Would you say something?

Buttonmoons

Sounds awful for your son, I have a small patch of eczema on my foot that developed about a year ago, no idea why, but if I don't scratch and put lush dream cream on it goes away but If I absent mindly scratch that area it flares right back up and It feels like gnawing my foot off is the best way forward.

I think you do need to tell him he can't be leaving piles of skin around and his hygiene needs to improve. Im at college right now (26) but I know If I was doing that I'd be an outcast, IE scratching away and leaving skin on the table, it is pretty minging.

toffifee

I have eczema on my hands and when I'm on holiday for a week (Butlins, Bognor) it disappears. I thought maybe it was something about the water but last winter when we were there I was ill and didn't do any swimming and no improvement... so now I think it's the swimming pool water. I'd love to have time to swim every week but I just don't so I googled (as you do) and there are apparently theories that a VERY mild bleach solution (similar to that found in a pool) may have beneficial properties for eczema. I found a paper that warned about using household bleach because of the additives, but recommended a dilute milton (baby bottle sterilising fluid) solution.

I'll try to do a link (never done it before):
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CDAQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eczema.org%2Fdocuments%2F81&ei=FGjWUrbkONCrhQeT6ID4Dw&usg=AFQjCNFTyYoJBdaX-RBarQJ9AL2DsI5xZg&sig2=u7HTZ1-yGLtG0P2FOHYlUg&bvm=bv.59378465,d.ZG4

(If that doesn't work, it's the first thing that comes up when you google 'eczema milton'.)

I'm going to give it a go... maybe your son could try it out on a small patch to see if it helps (and hopefully does not make things worse)? Please do read the paper first to make sure it's diluted enough though.

Hope that helps.

Georgiegirl256

Buttonmoons wrote: »

Sounds awful for your son, I have a small patch of eczema on my foot that developed about a year ago, no idea why, but if I don't scratch and put lush dream cream on it goes away but If I absent mindly scratch that area it flares right back up and It feels like gnawing my foot off is the best way forward.

I think you do need to tell him he can't be leaving piles of skin around and his hygiene needs to improve. Im at college right now (26) but I know If I was doing that I'd be an outcast, IE scratching away and leaving skin on the table, it is pretty minging.

I read ages ago that Lush Dream Cream was meant to be good for eczema. I really wanted it to work as it sounded perfect, and I love Lush. Unfortunately for me, it just made me itchier.

BitterAndTwisted

Yes, I would say something. For any normal person, leaving snow-drifts of shed skin wherever you've been and picking at your flesh in front of other people at the dining-table is bloody vile. In fact, I retched just reading about it. Just because he has a horrible skin-condition does not mean that the normal rules of good manners do not apply. You have every right to object to this kind of selfish behaviour. If he needs to scritch-scratch he can hoover his own skin-flakes up.

It's all very well other people saying "I use this" and "I use that" or "I avoid the other thing" but this young man won't even use what medications he has been prescribed regularly and properly. Reinforcing his responsibiliy for helping himself woud be where I'd try and tackle this instead of listening to his "Poor me! I can't help it" routine.




n.b. One of my nieces has psoriasis quite badly but she's been encouraged to take charge of her condition as just like the OP's son, once she went away to Uni there was no-one around to monitor, chivvy & scold. Oh, and despite the disfiguring nature of her condition she's not been short of boyfriends because she's confident and clever despite men in general being the teeniest, tiniest, slightest scintilla more shallow about appearances than the average woman would be. *controversial*

lazysheep

I know a bit of how he's feeling. At it's worst I felt depressed, didn't want to go to work or even leave the house and would leave a white imprint of dead skin in the bed each morning when I got up. People used to point out my flare-ups and I felt embarrassed and more than once burst into tears at work just over how I looked.

The thing that worked for me was changing doctors. My previous GP didn't seem to care, didn't want to refer me to a dermatologist and didn't even offer a tissue when I was crying in her office once. I put in a complaint and changed GPs to one who could see I was upset and straight away offered me a referral in 6 months if it wasn't better under him. I have to use doublebase every morning, have a bath with oilatum every day and cover myself head to toe in hydromol after every bath. I also take 1 anti histamine every morning and 2 before bed and have betnovate and dermovate for using on particularly bad spots for very short periods.

Ultimately though this is also not a condition that has a quick fix. No medication will have an instant effect and part of eczema management is just making sure you carry on doing what you need to, even though you can't see any changes straight away but they do happen over time and having a supportive doctor really helps. Being told 'don't scratch' just made me really angry and didn't help because I didn't think I could help it, athough that also was habit, and I used to scratch in my sleep and almost unconsciously during the day.

I've had infected eczema and it was truly disgusting - you really don't want that :eek:

Of course the other problem is his age/situation ie 21 year old uni lad. You should definitely make him clear up etc whilst he is at home as that impacts on everyone else but he's the only one who will be able to choose to help himself while he's away. I'm afraid that all you will be able to do is try to support him and show him that it can be managed, but it's also probably not high on his priority list either.

pambler

I too have had eczema all of my life, although for me it does come and go, and like others, I have found that stress is the worst trigger. I also agree that finding a good GP is essential, and mine is brilliant. His mantra is moisturise, moisturise, moisturise, and during a bad flare up I would expect to have to do that 3or 4 times a day, plus apply steroid cream. I have found that some don't work for me, but others work really well, so if one is not giving you relief, it's worth asking to try another.

The other thing that I don't think anyone has mentioned yet is oral steroids - a lot of doctors are not prepared to prescribe these, but what I find is that when I have a particularly bad flare up (I can go from nothing to looking like a serious burns victim within 24 hours) is that a course can damp everything down and get you back to a point where you can once again manage the condition with creams.

The trouble with severe eczema is that you need to be totally dedicated to manage it, and I shouldn't imagine that many teenage boys would be prepared to put the effort in - I suspect that the OP's son just feels 'what's the point'. There have been many times during my life when I have felt exactly that so I can empathise.

If they haven't already been tried, oral steroids may be worth a go.

mrcow

I agree with the above.

He needs to go back to the doctor and sort out his medication. If the steroid that he's on isn't working, then he can get it changed to something else. Often hit and miss, but there are loads of options out there.

And they do work if you use them correctly.

It takes time and effort to get rid of/reduce severe eczema. Mine is a chronic condition and I have to be so careful. It's not easy, but you have to do it if you want it to calm down.

And yes you need to say something - he sounds like he's being revolting about it.

mrcow

pambler wrote: »

If they haven't already been tried, oral steroids may be worth a go.

And yes again, I've been to that stage a few times too, but doctors are often reluctant to go down that route due to the additionaal side effects. It's well worth asking though, even if to get it under control as a first base to then go down the topical route for maintenance.

It sounds like he needs you to go with him (I realise he's 21!) to help sort it as it sounds like he's given up a bit.

Indie_Kid

lazysheep wrote: »

I've had infected eczema and it was truly disgusting - you really don't want that :eek:

Agreed. I had this as a teenager. It was partly my fault - I'd developed a soap allergy and accidentally washed myself with soap, instead of something else. It was truly awful.:(

Not had a flare up ever since, thankfully. I've got it very mildly on my chest and thighs. Sometimes have a slight issue with it.

I think something needs to be said. He does need to start taking responsibility for it. Yes, it's not nice having to slather yourself in creams everyda; but it's the only way he'll get better.