Thumb sucking eczema disaster

18/10/2011 by spindlygiraffe.

My daughter does not really get eczema, only a tiny patch behind one knee.  Phew!  Or so I thought.

She sucks her thumb.  Either thumb, not really fussy, but one tends to live in her mouth.  She had developed a dry patch around the base of her thumb, her knuckle.  Friday night she woke up a few times - in the end I gave her some calpol.  She never wakes up.

Saturday morning it looked infected, and blistered.  I put some Fucidin on and covered it over when we went to the zoo. I was not popular as then it was not going in her mouth!  At dinner time I asked my neighbour, she and her husband work in pharmacy roles.  They agreed it was not terribly great but we concluded to see how we went - not that much would be done Saturday night!  I just wondered if there was anything I should put on it.

Sunday morning it was much worse.  My husband took her to the out of hours clinic where she was given an antibiotic for it.  The antibiotic is not a big hit.  4 times a day, on an empty stomach and an hour before food.  How long does it take for your food to go down?  She gets up and within 30 minutes is having breakfast.  So after breakfast and then trying to fit 3 more in before 7pm bedtime is quite tough!

Anyway, she had 4 doses yesterday and then this morning woke up to discover it had spread to her other thumb and to her index finger.  It looks really grim.  Like the stereotypical warty bubbly witch skin (quite seasonal).  It was yellow, oozy, blistering, red, raw - it looks painful and kept waking her up.

I called in to the Chemist to see if there was anything to put on it explaining that it was early for the antibiotic to make a significant impact.  They said it would be 3 days before the antibiotic really made any difference.  (As I write we have had 2 full days - perhaps overnight some improvement will be made, I’ve already been in with the Calpol- even rinsing her hands is sore never mind drying them).  He also recommended a barrier cream.  We have tried that.  She has suddenly turned anti-cream.  I don’t know why.

Behind her knee has also got worse.  I need to find some way to prevent this happening again.  I need to get her to keep her thumbs out of her mouth.  In the meantime, I need the antibiotic to hurry up and kick in.

James’ skin is ok at the moment - although he fell asleep early tonight shivering excessively and then woke up roasting hot.  If it is not one thing, it’s another with kids!

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