5 things that worsen my eczema

In the winter my eczema always gets worse and I know that I’m not the only one. Since I was young, my eczema outbursts were always much more agressive in the winter. Now, my eczema continues to be worse in the cold days but it is much better than when I was younger.

So, now that I have a flare up again, I am more careful and analyze what I might have done to make my eczema become more activated, and the conclusions I’ve made:

1- Dehydration in the inside:

I am not the type of person that drinks 2 litres of water a day. In the summer, I might drink 1.5 litres or 2 but only on really hot days. At work for example, I drink 2 bottles of 1.5 litres per week. Not at all what doctors recommend. In the winter months, I probably drink half of that. It really is a struggle for me to drink water when it is cold. To get myself drinking more liquids, I drink warm tea (usually freshly sliced ginger and cinnamon) and try to have as many mugs a day as possible, which is usually 2 or 3 if I really force myself. Also, I am still breatfeeding my little one, which probably doens’t help me with my lack of water.

2- Dehydration on the outside:

Even though I have really dry skin, I know that I should always keep my skin moisturized on the outside with creams. I have gotten rid of all my cheap creams (those creams are really bad for my skin) and now I have less creams but with much higher quality. Another thing that I am hoping will make my skin less dehydrated is using natural soap, I don’t plan on ever buying more soap at the stores. I have started making my own soaps (February 9, my first cold process soap done, now I have to wait 4-6 weeks for it to cure) and I hope that by using my super soaps my skin will be more moisturized! I will send one of my eczema soaps to my brother Filipe, who lives in Vancouver, and I sure hope we will both see improvements with our skin! I also put some drops of jojoba oil on my skin (it is a liquid wax) because it helps to keep the skins moisture in and protects the skin.

3- Lack of sleep/Stress:

Definitely doesn’t help my eczema. I know it is directly related. I have a nervous tick when I am stressed for whatever reason – I scratch myself on my eczema spots.

I finally have been sleeping better, after almost 1 year and a half. My little guy wasn’t letting me sleep more than 3 hours since he was born! He finally started sleeping better, goes to sleep at 21h30 and wakes up at around 05h00, I go and breastfeed, and then he sleeps until around 08h00. Omg, the first night he slept 8 hours straight I woke up even more tired than when I was waking up every 2/3 hours! I really needed to sleep 12 hours or more…

4- Eating habits

Whenever I eat food with more sugar, fat and salt than usual, my skin problems get worse. I enjoy my new eating habits, where we have switched the noodles and rice for buckwheat, meat for fish and raw vegetables are usually placed in the salad bowl now (brocoli, spinach, cabbage) and I feel myself with more energy and with less itchy skin. But whenever I think, oh, it’s ok, my eczema is better for a while now, I can eat this, Bang! It comes back, creepy and itching. And then there’s nothing I can do about it, except to scratch until my skin is all red, swollen and scratched (from me)…

5- Scratching

But of all the things that worsen my eczema, it is me scratching that makes it horrible! But it feels so good for the 5 or 10 seconds that I am scrathing. And then for the next 3 or 4 days I can’t show my wrists (were my ecezma has been worse lately) to anybody because I am embarrassed of how they look!

I will try to keep these points in mind and cure my eczema!