Re: Housebound for the past 4 months
I have suffered from severe head to toe eczema/dermititis for over 40 years. I always had big cracks in my lips, spots on my face, rashes all over me that would come and go, sometimes they would settle into an area for years, then move on to somewhere else. I itched all over as if I had poison ivy, as if bugs were crawling on me, every new doctor I saw checked me for scabies. I left a trail of skin wherever I sat due to the scratching. I have been on antihistimines my whole life, and have found zyrtec to work best for me. I had light treatments for foliculitis all over my legs at one point that was so painful, I didn't think I could take any more. I have permanent damage to my nails from the bleeding and cracking on my knuckles. I also am allergic to just about everything, with five known deadly allergies - all nuts, peas & refried beans, latex, levequin, & avocado. My first grandson was born recently and unfortunately he got my eczema. The only food he was getting was breast milk. I can't say for sure what is causing his eczema, but it got me to thinking that when I was a child I was diagnosed with milk allergy, but most of my life I have drank a half cup of milk with breakfast and then milk in my coffee throughout the day. Just for kicks, I quit drinking milk or eating cheese, because I thought that most infintile eczema is caused by milk. I already didn't eat ice cream because it made me sick to my stomach and cause my lips to crack. As soon as I cut out the milk products, I quit itching from head to toe. At last peace, after all these years! I still have problems with a few little spots of dry skin which don't itch, maybe because I cheat a little on the cheese products, but overall I am so much better. I now drink rice milk. I have had doctors tell me that
food allergies weren't the cause of my skin problem, but I beg to differ. I would encourage everybody to keep looking for an allergin, even if it is a food allergin. I also am allergic to all nuts & beans, wheat, egg, soy, latex, tomato, citris allergies, bananas, avocado, cantalope, peppers, even potatoes, and almost all grass, weeds, trees, and every animal with hair or feathers, dust, dust mite, and I seem to be allergic to my own sweat probably because my skin just doesn't function properly due to the damage, and water or chlorine, and I have to watch what types of material I wear, etc. But believe it or not, I live a pretty normal life. I always wear cool clothes. The sun makes my skin feel better and in the winter I get extremely dry. I have found that I cannot use most hypoallerginic lotions, but I cover myself once a day from head to toe with Eucerin intensive repair hand cream, and then I use it on my hands everytime I get them wet. It is made with glycerin and not petrolatum which my skin can't seem to tolerate. Some people may be just the opposite from me, but keep looking for that one thing. I am in my late 40's and due to all the cortizone I have used on my skin and taken orally all these years, if I barely bang my arm on anything, my skin comes off and I get big purple bruises and bleeding under the skin. I wish I had not taken so much cortizone. I hope this might help somebody, I wish I had discovered the association between the milk and the itching 40 years ago.