The mysterious rash – did we get rid of the eczema? (part 1)

We just started a new year and to me it seems concerning ‘Timan’s eczema it’s a new start for us too, his skin is getting better and better. But we had quite a journey last year. After the ruptured appendix with complications ‘Timan’ started to break out with an itchy rash. He had this rash literally on his whole body, his eyes were sometimes swollen or later the skin around them was red, inflamed and itchy.

Little did we know that this was just the beginning. Even today I am not entirely sure I found all the triggers, but after many sleepless nights, lots of ups and downs, more often downs then ups, we are at a stage where I can say that we can control the tots inflamed and itchy skin, even without steroids.

Unfortunately we don’t have many specialised doctors here in Paradise and no allergy tests are available at all. There are two dermatologists, but no pediatric dermatologist and no allergist is in the country either. We would have to go overseas for tests and treatment. So I started to do some research online, the same as probably every parent would do with a child who is scratching himself bloody at night. And with the help of my parents in Europe, who sent some remedies that are not available here, we finally see an improvement.

Not every person is reacting the same way, there are so many reasons for the skin to break out in a rash. It may be atopic or a reaction of the immune system to an allergen, here on my blog I simply want to show you what worked for ‘Timan’. And maybe it’s giving you a new idea.

I believe his rash was triggered by a change in chemicals to treat the tap water, chemicals to combat bacteria in the drinking water during the time the water in the storage lakes on the island was getting less and less. First ‘Timan’ had little blisters all over his body, a little while later the back of his legs was hot to touch and the skin looked brownish red, as if it was burned.

The first thing we did was to use ‘pure’ water for ‘Timan’, water the Hubs collected way up in the mountains. I used this untreated water for cooking and to shower or bath him, unfortunately until now we still have to use the chlorinated water to wash our laundry. It took about 5-6 weeks until he started to look better without using medication. However the rash behind his knees and under the armpits stayed.

Eventually we went the medicated way, the itching was getting worse, the scratching was getting more and our tot was clearly suffering. I started to use Hydrocortisone on the eczema spots behind his knees and it worked, but did not clear everything. The itching stopped, the skin behind his knees looked ok, but never went back to the way it used to be. And every time I stopped applying Hydrocortisone, 2-3 days later the red area and the blisters reappeared. Was there a need for a stronger steroid cream? I felt I had to talk to a professional. So we went to see a dermatologist. I was so disappointed. The doctor didn’t tell me anything new, I had the feeling I knew much more about ‘Timan’s skin condition then she did. But she said the way I was handling it was good, it’s well under control. No wonder with all the Hydrocortisone. However she didn’t have a solution to get off the steroids and we went home with a recommendation to use more antihistamine.

I started to look for possible other triggers myself, something from within the body was causing the eczema. We went dairy-free, egg-free, a while later corn-free and saw a slight improvement, especially under the armpits. But I also realized 2 days after having chicken, tomatoes or pelagic fish his knees got worse, even during the time I was applying Hydrocortisone. So we also went chicken-free, tomato-free and pelagic fish-free (only scombridae were causing an immune response).

However applying Hydrocortisone on an almost permanent basis is not the way to go so I started to look into natural remedies. Furthermore there is only a very limited selection of moisturizer for eczema-prone skin to buy here in Paradise.

♦ Here you can read ‘The mysterious rash – did we get rid of the eczema? (part 2)’, the way we got the eczema under control,♦

but first please tell me:

What is your experience with allergy or food intolerance? How are you dealing with it? Did you find all the triggers?