My eczema story

My eczema started 2 months after I got pregnant with DS#2. So, I have suffered with it for almost two years. It started on my pinky finger on my left hand. At first, I didn't know why my finger was peeling and slightly itchy. It didn't start really being a bother until about six months after it started. But then it was only one finger, so it wasn't a big deal. It is now on my pinky, and middle finger all the way around on my left hand, and in between my middle and ring and ring and pinky fingers on my left hand. It is on my right hand on my middle and ring fingers all the way around and starting up my pointer finger. So, it has gotten progressively worse over the two years and is a HUGE deal!! It is also on the backs of my hands near the mentioned fingers and on the palm of my left hand. I have tried Noxema or Aquaphil and gloves at night, Topicort, a prescription given by my family dr and Eucerin lotion several times a day. Nothing really helped. Especially when my kids were sick and hand-washing quintupled! At times, I have had to take Tylenol or Advil just so I could sleep at night. I have worn rubber gloves while doing dishes for probably about a year. To put a rumor to rest; eczema is NOT contageous. I learned recently that it is hereditary. If asthma, hay fever, or hives runs in your family, you are suceptable to getting eczema. (And also if eczema runs in your family, obveously.) Well, we have all of those except eczema in my extended family. On with the story....

I had waited a l-o-n-g time to go to the dermatologist, because my family dr told me that I had to have DS#2 weaned first, due to the fact that I would be getting an oral steroid treatment. So, at the beginning of Sept., I went back to family dr so he could refer me to a dermatologist and he decided to give me the steroid pack himself first. I took it and it was like a miracle! Within 48 hours, my eczema was gone! Then, 24 hours after I finished the steroid, it was back. So I had to go back in to the family dr to get a referral to the dermatologist. They at first couldn't get me in until the end of Oct, and I called and begged them for anything cancellation-wise. They got me in two days later (which was Thurs). I was told that I had a "severe" case of hand-eczema. {Like, tell me something I don't know!} Further, that he was going to prescribe a hydrocortisone cream but the best way to help myself was to pamper myself, and to sit tight, they had a lot to teach me. So, they told me that eczema wasn't curable, but they could teach me how to make the itching, redness, swelling and pain go away. I thought, Ok! I am game! When I informed them of my "occupation" of a SAHM (stay-at-home-mom) with 2 children in diapers, they said "oh, goodness! You probably get your hands wet 25 times or more a day!" I said, "Yeah, you're probably right!" They told me that I was to only wash my hands or get them wet 5 or 6 times a day! How was I going to accomplish that, I wondered? Well, they said get a pair of cotton gloves and also a box of latex gloves and double glove for everything that might get my hands wet except after I go to the bathroom, when in the shower, and of course before and after meals. That's it. Everything else, double glove. When doing dishes, I have worn the long gloves for about a year, because without them, by the end of one day, my hands are soooooo raw I cannot bend my fingers. Seriously! They look very old and even arthritic. Well, before doing dishes, I would slather on the lotion. I thought the heat was helping the lotion to soak in. Come to find out, that was worse! It actually caused my hands to sweat, and that is a bad thing because it makes your natural skin oils come out instead of staying in where it can moisturize. Oops! So now, I have to put the cotton liners on, then the rubber gloves. I have to use Norwegian formula Neutrogena Body Emulsion Lotion LOTS each day. ;) Dr said it would work better than Eucerin cream. He was right! Major difference! And a tube for my purse. I also had to buy Neutrogena Extra Gentle Cleanser for my hands. One bottle for the kitchen and one for the bathroom. It doesn’t foam or bubble which, I’m told, is what I want because the bubbling and foaming is what dries your skin. Don’t ask me how it actually cleans and I won’t pretend to know what I’m talking about! This was a hefty little investment, but as my DH said, if I don’t have the things I need in multiple places, then I won’t always use what I’m suppose to and will defeat the purpose of the other efforts I’m making and I wouldn’t get better. Also, when I do a diaper change or even peel veggies, prepare meals, and give the kids a bath, I have to wear the cotton gloves then latex! Well, not actually latex. I was concerned being that I would be touching the food the kids eat that they may have a latex allergy that we don't know about yet. Fine with the diaper changes and baths, but if I'm going to be touching food that they will take internally, I don't want them to have anaphylactic shock and have to beat the clock to get them to the hospital when there are alternatives to the latex. I chose Nitrile exam gloves. They were 40 gloves for $4.46 at Walmart. Yikes!!! I will be contacting medical supply companies to find out how much they are in those types of stores next time! The Nitrile gloves are non-latex and powder free. Anyways, for the plain jane latex they were only 50 gloves for 3 bucks, so not much of a difference in price. I just didn't want to take the risk, can you blame me? Well, I decided that when changing the boys' diapers I am only gonna wear gloves if they did a #2. This might sound gross, but if its just a #1, then I don't touch anything that's wet. You get quite efficient after doing diaper changes like 15 times a day for 5+ years, believe me! Then, I also reasoned that when I change a #2, regardless if my gloved hands get anything on them, I would wash my gloves (while I am wearing them) with antibacterial soap (which is also very drying and bad for your skin 25 times a day, by the way) and dry the gloves really well and reuse them. Sound gross? If you think about it, that's exactly what you would do even if you weren't wearing gloves and you had bare hands, right? You don't throw away your hands after each diaper change...so why the gloves? I can't possibly be throwing away multiple pairs of them each day, esp at a price of .11 each! Sounds cheap, but if you add it up day by day, it gets expensive very quickly! It's a pain in the neck to apply two layers of gloves just to grab a washcloth to wipe off the kids' faces, but I'll tell you something -- it hasn't even been 48 hours since I've started this regimen and it has made a drastic improvement in how my hands look and feel. I was also told to double glove when scrubbing the floor, washing the car, and washing windows. I'm telling you, though: the chemicals and soaps we use for everyday cleaning burn my hands terribly! I don't know why I didn't think of the glove thing myself. Even the acid from grapes, apples and bananas stings. Who would have thought? Anyways, the topical steroid cream I use before bed and right when I get up is good. My only regret? I wish my family dr would have sent me to the dermatologist months ago when I originally asked him about it -- I could have found relief much sooner! I have had a bit of adjusting to pampering myself. Most moms put themselves last. I am one of them. Perhaps this is the Lords way of saying "you need to do this for yourself so you aren't in pain." I would almost cry giving my kids baths, it was terrible! I kind of feel like I've been given a life-sentence. The dr said that my skin-system was failing me much like having lung or heart failure. Well, when you put it that way, I guess hand eczema isn't so bad. But it is still life-changing -- since I have to do everything so differently than before. It's so weird and amazing how one little doctors visit can change your life as you know it. I am truly thankful that it is not more serious!

If anyone learns something from this that will help yourself or anyone else you know, please comment. If you have an eczema story you'd like to share, please comment. Or, you may email me at: seeker_4_christ@yahoo.com.

BTW, in case anyone is wondering, I use a different pair of gloves for diaper changing than I do for food prep -- just in case! ;)