Living With Eczema

In the U.K., the incidence of eczema has risen at a remarkable rate: since the 1960’s the number of children with eczema has risen from 4 percent to 24 percent of the population. Some experts attribute this to changes in our environment and lifestyle and suggest that educating the general public about these changes and how to cope with them will improve the statistics.
One of the major recommendations is a change in skin care products, which includes a dry skin conditioner such as jojoba oil and eczema treatment that allows the condition to heal instead of exposing children to powerful and dangerous steroid drugs.
Dr. Michael Cork, a skin care expert at the University of Sheffield and head of the Specialist Atopic Eczema Unit at the Sheffield Children’s Hospital, was featured in a recent documentary regarding the great strides the unit is making in treating and preventing the condition.
According to Dr. Cork, changes in our environment and lifestyle in the last 50 years are largely to blame for the vast increase in eczema. Examples include more households with wall-to-wall carpeting and central heating – both of which harbor dust mites - and washing ourselves more frequently with increasingly harsh soaps and detergents that damage the protective surface layer of the skin and allow chemicals and allergens to penetrate.
Fortunately, remedying these problems is fairly easy and is definitely recommended as the first step in effective eczema treatment. Vacuuming and dusting frequently and washing bed linens in hot water to kill dust mites will help handle the environment. Preserving the integrity of the skin’s protective layer can be done by switching to very mild natural soaps and detergents that don’t cause dry skin and eczema.

Eczema Treatment With Antihistamines May Lead To Other Problems

Antihistamines are commonly used in the treatment the symptoms of eczema – the theory is that eczema results from an overproduction of histamine as a natural response to allergens. However, antihistamines interfere with the vital role of histamine in the body and also cause side effects that may be worse than the skin condition you’re trying to treat. Your best bet is to try an effective, topical eczema treatment that will not alter natural function and will not exacerbate the condition, and to find out the consequences of antihistamines before you choose them as an option.

Histamine is present in almost every cell of the body. Its highest concentrations are in the lungs, skin and gastrointestinal tract. It performs a number of basic functions including the secretion of stomach acids during digestion and regulation of sexual response. It is also a neurotransmitter – a chemical that enables messages to travel from one nerve cell to another.

Histamine’s function in the immune system is to increase the blood supply to an area of injury or invasion by a foreign substance so that the body may heal or combat damage with the nutrients and other healing elements in the blood. This action often causes redness, swelling, itchiness, rashes and hives – which is why antihistamines are often prescribed as eczema treatment.However, antihistamines are not always safe. Doctors advise that you check with them before taking antihistamines if you have asthma or chronic bronchitis, high blood pressure, glaucoma, problems with your liver, kidney, prostrate or stomach, if you’re pregnant or breastfeeding, if you have any other chronic illness or are on any medications including herbal supplements - not exactly an eczema treatment you can just whip out of the medicine cabinet at a moment’s notice.

Additionally, taking antihistamines can cause histamine deficiency, the symptoms of which include mouth ulcers, headaches, excessive growth of body hair, ringing in the ears and visual and aural abnormalities. Histamine deficiency is also associated with a number of mental and emotional conditions: studies have found that about half the people diagnosed with schizophrenia have low blood histamine levels. In fact, their condition improved when histamine levels were increased.

If your eczema is accompanied by life-threatening symptoms such as difficulty breathing, you should check with your doctor regarding taking antihistamines. However, if you are simply trying to handle itchy, dry skin, or eczema, use a topical eczema treatment that will not cause further problems.