Taming the Eczema Beast

The Introduction

Eczema is a kind of skin disorder and often coupled with asthma, also a common allergy reaction. The skin of eczema patient is dry, thickened, and itchy. Sometimes, lesion will occur, and worsen by scratching. Also, in the later stages, hyperpigmented plaques with raised appearance. The most important thing is that a patient must not scratch, or it will become worse.

Causes

The cause of this problem is generally nutrition-related. Ezcemic patients are often severely lacking in omega-3 (to choose a good omega-3, click here) fatty acids and have digestive problems. Sometimes, eczema is a common reaction to food allergy.

"Sometimes, eczema is a common reaction to food allergy."

Infants who have been fed with solid food too early will sometimes cause allergy reaction such as eczema. This is caused by the passage of food to the immature gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT), which can cause immune reactions. Immune reactions are created through the introduction of foreign protein usually into the blood stream. As the immune system is able to distinguish between self and non-self, foreign protein is more than able to be detected as harmful. This triggers the immune response on some people and allergy reactions happen as a consequence. Some people only sensitive to certain proteins, but some are not.

Food allergy might be the causes to a lot of headache and certainly, this is not a minor problem. Many have overlook the seriousness of food allergy and pay no details to the food they eat. It might be the sandwich that you love so much that causes your eczema. The food we eat may activate the inflammatory mediators in the gut, so we must pay attention to what we eat and which food will cause us to have allergic reaction.

However, imbalance of intestinal floral will cause allergic reaction as well. This is because the bacteria that lives in our gut is overpowered by the bad guys. This can cause the accumulation of endotoxins which can trigger allergic reaction as well. Consuming yogurt or supplementary acidophillus will do the trick of restoring our intestinal floral and thus eliminating allergic reactions.

Eczema in infants are best treated with breastfeeding as the baby might be allergic to cow's milk or any other substitute milk. However, if the problem arises from breastfeeding, then it should be discontinued and the mother should be treated as this might indicate that the mother might have health problems.

In eczema patients, there are usually many abnormalities in their micro-circulation of the skin. Often, there are considerable blanching, and cold skin. The application of vascodilatories will not improve the skin condition but will worsen it. This is cause by the presence of potent vascoconstrictors and inflammation agents such as endothelins, which are associated with allergic reaction and asthma.

The other cause of eczema is digestion related. There are some patients who have lowered stomach acid level and those who will have problem metabolizing fatty acids. The patient involved might have difficulties digesting and utilising linoleic acid. This however, can be fixed by consuming what we known as evening primrose oil or DHA (which is abundant in fish oil or cod liver oil).

"...patient involved might have difficulties digesting and utilising linoleic acid."

Recommendations

When experiencing itchiness, and any other symptoms associated with eczema, one is advised to apply emollient substances to calm down such inflammations. In my archive, you can search an article detailing in making lotions and a myriad of other stuff posted in this blog.

As for topical preparations such as creams, lotions, or even gel, one has to be careful as to what kind of ingredients go into the preparations.  While bad flare-ups usually warrant the usage of steroidal preparations (which should be prescribed by doctors or pharmacists) but such remedies should be used as infrequently as possible as it could potentially cause skin thinning at best and hormonal interference at worst!

Mayura Apothecary's Soothing Skin Salve
for Relief of Angry and Red Skin

Natural preparations would always be preferable and for this reason, we have whipped up a batch of marvelous emollient consisting of natural ingredients to help with moisturising and relief of such angry skin. Containing German Chamomile extract which acts as an anti-inflammatory and blended into a base of pure beeswax, extra virgin olive oil, rice bran oil, and almond oil, such ingredients will leave your skin feeling supple while soothing the dreaded inflammation of the skin.

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Another natural alternative would be the topical applications of neat witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) or castor oil. Soaps or preparations containing white sandalwood (Santalum album) might be of help too. Distillations and preparations containing Peppermint (Mentha piperita) and/or Spearmint (Mentha spicata) might help to relieve itchiness. However, if you found yourself having sensitivity towards such herbs, stop using it. Strawberry (Fragaria vesca) is also a well-known treatment for eczema, its juice (from the fruit) is useful when applied topically as a lotion. An infusion made from the leaves, also, have the same effectiveness when applied as lotion on the afflicted area.

However, in my opinion of eating right, pick up a book, titled 'eat your colors' by Marcia Zimmerman, published by Henry Holt® and Company. You can't go wrong by following the author's advice. Given in such precision and articulations, you will find even the slightest details that most dietary books will miss out and food will never be the same with this book. This is the website for this book: http://www.thenutritionsolution.com

This means that correct eating will eliminate a lot of problems. As I turn around the corner of health issues, it all come back to the same thing, correct eating, ample exercise, and plenty of fluids. This is the true recipe of health.