Eczema- The Lifelong Journey
I have severe allergic asthma, a ton of different allergies and eczema. The atopic triad. My allergy specialist said that if you have 2 of the 3, it was only a matter of time before the 3rd appeared.
My allergic asthma is serious, but I know my triggers and manage them well.
According to my allergy specialist, I am allergic to every flower, plant, grass, tree, animal with fur, animal with feathers, almost every mold and DIRT! Yes, he said there is a microbe in every soil in the world that almost no one is allergic to but me. If you have talked to me for 5 minutes, you have probably heard me cough. I have over 40 allergens and it is simply impossible to live a normal life and avoid them all. So, I constantly deal with excess mucus. Being diligent in taking my herbs like burdock helps to keep me from having constant infections.
The one disease that affects my life more than any of the others is eczema. I literally have arranged every area of my life to accommodate my eczema. There is simply no world in which I will let this get out of control. For those of you who have never had eczema, you can never understand how horrible this can be. It can feel like torture. For those of you who suffer from it, I do want to let you know that there is a world in which you can live without the effects of eczema.
As I have gotten out to meet with people in person, I have met several of you with eczema. When I share that I also have it, people are often amazed and respond that they don't see any evidence. That is the result of decades of careful adjustments and study to get and keep my eczema under control.
I have quickly realized that the information that I have garnered is not general public knowledge. I am going to do a series on eczema on what I have learned in the hopes that it can help someone.
My family has an extensive history of eczema, from my great-grandmother, my grandfather, me and my nieces and nephews and my son.
My son presented with eczema at 2 weeks of age. I was pretty sure that it was eczema but I was at a loss as how to address it. This was almost 30 years ago and before the internet as it is now. I took him to 2 pediatricians and a dermatologist in the hospital in which I worked. They all looked at him and me and told me the same thing. They understood that it was my first child, but they know that I know that most newborns will have rashes and that eczema never presents this early. They were nice and gentle with me but we had all been trained with the same information. I was sure that it was eczema but I had no training on how to care for eczema in someone that young. I knew that we had no medicines in our hospital that were rated for anywhere near his age. So, I took him to the best dermatologist in the area and paid for it out of my own pocket. The dermatologist took a step back upon entering the room while pronouncing that my son had the worst case of eczema that he had ever seen. It wasn't that it was actually the worst case ever, it was the earliest case ever. He had received the same training that I had and he had no clue how to take care of my son's eczema either. We put our heads together and we came up with plans for addressing his eczema in as safe a way as possible. It was a lot of trial and error over the next few months but we finally figured it out.
This is just an example of what is often needed with eczema. You see eczema is chronic... it's not going to go away. Eczema is varied... there are 7 recognized types. Eczema is personal...finding out your triggers is key. Eczema can be managed...there is hope and relief from the constant itching. I am living proof and you can be too.
Stay tuned...