Martin Heather's Eczema story
Read these other fellow eczema sufferers stories
Well here's my full eczema bio for you. Firstly I would like to say I am a real person and not an Internet guru trying to make money (all profits from this site are being donated to the eczema society ) you can look me up on face book and see thats its me in the photo's opposite.
I like most people with eczema had it as a young child but it is the eczema in later life that i will really concentrate on, on this website as it has been extremely severe and because it has effected my life so much in recent times.
As a child I had patches of eczema on the back of my knee's and arms which were treated with moisturisers and steroid creams. At night times my mother would bandage my arms and legs so I could not scratch them during the night. But on the whole my eczema was very mild and as I got older I gradually grew out of it. I had occasional patches often when I was run down or not very well and my body was fighting other infections but I was generally very fortunate that through my school years I was reasonably eczema free.
Then.....In November 2002 at the age of 25 I started to get what I thought was a rash when i got out of the bath, I asked my flat mate Dan if he had changed his shower gel etc and he said no, so I went to the doctors and was treated by a junior doctor for scabies. This had no effect and went back to see Doctor Stanger who has been my doctor since a child who explained it couldn't be scabies for a number of reasons and that it was eczema.
I tried the usual steroid creams and moisturisers, antibiotics, everything nothing had an effect. I was having to take time off of work because it was so sore on my face I couldn't open my eyes. I had a trip to Thailand planned for the end of December and I knew from a previous trip that once there it had disappeared before and I was hoping it would clear up again. I had a horrific Christmas in 2002 I didn't attend any of the family functions due to eczema all over my face and at that moment in time did not even want to see my aunts,cousins or even brother who are all very close to me, I didn't want people to see me like that.
I boarded the plane to Thailand and after being in Bangkok for just 2 days my skin was fine, Happy days!! I had 2 great months out there with friends before returning. On my return with in 3 weeks I was covered again unfortunately I do not have photo's of the skin at this time because I was ashamed and when a camera came out I was gone but it was exactly the same as the photos to the left taken late last year.
I saw dermatologists at the local hospital, I tried many lotions and potions. I had an allergy prick test to see what allergens affected my skin. The results of these came back as expected. Cement and plaster was not good for me, however I already knew this, as they are not good for anybody s skin. I did not agree with the doctor that changing job would be my answer as I had been plastering for 5 years and had no trouble before. I started having UV treatment up the hospital 3 afternoons a week and I gave up my job for 6 months and did a part time driving job, whilst having the UV treatment my skin did improve but as soon as the sessions stopped it came back even without doing my old job. The only thing during this period that had any effect at all was very strong oral steroids which are not good things to be taking for long periods of time especially the amount I was having to take to keep my flare ups at bay.
This was a very dark period in my life and although I met my future wife to be Lisa during the early days of this problem, I could see no way out, I had no idea of the cause of the flare ups and unfortunately for me the worst area I seemed to get it was my face and neck so I really didn't like facing anybody. One of the problems with eczema is that it isn't there all the time. If you have a bad scar on your face or a permanent affliction you have to get used to having it because it will never leave you. The problem with eczema psychologically is that one day it can be quite good and you feel reasonably happy and confident, you arrange to go out and socialize and them bam you are covered in it. This was happening all the time and it got to the point where I didn't go out or arrange anything. I had gone from a happy go lucky lad about town to a near recluse and my mind was getting darker and darker. Eczema is a nightmare at night. During the real bad times Lisa and I were changing the bed sheets every day because they were covered in so much blood, and I was taking sleeping tablets to get some sleep. Eventually the doctor wanted to put me on Prozac and treat me for depression which I was unhappy about as I said to them “I am not depressed, sort my skin out and I will be fine” I was prescribed a course of Prozac but never took them and decided to take drastic measures to sort my skin out myself and got on the plane to Thailand where one of my best friends had a bar. Again from the minute I arrived until the minute I got home my skin was fine. However this time I stayed 6 months and it took that long to sort my head out and come out of my depression, get used to looking people in the eye again and not having to wear a coat zipped up to my chin and a cap.
On my return we tried a different tactic because the eczema was back straight away, and I went to see a nutritionist who explained to me about food allergies. I explained the agitated feelings I used to get before an attack and she explained how the allergies and intolerances built up within me and made me feel this way before releasing themselves through my skin. Some people get headaches or irritable bowl my weakness was my skin, my eczema.
I had the food allergy tests done. Now this wasn't the test you have done in the local health store testing on 25 food types it involved being tested on 113 different food types and the results i received has helped me get my life back make no bones about it. I paid £400 pounds for my test but it was well worth every penny. However had I searched around I could have found a better price
You can order yourself a food allergy test by clicking here.
Below is a list of my results and as you can see I have one severe allergy to cows milk, however you can also see I have many intolerances ranging from a minor intolerance rated 1 up to a severe rating of 3.
Food cellular intolerance test results |
|
|---|---|
| Almond | 3 |
| Almond oil | 3 |
| Apple | 1 |
| Apple Juice sauce cider | 1 |
| Apricot | 1 |
| Cows Cheese | 2 |
| Cows Cheese ( Emmental, Parmesan Stilton ) | 2 |
| Cows milk ( cream butter Yogurt ) | 2 |
| Cows milk | 2 |
| Date | 1 |
| E330 Citric acid | 3 |
| Fig | 2 |
| Peanut | 1 |
| Peanut butter | 1 |
| Peanut Oil | 1 |
| Pecan Nut | 1 |
| Pineapple | 1 |
| Pork | 1 |
| Sugar-beet | 3 |
| Sugar-cane | 3 |
| Walnut | 1 |
| Walnut oil | 1 |
| Yeast (bakers, Brewers ) | 3 |
| sensitivity grading 1=mild 2= moderate 3=strong 4=very strong | |
Specific allergy results
Positive result for Milk and Almond
I have spoken to people in the past who thought that if you kept a diary of what you had eaten over a month you would be able to find what caused the problem. I really don't think this would be the case as every day I was eating something I had an intolerance to and or a severe allergic reaction to and there is now way I would have found out by missing one of them out of my diet for a week. As you can see Sugar is a severe intolerance I was drinking cans of coke regularly and 1 can alone contains 35 grams of sugar!!. Ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch at work containing cows milk yeast and pork. A quiet pint or 3 on a Friday containing yeast and sugar. I would never have been able to work this out. Get your life back get tested today.
Now once the results came back I stuck to my diet religiously and for the first time in 3 years I was now controlling the eczema rather than it controlling me. After 6 months or so I started to treat myself to a few pints rather than vodka and slimline tonic and to roast pork etc. Now don't get me wrong I still had eczema but I had control and in my head I knew there was no way I could go back to the dark depths of before because at last I knew some of the cause. Even now I have flare ups and I cannot understand why.
I over these last 6 years have spent many hours searching the Internet for information that will help me and hopefully if your are reading this and suffering, you can save yourself thousands of hours surfing and pick up some useful tips. I believe that every bodies eczema is different and what works for one will not work for others but if people are aware whats out there they can find the right daily routine to help them.
Bath times are important
I live in Salisbury in Wiltshire, Southern England and the area has terribly hard water. My wife Lisa noticed the difference on her skin compared to when she showers at her parents home in West Sussex. So I had a water softener system put in to our house to soften all our water and this has been a huge success.
Also when ever i run a bath I put 2 big handfuls of sea salts in the water. This really helps my skin I do not know why but I really miss its effect when I let myself run out. There are a number of salts on the market, dead sea salts and other sea salts, find out whats best for you by following the links.
After Bathing its really important to lock in the moisture your body has absorbed from bathing. There are many many many different types of moisturisers on the market. I have tried hundreds but everybody need to find what one is best for them. Always try to go for as natural a product as possible, free from perfumes etc. I currently use an emollient from Salcura I have found this company to be superb and extremely helpful in my battle against eczema. The staff are very friendly over the phone and you even get to speak to the doctor who invented the products Dr Schiele.
As I said it is by trying moisterisers that you will find what works for you.
The itch scratch cycle.
Eczema is a nightmare at night. During the real bad times Lisa and I were changing the bed sheets every day because they were covered in so much blood. I would scratch myself to bits trying to get to sleep and would continue whilst asleep. The open wounds would then be sore the next day. Stopping the scratching is essential and I recently have started wearing comfi fast easy wrap suits. These are very new and are available on prescription from your doctor. I cannot take a photo of myself wearing them as I would be done for indecent exposure but they are brilliant. From the minute you put them on after bathing your body feels cool and the need to constantly itch stops. I wear the suit in the evening under my lay about clothes and wear it to bed to sleep. By breaking the itch scratch cycle the next day rather than dealing with open wounds it is a case of continuing to keep improving the good work you are doing.
Using anti allergen bedding is also a good idea. Keeping the dust mites and other allergens at bay is a must for a good nights sleep.
Steroid Creams.
Even using all the above methods I still on occasion need to use a small amount of steroid cream but very little compared to what I have used in the past. Over the years I have used very strong steroid cream even on my face which I knew I should not do but I knew that if I had bad eczema on my face on a Thursday evening by using a strong steroid cream ( 2.5% ) on the Thursday night and the Friday morning it would be gone by the time I wanted to go to the pub on a Friday or Saturday evening. As a young man this was more important than actually doing the right thing for my skin. However now I am at the stage where preventing rather than curing is the way forward and I use the above methods and very occasionally 1 % steroid cream.
If you have a repeat prescription for steroid cream or any other medication please use the links to the Pharmacy's here as the cost will help raise funds for the eczema society.
I always try and have a decent holiday abroad after Christmas. December, January time as the sun is the best healer I have found for my skin. I have just returned from a short holiday in Brazil where my skin was lovely, unfortunately it has deteriorated already but its not bad so I can live with that. In between the nice weather in this country and my holidays I have a sun bed now and again just to give my skin what I call a blast!. There are UV treatments available to buy however I have never tried them. See what you think and let me know.
