16/09/2010 by Nicki.

Although I’ve struggled with the physical demands of eczema in the past, I have probably struggled more with the mental side. When you have bad eczema there are tons of people who give you medical advice from doctors, to friends, to friends of friends…however no-one was dishing out the advice when I felt miserable and pretty depressed.

Only us that have had bad eczema can understand how it feels to have hot itchy skin 24 hours a day! I was overwhelmed by how angry it made me all the time and would regularly snap at everyone, even if they were only trying to help. I found there’s no generic solution and you simply have to work out what takes you away from it all.

 As I said before, having oat baths gave me a good break and you definitely need a distraction (which is why going to sleep was always a problem for me- what else is there to focus on?). In hindsight it’s definitely good to be vocal about how your feeling because feeling like people don’t understand only winds you up more and inevitably makes you itch. I also found Pilates really calmed me down and helped me sleep better.

 What does everyone else reccomend? 

 Nicki x

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15/09/2010 by eczemaboys.

We had a trip out to Splash World during the summer holidays with my youngest two children.

This is not just a ‘swimming pool’, but one of these huge places with multiple pools, slides etc, the type of place where they want to stay most of the day which is great value for money but actually they ‘pay for it’ in another way – their skin by the end of a few hours is quite shocking!

The boys had a great time and at the end of the visit showered but due to the communal showers couldn’t ‘treat their skin’ properly, so after the hour long drive home, with them constantly itching and scratching they bathed properly.  Joseph’s skin was red raw in places, particularly in his legs.  We stepped up the strength of steroid and then applied lots of emollients!

We will stick with this strength steroid for a couple of days and then step down in strength, after many years I know this will work.

Our ’eczema way of life’ doesn’t stop the boys doing any activity and that is so important.

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05/09/2010 by Nicki.

Now that we’re in September (and the weather is already terrible) I’m already starting to think about the Winter and my skin!

I’m always the one that wants the windows open and the central heating off, much to the depair of everyone around me.I hate wrapping up to keep warm and going out to find myself frantically de-layering when I step in a shop with the central heating on max. It makes it impossible to dress properly and I usually walk around dressed like it’s summer so I can stay cool and itch-free.

It’s also the worst time for my skin to get dry so I have to remind myself to put on more moisturiser than normal. Again it doesn’t seem like you can win!!!

Nicki x

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