Re: Very Frustrated
My major concern with you is the fact that you are pregnant. This should definitely have been considered by your doctors when they prescribed the medications. Whatever you put on your skin, gets into your bloodstream. As a result, your goal should be to nourish the skin; not medicate it. When you feed the skin the nourishment it needs, the body (in particular your immune system) will begin the healing process. Because you also have to consider your baby, you want to focus on natural/organic skin care products that are free of the toxic chemicals that could prove dangerous to your child. My nieces suffered severe (total body) eczema flareups in their infancy and were completely healed without the use of harmful medications. As a result, I know that even the most severe eczema conditions can be healed when you feed the body the nourishment it needs to heal.
Eczema is described as an immuno-disorder. This means that your immune system is weak/unhealthy or out of balance. As a result, when attempting to heal the skin of eczema, you need to focus on restoration of your immune system/immune health. Beta carotene, zinc, and selenium are your immune boosting nutrients. Increasing your daily intake of the foods that contain these essential nutrients is key. Beta carotene is a form of vitamin A (has two forms) which converts the stored vitamin A from the liver for assimilation into the rest of the body.
Science has long known that one of the major deficiencies of people suffering with eczema is a vitamin A deficiency. This doesn't mean that you need to start popping vitamin A pills.
The best way to get this essential nutrient into your body is through whole food consumption. Beta carotene (a form of vitamin A) is found in the following foods: spinach, kale, collard greens, broccoli, carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, apricots, mango, cantaloupe, grapefruit (pink), and romaine/green lettuce. In particular, the dark green vegetables that I mentioned serve a two fold benefit in the treatment of eczema due to their fiber content as well. A daily intake of green vegetables has played a major factor in my nieces longterm eczema freedom. The reason being; the cause (vitamin deficiency) was addressed. This is different than medicating the symptoms, which doesn't address the cause; but rather, opts for symptom suppression.
The purpose of the body's symptom manifestation is to alert you that something is wrong inside your body. Suppressing the symptom manifestation doesn't address the cause; it simply ignores the cause by shutting off the body's warning signal. That's dangerous because shutting off the warning signal (symptom manifestation) doesn't get rid of the cause of the symptom manifestation. This is why the medications prescribed to treat eczema produce short term success with longterm suffering.
You need to understand the operation and function of the skin in order to understand how to heal the skin. The skin is the largest organ of the human body. It is the body's temperature regulator. It is an external organ that serves as the body's first line of defense against the elements. It is for this reason that cleansing the skin is imperative to good skin health. The skin has to be treated both internally and externally. The foods and drinks that we consume have a direct effect on the skin. For people who suffer with eczema, educating yourselves on foods and their nutritional benefits becomes essential to your good health. In addition, people who suffer with eczema have to become equally knowledgeable of vitamin and mineral content in their choice of skin care products.
Based on the information I've given you in the above paragraph, I want to make two suggestions for reference information and product purchasing that will be of great benefit to you. The
http://www.wholehealthmd.com website provides you an easy to read outline/nutritional guide of the whole foods needed to restore your immune health and to heal the skin of eczema. As far as product purchasing for natural/organic skin care, I strongly suggest that you visit your local Whole Foods Market to examine (up close and personal) the wide variety of natural/organic product for your skin care. For my nieces, it was the Burt's Bees Baby Bee line of skin care that brought about their quick and dramatic healing success. Not everyone will have the same success (based upon a person's individual allergens) with the product; however, their are a multitude of other natural/organic products available. For you, I think that the Avalon Organics line of product may be a better fit. Ultimately, the decision will be yours. My purpose is to point you in a direction that you hadn't considered, or wasn't aware existed. In essence, you have to change your mindset from "medicating the skin" to "feeding the skin".
Eczema demonstrates a variety of deficiencies; and often, is a culmination of several causes. As a result of people focusing on one part (to the exclusion of other factors) they often become frustrated in their attempts to heal. For example, some eczema sufferes have attempted to address a causal factor of eczema (essential fatty acid/EFA deficiency) by incorporating flaxseed oil into their nutritional regimen. After some time, they become frustrated because they didn't get the results they hoped for. As a result, they dismiss EFA deficiency as a cause. EFA deficiency was, indeed, an issue that needed to be addressed. However, there are several other deficiencies that needed to be addressed as well. As a result, the frustration that comes has to do with the fact that the other deficiencies weren't being addressed along with the EFA deficiency. This is where the wholehealthmd.com website will be of benefit to you. It will lay out all of the deficiencies that are represented with eczema and provide you with the knowledge needed to address those deficiencies in a healthy manner (through whole food consumption).
The integrity of this curezone website and their true desire to see you healed is that they allow me to share these references that may be of benefit to you as they have been to me and my family. I've been on several health websites in an attempt to share the knowledge gained from my family's success; however, they would delete my postings if it didn't promote their medications. This curezone website is truly concerned with your health and in bringing you information that will promote your true healing. There is a wealth of good information on this website regarding restoring your good health. Take advantage of the sections regarding cleanses and your need to address the liver, colon, kidneys, bowels,
Amalgam fillings, and parsites. These are things that you will need to incorporate after your pregnancy in an effort to restore your immune health.
As I stated earlier, just as there are several nutritional deficiencies that need to be addressed regarding eczema, there are several external causes (allergen/irritants) that will need to be addressed as well. Pet dander, dust mites, molds, mildew, harsh/synthetic fibers in clothing, household cleansers, harsh detergents, medications, metal allergens, chemicals (paints, hair dyes, perms), chlorine/fluoride in your household water, candida,
Antibiotics , and stress are some of those possible causes. Based upon your posting, you've already articulated the presence of several instigating allergen culprits. They are the medications,
Antibiotics , and stress. Add to that, a strong possibility of candida and chlorine/fluoride in treated water may also be playing a role.
Basically, and with all the factors that surround you, it is not surprising that your skin is manifesting the eczema symptoms. Eczema is a toxic release and your body is clearly being overwhelmed with a toxic overload. [FYI: The three areas of toxic release for the body is the bowel, kidney/urine, and skin.] The one thing that I forgot to mention regarding the skin and its function is the function of toxic release. It is important that you understand this function of the skin; so that, you have an understanding of what the body is doing when you witness an eczema reaction on the skin. It is releasing the toxins from the bloodstream. In addition to that, the immune system (in particular, the white blood cells) is fighting the bacteria (germs, etc.) that are effecting it. In essence, there are causes to your immune system's overactivity. It is not overactive for no reason. This is important to understand and provides great hope in the healing process. Because you know that there is a cause for the overactivity, you can focus on addressing those causes (by removal) and the body will respond with healing.
You stated that you used a multitude of antihistamine drugs. The problem with those drugs is that they come with a multitude of dangerous side effects (especially for a baby). A major natural antihistamine is vitamin C. This would have been the better/safer alternative for you; and it frustrates me that your doctors didn't mention this to you. As I stated with the vitamin A, you want to focus on replenishing this nutrient through whole foods. If you need to supplement this vitamin in pill/capsule form, then you want to make sure that you are using an organic source. The body knows the difference between real vitamins/minerals, as opposed to synthetic formulations. Whole Foods Market will be a good place for you to check out vitamin/mineral supplementation. When you are pregnant, the physician usually prescribe some sort of vitamin/mineral supplementation. You want to check out the source of the vitamin/mineral supplementation that you've been prescribed to make sure that it is from an organic source.
You mentioned that you were in a dorm; so I assume that you are a student. I didn't want to just tell you 'what' (knowledge) to do. I wanted to provide you with the 'why' (understanding) and the 'how' (wisdom) to go about healing your skin of eczema. There is a lot more that I could have gone into, but didn't. I've just given you an overview to provide direction of a path to true healing. My oldest niece has been eczema free for six years without the use of medication. The practical/healthy approach to healing that I've mentioned above is what has brought about the longterm success. When you feed the body the nourishment it needs, it will respond with healing.
aunty