eczema and spring??

[HollyDay]

Dd has had the best winter she has had in years with her eczema!!! She remained on alegra, but rarely used her topicals. This week, she is itching and starting to break out again. I'm thinking it is more heat than pollen related because we have had pollen alerts for over a month now and she has been fine. But, it has been 90 degrees for the last 5 days and she is beginning to itch in the "creases" (elbows, back of knees, neck, belt line, etc).

 

Other than keeping the house cool and using topical steroids, is there anything else I can do to stop the eczema breakthrough and the itching?

[HollyDay]

anyone???

[Sharon37127]

Definitely the heat, but more particularly, the sweat. Sweat irritates eczema skin like crazy- especially "the creases." Try oatmeal baths- put some oatmeal in a coffee bean grinder and then dump in the bath tub. If that doesn't help- do wet wraps at night. Wrap clean, dye-free white strips of cloth or gauze around the affected areas and cover with ace bandages, sleep that way.

[Woodhaven]

I wish I knew something that could help! Two of my sons get eczema on their elbows - not in the creases. For them, it seems to come with spring allergies.

[HollyDay]

I will try the oatmeal baths. It is almost like someone flipped on the "itch button" or something. She was great for months. I can't remember the last time she needed topical steroids. She has never gone such a long period of time not using it, but now the itch is coming back. I really want to "nip it in the bud" and try to keep the eczema at bay if at all possible..

[Tiramisu]

I'm getting pollen alerts for the first time this year, to help me figure out my trigger. Do you get the kind that tells you which are the major pollen producers on any given day? My dd doesn't have eczema but I noticed the day that aspen/cottonwood showed up on my alert was the day that she started sneezing and becoming really congested. I don't know if knowing the cause will actually help, though.

[lexi]

When my dd gets hot in the summer, her eczema always flares. Our dr said we would have this problem in the winter - wrong!!! Now we are in TX so it's not too cold but summer is our hardest time. I try to cool her off with cool tub soaks to get the sweat off and reduce the inflammation. We also do wet wraps. But I haven't found a ton of things that help (other than refusing to leave the house and the AC).

[Sharon37127]

Also, I don't know what kind of moisturizer you use for dc, but we finally stumbled onto something called Sween Cream. It is actually a wound care moisturizer, but you will love this stuff. I use it as my lotion now. It just feels- different. It really works for my son's eczema.

[Sharon37127]

oh, and Florasone. It is a natural alternative to steroid creams. It doesn't work as great, but if you want to tone it down on the steroids, it might not hurt to try. We use it now for bug bites and anything itchy.

 

Do you have a Rx for Elidel? We used that religiously before we got his under control. It isn't a steroid and don't let any warnings scare you away from it. Derm DR and I had a good long talk about it before we used it. Great stuff.