I hate this, if I played the lotto and won 100 million dollars I would trade it for the removal of Stephen’s Eczema. In many ways we are lucky, I mean he does not have it on his face and he does not scratch as much. But it is annoying. I sometimes just want to pull all my hair out.
- We have been to the doctor – the pediatrician.
- We have asked for advise and applied it.
- We have been as careful as we can with food. Cut out wheat and dairy for a while etc.
Stephen had always been breast-fed, and he drinks enough water. We keep away from too much junk food – I get the feeling some times that people think we may be a bit extreme. Hmm, I hate it – the eczema, why I ask you why?
I have prayed to God, I have taken Authority over it, I have prayed and prayed. I don’t pray about it any more; it is in God’s hands now – I have don all I can
But it is so frustrating.
I love my son, as Kathy does as well. And as a father I would fight a horde of beasts to protect him; I would shout down the world if he was hurt by it. My friend; Ron, asked the question; How far will you go for your kids? As far as it takes! But what do you do when you have done everything? What do you do when you have no control? When all you can do is wait. The pediatrician reckons Stephen will grow out of it, When? It is winter now and at winter it just seems to get worse.
I just want to scream, scream and scream.
Stephen does not scratch as much as he used to, but he still does; I just want to look him in the eyes and convince him not to, but he does not understand. I can’t stop him, and when he bleeds it breaks my heart.
When you will stand like a Russel Crowe in the Gladiator – a supreme fighter – against what ever will come at your little child; what do you do when your hands are tired? I want to scream.
[Scream Photo: piotr.amigo]
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Son of Mine 
Dude! Don’t really know what to say. Can’t be nice 😦
Not nice at all.
Both my daughters had eczema on their faces mostly. We found out it was food getting directly on their skin that was bothering them. We would have to apply Vaseline to their cheeks as it is impossible to keep food off the outside of an infant’s mouth. The Vaseline created a barrier so the food could not irritate the skin.
All I can say is kids grow out of eczema. Although it is rare, A friend of mine still has it as an adult but it’s manageable because she knows the triggers.
It will get better, which I always see as infinitely better than my child having something that will only get worse as time goes on.
thanks, doing everything we can. Not as bad as some, but the poor kid.
Sorry, Phillip. I didn’t mean to sound unsympathetic toward you or your son. I think I know how you feel – no matter what’s wrong with our child we want to make it right and if we can’t there’s nothing more frustrating than that kind of helplessness. And sometimes knowing things could be worse just doesn’t make that feeling go away. Keep your chin up…
🙂 thanks for those words.
Maybe God will doing something great soon. Although I think he is doing something great with Stephen already – my son rocks 🙂
ok I am completely biased 😉
With a young son myself, I can totally identify with your feelings. I cannot identify with what your sons is currently going through (at least not yet) but the desire to scream…yes, I know that desire.
So much of what my wife and I have gone through in the last year with my 15 year old stepson has brought us to the place you are at: there is nothing more you can do except pray without ceasing and leave it in God’s hands. So much of what has occurred causes us to ask “why” as well.
In times such as those, I remember God’s response to Paul when he asked God to remove his thorn in the flesh: “my grace is sufficient for you.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) I do believe God gave us that verse for times such as these when we ask God to remove something from our lives but He does not appear to listen.
Phil, I will ask my readership to keep your son and your family in prayer.
Thanks man – I really appreciate that.
Eczema on small children is so hard Phill.
Josh had it when he was little and so did many of his friends. All I can say is that they have all grown out of it and are free of it now. I know you’ve probally heard it a million times, but he will grow out of it and be healed, and have beautiful soft skin again.
Just hang in there buddy.
Thanks for sharing this informative post with us . I think many people looking for this like me.
I was once a eczema patient and was suffering the whole of my life until I found a cure for it. Check my blog for the answer. Hope it will help you too.
shot – will check it out. It just does not want to go away.
Both my girls have had problems with eczema, and the only thing that really helped keep it at bay was using Aveeno baby bath products with the colloidal oatmeal, and Aveeno moisturizer (the Eucerin and Aquaphor did not work as well). Occasionally I have to apply hydrocortisone for a bad flare up.
cool, will check that out.
busy using rooibos at the mo – seems to be helping
My two year old son going through same thing. Have spent many nights crying because all I want to do is make him better. We used to ducktape socks on his hands so he couldn’t scratch himself raw. We would find him in the morning with bloody socks on his hands where he would bite his hands to scratch them. I thank God we are passed those days. As he gets older, I find there are more good days than bad. I keep putting all the medications and creams on him, though truthfully, I don’t know if any of it helps. Its hard not knowing how God will use this to His benefit, but I know that He will.
Do yourself and your child a huge favor. Go to http://www.arbonne.com and click “join arbonne” put 18304394 as your sponsor ID and click continue to shop. Get the ABC Baby Line–thousands have cleared their eczema with this Swiss formulated, botanically-based line. Use the diaper rash cream on every eczema spot, not just the baby’s diaper area. It works and it’s inexpensive. Pediatricians who know about this have decreased the amount of prescriptions they have to write.
I have conquered eczema through holistic (dietary and lifestyle) changes. My basis was traditional chinese medicine as well as ayurveda (ancient Indian medicine-science of self healing).
What you need to do (and this WILL rid him of his condition – with time of course..) is cut out all wheat, dairy, and refined carbohydrates/sugars. No trans-fatty acids, not too much protein or fat, try to get him to eat a diet consisting mostly of vegetables and plenty of spices. A really good thing to have him eat (daily if possible at least once) is curry powder. An equal amount of turmeric, coriander, cumin and some black pepper and salt (try to get unrefined sea salt). Its great w/ chicken. Have him eat a salad every day (Perhaps a chicken salad)
and LOTS of water. You can find more online w/ research. I recommend looking up either ayurveda cure for eczema or traditional chinese medicine (tcm) cure for eczema.
We did a blood test, it revealed that House Dust mites were the problem and a little due to dairy. So at least we can target cutting out dairy as much as what is reasonable and certainly making a concerted effort in controlling his exposure to dust mites in the home. Unfortunately every other house does not care about the presence of dust mites 😦
OMG!!! I am currently going through this with my son.. he is 15 month’s and i don’t know what to do…he just recently started to break out on his face! please help!
That’s terrible.
Will be praying for you.
Otherwise, we found out that Stephen was highly allergic to DustMites – so that drives out strategy.
Mostly we bath our son in Epizone-E.
Give him Zinflex (Zincflex?)
And apply two types of cream; one for the body and a lighter one for the face. Sorry I can’t remember the names right now but they are prescription meds and contain stuff that thins the skin.
I just found out I have eczema. I’m 22 years old and a couple of weeks ago I got a rash on my neck which I thought to be ring worm. Then it showed up on my face, next on my hand. My neck and face are clear now but my poor finger is covered in little tiny blisters. They itch like crazy and I don’t know how to stop from scratching. Washing my hands and taking a shower burns and makes them itch even worse. I’ve tried putting alcohol on it and that doesn’t help much either. All the creams are wet and make it itch more. I involuntarily scratch in my sleep and it just keeps getting worse. I am a single mother with a part time job and that is our sole income. No child support, no social security, and since she’s 5 and Im not hispanic, no more help from the government. I can’t afford insurance and I can’t afford a trip to the doctor’s office. The itching is miserable. If you have any suggestions on how to stop the itching I would greatly appreciate it!!!
Sounds more like Chicken Pox than Eczema. So probably only Calamine lotion would help.
is this still an issue? You should try Arbonne’s Baby line…the diaper rash cream and body lotion have cured eczema for thousands! It’s botanically-based formula is safe, gentle and effective. Please contact me if you have tourble with eczema! dzarbonne@gmail.com
still a problem – yes 😦 – I’ll look into that Arbonne’s Baby Line – thanks.
you can use my ID as your sponsor ID: 18304394–please keep me posted!
Thank you very much
I have sever atopic dermatitis aka eczema.
The only thing worked for me miraculously was to
stay in Hawaii. Swimming in the sea greatly helps.
Just be careful of UV. You’ll see the difference
in two weeks. 1 month of stay cleared up whole body.
Though it came back after I returned to Califoria
I am with a peace of mind.
My eczema is worse during winter like your son.
So I think there’s a good chance that Hawaii works
for your son, too.
sun definitely helps – must get outside more often. Within reason of course; don’t want to trade eczema for skin cancer
Hi Phillip – my son has it really bad as well – he’s 22 months and it is terrible. We’ve cut out everything – wheat, dairy, soy, etc but he still gets breastmilk – i’m afraid that might be it! I don’t eat wheat or dairy…but i do eat soy every so often. He might have the dustmite issue too – we’re waiting on allergy results testing to come back.
Did you ever try the arbonne stuff? the scratching DRIVES ME CRAZY!!! he can’t sleep through the night because of it.
I just want to scratching to stop. any clues? We live in California and he gets plenty of sun exposure…
seriously try the arbonne! it’s inexpensive, non-prescription and all natural. I get eczema in the winter and it has done a great job of controlling it. The baby wash, lotion, oil and diaper rash cream (good for the itch) are what you want to get.
log onto http://www.arbonne.com and click ‘join arbonne’
you can use my ID 18304394 as your sponsor
then shop away!
this stuff has worked for so many people
good luck!
Aww the poor kid 😦 i am afraid to say but i am now 26 and have had eczema since i was 8 months old 😥 i go to the hospital 3 times a week it helps but as you said it gets worse in the winter.
Im currently 18 and I had horrible symptoms like his for years and i kept asking my mom to get my house a water softener because i had a feeling the minerals in the water were what irritated it. finally 3 months ago she got me a personal filter for my shower and i have barely had any breakouts since. I had it so bad that I would basically be covered with the stuff in all of my soft spots (the bottom side of my arms and legs, stomach neck etc.) and it drove me insane. I seriously recomend getting a softener or filter and when you wash his clothes use only a little amount of sent free soap and NEVER use those drier sheet things, even if they say that they are ok for sensitive skin. Hopefully I could help in some way.
thanks for the comment. I must say that we have not tried a water softener yet even though I make jokes about “It’s the water”
Hi, I came across your website while looking for pictures of eczema that resembles what my 4yo son’s looks like. We have battled with it since he was about 7 months…it got really bad at times (being up all hours of the night helping him scratch gently, crying, screaming, doing hours and hours of research to find anything to help). Thankfully it has cleared up quite a bit now but he still has some flare-ups, especially behind his knees where it was always worst. We took him to a very expensive holistic pediatrician last year who put him on cod liver oil (Nordic Naturals brand) and we have seen the biggest improvement with that! His dose is much higher than what is on the bottle..he takes 2 tsp a day which I think we need to increase now that he’s older. Just thought I would let you know it worked well for him…maybe it would help your son. Also, the Aveeno cream/lotion with “menthol” seems to work since it sort of numbs the itch. Oh and we just found out he is highly allergic to dust mites as well.
Hi Sara,
Things are so better nowadays for my son, after he flared up and went to the Dermatologist. Sitting there listening to her go on made me feel it was my fault, or maybe she did not know that her tone was doing that. Anyway, we spend 5 days with aggressive cortisone treatment and that seems to knock back the worst of it. Now we are kind of in a maintainance phase. So is is not completely gone.
Cod-Liver oil is something that I have never heard of, although it kind of points to fixing the problem from the inside and not the outside.
My 19mo old has horrible eczema. he has always had it but it is worse now than ever and we are finally going to an allergist this week to hopefully get some answers. It is so incredibly frustrating. I have used arbonne and aveeno and both make his skin worse. I put the arbonne baby lotion on him one night and he woke up in the middle of the night screaming, burning up and covered in eczema everywhere i had applied it. Horrible stuff!
We give him zirtec or benadryl, cortisone cream, cover him in eucerin calming cream and aquaphor twice daily and nothing helps!
He is miserable, cranky and also poops 5-6xs a day. I’m hopeing that we find it is food allergies and can get him some relief. Nobody should have to live like this!
You wrote this on 6 May 2009, my 40th birthday. Did you ever try comfrey cream? Please read about it on my website, even if you don’t publish this comment here’s the link http://www.1pic4twenty.co.za/comfrey.htm – there’s a recipe there too to make your own.
Hi, Phillip. Just wanted to give some advice that I did not see posted on here that has worked for our 6 year son that also has eczema although his is very severe. It has affected all of his legs and arms. He’s even lost some of his hair because of the terrible itching at night. It is a HORRIBLE thing to have to see your child go through this and I know how incredibly hard it is for you. When he has a severe breakout in a couple of areas, we have him take a 15 minute bath in lukewarm water (not hot because it makes things so much worse) and then we put vitamin E oil, hydrocortisone, or vaseline (depends on the day I guess) and wrap up the area with either a wet cloth (only cotton!!) or saran wrap overnight. In the morning, it is completely gone-until the next time. Since eczema is a response to an allergy but is manifested as dry skin (don’t quote me) the water from the bath allows hydration to the skin and then putting the vaseline or whatever you choose locks in the moisture. It needs to be done within 3 minutes of getting out of the bath. It has worked countless times for us but is only a fix for the manifestations-not the cause. All we do is pray that he will outgrow it and his allergist and pediatrician are hopeful he will. I will be praying for your son too as I know how desperate this can be. Please feel free to contact me if you have any more questions about this and please keep me updated!! I have tried everything under the sun and have even tried acupuncture. It helped, but the moment we stopped it came back. Herbal remedies also help. There are some anti-inflammatory herbs that might be worth a try. Hope I’ve been of some help and good luck. Stay optimistic!
Stephen seems to be getting better, but we are due to go in to the Dermotologist for a how-to session on wrapping with a wet cloth covered in Epizone E.
Sounds good! If you’ve never tried them on your son I think you might be pleasantly surprised to see how well they can work on small patches. The problem is when all of the skin is irritated. The wet wraps don’t work so well then. Well good luck!
I also forgot to add that most creams they say help eczema don’t if the eczema is caused by some allergen. How can a cream help if the cause is internal? It might help to heal an eczema wound, but you’d have to clear up all allergies (the cause) for the manifestation (the eczema) to go away. Just an fyi since many people try to sell creams out there. And i’m also not saying that they don’t work, but if it’s caused by an allergic reaction, they may not. Please do me the favor and don’t post this as i’m sure there will be many people out there ready to attack on this subject 🙂 This is just what i have learned from every doctor i’ve been to and from what i’ve tried. Thanks again.
I agree about the fact that there is some internal cause. We have not been able to find that as of yet, even after blood tests. Stephen comes up fairly normal with mild reactions to Dustmites and Milk. The one aspect we have not investigated is that of a nutritionist.
@ Melissa – not an attack, don’t worry! Just the truth: Everyone who knows me knows I try and help people in any way I can. Yes, a cream is an external thing, but comfrey was even used to help knit broken bones together in the olden days, and comfrey tea can also help with cancer. My mom had a neighbour before she moved to her new home (where my boyfriend and my kids also live) and this neighbour battled with eczema. She was at her wits end and tried my mother’s homemade comfrey cream, three times a day. Her eczema is gone and she uses the recipe of my mom’s to now make her own comfrey cream. Perhaps it only worked for her, and won’t work for anyone else, I don’t know. What I do know is that it helped one person, and if people are desperate, there’s no harm in trying it.
Theresa, thanks for sharing! I have never heard of comfrey and I seriously thought i had heard or everything under the sun! I have tried dozens of creams with no luck but when i read the ingredients they all seem to be the same. I would be willing to try it as different people do respond to different things. Where would i find such a recipe? And you’re right, when people are desperate they are willing to do backflips just for something to help a little. I hate to ask, but would you mind sharing?
Hi Melissa
Please do give comfrey cream a try. The link to the recipe is in one of my comments further up, but here it is again http://www.1pic4twenty.co.za/comfrey.htm
I suggest that if any of the ingredients are not something your skin usually agrees with, then leave them out, as long as the comfrey is in the recipe! It’s best to use fresh comfrey leaves, and you may have to go to a local nursery to find some, in the herb section. It’s unfortunately a seasonal plant – spring and summer, and dies down in winter, but then springs up again. You could always freeze the leaves, and the mixture itself stores well in a cool place for months, in an airtight container.
You can also buy the cream or ointment in health stores etc, but my friends and family prefer using my mom’s homemade comfrey cream.
I do hope peope in this thread try it, as it has done wonders for my moms friends and for myself too, when I had tennis elbow, and a twisted ankle. It also helps reduce my dad’s pain he suffers due to arthritis. It’s just wonderful and I wish more people knew about it.
It must be rubbed in for a full five minutes three times a day. I will be quite upset if I hear people try it and it doesn’t help even a little bit as it’s really worked for us.
Hey,
read your article and i know how u feel, my daughter who is 8 months old has eczema and she has had this since she was 2 months old, there are days where i feel like giving up and get so frustrated, nothing the doctors can do…all i know is that shell grow out of it but i hate seeing her go thru this
I guess I have to honestly say I can’t know the frustration of dealing with eczema, as none of my family or close friends have or have had it, but what I do know is it’s terribly frustrating still being subscribed to this thread of comments and not seeing anybody try the comfrey cream I mention further above. I cannot, honestly, say it WILL work for you, but CAN honestly say it worked for a friend of my moms who had eczema, and if everyone here is so frustrated, what harm is in there trying it. You guys all sound so frustrated; I don’t understand why you don’t give comfrey cream a try. Good luck.
ps, I just Googled “comfrey cream and eczema” – please do the same – there are tons of results.
Nice info … thanks for share it
I feel your frustration. I am 37 years old and have lived with eczema since I was 5 years old. I’ve had bad flare ups and “good skin” through the years. I have screamed many times LOL, so I will scream with you if it makes you feel better.