I Had Such High Hopes
I was so looking forward to my consultation with a new dermatologist. My skin has been a nightmare for the past few years and I was really hoping that a new pair of eyes would help – debates range between contact dermatitis, urticaria and eczema. Frankly I think it’s all three at different times, but I was desperate to find the ‘trigger’.
I’ve never been so depressed following a consultation before. I even ended up, much to my embarrassment, in tears.
The long and the short of it – was I spent an hour being told that it was all genetic, nothing much could be done except expensive light therapy which would only give a bit of relief as long as it lasted. Steroid creams or protopic are my only options plus antihistamines and prednisone when it gets really bad. He reiterated that food wouldn’t be causing the rash. He tried to be sympathetic – people don’t understand how hard it is to have terrible skin – and that’s when I started to cry. The helplessness, the sense that nobody can do anything to help, the drug side effects, all of it will just continue with apparently no way to end it. I wanted tests to see if we could find an allergy but there was, apparently, no point.
Maybe he was right, maybe there is nothing anybody can do, but this is why people end up at Chrystal healers and the like. A sense of desperation, a willingness to try anything to get some relief.
So I sulked, for several weeks actually. Felt hopeless, the steroid side effects aren’t great and I’m determined that no more damage is done to my skin. It really didn’t help that he pointed it all out – the cigarette skin on my arms, the ridges around my elbows that are apparently scar tissue from scratching – all typical skin issues of life long eczema sufferers. I know my hands look like a 90 year olds. I’m painfully aware of it.
So now it’s time to stop hoping for help from doctors and to start taking some action myself. There are lots of creams and lotions out there that talk about helping eczema so I’m ditching the Diprobase and trying Dr Organics Manuka Honey Range. They say that it restores and hydrate dry cracked and damaged skin. Helps with natural cell regeneration, and that the Manuka honey nourishes skin. So I’ve nothing to lose by giving it a go.
I’m also going to:
- Cut out sesame – I’ve kept track of what I eat and I’m convinced my skin flares up after I eat hummus (one of my favourite foods)
- I don’t drink alcohol every day anyway, but I think it dries out my skin so I’m going to make sure that I do no more than 3 days a week and see if that helps.
- Use Dr Organic Manuka Honey Body Butter as my new moisturiser.
- Increase my green tea intake and cut down coffee a bit
I’ll let you know how I get on – in the meantime I can say that the Dr Organic Manuka Body Butter is lovely and I’m enjoying using it.
