War on Eczema: Day 01

 "Eczema is a term used to describe a number of skin conditions that commonly cause the skin to become inflamed, irritated or worse. Eczema, also known as dermatitis, irritates skin all over the body and is almost always itchy and often leaves the skin feeling dry, rough, flaky and extremely uncomfortable."

 A bit of background first:

I had eczema for a little while as a kid and never had any problems with it again till about a year ago. my brother however got it way worse than me but his has cleared up now (i think), according to some sites it's possible that it is genetic. For about 2 or 3 years i have had a tiny spot of rash on the inside on my left(?) arm but nothing happened with it for a  long time. somewhere between 1 and 2 years ago another spot appeared on the other arm and then nothing, again, for awhile. I can't be very accurate which when i first got it because i didn't really notice it for awhile and i'm terrible at remembering some things. I can tell you that it has progressively gotten worse since about March/May of last year.

It travelled slowly at first, just staying in a rather dense patch in each elbow bend then spreading out along the inside of my arm. It is now approximately spread 10cm above and 5cm below my elbow bend on my left arm and the opposite for the right. About a week into starting in the butchery (about 11th April) it moved onto my hands. It now takes up about 1/3 to 1/2 of the back of each hand. i also have a small patch beside my right knee which seems to come a go.

My eczema is itchier more days than others, most of the time it now stays a colour close to my skins but when it's a bad day it gets bright red and bleeds (because i itch it... i know, i shouldn't) At the moment it is in between but getting worse because i've been thinking about it for several hours now. I would like to take pictures for myself just to see a comparison later on if it does get better, though right now it's not really showing up on my crappy phone camera too well.

My brother got prescribed Hydrocortisone cream back in 2009 for his eczema and he gave it to me to use since he doesn't need it anymore. The cream helps, it stops it itching as much and cools it a little but it hasn't made it go away. i have gotten so fend up with constantly being itching i'm (nearly) willing to try anything to make it better. Which is what this whole thing is about.

Day 01

I was looking online about eczema and ways to treat it. Most sites suggested that it is caused by dry or sensitive skin. I already know i have dry skin so it makes sense. I would also like to point out that sensitive skin runs in my family, my dad can only a couple of soaps and my brother had a bad reaction to some powder in disposable gloves which they used at Mcdonalds (where he worked at the time) For years my skin has also gotten itchy whenever i have a shower (with or without: shampoo/conditioner/any soap)

Most sites therefore suggested that you should use a pH neutral/balanced soap free wash, moisturiser and a fragrance free laundry powder. After looking into it a bit more, the products which would be most beneficial cost a lot and you can only buy at a chemist. I continued looking and found some more affordable alternatives you can find in a supermarket.

So for $17.97 i got:

Palmolive Naturals Shower milk, milk and honey 500ml ($3.99)
This claims to be 100% soap free, pH balanced, Dermatologically tested and enough for 100+ washes. (the second two sounding like useless marketing bull to me) It smells really nice too. Another interesting note, is that Palmolive was one of the few liquid soaps i found that didn't give me severe itching after a shower (except the weird 'oxygen' blue one with bubbles)

Vaseline dry skin conditioning lotion 375ml ($6.99)
Nothing really on the bottle about possibly helping eczema, i just have vaguely heard it's a good moisturiser and that's what was suggested i get to help. Though the added vitamins A, E and B5 might help! (*cough bull cough*)

Earthwise super concentrate laundry powder 1 kg ($6.99)
This is 'fragrance free for sensitive skin' this was also suggested by many sites. Other possible benefits could be; that it is plant and mineral based; phosphate, nitrate, chlorine and ammonia free; has biodegradable surfactants; GE free; No animal testing; Recyclable; New Zealand made; donates 10c to red cross Christchurch earthquake appeal; and most importantly comes in a fancy recycled cardboard box, printed with vegetable inks AND the scoop is recyclable.

It would probably also be worthwhile noting that all these were brought on sale because of fate, having a onecard and because i don't want to use up all my money.

I think this blog post is WAY too long now and i doubt anyone will read all of this, if you have congratulations you are probably the second most bored person in the world (first being myself for writing this). I'll let you know how i go when i use this stuff and if i notice a change.