<p>So turns out the poison oak my mom thought she had, well she did have it on her hand, but the rest is eczema. After an emergency room visit, self treating, me telling her it was probably two different rashes, a stupid doctor, her insisting it was poison oak though everyone else didn’t,and her finally admitting she should have gone to dermatologist two months ago, and her saying I should have forced her, sigh we have a diagnosis!!</p>
<p>Guess eczema can present itself anytime with the perfect storm </p>
<p>Anyway, I know you aren’t doctors, but are there any tricks to handling it? I know extremes are to be avoided.</p>
<p>It’s like she is a different person knowing what she has, and she is irked with herself for insisting she knew what it was and not taking my advice. She also said next time, I can make the appointment and drag her to the doctor if she self diagnosis. And I learned to double check anythingnsje reads on the web.</p>
<p>I hope that someone has more recent experience. My S1 has allerigies, and as an infant/toddler/young child he had horrible eczema. I remember that he had bleeding in the worst patches. I wanted to avoid the steroid creams. The best way I found to manage it was to use Aquaphor ointment. It is like Vaseline, but much lighter, and it soaks in quickly. I was also careful about laundry. No fabric softener, use second rinse, and I use white vinegar in the fabric softener compartment. It gets rid of the last traces of detergent. </p>
<p>When S1 was swimming, the chlorinated water would give him a rash. The allergist advised putting Aquaphor on the areas that tended to form rashes before he swam. This took care of it.</p>
<p>The reason I hope someone has more recent experience (this has not been a problem for S1 for about 10 years) is that when he was young the advice was to limit baths to every other day and minimize soaking time. I heard more recently that the advice is now to take long baths every day.</p>
<p>I have found that what works is very individualistic - what works for one person may do nothing for another. In the case of a family member, the only thing that has keeps it at bay is slathering on Aveeno lotion several times a day. There’s something in the oatmeal that seems to work. Try to avoid sweat yet don’t over bathe (hard to do for our family athlete).</p>
<p>Lots of eczema is triggered by stress so be aware of that factor. I find it helpful to treat the minute it flares up with over the counter cortizone products. I am never without several tubes. You can get stronger cortizone products with a prescription if needed.
Other preventative measures: wear gloves when cleaning, moisturize often with a carefully chosen product, be extremely careful about laundry soaps, regular soap, lotions, perfume.
Good Luck.</p>
<p>Several years ago, I worked at a pediatrician’s office. Occasionally, I was the “phone nurse”, doling out advice for a variety of things. The pediatricians with whom I worked always suggested Eucerin cream and lotion, as well as Aquaphor. Additionally, they suggested avoiding frequent bathing because that dries the skin out more. Of course, that advice was for babies and children who don’t get as sweaty and smelly as adults. For particularly itchy areas, hydrocortisone cream was advised, but should not be used for long periods of time. As SteveMA said, eczema often accompanies allergies and/or asthma. Taking a daily allergy medication like Zyrtec might help quite a bit. If your mom tries Zyrtec, it is recommended to take at night as it causes drowsiness. DD had eczema when she was very young but luckily outgrew it. Good luck to your mom!</p>
<p>What worked for a family member was more thoroughly dusting near the bed and washing sheets more frequently - the excema was connected to a dust-mite allergy.</p>
<p>It would probably make sense for your mom to see an allergist and be tested. If she is allergic to dust mites, like Hanaviolet’s relative, then she would need to take action to reduce the dust mite population. There are well-established things to do, but knowing the triggers is important.</p>
<p>Our allergist always recommended Eucerin, too, but I never found it to be that helpful. There is another cream called Vanicream, which is formulated for eczema. Years ago, it had to be ordered from the Mayo Clinic or somewhere, it may be more easily available now. It’s a white cream that blends in quickly. I found that Aquaphor worked better.</p>
<p>You can get Aquaphor in large jars. It’s expensive to buy in the little tubes if you use it a lot.</p>
<p>A couple of years go she was allergy tested. Nada. Her symptoms were a reaction to blood pressure medicine.</p>
<p>I know stress has made it worse, but now because she knows what it is, she is so much calmer.</p>
<p>We are gonna do all the common things, and just go day by day</p>
<p>What we learned from this is that she neededmtomnot be so stubborn about what she thought she had. And much angst would have been avoided if she listend to moi. And we are getting a new primary care doctor who should have recommened the dermatologist.</p>
<p>Like NYMom, our son also had worst eczema when he was an infant/toddler. During that period we went through hell. We also wanted to minimize use of topical steroids, but had to use them occasionally. For regular use we must have used hundreds of big cans of Eucerin (similar to Acquafor) - the thick crisco kind (not lotion). It is better to use creams that do not have fragrance. Wear Cotton. Baths in Aveeno, having a non carpeted play area, once in while Benadryl. Wife unit stopped wearing perfume. Fortunately, everything went away by the time he was 4-5.</p>
<p>I had it when I was a kid. Aquafor or Aquaphor one of the two is the best thing to put on it. Allergens such as grass and that stuff should be avoided, and constant irritation (I had it on my inner calf and when show rubbed it would flair) avoid.</p>
<p>Re post 12, a lot of primary care drs don’t refer to dermatologist as often as they should. That is very common b/c primary care is trained to take care of basic skin issues. That happened to us with my D when she had terrible diaper rash. The pediatrician said it was the worst he’d seen outside of an institutionalized child, but still didn’t refer us to a derm! (And he was a really good pediatrician otherwise.)</p>
<p>More for your mom: warm, short baths or showers (not hot water). Use only a little very mild soap with no fragrance. Put the Eucerin cream on while skin is damp. Pat skin dry, don’t rub. Wear gloves when doing dishes or cleaning.</p>