sweet!

[dragonlady7]

Got out of shower and determined that I now have a full-on eczema flare:

• on the insides of both elbows


• between eight of my fingers


• on the back of one hand


• on the palm of the other hand


• on both shins


• on my chest of all places, above where my shirt hits so it's visible in my uniform

It had been going well-- usually soapy water gives me eczema flares between my fingers, but even with all the dishwashing bartenders do the skin on my hands had been entirely under control with judicious moisturizer, and I'd theorized that perhaps the disinfectant we use on glassware at LocalBar was somehow beneficial to my skin.

I think perhaps this flare might be stress-related-- that's usually the final necessary factor. Why it didn't happen during my Week Of Double Shifts, I don't know, except that perhaps I was just tired then, and not so stressed. Towards the end of my time at the software company, I had eczema so bad that the weird, wrinkly skin (the doctor called it 'eczema sign') extended onto some of the pads of my fingers, to the point that my fingerprints were distorted. (This mattered because the company started taking attendance with a fingerprint-activated sign-in device.) And it slowly went away while I was unemployed, to the point that my hands looked like those of a 25-year-old again instead of a 75-year-old.

Anyhow. Hi, itching and pain. I hadn't missed you. Could you go away again?
Please?

Crap.

Comments

[spacellama.livejournal.com]

Eczema is the bane of my existence, so I sympathise completely! I've had it for about 2 years constantly on the pads of 4 fingers and at the base of both thumbs. At one point, it had messed up the cuticle on my thumb such that the thumbnail was growing in all wonky. Looked nasty. Plus it sucks that I can't feel textures like satin and velvet with those fingers. Grr. I've been using tea tree oil during the day and slathering on some medicated vaseline and wearing cotton gloves at night. It seems to help at little. Let me know if you discover any good remedies!

[kittyc1978.livejournal.com]

My brother had it horribly bad...and our pharmacist an old dude who knew his shit Reccommended Complex 15. you can order it from any drug store, but you may have to actually talk to the Pharmasist and look in the PDR for over the counter stuff. It is the $8.00 miracle lotion. I am not kidding.

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

Oof. I've had it on my hands intermittently for about 6 years now, and I could kick the first doctor because she kept prescribing me things like anti-fungal creams for it, and never gave me a referral to a dermatologist. She was just convinced that it was something else. I *knew* it was eczema, and my health insurance ran out before I could make her let me see a dermatologist. So I never did. But, during my next (brief) span of being insured I *did* get my primary care physician to prescribe me something useful.

This flare didn't develop blisters, and I doused it thoroughly with my $100 tube of The Strongest Topical Cortico-Steroid Prescription They'll Give You, that I got last year while things were cracking and bleeding and I was at the point where I was trying to minimize showering because it meant my hands had to contact soap. (Wearing rubber gloves in the shower: doesn't work.)
And now it's doing all right-- back down to just the weird-textured skin, and not really swollen or painful. So I can recommend Psorcon-E---- but this is the same stuff that doesn't do a thing when there are blisters, and if a flare is determined it's determined and steroids won't help. So... there's nothing that really works any more than a strong suggestion, and i would love to know how much of it is controlled by my own brain deciding whether to make me suffer. Cuz I could save myself a bunch on this ointment crap. (Actually, just the one tube has done me for two years now.)

My regimen also includes a ridiculously expensive anti-aging cream from Lancome that I found out about by accident-- my sister got a free sample, i was desperate for moisturizer, i put it on my hands and my eczema felt better. It's by Lancôum;me (they have counters in all the department stores), called Rénergie and is like $87 a canister and is meant to combat wrinkles and firm agéd skin, but holy cow, it helps heal the weird textured eczema sign! (I also put it under my eyes because while I resent that looking 19 makes people take me less seriously, i don't actually want to look like my mom either. Yay paranoia, marketing has worked on me!)


I shall have to try tea tree oil-- I used to use that on my face against acne and it felt really clean. I should think anything so astringent could help, because really I have my hands in soap and water every day, but the disinfectant in the rinse water really helps I think. (Also, the soap isn't very strong.) I know eczema is related to asthma, in that it's the body's inflammatory response to something, but I don't know what, except that perhaps bacteria have been implicated. Shrug! All's I know is, i try not to do dishes.

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

Huh, I've never heard of Complex 15. I'll have to look it up.

[kittyc1978.livejournal.com]

http://www.drugstore.com/qxp16833_333181_sespider/complex_15/therapeutic_moisturizing_lotion.htm OK, 9.49 but, still much cheaper than lancome stuff. My mom uses it for her moisturizer and body lotion. It makes the skin sooo soft! Completely fragrance free and hypoallergeninc!