The Eczema Thread

[noqcks]

I wanted to start a thread of things that have helped your eczema.

I used to have eczema every winter. I tried some pregnenolone and progesterone last winter and it went away quite quickly.

I thought perhaps this was just luck since I tried it around the time winter was ending and I was getting more vitamin D.

However it doesn’t seem to be luck as I tried progesterone again near a small patch of eczema and it is already starting to improve!

What have you used for eczema? Do you also find progesterone helps?

 

[Inaut]

I have dishydrotic eczema on my hands and besides dietary changes, a mixture of lanolin and mct oil has really helped. I just received some orange wax recently which I’m adding in small amounts. Worth a short for those who suffer with this...

 

[Birdie]

My husband has eczema in his ear. What's been helping him is putting some sulfur soap on it. At first he used it every day. Now he says he uses it as needed. He leaves it on rather than rinsing it off.

However, his ENT doctor rubbed (quite hard rubbing) in a cream that contained cortisone about 6 months ago. She told him to use a similar cream as needed. Her treatment lasted 3 months. Then, he decided to use the sulfur soap rather than the cortisone cream.

He has taken pregnenolone and used protest-E for years btw. So, perhaps that is helping it, or perhaps more would help, or differently applied.etc... He did not use the progesterone near the ear, but takes a drop a day. Just mentioning this since @noqcks started off with those and they worked well in that case.

 

[noqcks]

My husband has eczema in his ear. What's been helping him is putting some sulfur soap on it. At first he used it every day. Now he says he uses it as needed. He leaves it on rather than rinsing it off.

However, his ENT doctor rubbed (quite hard rubbing) in a cream that contained cortisone about 6 months ago. She told him to use a similar cream as needed. Her treatment lasted 3 months. Then, he decided to use the sulfur soap rather than the cortisone cream.

He has taken pregnenolone and used protest-E for years btw. So, perhaps that is helping it, or perhaps more would help, or differently applied.etc... He did not use the progesterone near the ear, but takes a drop a day. Just mentioning this since @noqcks started off with those and they worked well in that case.

How much sunlight does he get, out of curiosity? Do you live in a northern climate?

Do you notice it's much worse in the winter?

 

[Motif]

I‘m pretty sure for most it’s some kind of nutrient deficiency. Maybe caused by bad digestion like in my case.

zinc and copper for me , but probably all minerals are affected by this.

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

I wanted to start a thread of things that have helped your eczema.

I used to have eczema every winter. I tried some pregnenolone and progesterone last winter and it went away quite quickly.

I thought perhaps this was just luck since I tried it around the time winter was ending and I was getting more vitamin D.

However it doesn’t seem to be luck as I tried progesterone again near a small patch of eczema and it is already starting to improve!

What have you used for eczema? Do you also find progesterone helps?

My son has dealt with eczema since he was in elementary school. A diet low in PUFA’s has helped, but wearing only cotton has REALLY helped. Also taking showers instead of baths, and doing a very cold rinse on your affected areas stops further sweating or oozing.

 

[Whichway?]

Has anyone tried a LED red light panel for their eczema? They are available now with 660nm and 850nm wavelengths, both of which are supposed to help skin. I did a PUBMED search and one of the Cochrane Database and couldn't find anything definitive. Just wondering if any eczema patients have had success?

 

[LucyL]

I've recently had an eczema flareup, and used a 5% lidocaine solution - 5 grams of Lidocaine HCL dissolved in 100ml of RO Water - applied to the patches. Also washing them with camel milk soap. The Lidocaine worked amazingly well to calm itching and irritation. It hasn't healed the patches, though they are a duller red and drier looking. This after a week of just using the lidocaine / camel milk soap.

 

[EvanHinkle]

I had dermatitis for 10 years and my cure was antagonizing endotoxin. Activated charcoal was my go to. I now no longer have dermatitis going on about two years now.

I also now take extremely low dose antibiotics three days a week. I no longer even need occasional charcoal, though I’m still happy to take it once a week just in case.

Maybe that’s just what helped my skin, but I’m inclined to believe, (based on helping others) that skin issues are just symptoms of endotoxin.

 

[ampersand]

Is there anyone here who has worked with a doctor or naturopath who has been able to significantly help their eczema? I'm asking for a friend who is really suffering with a full-body terrible flare up. She's considering going to a naturopath and I worry they will just put her on a restrictive GAPS type diet.

I used to have terrible atopic dermatitis as well but it's been years since I've had an issue with it. I tried so many different approaches over the years and none seemed to make much difference, other than extended water fasting. Now I consider myself mostly "cured" but I don't understand how that happened well enough to advise someone else with the condition.

 

[Peachy]

Is there anyone here who has worked with a doctor or naturopath who has been able to significantly help their eczema? I'm asking for a friend who is really suffering with a full-body terrible flare up. She's considering going to a naturopath and I worry they will just put her on a restrictive GAPS type diet.

I used to have terrible atopic dermatitis as well but it's been years since I've had an issue with it. I tried so many different approaches over the years and none seemed to make much difference, other than extended water fasting. Now I consider myself mostly "cured" but I don't understand how that happened well enough to advise someone else with the condition.

I worked with a functional MD for severe dyshidrotic eczema. She had me cut out gluten, dairy and refined sugar for 6 weeks. So, yes, very restrictive. Probably unnecessarily so. But not GAPS-level restrictive. I used an antibiotic cream when it flared until the diet started helping. In the beginning I had to go on steroids and antibiotics because it was so bad. By the end of the six weeks it was gone and I was off meds.

Mine was correlated with pregnancy/nursing hormones so it came back to a lesser degree with my next child. I took a more peaty approach and it took longer but it worked without me having to starve myself. I ate little gluten but otherwise focused on a nutrient-dense peaty diet. Zinc (oysters) were important. Liver too.

 

[ampersand]

I worked with a functional MD for severe dyshidrotic eczema. She had me cut out gluten, dairy and refined sugar for 6 weeks. So, yes, very restrictive. Probably unnecessarily so. But not GAPS-level restrictive. I used an antibiotic cream when it flared until the diet started helping. In the beginning I had to go on steroids and antibiotics because it was so bad. By the end of the six weeks it was gone and I was off meds.

Mine was correlated with pregnancy/nursing hormones so it came back to a lesser degree with my next child. I took a more peaty approach and it took longer but it worked without me having to starve myself. I ate little gluten but otherwise focused on a nutrient-dense peaty diet. Zinc (oysters) were important. Liver too.

Do you think that the doctor's advice really helped, or do you think the flare-up would have died down on its own without following her advice?

I'm asking because I suffered for over two decades and cutting out various foods never seemed to make much difference for me. I obsessively searched for patterns but never really found any. I feel cured now, but still don't really UNDERSTAND eczema.

The only thing that always helped me was cutting out ALL foods and water fasting, but I know other people who didn't get relief from fasting.

Nowadays I eat whatever I want and don't have eczema problems, although in general I eat somewhat Peaty, avoiding PUFAS and legumes. I eat a lot of saturated fat, as much sugar as I crave, raw milk, gelatinous cuts of meat, make home made bread, etc.

It's possible that fasting helped for some reason other than food elimination. Like if fasting helps reset the immune system and eczema has an autoimmune aspect.

 

[EvanHinkle]

Do you think that the doctor's advice really helped, or do you think the flare-up would have died down on its own without following her advice?

I'm asking because I suffered for over two decades and cutting out various foods never seemed to make much difference for me. I obsessively searched for patterns but never really found any. I feel cured now, but still don't really UNDERSTAND eczema.

The only thing that always helped me was cutting out ALL foods and water fasting, but I know other people who didn't get relief from fasting.

Nowadays I eat whatever I want and don't have eczema problems, although in general I eat somewhat Peaty, avoiding PUFAS and legumes. I eat a lot of saturated fat, as much sugar as I crave, raw milk, gelatinous cuts of meat, make home made bread, etc.

It's possible that fasting helped for some reason other than food elimination. Like if fasting helps reset the immune system and eczema has an autoimmune aspect.

Fasting kills/starves the bacteria responsible for endotoxin. I used to dry fast and water fast for my dermatitis, and it always worked. About a year and a half ago I “cured” it with activated charcoal, (it blocks the endotoxin receptor-thank you Dr. Peat). Activated charcoal is much better, (to me, in my opinion) than fasting. I like to eat!

 

[Peachy]

Do you think that the doctor's advice really helped, or do you think the flare-up would have died down on its own without following her advice?

I'm asking because I suffered for over two decades and cutting out various foods never seemed to make much difference for me. I obsessively searched for patterns but never really found any. I feel cured now, but still don't really UNDERSTAND eczema.

The only thing that always helped me was cutting out ALL foods and water fasting, but I know other people who didn't get relief from fasting.

Nowadays I eat whatever I want and don't have eczema problems, although in general I eat somewhat Peaty, avoiding PUFAS and legumes. I eat a lot of saturated fat, as much sugar as I crave, raw milk, gelatinous cuts of meat, make home made bread, etc.

It's possible that fasting helped for some reason other than food elimination. Like if fasting helps reset the immune system and eczema has an autoimmune aspect.

I can relate to the obsessive restriction and search for patterns. This was the first time I’d really been consistent in my restriction and I felt a sense of hope since I was working with a doctor who cared.

I don’t think it would’ve gone away on its own, though now I think there are better routes for dealing with autoimmunity/eczema.

I’d been in a consistent flare for a year. What got me to seek medical help is when it became so inflamed, my hand doubled in size. It was so acute that an emergency room doc gasped, covered her mouth and stepped backwards when I showed her. Very comforting!

After the meds and 6 weeks of restriction it went away completely. I did stop breastfeeding at that point. But now that I think about it, I’d been dealing with this on and off since college so I think it was more the depletion that comes with having a child than the hormones.

There’s a 4-part autoimmune series on The Energy Balance Podcast. I’m linking the first one. I really like this bioenergetic view.

Ep. 42: Alternative Views of The Immune System and Autoimmunity (Autoimmunity Part 1)

Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher| SpotifyIn this episode we discuss:Why elimination diets and avoiding dietary triggers is not the solution for autoimmunity…

www.jayfeldmanwellness.com

 

[Peachy]

Fasting kills/starves the bacteria responsible for endotoxin. I used to dry fast and water fast for my dermatitis, and it always worked. About a year and a half ago I “cured” it with activated charcoal, (it blocks the endotoxin receptor-thank you Dr. Peat). Activated charcoal is much better, (to me, in my opinion) than fasting. I like to eat!

True! Also, if your metabolism is terrible, kicking up the stress hormones can provide temporary relief.

 

[ampersand]

Fasting kills/starves the bacteria responsible for endotoxin. I used to dry fast and water fast for my dermatitis, and it always worked. About a year and a half ago I “cured” it with activated charcoal, (it blocks the endotoxin receptor-thank you Dr. Peat). Activated charcoal is much better, (to me, in my opinion) than fasting. I like to eat!

True! Also, if your metabolism is terrible, kicking up the stress hormones can provide temporary relief.

These are all really interesting points.

 

[bigc]

Fasting kills/starves the bacteria responsible for endotoxin. I used to dry fast and water fast for my dermatitis, and it always worked. About a year and a half ago I “cured” it with activated charcoal, (it blocks the endotoxin receptor-thank you Dr. Peat). Activated charcoal is much better, (to me, in my opinion) than fasting. I like to eat!

Filinov's stuff? My first 9 day DF cleared up almost every health problem I had. I thought it was a miracle until it all reverted after a month. The second time I went 11 days with no results. In hindsight the body was utterly depleted at that point. I'm convinced my problems are bacteria and endotoxin driven, after countless crazy experiments on myself that is the only consistent conclusion I can make.

I'm giving charcoal a try after coming across many of your endorsements here. Just wondering whether you had any digestion issues while you had dermatitis, or whether AC affected digestion in any way? My biggest problems are eczema, sinus and digestion. Excessive gas/bloating immediately after any food, also too short a transit time with food coming out half digested after 6hrs.

 

[EvanHinkle]

Filinov's stuff? My first 9 day DF cleared up almost every health problem I had. I thought it was a miracle until it all reverted after a month. The second time I went 11 days with no results. In hindsight the body was utterly depleted at that point. I'm convinced my problems are bacteria and endotoxin driven, after countless crazy experiments on myself that is the only consistent conclusion I can make.

I'm giving charcoal a try after coming across many of your endorsements here. Just wondering whether you had any digestion issues while you had dermatitis, or whether AC affected digestion in any way? My biggest problems are eczema, sinus and digestion. Excessive gas/bloating immediately after any food, also too short a transit time with food coming out half digested after 6hrs.

Wow, reading this could have been me three years ago! Incredible how we can manifest the same physical diseases and have a similar, “root cause” and yet “modern medicine” has so little for us… At any rate, just discovering endotoxin is the issue gives you such a leg up!

So from a digestive standpoint I always had issues with fats, (charcoal eliminated those issues). My own sinus issues were related to intestinal inflammation, (I used cypro, Benadryl, and a milk based diet to fix those-obviously not cypro and Benadryl at the same time) but look into Peat’s stuff about those compounds and you should be able to lower the inflammation and reduce the sinusitis.

Gas bloating after food is bacterial in nature, (they eat your food and then poop and expel gas within your body). For that, antibiotics are fantastic. I’d look at Peat’s work on antibiotics, and @haidut has a fantastic product in camphosal. My wife has used candibactin with great results as well.

The charcoal tends to slow transit, (I used to suffer from too shot a transit myself) and so that alone may fix your issues there.

In summary: antibiotic substances will kill the bacteria, charcoal is necessary, (away from antibiotic substances) to mop up the bacterial endotoxin, and the state of the gut, (likely inflamed from all this) can be helped with antihistamines, (like Benadryl or cypro). Just go slowly, read everything you can from Peat and @haidut, and you won’t need three years to heal like I did!

P.S. after all this, you need to ramp up the defenses so you don’t get another bacterial infection of this magnitude. This is where thyroid, vitamin D, diet, lifestyle, and redlight fit in.

Best Wishes!! Be well soon!

 

[bigc]

Thanks for your input. Tried low dose cypro a few months ago and it works but I could never shake that zombie feeling off. Might be worth trying again now though, since at the time my liver glycogen was absolutely terrible. Betaine HCL and UDCA gave me some improvements but not to the degree I was hoping, so the problem definitely needs to be addressed from multiple fronts.

Will see how AC goes in the next few days and then maybe pick up one of the tetracyclines. Regarding antibiotics, here is an interesting read another member posted elsewhere on RPF. Physician Packet: Pulsed Antibiotic Protocol and Rationale - Road Back Foundation

 

[EvanHinkle]

Thanks for your input. Tried low dose cypro a few months ago and it works but I could never shake that zombie feeling off. Might be worth trying again now though, since at the time my liver glycogen was absolutely terrible. Betaine HCL and UDCA gave me some improvements but not to the degree I was hoping, so the problem definitely needs to be addressed from multiple fronts.

Will see how AC goes in the next few days and then maybe pick up one of the tetracyclines. Regarding antibiotics, here is an interesting read another member posted elsewhere on RPF. Physician Packet:

Thanks for your input. Tried low dose cypro a few months ago and it works but I could never shake that zombie feeling off. Might be worth trying again now though, since at the time my liver glycogen was absolutely terrible. Betaine HCL and UDCA gave me some improvements but not to the degree I was hoping, so the problem definitely needs to be addressed from multiple fronts.

Will see how AC goes in the next few days and then maybe pick up one of the tetracyclines. Regarding antibiotics, here is an interesting read another member posted elsewhere on RPF. Physician Packet: Pulsed Antibiotic Protocol and Rationale - Road Back Foundation

What a great resource. My own experience has mirrored much of what is outlined here. In addition to pulse dosing I’ve utilized charcoal to keep herx at bay. I think herx is just temporary endotoxin overload.

Great post. I hope lots of people see this!