lemma health

Hello! # TLDR: I cured my eczema by cutting out ultra processed foods. I thought I’d come on here and share my journey because I would want someone to do the same if they’d cured their eczema. I’ll write out everything but you can read any sections you want to. I’m not saying this will work for everyone but maybe it will for some. **Background of my eczema**: I’m a 36 year old woman and have had eczema my whole life. It comes in waves but I never have zero eczema. When it’s at its best I have it on my eye, above my lip, on my neck and hands. When it’s bad I have it all over my face, neck and hands, wrists and my eyes so badly I can’t open them all the way. I rarely have it on my body, but maybe the odd patch if it’s bad eg. nipples and arm crease. **What I have tried over the years** and how they have worked (*oh boy it’s been rough*): * **All moisturisers:** E45, La Roche Posay, Cerave, Cetraben, Dipbrobase, Aveeno, Eucerin, Cetaphil, Avene, pure glycerin, olive oil, coconut oil, MCT oil, manuka honey, using nothing at all. -> it will be many, many more than that but you get the gist. Some made it worse, most made no difference. * **All steroids, strong and weak**: They did work but then as soon as I stop using them it comes back so after a while I stopped completely because I didn’t want to be using on my face for my entire life.  * **Elidel / Pimecrolimus cream**: Worked really well but made me feel shit, I didn’t like using it, worried about long-term use and it all came back every time I stopped using it. * **Diet changes**: Cutting out sugar, cutting out dairy, being vegan, being ultra-healthy, adding in a lot of good bacteria, intermittent fasting, gluten free, and at one point cutting out all at once: sugar, yeast, caffeine, alcohol, basically a 'candida free' diet. Nothing worked at all and it was horrendous doing all that to no avail 🙃 * **Misc**: taking supplements, taking probiotics, getting rid of sulphates in everything, shampoo, toothpaste etc, taking antihistamines, colloidal oatmeal baths (and other types of baths), washing my face less/more, natural only shampoos and hand washes etc, sunbeds. There will be more but they all did nothing. There is definitely many more things I did that I haven’t remembered/put here (feel free to ask). But nothing worked except medical creams which I did not like to use.  **What did** ***finally*** **work:** I had got to a point where i was giving up (tended to go in cycles of giving up and then trying again). Then Chris Van Tulken published his book **Ultra Processed People**. In January instead of veganuary/dry jan, or whatever I do normally, I gave up all ultra-processed foods, I had no idea it would do anything to my skin.  But…. **my eczema went away!!!** Then I started eating them again it came back. Now I have stopped for months and it has gone away to an extent that I have never, EVER, had it go away before ie. completely gone. I have even started using non-eczema friendly moisturisers and it isn’t irritating my skin. For the first time in my life I am a non-eczema person 🥲 **For me, my definition\* is this: I will not eat food that has** ***any*** **ingredient that you wouldn’t be able to buy for your own kitchen** (there are a couple of exceptions eg. ascorbic acid)**.**  For me the diet is completely sustainable because there are plenty of unhealthy/treat/fast-to-make foods that fit into this description. There is an UPF subreddit and instagram (linked in the comments) that has amazing recommendations for things like this. **It took about 1 month of doing this diet for my eczema to basically go away and a few months for it to fully disappear.** These days I might have a day off on a random weekend or if I go out to eat but mainly I stick to it. I don’t know what ingredient I must have been allergic to (I’m assuming it’s a colouring or E number or sulphate or preservative or something like that) but I’m happy to cut out all of them out because I feel much healthier and happier in general anyway. I plan to do it forever. I can’t tell you how many times i’ve felt very depressed and hopeless from having eczema. How much money and time I’ve spent looking for a cure. I really hope this can help someone. Buy his book (that's not necessary, you can do it without buying the book) try this diet change, see if it works for you. Let us know on this thread! Also, **out of all the 'diets' I’ve done this has definitely been the easiest**. It sounds harder than it is and becomes much easier once you find the foods to buy. But make sure to look on EVERY food packet because you’d be surprised; loads of things like tinned tomatoes and chickpeas, some cheeses have it in, most bread, so much stuff - check anything before you buy.   *side note: the only moisturiser I do like and still used on its own (until v recently when I can now use anything I like) is Dermol 500. I didn’t cure anything but never stung my skin or made it worse.* **\*** Some people in

I was born with eczema. My mother used to tape oven mits to my hands as a baby to stop me from scratching. I am now 27 years old. Last year I ended up in hospital with Eczema Herpeticum. It was horrible and extremely painful. I was on IV antibiotics and antivirals. I wouldnt wish it on anyone. I recovered and relapsed constantly. I then got put on Valicyclovir (anti virals) for the herpeticum/herpes and ciclosporin/neorol which is an immune suppressant. I knew i couldnt be on these medications long term or else there would be damage to my kidneys or liver. In Wellington the weather is extremely cold and dry which is a massive trigger for me. Earlier this year i moved to Brisbane and WOW what a game changer. The humidity and heat has prevented my skin from drying out and being super itchy. Instead of my entire body being covered in eczema it was contained to behind my knees, neck, and elbow creases. I saw a dermatologist in brisbane last month who gave me elidel to try for a month before i was eligible to try dupixent. Today I had my first dose (two shots) of dupixent and my next dose is in two weeks. Long story long - moving to Australia has greatly improved my eczema and access to medication to treat it as well. I am still taking anti virals to manage the herpes virus as i still have a small area on my face that wont fully go away and being on dupixent could actually make the herpeticum worse. Last year i had my mother helping me bathe, dress and moisturise, i was in extreme distress and pain. Today i feel hopeful about living and managing my eczema. I miss my family in NZ greatly and hope to move back one day. This is a reminder to hold on and be kind to yourself, do what you can even if its only drinking water 💜 kia ora

tl;dr title. I have been on dupixent for three weeks and it seems very good so far. I had eczema until around the age of 16. I wrote several years ago about how I "overcame eczema" by using a series of habit changes to stop scratching and gently rub, or apply ice to itches instead. As you can probably imagine, "stop scratching" received a pretty mixed reaction as advice on this subreddit. One person said it sounded like I simply grew out of it. Unfortunately, these last nine months have convinced me that they were probably right. Almost 15 years later, eczema came back in full force. Early this year it was bad on the elbows and neck, so much that I messaged my doctor and he encouraged me to use hydrocortisone. Until this point I tried all the little habit changes from before, like using gloves at night, changing moisturizer, etc. Some things FELT like they worked, but when I looked back on pictures it really seemed that these attempted habit changes were not effective. Probably what happened in the past was I grew out of eczema, which made the rashes/itching much more manageable, which prompted me to think that all it really took to resolve eczema was willpower and simple habit changes. I've lurked quite a bit on this subreddit for the last few months, and I don't want to get into the corticosteroids vs. tsw debate. My opinion overall is that steroids ARE effective, at least for me, but they never truly worked. I was excited to post here about my full journey and how a short period of hydrocortisone solved my problem completely and eczema never came back. That's simply not what happened, as eczema came back as soon as I stopped (which is what the doctor recommended - we went back and forth messaging through several weeks on/off hydrocortisone). I went through months on and off hydrocortisone, but around May of this year it got really bad. I finally went to the doctor in person, who expressed serious concern and prescribed two much stronger steroids: Clobetasol and prednisone, the first for a week and the second for three. The doctor said it would just be temporary relief. Both the doctor and dermatologist called my eczema extensive (and I think they may have used the word "severe"), something I think I kept rationalizing because I still thought it was a lot better than when I was younger. Unfortunately, he was right. Things were pretty good while on prednisone, then eczema returned within about three days of stopping. The dermatologist recommended dupixent, which I initially resisted because I wanted to see an allergist first. I don't know if this is a common experience on this subreddit, but an allergist really didn't seem to be the solution for me either. The dermatologist already suspected that the cause was not an allergy, which the allergist confirmed. It's POSSIBLE they were both wrong, but they based their decision on the nature of my rashes. Mine was so extensive, they reasoned, that it probably was not caused by an allergic reaction to anything I was touching. They did an environmental allergy test but did not want to push further. Had it not been for dupixent, I would have probably used mild to potent steroids on and off every week indefinitely. But then I was approved for and went on dupixent. I had three big fears: Dupixent not working at all, dupixent costing me a fortune, and the shot hurting and/or me messing up administering it. No one taught me to use it, I just had YouTube. I don't want to trivialize the experiences of anyone on this subreddit, and I am fully open to the possibility that I just have exceptionally fat thighs (sad face), but my experience with the shot was not at all what I see described on this subreddit. It was less painful than a normal shot, easy to do, and the pain was pretty minimal. I hoped the effects of dupixent would be immediate and I would feel like someone who didn't have eczema. That's not quite it - I still certainly have visible eczema, and I certainly still itch quite a bit. But I noticed right away that something felt different, and a friend encouraged me to stop steroid use about three days after starting dupixent so that I could gauge its effectiveness. I kept using elidel, an immunosuppressant, until maybe a week into dupixent treatment. I am fairly confident now that dupixent is very effective. I think it's as effective an antiinflammatory/antiitch treatment as steroids, with none of the drawbacks. Off of steroids, I suspect eczema would return within three days and in full force in a week. I have been on it for three weeks and my skin is about as good as it was on strong steroids. I do still itch and I do still obviously have eczema, but I feel I don't have to think about it nearly as much. It's minimal on the worst areas, I'd say, and disappeared from a lot of the rest of the body. Paying for it is another story. I followed all the stuff on Reddit about insurance, copay accumulators, and the MyWay progra

There's been a lot of discussion about this on the sub, so I thought I would report my experience. My eczema/dishydrosis started in Nov 2022 at the onset of a burnout. It started on my hands, which quickly became red and cracked. Initially it completely disappeared when I was put on sick leave from work, and immediately reappeared when I went back to that job for 2 days to do some KT before quitting. It wasn't at bad in my next job but still there. Summer 2023 was a disaster, only corticosteroids would help and my hands were in ice for 1h each morning. It then started spreading: inner arms and knees, internal side of the wrists, elbows, under my right boob (the biggest), left foot. I also started getting night itches, including in my genital area, life was *awesome*. My dermatologist gave me Elidel and an antihistamine that is tailored to urticaria specifically, it helped. But, the bleach baths, oh, the bleach baths! - I was initially afraid of bleach, so I tried with white vinegar first, around mid March '24. That didn't do much. - One week later, I tried a bleach bath. I was distracted and I realised afterwards I poured 2 cups of bleach in the bath instead of one. I sat in it for about 20min. When I got out, my eczema skin was no longer red. Redness has not come back since and in the days after the bath I realised most of my patches of eczema disappeared. My hands are the only place where skin is visibly eczema like, but it has healed tremendously since the bath. Cracked skin is now intact again. It's like the ointments I was using before already (Lipikar cream, Elidel only as needed) were now able to help repair the skin in absence or with reduced bacteria. My genital itching problem is nearly gone. - The inside of my left hand and of my right wrist had started lightly itching again, so I took another bleach bath yesterday, this time with one cup of bleach. The itching didn't disappear but went down significantly and I'll see how the next day's go. I'm going to keep doing this if needed. It's what has helped the most (aside from not working at all, but you can see how that might be unsustainable) since the onset of the eczema.

been in an on and off flare since October last year after a period of chronic stress moving overseas. i’ve tried almost EVERYTHING: - topical anti fungal & oral anti fungal when my eczema was infected - vinegar baths & bleach baths (which have made my eczema 10x worse despite moisturising and has spread all over my upper body) - looking after my gut health & eating fermented foods - cutting gluten & dairy. also got tested for celiac which was negative - didn’t drink for three months - elidel for facial eczema - used steroids sparingly but wasn’t effective at all - seen a dermatologist which suspected a MI allergy, so i’ve changed all my toiletries and body washes etc - tried sudocrem, bepanthen, moisturising with LRP cicaplast baume b5 and slugging with vaseline / aquaphor i’ve always been able to manage my eczema which thankfully was never that severe — but this is the worst flare up of my life, and i have little faith in my dermatologist (i have an apt next friday). only thing i haven’t tried is allergy testing. im thinking i might skip the derm apt and put that money towards getting patch testing done. looking for any advice. i’m really struggling and this is taking a toll on me mentally as you can imagine.

What, if anything, helped you not scratch? My daughter is almost 10 and she's really struggling to stop scratching. I help her apply creams/lotions, we keep her nails short, she has prescription medications, and we give her an ice pack when the itching gets bad. I know that saying "stop scratching!" is not helpful, so I don't say that. But I'm at a loss about what else to do to help her. She'll usually scratch away from home, like at school or camp. She has lotion in her bag but she won't use it. When we ask her if she did scratch (it's pretty easy to tell), she'll fess up to it, but we have to start the whole cycle over of trying to get her flareups under control. I'll admit that I do most of the heavy lifting in trying to keep her skin clear. I'm the one that applies the creams, I'm the one that asks if she needs an ice pack, etc. She doesn't really care too much how her skin looks but I know it makes her uncomfortable when people ask about it or point it out. I'm not even sure if she would apply lotion if I told her I wouldn't do it anymore. I don't want to nag her to take care of her skin, but I worry that she won't take care of it if I don't and that will lead to infection or her flareup growing out of control. **ETA**: I'm adding more info based on what I've seen asked in the comments. Right now the only place she has eczema is behind her knees. She's had it in the crook of her elbows before, but we haven't had any issues there in a few months. Her eyelid eczema that only appears during winter has faded away as well. So, in general, her eczema is not widespread and there are periods where it essentially disappears altogether (fall). We live in TX, so it is very hot this time of year. I think that does cause the itching to be worse, especially when she gets sweaty. She lives in shorts 24/7 from June - September. We use Aquaphor and Cetaphil eczema lotion in the morning and at night. The Cetaphil is what causes stinging when her skin is dry and cracked. Honestly I haven't seen a lot of progress when we use just Aquaphor lately, so maybe it's time to look at something else. Her pediatric derm prescribed Triamcinolone but we use it *very* sparingly (he also prescribed Elidel for her eyelid eczema). Oddly enough, I asked him about an allergy test and he told us he didn't recommend one. He's a board certified pediatric derm that is often involved in clinical trials and is highly regarded in our area, so I took him at his word. Is that something other derms suggest? Maybe he didn't think her eczema was bad enough that it warranted an allergy test?

Hi everyone, I’ve been dealing with contact allergy eczema for over 2 years. This community has been a helpful source of info and commiseration for me, so I thought I’d compile my learnings to pay it back to this group. This info is meant to help people who suffer from contact allergy eczema and those who suffer from eyelid, face, and/or hand eczema. If you have chronic, all-over eczema, this thread might not be for you. I still struggle with my eczema and am learning more about my triggers everyday, although I am a lot better informed on how to manage and treat it. I would welcome any of your comments in any case you have tried anything else that might be helpful, or if you have an observation based on my triggers! Some context: I suffered from some minor childhood eczema that I grew out of. I have suffered from a lifelong anaphylaxis food allergy from a food I am easily able to avoid; I mention this because there is a theory that food allergies and eczema are correlated. In my adult years in 2022, I randomly started to have bad eyelid swelling and itchiness, diagnosed as contact allergy eczema. Since then, I’ve also suffered from eczema on my face (forehead, cheeks, jawline), neck, top of back, ears, and hands. Occasionally I will get it in my elbow creases and forearms. Going to an allergist and getting patch testing has been most helpful for me. I did the North American series (https://www.chemotechnique.se/products/national-series/north-american-80-comprehensive-series/). This yielded some interesting results for me. I discovered I developed new allergies to things I had used for awhile. Everyone’s triggers are different so you have to do patch testing and/or trial and error to figure it out. Your trigger might also be environmental allergies (dust mites, mold, etc). I also want to note that you may need to shop around with doctors until you find one that is willing to work with you. My allergist has been compassionate and helpful, trying to get to the root cause of the problem. My dermatologist, on the other hand, isn’t really concerned with finding the triggers, but I still go to her since she will write the prescriptions I need for flare ups. So it is a trade off. Everyone's triggers are different. In case it is helpful for others with my triggers, I’ll share some of my trigger info here: * cocamidopropyl betaine which is an ingredient in most soaps and shampoos. This was the biggest culprit behind my flare ups as my face soap had this ingredient. Once I eliminated it, I stopped having acute eyelid eczema. This is also an ingredient in some toothpastes so you have to be vigilant in reading labels. * Amerchol, related to lanolin or wool alcohol. This is an ingredient in Aquaphor, which I mention bc it is a common product people use to get rid of eczema. I actually think I might have developed an allergy to this bc I was putting it on broken skin so for long. * Balsam of peru, which comes from a tree but what is problematic is that many substances mimic this, including citrus, tomatoes, vanilla, cinnamon. As a result, I try to avoid any of these oils in my tolietries (eg I reacted to a ‘natural’ shampoo with orange peel oil). I also try to avoid handling citrus fruits and tomatoes. * propolis. It is a common cross-reaction with Balsam of Peru. * Rubber accelerant. This one is more lifestyle so I use lined gloves when cleaning, avoid cell phone cases, etc. -fragrance mixes. I avoid all naturally-derived botanicals in my tolietries for this reason and any fragranced products. In terms of treatment, here is what I learned:— * Avoidance is the most important way to manage this type of eczema. Get very good at reading ingredient labels. Download SkinSafe app and use it to filter products to avoid your triggers. You can also have them generate a specific code and profile for you based on your triggers. * I have simplified my tolietries and skincare routine. I carry around my own soap to avoid accidental exposure by using soap in public bathrooms. I recommend basic olive oil soap (Kiss My Face has a good one). I rely on basic lotion like Cerave and Vaseline. * protopic has been the best in treating my eyelid and face eczema. It burns and itches in the initial applications, so I have learned to use a lot smaller dosage in applying. I use protopic for maintenance, although I would one day like to stop using it altogether. I tried Elidel and while it treated the symptoms, it made my skin too tight. * steroids - for hand or finger eczema, you likely need something stronger than hydrocortisone. I was prescribed fluocinonide to treat eczema here. Steroids are not to be used on the face. * in the rare event I have a flare up over my body, I like to buy the hydrocortisone in the aerosol spray bottle. I also noticed it has fewer ingredients than hydrocortisone in a tube. Other research, tips, and tricks that I have picked up along the way. Not all of this was life changing for me but I know we all can get

My dermo prescribed this to me after not having positive results from a tirade of topicals, including steroids. Basically this is a last-ditch effort before building the case with my insurance for Dupixent. In looking up Elidel, it seems it comes with a lengthy list of possible side effects. I’ll link the list in the comments, but something that raised concern was with studies that may have shown a link with Lymphoma (cancer). I’m not feeling comfortable at all with using it at this point. I was curious if anyone here has had any experience with Elidel/Pimecrolimus that they can share with me?

After numerous doctor visits, After being prescribed clobetasol, aristocort, topicort, elidel, bethamethasone topical steroid creams and ointments, After a 2-month bid on prednisone and a 5-week unpaid leave from work, After patch testing which was inconclusive, After almost being put on Rinvoq, After nearly half a year of suffering with eyelid eczema and whole body rashes The culprit was the allergen buildup in my washing machine. I resolved it by running a few hot cycles with bleach and washing machine cleaner, and draining it. I also bought allersearch ADMS to rewash my clothes with. Posting because it might help someone who didn’t know.

I have terrible eczema on my eyelids at the moment. It's incredibly painful, itchy, annoying, all the things. I spoke with my dermatologist and she prescribed elidel (which I'm still waiting for insurance to approve) and hydrocortisone 2.5%. I'm hesitant to use the hydrocortisone because another dermatologist told me they never put steroids on the face because it thins the skin. Now I'm not sure if I just toughen this out until the elidel is ready, or just bite the bullet and use the hydrocortisone. If anyone has suggestions, I'm open to hearing them!

I have got the atopic dermatitis on my forehead, it becomes awful from time to time. My dr. recommended the elidel for me and said it is safe to use. However, although the elidel have control my eczema, it makes my skin become red. I suspect that it may due to the effect of elidel. Is it the side effect of elidel? Can it be avoidable?

So I get really bad eczema on my eyelids (particularly on my left eye which is weird ...) but my dr prescribed me Elidel during a flare up a few months and it does help but idk if the side effects are worth it!! I also partially don't entirely know whether the side effects I'm dealing with are normal or not. My eyelids heat up like crazy, it is such an uncomfortable feeling... which sounds normal/par for the course. On top of that when I use it in the evening I wake up feeling sick.. like sore throat, almost feverish, and generally sort of out of it. Basically run down & sort of flu like. This has only happened two or three times with Elidel but I feel like I am noticing a correlation.... and it usually happens the first day or two that I use it. Has anyone experienced these symptoms??