, steroid cream will stop the itching by suppressing it and pushing it further into the body. It does not cure.

Perhaps you should take your daughter to see a homeopath, that can help her heal naturally. Homeopathy will stimulate her immune system and help her natural and inate healing resources.

Homeopathy can actually treat the tendecies towards these rashes and eczema and stop them happening in the first place. Surely this has to be better than any steroid cream?

Hello, My son also has ezema. I live in rural PA I don't know where to find a homeopath around here. I am not a medicinal person. I hate always putting cortizone and eladel on him. also I worry about eucerin because it is petroleum based. He does not drink milk he drinks only soy.

There are two homeopaths in PA.

Bonnie S Carpenter
604 South 10th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19147

Edward C Kondret
Alternative Medicine for the Eye
20 Cedar Boulevard Suite 303
Pittsburgh, PA 15228

I knew a little girl with severe case of ezema caused by allergy to "chicken" but was not allergic to "chicken eggs".

Finding what a child is allergic to and removing it from their diet will go a long ways to controlling the condition. We always removed allergy foods from family's diet too instead of watching a small child beg for what we were eating and they could not have it. A well balanced meal can be planned around a child's allergy and it will be good for everyone in family.

It is my understanding that keeping a good quality moisturizing cream on the skin will help the misery.

The process of elemination of foods takes a long time but can be done by the parent. Allow only 1 food for a while and then try one other food for a week. If no problems then try a different food. If there is a reaction, do not introduce that food for at least 6 weeks. It takes that long for wheat to get out of the system and may take that long for other foods too.

I would agree with this too and be sure to keep a big tub of Aqueous cream to hand.

Originally posted by Sarah68:
I would agree with this too and be sure to keep a big tub of Aqueous cream to hand.

Am 13 and ever since i was around three i have eczena. ive tried alot of things and its really hard for me becasue i am in my teen years and my eczema is stopping me from doing alot of things.there are alot of different types of eczmea and i have about 4 different kinds. i dont know what ot do anymore i cry all the time i dont play sports, go swimming, wear shorts,tank tops, short sleeves. there are alot of children woh call me names and think its funny, does anyone have any tips?

redhead.....my daughter and son have eczema and it is really bad in the winter time.....this may sound funny to alot of people but it works for my kids......i first give them a bath with oatmeal soap......then after i blot their skin dry after the bath......i put a thin layer of crisco all over the body and put there pajamas on...my kids dr recommended this home remedy....it may not work for all check with your doctor first....but it did wonders for my kids every winter.......

My 2yr old has it severly also. I am so worried about her. She is already getting those white splotches on her skin from scarring. She gets it on her legs, behind her knee, ankles, and on her arms. I absolutley will not use steroid treatment on her because we have tried it and it didn't work. It ended up coming back. I just don't want to be using steroid treatment on and off because of the whole asthma issue. She doesn't have it yet but I know she will. My 3yr old had it too but it was nothing compared to this. She out grew hers. She had no scarring thank God. I did find that Eucerin Original Cream helped stop the itcing for her and it doesn't look as bad as it used to. However, it isn't going away. If she goes outside or is playing hard it flares up so bad. I rarely let her play outside. We usually go somewhere indoors. I had this as a child and I have asthma so I know the probability of them having it is high. I am not too sure of their dr either. He is big on the steroid solution. He even makes me feel like I am not trying to help her. I have done everything I can for her. Is there any other place I can take her to see if we can find a solution to her problem? She does not drink milk for the life of her. She never took to milk after getting off her formula. She does eat yogurt, cheese, and ice cream fine. She is taking a multi vitamin everyday. I wonder if it is good to take her to the specialist I went to. I ended up having to give myself shots twice a week. It hurts to see her like this. I apply that cream anywhere from 6-8x a day for her. My other daughter drinks tons of milk and she hasn't any problems with her excema in the past 2yrs. -Roni

I searched online for excema and I found a product that sounds promising. It's called Free Derm HC. i cannot put the website up because of policies here but if you just type in excema and then search it should be the first one one on there. They have a lot of before and after pictures. I mother of a child who suffered from excema put this together. I did order and I am going to try this for my daughter. All of the ingredients listed are FDA approved.-Roni

I just noticed it is advertised on here already above all the threads as a Fast Excema Treatment...or something like that. It says it gets rid of excema in 48 hours. Please check this out those of you who have tried everything. It sounds like it is worth the try.-Roni

[This message has been edited by roni624 (edited 10-29-2003).]

my doc prescribed a tar based cream or ointment that works wonders on my son - you'll need to see a dermatologist for this cream. D

We found out our 4 yr old had eczema at around 7-8 months old. Westcort did work well for her when she was younger. I also wash everything in Dreft (even mine and my husbands clothes, all bedding, bath towels, etc.) She is with a great Dermatologist now. She is on Zyrtec every morning and Atarax once at bedtime...she sleeps through the night almost every night now which is saying alot! She's had a blood allergy test (evertything was negative) but not a skin test yet. She goes to an Allergist next week to schedule for that. My daughter also sleeps in white satin gloves so she can't scratch her skin open. So far she only has 2 very small scars on her side. We also don't use soap on her of course. We use Aquanil cleanser you buy at most stores.
My advice is to go straight to a Dermatologist and/or Allergist. Go ahead and try to get the allergy tests done to rule that out. My husband is military and they have been kind of a pain, and I wish I would've done the testing sooner. Every case seems to be different and what works for some may not work for others. Oatmeal baths did nothing for us, but it brings relief to others. I think it's all about having a good Dr. and alot of patience! Good luck.