Happy better eczema management 2011 !

2010 was a havoc year for me with managing my eczema. Haven't kept up with my updates on product discoveries but trust me I'm still searching.

I'm not sure if it was stress this time as my 2010 was pretty good in terms of stress. The usual work related and personal stresses but nothing major that I would attribute to my eczema break outs. In fact, the problem I had were not really break outs but constant annoying spots of eczema that doesn't go away, coupled with the occasional break outs from food or stress.

Dare I say those spots are starting to heal up? I finally found a combination of products to help with the healing. One of them I didn't think I would've bought if I had been careful and read the label. I have always thought I was allergic to Almond oil because I'm allergic to Almonds but maybe there isn't enough of it to affect me in the new product I am using right now. It's Weleda Baby Calendula Oil. I got mine at the local health store but if you click on the link you can also get is at Well.ca.

I read that Calendula is good for healing purposes and since my i

ssue with my annoying eczema spots is really healing, I thought I would try it. I remembered using a calendula cream when I was younger but I didn't like the smell nor the yellow stain it left on my skin. That was many years ago and I can't remember how I got that cream, I think it was a friend who recommended me to it but I really didn't like it. However, this oil smells really pleasant, something like a massage oil from the spa. :)

I figured out a way to use it that would make it less oily on my skin. After shower, I would put some on all over my body (extra bonus, it doesn't sting) and then before I pad off the excess water I would first rinse off with very cool water. I swear that right after my skin feels so moist and I feel refreshed. At first I didn't do that but remembered going to the spa for a massage and the lady asked me to rinse off with cool water instead of hot water for a reason...don't remember what but I think it's to tighten your skin and lock in the moisture. It works better with the oil. When I didn't rinse off with the cool water, my skin felt a bit too oily but after the quick cool rinse, it feels more refresh. Can't explain that but it works well. :)

Another natural product I got was Califlora Calendula Gel from the pharmacy around the corner from my office. I went there to get my usual prescription of steriod cream but wanted to get something natural to help my trouble spots heal. The pharmacist recommended this gel. Again, the great thing about it is that it did not sting my broken skin. The trouble areas doesn't seem like ezcema anymore and more like a cut trying to heal, so I needed help in that department. As you get older, the healing process takes forever. :( I tried looking for a Canadian website with this product in case you want to try this, but was only able to find U.S. website. Try this one just in case you want to order online but you can also visit your local pharmacy or health store to see if they have it as well. Good thing about this is that it's all natural. :) Califlora Calendula Gel

Near the end of the year I also made some orders for natural products from Kiss My Face but the ordering process was a pain in the neck. Never doing that again, will just go to the local health store instead. I haven't tried the shampoo and conditioner I ordered yet but the mousse smells great.

I also ordered this lotion that my dermatologist recommended to me 2 years ago but I couldn't find it in Toronto. Not sure if I had mentioned this but Curel changed something in their ingredients I think and it doesn't work so well on my skin anymore. They say it's good for eczema but truly the lotion does not work for me anymore. :( So I ordered Cetraben cream online. Was only able to find it from a UK site, I'm sure I didn't search enough but I just didn't want to search anymore. Still waiting for it to reach me though. I hope nothing went wrong with the order. Will let you know how well it works once I finally receive the order. ;)

Okay that's it for now. I hope you will try using the Calendula oil or gel to help with your eczema, the most important benefit for me for these two products is that they DO NOT STING. :)

Till next week.

Eczema and Food Allergies

I've been reading on the internet about relationship between eczema flare ups and food intake. It's not news to me because my dermatologists have always told me that food can cause flare ups. When I was working abroad in Singapore, a dermatologist asked me to eliminate everything that I am allergic to. Well, he discovered that I was allergic to almost everything except for probably rice or potatoes!!!

I love to eat and I love all types of food so guess what? I couldn't do what he asked me to do. Especially when I was so busy with work, I didn't have time to journal and figure out what triggers my flare ups and then when I find out what it was to eliminate it completely. I would still eat what I know I'm allergic to but in very, very, very small portions. I was in Asia, so how can I not enjoy seafood??!!! Crab, shrimps and lobsters tasted really good there; however, I would just eat very little of it so that I won't break out. I always have my anti-histamine pills with me just in case I feel the effects.

In any case, the most allergic reaction I had was to YEAST. When they did the allergy test on my arm it swelled up like a balloon and slowly covered all the other test areas on my arm. Which means I shouldn't drink any alcohol or each any food with yeast. Which would mean bread! I LOVE bread! The next was wheat! So there you go...how am I supposed to not eat any bread or pasta???! I love these to staples. I'm glad at least I can eat rice and especially potatoes with no issues! I love potato.

When it comes to seafood I really need to watch it. A month ago I couldn't help myself and ate quite a lot of lobster that my boyfriend's dad made. He uses ground beef in this dish as well and it TASTE SO GOOD!!! I couldn't help myself, but what a mistake. Double whammy! Allergic to lobster and beef!!! I'm still paying for it now.

Once a flare up happens and scratching happens it's hard to manage. I'm not sure how long it is going to take to get those stupid open wounds to heal. I scratched so hard that my arm is now covered with wounds that is taking a long to time heal. But now I'm using a combination of Witch Hazel and Polysporin and I can start seeing the healing process happening. I tried using the medicated cream for my wounds but then remembered that I'm not supposed to do that. Plus, it didn't work anyways. The medicated cream only worked on my rash not my wounds.

I finally took a picture of my arm so that I can show before and after pictures, but it's been about 3 days now and though I can see improvements, there's still a ways to go. I'm not going to eat lobster again for a long time! Tonight, I looked at the shrimp dish and did not dare to eat even one. :( Thank goodness the rest of the dishes were very delicious...one of them being spinach. I love spinach.

Anyways, I'm also drinking green tea and will continue to drink at least two cups each day. It's supposed to be good for your skin. And every week, I would drink the cerasee tea as well. More liquids I drink the better for me I think. Oh by the way, my biggest issue as well is that if I don't make sure I drink something other than pop, I would drink pop all day except for coffee in the morning. I read that too much sugar is not good for your skin either so I think I better start buying soda water or some other carbonated drink. My addiction really is to the carbonated part!

Now that I have more time on my hands, I need to be careful of what I eat. I will buy more vegetables, fruits (not citrus or strawberries..again allergic), avocados (love them), fish (not salmon...it does have histamine).

I'm going to stop eating the cornflakes with 2% milk, I think I'm itchy because I eat that just before I go to bed. I love cereal but I don't think I can have it, and not too much milk either. *Sigh*, it's so depressing but I have to figure out better food to satisfy my love for eating! Why do I have to allergic to so many???!!!

Well, I hope I can show before and after pictures of my arm soon. When that happens it means my wounds all cleared up. Yipee! Spring is coming and I can't have that exposed. People stare and ask does it hurt! They mean well but it upsets me. Hopefully if what I do to get myself healed will work for others. Till then...

Witch Hazel - Great for cuts

Okay, when people say communication is key in a relationship it's true, because I've been looking to buy witch hazel for awhile now and guess what? I was just going through the medicine cabinet and discovered that my man actually had a bottle! If only I mentioned to him earlier that I was looking for it, I would've been able to use it much earlier!

I read that it's good for speeding up healing process of cuts and broken skin and I wanted to try it to see if it works. For me, when I scratch too hard my skin breaks and I know it takes me weeks and weeks to try and get the wound to heal. My scraps and scratches doesn't heal as fast as other people for some reason. It's gross I know but that's the truth and I'm always looking for ways to help me manage my own skin issues! So, I must say that it really does work. It cleans the wound up and then it dries it up a bit so that it starts to heal. :) I'm happy I was able to use it to help out with the healing process. The issue is sometimes I don't know if I should treat it like eczema or not. I mean, I did scratch because my skin was itchy from the dryness or eczema but once it's broken I'm treating it like any other scrape. I'll see how it works out and report here again.

I think it would help if I could take some photos of my skin before and after to show how it works and what it worked on! So far I think it works because it actually helps me not to scratch the scrapes. Till then, you might want to see if it works for you.