Eczema cream that actually works?

[HollieES]

Hi all

My son has patches of eczema on his chest. We've been prescribed epaderm which doesn't seem to make any difference, and have also tried sudocrem and the Avent magic cream which also don't seem to help.

Has anyone used anything that works when other things haven't? Any recommendations very welcome.

Thanks

Hollie

[Ramble66]

Aveeno cream and google oatmeal and Eczema. You can either apply as a wet compress wrapped in muslin/stocking or put it in a bath, again in muslin, try over the tap and run the water through it.

Good luck.

[KatsuQueen]

oops double post.

[KatsuQueen]

Hi Hollie - how old is your son? Minikatsu really suffered with terrible eczema when he was little, and we tried Epaderm (horrible stuff) Doublebase and others. The only thing that really worked was hydrocortisone cream, which I resisted because I was worried about the side effects.

We were referred to a dermatology nurse in Herne Hill (can;t remember the practice now) who was great and set my mind at ease about hydrocortisone creams. She was right, as soon as I started applying 2x a day for a few weeks it cleared up and we only had to use it for flare-ups. Very rare now that he is nearly 3. Still regular moisturisers 2X a day (we use Aveeno)

I feel awfully guilty now, that he had to "suffer" because my hang-ups/ignorance. I hope that's helpful, good luck with it.

[jennyh]

I have very bad psoriasis and have had loads of creams and potions! I would suggest you try going down the oats route...

Aveeno cream from the chemist and/or oat baths and water - cut the foot off a pair of tights or use a pop-sock (if that is what they are called?!). Put some porridge oats in the bottom and tie it over the bath tap, run the water through it for his bath time and then let him bathe in it each day. In addition you can make up a pot of water and oats and then just use some cotton wool to wipe it over the patches during the day. If you keep it in the fridge then the cooling effect could help soothe any irritation he feels.

Also - not sure how keen you are to try alternative healthcare but I have had great success with homeopathic remedies for my skin when all other topical creams failed!

Good luck!

[jennyh]

Ramble66 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Aveeno cream and google oatmeal and Eczema. You

> can either apply as a wet compress wrapped in

> muslin/stocking or put it in a bath, again in

> muslin, try over the tap and run the water through

> it.

>

> Good luck.

ha- ditto! Must have been tying at exactly the same time!

[Saffron]

Avoid any creams with the surfactants SLS/SLES, or the preservatives known as parabens (methyparaben, propylparaben etc).

[civilservant]

what KatsuQ said - our daughter had eczema from a baby and we did exactly the same following medical advice (including feeling guilty about original hangups re steroid use)

by using steroids, you are treating the problem at source - Aveeno etc only deal with the symptoms

BTW there are already a couple of extensive threads in this section about treating eczema in children.

[jennyh]

In reply to [www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk]

civilservant Wrote:

> by using steroids, you are treating the problem at

> source - Aveeno etc only deal with the symptoms

>

Thats quite interesting, is that something that the dermatologist said? I only ask because I was often told by GPs that the steroid creams would treat the symptoms only too.It would seem that it is very hard to treat the cause, certainly psoriasis is my friend for life, not just for adolescence!

I think frankly you try whatever works and steroid treatments just didnt do it for me but I wouldnt have concerns about using them on my child given that peoples experiences do differ greatly.

[civilservant]

I do take your point - to clarify, I understood from the dermo that steroids will dispel the local flare-up of eczema, but won't dispel the child's overall tendency to eczema. If the child is lucky, its tendency to eczema will reduce with age (very sorry to hear that you are still affected.) My experience with emollients is that they mostly have a palliative/preventive effect, and are rarely effective in making a flare-up go away

But I also agree with you that each case is different and that one should try everything and just go with whatever works.

[HollieES]

Wow, thanks everyone! Lots of ideas there and I'll definitely be trying the oatmeal thing first to see if that helps.

My son is almost 10 months old and he also suffers from wheezing (which Kings are treating as asthma, although they can't diagnose it as that due to his age). I've been told by the asthma clinic at Kings that eczema can come along as part of the "asthma" package. Do people have experience of this too?

[jennyh]

yep me too! my mother has bad asthma and I had a period of bad asthma in my childhood and teens. I am pleased to say though that it didn't cause me any real problems other than sports were a bit tricky and I tended to get worse in the Winter when my chest got cold. I had various inhalers but it was never an issue for me. Grew out of it pretty much and now rarely feel the effects so it isn't 100% set in stone that your boy will suffer from these things throughout his life but obviously it could be more acute than my experience. My GP mother-in-law says that most allergies etc are learnt from birth and that around this age the symptoms can start to emerge but often they calm down again.

[Yak]

Yep, the trio of asthma, ezcema and hayfever are often linked. I have asthma, mild ezcema & psoriasis. Poor little yaklet (5.5 months) has had some eczema and currently has a lovely wheezy death rattle cough so I think he may be in for the same thing. It all depends on the severity, but it needn't necessarily stop your little one from enjoying life to the full. Sounds like you're doing all the right things!

[HollieES]

Good to know. To be honest, it doesn't really seem to bother him, he's happy to carry on bashing about even if he sounds like darth vader.

My parter had asthma in his twenties but hasn't suffered in the last ten years, so I'm hoping it's just something that passes and our son grows out of. Apparently it can arise in seven year cycles?

Thinking of trying a humidifier when his chest is bad. Is that something you tried Jenny?

[Ramble66]

civilservant Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I do take your point - to clarify, I understood

> from the dermo that steroids will dispel the local

> flare-up of eczema, but won't dispel the child's

> overall tendency to eczema.

So steroids also only treat the symptoms. They are anti-inflammatories and do unfortunately have side-effects with long term use. I do accept that they are sometimes required for short term use in severe cases. Oatmeal on the other hand, again only treats the symptoms but doesn't have any adverse side-effects. I've heard lots of positive anecdotal evidence.

As for asthma, I read an interesting post on here a while back when someone was looking for raw milk locally. It was suggesting that is could help with asthma and other atopic conditions. I did some reading after seeing this and found that there was definitely plenty of research and anecdotal evidence to support it. Maybe worth a try.

[emily88]

my daughter and i both have eczema i was recommended to go on a talk by my health visitor i cant remember what its called but its run by the nhs so it was free and was only 2 days for a couple of hours each day and was so helpful its really worth trying to get the health visitor to find the course. we was told that the best thing for eczema is to in the bath use an oil and use cream as a soap substitute and creams during the day and an ointment before bed. once you have found a product that works for you like diprobase or Oilatum ect then stick with one brand and you will be able to get them in all forms like bath oil, cream, ointment and the doc will prescribe them. I feel that the use of steroids should only be used as a last resort because u have to be weaned off of them and the stronger they are the longer your on them for.

hope it helps

[jollybaby]

Emily are you talking about steroid tablets or creams? You don't need to be weaned off the creams. Oral steroids are only used for really severe cases of eczema and are totally different to using a low dose steroid ointment like hydrocortisone.

[shaunag]

Hi HollieES

Dont want to confuse things but eczema can be a sign of allergy to something in the diet. Im just flagging it because it took 3.5 months to diagnose my baby's dairy intolerance and 3 weeks to diagnose a soy allergy - she had other symptoms but was kicking myself I didnt get to the bottom of it sooner with the doctors - maybe worth querying when you next see your paediatrician. I know wheeziness is another allergy symptom...

[DaisyDoo]

Used neem oil, camomile oil, lavender oil & base cream put together by Neal's yard in Blackheath & did magic where nothing else worked - for an adult though.

[new mother]

Most children and people I know with asthma have eczema and sorry to say but allergy too. I would steer clear of nuts for little ones accordingly and watch very carefully, just in case. A girl at school had asthma, went to university and had a nut based curry with tragic consequences I am afraid.

[Saffron]

Look at the ingredients of your creams. If they have the surfactants SLS/SLeS or the preservatives called parabens, put them in the bin. New research from the States suggests that these ingredients can make eczema worse for some people.

Emily88 when you say, '..stronger they [steroids] are the longer your on them for', this is somewhat misleading. The potency of the steroid is not relative to the course of treatment in this sense. However, if the ammount of inflammation is sufficient to warrent the use of a highly potent cream, then it's possible (though not always) that you may need to be prescribed steroids for a longer course of treatmen simply b/c the condition is sufficiently advanced. In general I agree with you, that steroids are not necessarily the best first course of action. However, they're not the last port of call either. There's something to be said for a middle ground, a treatment window before the inflammation has gotten out of control. A stitch in time saves nine.

Shaugan, although they do often coincide, eczema is not a 'sign' of allergy or asthma. No need to kick yourself. True allergies can sometimes be difficult to pinpoint. Three or 4 months to correctly diagnose a dairy/soy allergy may have seemed like an eternity if your LO was unwell, but actually that's not so long in general. (Some people go years with undiagnosed/misdiagnosed allergies!) xx

[bobbly]

As far as i am aware, eczema suffers should avoid dairy, tomatoes, oranges, a range of other stuff that i cannot remember. (sorry shattered). certain foods trigger flares, there is a wonman in the north cross road market who sells pure, unadulterated shea butter. I think the trick is to avoid trigger foods and moisturise moisturise moisturise. Mine has eczema and food allergies, we have managed to avoid asthma though he did have initial wheeziness and had breathing difficulties in smokey atmospheres, but not diagnosed as asthmatic (he is neARLY 5). We avoided conventional paints and as did all possible to reduce dustmites, ie no carpets, special mattress and don't use bleach hardly ever. I also try to avoid cleaners that kill all germs. I don't know if this has helped prevent asthma, but it certainly did him no harm. Often eczema is linked to asthma and food allergies, so whatever can be done to prevent one or more of the three cann onnly be a a good thing. Also watch e numbers in foods, some of them are skin irritants. sorry if this makes little sense, on my way to bed, but hope you find something useful from my rammblins.

[KalamityKel]

Skin Salvation works wonders for Eczema. My 11yr old nephew suffers extremely on his legs and arms and struggles to apply other creams which make him feel even more uncomfortable. Having tried all the usual available solutions to no happy result (it's not pleasant watching a rather large 11yr old well up with tears!) we ended up trying this out some months ago - you can also get a bath oil - made of natural products it calms the skin almost straight away and with prolonged use the affected areas clear up a little.

He now applies the cream himself without having to be prompted (as he now doesn't mind the application process as it doesn't hurt) and is more confident in himself and will wear short sleeved Ts without thinking he's an alien.

You can get it on prescription - you'll need to push the doctor a fair bit though!

Brilliant for psoriasis!

[samanthap11]

Hi.

My son has had eczema since he was born and it has been a total nightmare to get rid of it.

I've ran back and forward to the doctors for a cream that actually works. We started with Epaderm, that worked for a while then back to square 1, diprobase, same story and a number of other creams. nothing seemed to work. It doesen't only affect our baby but also puts a strain on myself and husband as our baby keeps waking up in the nights scratching till he bleeds, so it just results in sleepless nights!!

So i requested my doctor to refer him to the hospital so he can be seen by the dermatologists, that took months not to mention the NHS! Finally got an appointment about 1 month ago, my son was given Double base cream as an all over moisturiser, elocon for the itchy affected areas and eumovate for the face and neck. I can actually say that it worked within 3 days. My son's eczema has cleared up and we are all having good nights sleep. we also requested for a blood test at the appointment to see what he is allergic to.

[damzel]

Ramble66 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Aveeno cream and google oatmeal and Eczema. You

> can either apply as a wet compress wrapped in

> muslin/stocking or put it in a bath, again in

> muslin, try over the tap and run the water through

> it.

>

> Good luck.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Finally found something that works for my daughter - that Aveeno stuff worked almost immediately and I can't believe how much better her wrist is after just one week! Even the dairy-free diet that she is temporarily on, hasn't helped the really bad eczema areas.