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BetteTheRed said:
Nope; maybe a little more takeout food than I used to, due to the addictiveness of Skip the Dishes when one works until 6:30 p.m. I'd be more inclined to try an epsom salts bath (baking soda is the wrong pH for my skin), and I may do that. Thanks for the suggestion. I think the exacerbated problem is due to this drug, but I'd like to get back to some sort of tolerable level of itchiness and unsightliness.
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Aloe vera? Mom at one time had to use a cream called Uremol Cream for her extreme skin issues - just got at the drug store
 
*sigh* I have all the creams that they've ever recommended. Some I make. All the salves with 'special' ingredients ever invented. An aloe vera plant...I've never had such an awful outbreak; it's like my immune system is screaming "help".
 
BetteTheRed said:
*sigh* I have all the creams that they've ever recommended. Some I make. All the salves with 'special' ingredients ever invented. An aloe vera plant...I've never had such an awful outbreak; it's like my immune system is screaming "help".
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Your immune system is screaming help. Hmmmm...and your hands are fine?
 
Yes, I'm an essential oil user, BUT I may have triggered some of my reactions by overuse of those as well, particularly lavender. I'm thinking of starting by going back to my DCM.

Yes, it's VERY wyrd that my hands are fine. Except that, because of my job, I have become an obsessive compulsive plain hand cream user... My face is sorta bad. My ears are almost as bad as my scalp, and everything's at risk of infection if I'm not careful.

It's probably all allergy-rooted. I worked at U of T in the Faculty of Medicine in my 20s. My boss was also an immunologist, and he and his crew found my blood quite interesting due to its T-cells, apparently.
 
BetteTheRed said:
Yes, I'm an essential oil user, BUT I may have triggered some of my reactions by overuse of those as well, particularly lavender. I'm thinking of starting by going back to my DCM.

Yes, it's VERY wyrd that my hands are fine. Except that, because of my job, I have become an obsessive compulsive plain hand cream user... My face is sorta bad. My ears are almost as bad as my scalp, and everything's at risk of infection if I'm not careful.

It's probably all allergy-rooted. I worked at U of T in the Faculty of Medicine in my 20s. My boss was also an immunologist, and he and his crew found my blood quite interesting due to its T-cells, apparently.
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And I was going to suggest lavender :) Allergy-rooted isn't fun. If Epsom salts help, that would be one way to go.
So, do you tend to react the opposite of what people would expect to react? Also, could your clothing be part of the problem?
 
No, clothing is careful. Nothing but organic cotton, hemp and merino, where possible. Most of my clothing comes second hand from my baby sister, who hovers perpetually one size larger than I, hands stuff down as we grow/age, and has some of the same sort of skin issues, much milder except for rosacea. She thinks part of her problem is gluten, but she was much better in the U.K. I had a better couple of weeks there, too. Thought it was due to the salve that I brought back, which is doing nothing here, lol. Was talking to my son in Oz last night about inherited issues; complicated.
 
BetteTheRed said:
No, clothing is careful. Nothing but organic cotton, hemp and merino, where possible. Most of my clothing comes second hand from my baby sister, who hovers perpetually one size larger than I, hands stuff down as we grow/age, and has some of the same sort of skin issues, much milder except for rosacea. She thinks part of her problem is gluten, but she was much better in the U.K. I had a better couple of weeks there, too. Thought it was due to the salve that I brought back, which is doing nothing here, lol. Was talking to my son in Oz last night about inherited issues; complicated.
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Peppermint essential oil? To numb the itch
 
Wow @BetteTheRed I don't envy your situation. I found that Aveeno oatmeal bath helped. I also found a safe oil to help my skin. My last big eczema outbreak was caused by a perfect storm of triggers - stress, aspartame and laundry detergent. I suspect you already avoid some of that. Good luck in finding a solution.

One thing I've learned this year is that stage IV is not an automatic terminal diagnosis. In fact, I believe they avoid the use of that term.
 
BethAnne said:
So, do you tend to react the opposite of what people would expect to react?
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No, if I react to something, it's much more than would be expected. I have some wild immune responses. Some of them, like an absolute intolerance of mussels/oysters, appear to be almost neurological. But never, anaphylactic. I will sneeze, have asthma attacks, get crazy skin, but nothing "death-making".

And I'm out of peppermint oil. It's on my "to get" list. I use it on cotton balls to discourage mice in my old house...
 
Northwind said:
One thing I've learned this year is that stage IV is not an automatic terminal diagnosis. In fact, I believe they avoid the use of that term.
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Agreed, 20 and 30 years out for many people. Life is terminal, though...and honestly, when I see a 102 year old with a sharp mind trapped in a just worn-out body, I think, "happy medium".
 
BetteTheRed said:
No, if I react to something, it's much more than would be expected. I have some wild immune responses. Some of them, like an absolute intolerance of mussels/oysters, appear to be almost neurological. But never, anaphylactic. I will sneeze, have asthma attacks, get crazy skin, but nothing "death-making".

And I'm out of peppermint oil. It's on my "to get" list. I use it on cotton balls to discourage mice in my old house...
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Thank goodness your reactions aren't worse than that! I wonder if wintergreen would work? Or a paste made from oatmeal or ground clove?
 
BetteTheRed said:
Hugs, Northwind. You've got a lot to process. And yes, many people live many years these days with chronic "terminal" illness; I mean, life is terminal, right? I hope you can construct a drug/treatment regime that will allow some of your travel plans to come to fruition.

I could do with a healing of some sort. My skin has recently taken a sharp turn for the worse, and sometimes I think I will go mad with itching. Forgot to take an antihistamine this a.m., and if you could scratch your own skin off, I'm trying. In desperation over a patch on my leg that made me resist shorts all summer, I made the mistake, probably, of trying a topical immune suppressant (prescribed by a dermatologist and resisted by me for a couple of years, because it's actually banned by the FDA, although the NHS is fine with it; there is a rare side effect of squamous cell cancer), and honestly, I think it just encourages the movement of these patches into new areas, while the 'old' patch never fully heals and gets re-irritated easily. I have not changed my diet, or any detergents, although I've done dishes at the church a bit more often recently, but my hands are perfectly clear at present, which is rare. I have two huge new patches on my torso which are particularly itchy/painful/irritated. And my poor scalp is just covered, so brushing my hair is painful. I've given up on doctor and n-p (they have three strategies: anti-fungal, cortisone cream, or burn it off), my dermatologist has since lost his license, so I think I may have to try a naturopath or something. I have visions of living on white rice for months...
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My skin is pretty bad too. Right now my entire face is bright red, a bit raw in places and flaking. I'm blaming stress for the flare.
 
For baths I find different things help depending on the issue - bleach (sounds scary, but it's actually recommended by dermatologists for babies/young kids with eczema often), baking soda, vinegar and epsom salts.

I avoid essential oils. Lavender certainly affects my allergies. Occasionally for massage I allow peppermint oil, but less is always used than what a therapist would typical use and it still causes irritation for me.
 
I haven't taken a bath since I was about 14 years old, and even back then I didn't see much point to it. I could never understand just what the benefit was to me of sitting in water containing my own dirt of the day. I greatly prefer taking showers as I find that they actually wash me quite clean.
 
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