eczema and ocean water??

[HollyDay]

Dd has terrible eczema. The dermatologist, pediatrician, nutritionist, and allergist have all said we are doing "all we can do".

 

We have noticed that dd's eczema improves when she swims in the ocean or a mineral rich mountain stream. This is wonderful!!!

 

We are several hours away from beaches or mineral rich mountain streams. This is not so wonderful.

 

So, I'm wondering about Instant Ocean, the salt mixture used to "make" salt water aquariums. Would bathing in such a mixture help her eczema like bathing in the real ocean?

[specialmama]

Worth a try. Heck, I'd even try epsom salts and uniodized sea salt. This does not surprise me at all. I find my psoriasis is helped by regular chlorinated pools. Has she tried diet alterations, specifically elimination of dairy or gluten?

[HollyDay]

We have a salt generator for our pool, but it does not affect her eczema one way or another. It might dry her skin a bit, but that is about it. A regular chlorinated pool makes it much worse!!

 

We have tried dead sea salts from health food stores, but it is so expensive and I do not see a great improvement. It is hard to get fragrance free as well.

 

We are completely dairy free at home. If she gets something when we are out with hidden dairy in it, she needs about 3 days of antihistamine.

 

We did a gluten "challenge" by eliminating it for 90 days. We saw no difference with her allergies or eczema when it was reintroduced.

 

Soy will also bother her, so we avoid that as much as possible. Again, at home it is easy. I make so much homemade that I can keep our diets fairly "clean".

[AuntieM]

Sorry if I gave you way more of an answer than you asked for...

Edited September 6, 2010 by AuntieM

[HollyDay]

Obviously prevention and maintenance are our primary focus.

 

That is why I'm well aware of triggers. That is why we have seen 3 different doctors and a nutritionist. That is why we have 2 different prescriptions (now that Zyrtec is OTC and no longer prescription) as well as a toolbox full of OTC lotions, "soaps", "no-poo" shampoos, "chemical free" laundry soaps, fish oil, organic dye free sheets, etc.

 

I would much rather prevent an outbreak than tackle a flare, obviously. But, it is not always possible. At this point, I'm trying to "think outside the box" and come up with solutions to help as fall allergy season is about to kick off.

[cjbeach]

I had a few people tell me to try trace minerals for my eczema... I'm there is a correlation to the ocean water there.

I find now at 40yo I definitely have some food allergies that have contributed (milk, dairy, peanuts) to my eczema but for me my worst flareups have been from irritation/friction. My son's dermatologist told me about OTC Cera Ve (the one in the tub) and I applied it liberally/constantly/nonstop for 2 days and saw DRAMATIC improvements in my skin -- really helped with a bad flare up. Now I wash with Cera Ve wash and use Cera Ve in the tub.

[abbeyej]

Have you tried Epsom Salt baths at home already? That's where I'd start for this particular experiment...

[kewb]

My sister is a psoriasis sufferer. She says nothing works as well as the ocean. She said the do it yourself at home treatments help but do not work nearly as well as swimming in the ocean.

[mcconnellboys]

They used to sell big bottles of Dead Sea Salt at my local Wal-mart. Since they've revamped, they've cut it out, unfortunately, but I think you can get these online and would suspect that some drug stores might carry them. We just get the plain salts, no colors or perfumes. This has helped my eczema and psoriasis a lot over the years.

[HollyDay]

Yes, we have tried Epsom Salts with limited results.

 

I have CeaVe sitting on the computer table as I type!!! The dermatologist suggested alternating purchases of that with Cetaphil. Dd also has a prescription for Atopiclair. It works very well too.