Posted: 4/10/2005 8:20:44 PM EDT
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Have any of you guys ever used the product skin zinc? I keep hearing the radio ad and with summer approaching Im starting to get some inflamations. I still have a steroid creme that my doc prescribed me but he told me I couldnt keep using it. Dont know why he gave me such a big tube if I couldnt use all of it. So what has worked to control the inflamations for you guys? This stuff is really annoying! |
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Elidel Cream This is the most effective treatment available for Atopic Dermatitis / Eczema and is safer with less side effects than steroidal creams. Since I am not a doctor, I cannot disclose any further information about this product to you, other than to suggest you ask you doctor about it. He will very likely prescribe this to you, especially if you've become intollerant of steroidal creams. The website above will give you much more information. |
| I've suffered with eczema since I was a child. I've been using oral and topical steriods since the 1970s. So far, ultraviolet light therapy has been the most effective treatment I've ever tried. My doctor won't give me any more because there's a risk of developing skin cancer so I'm back to the topical prescriptions. I tried Elidel but it wasn't strong enough for me. I'm now using Protopic ointment combined with Ultravate with decent results. |
I can almost guarantee 500 mg of Omega 3 vitamin in the morning and with dinner will clear it up. Patty |
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Thanks for the great feedback. I'll go to the local health food place tomorrow and check out the omega vitamin since its the quickest thing for now. I'll try the other remedies before the skin zinc though. So far Im only getting it on my feet so its not too bad but I know when I first got it last summer I didnt treat it as I thought it was just blistering from working alot on my feet and it just got worse. I wish I knew what causes it. I had zero problems in the winter which I thought it would be worse since skin seems to dry out when its cold. I work in a shop that doesnt have AC and Im on my feet the whole time and that seems to set it off. Hopefully I'll find a product that works for me though. |
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I have Psoriasis. My doctor, a University of Washington teaching dermatologist, thinks that Psoriasis and possibly Eczema may be related to an auto-immune condition. Monitor your stress levels. My problem started when our shop switched to enviornmentally friendly chemicals. I take Methotrexate, an oral chemo-therapy drug. Without it, I would flare up five or six times a year. Fully recovery would take six weeks after each flare up. Flare up: Foot:  Hand: 
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I really feel for people with Psoriasis. When I first found out I had eczema I did some research on skin disorders online. I got alot of results which were always coupled with psoriasis info. Seen alot of pictures and it looks very painful. Eczema is more like poison ivy but not as bad. It itches from time to time. I thought or had heard stress could be a factor but I wouldnt say Im under alot more stress lately. When it first started last summer I would work 8-9 hours in a shop thats 90 degrees and then go work on a house doing yard work and various restoration on the inside for 2-3 hours. I perspire alot in the summer without AC so I thought with the extra outside activity could be a factor. |
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For mild outbreaks on my arms and legs I had success with Cormium 21, an aloe based product. There were a few times my skin resembled the pics above. YUCK! http://corium21.com/about_corium_21.html Any other aloe didn't work... btw, when I was able to i.d. the triggers for migraine (foods/perfumes mostly), the excema calmed down quite a bit. That was 6 yrs ago. Plus...I just started flax seed oil caps for the Omega power :) Scalp is still a problem from time to time, melaleuca oil stops the itching and maybe the spread, so far. Gwen |
I find that sometimes when I nervous I will unconsciously scratch myself. General Zhukov of Stalingrad fame was said to have suffered extreme bouts of eczema due to stress that required him to bandage his hands up. |
| I just bought a big bottle of flax seed oil today as suggested by patty. The clerk told me it could be a month before I started noticing any results. The directions say to take 1-2 tablespoons per day so Iam going to take two. It really doesnt taste all that bad. Hopefully I'll see some results soon. I'll update this thread later on. |
Omega 3's but the flax seed oil is probably even better. Let me check. You'll get releif almost immediately though. Patty |
Well I told him that I was recommended omega 3 vitamins and told him about my situation and he pointed me towards the oil. I asked him if I should take it in conjunction with the omega 3 vitamins and he said that it contained omega 3 and would work better in liquid form. |
Wrong. Elidel has NOT been proven to more effective that topical steroids (the standard of care) and is not completely safe...the FDA just released warnings about this product and Protopic (same class of drug). |
I would try this and from my own experience and others in my family I'd severly limit wheat products and dairy products. A tall order in this society but still worth the experiment. Do a 30 day test without one or the other or both if you can manage it and see if there's a difference. It's a very enlightening thing to some people. |
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I had it bad for 20 years I tried everything with little luck. Then somebody recommended Nizoral Shampoo, I use it about every 5 days and the Eczema cleared up. It has been working for 8 months. Link: www.nizoral.com/index.jhtml |
I'm pretty sure he's right. I think the Flax Seed oil is better but I've always taken the Omega 3's for my eczema. My oncologist gave me the Flax See oil for my breast cancer - it's a great thing. Patty |
Thanks for the info Patty! I just went to the store and picked up a bottle of flax oil. The gel caps are are 1000 mg each (omega-3 1335 mg, omega-6 388 mg, omega-9 437 mg & flaxseed particulate 570 mg). The suggested dose on the label is 3 capsules 3 times a day. Do you think that dosage sounds too high? |
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I have had Psoriasis (or Dermatitis / Eczema depending on the corpsman and doctor I see) for the last 10 years on the back of my scalp and eyelids. I've tried a ton of crap they have given me and the only thing that has remotely tried to work is OLUX foam. I can only use it 10 out of every 20 days and it burns something terrible when I put it on. The doctors I've seen haven't given me anything that has helped my eyelids though. Most of the stuff they have given me says, "Do not use in or around eyes". 
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Is this something I can get over the counter? |
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Sorry it has not worked out for you. I've had what I believe is Eczema for several years... strangely, its initial appearance coincided with when I took up shooting, and it primarily affects my right hand (don't know if it's really related to the physical stresses of recoil etc. from shooting a pistol, or was just a coincidence). My fingers would go through cycles where patches of skin would begin to get hard and tough, then "scaly" (I guess that's a word). Soon thereafter, very painful cracks would appear, which I would desperately treat with antibiotic ointment and band-aids (I was personally responsible for 17.3% of Johnson & Johnson's sales in the southern U.S.). It was damn near disabling, and sometimes the skin of my fingers were so inflexible I couldn't even clench them into a fist. Of course, all due respect to sufferers of Psoriasis and other disorders that make my symptoms look minor in comparison. Anyway, the steroid creams worked, but I didn't like using them for fear of adverse effects. "Zim's Crack Creme" applied at night helped some, as did using moisturizing creme during the day, and band-aids when the cracks occurred, but this all seemed like I was "chasing" the problem around and not really solving it. I really started to see improvement when I read the suggestion of Patty and others in this thread a few months ago and bought some bottles of Flax and Fish oil capsules. While I wouldn't say that all symptoms have disappeared, the problem is much, MUCH more manageble now. I don't even use the "Zims Crack Creme" anymore, and very rarely have to do the band-aid routine. Right now, I have a few areas on my hands where the skin is just a little "flaky", and it generally only worsens if I pick at it. This is in stark contrast to the unbearable cycles of angry-looking bleeding fissures I endured before. Thank you, Patty & others! Oddly enough, I've also considerable relief (though to a lesser extent now, since the problem is mostly gons) during and immediately after sailing trips out to the Mississippi barrier islands in the Gulf, which is surprising considering the physical activity involved (pulling ropes, etc.). I think swimming in the saltwater helps. --Mike edit: just to clarify, though the problem started for me when I took up shooting, taking a break from shooting didn't not make the problem go away. So, either it was unrelated to shooting, or shooting caused the initial onset of the problem, which was self-perpetuating or affected by other normal activities. |
Holy shit!! I think you have it worse than my friend, and he's 80% covered. It's a horrible condition. He's always on the move to keep his mind off the itching.  He has to apply topical steroids like crazy (clobetasol 0.05% IIRC) everyday. He goes through so many tubes. He really hated methotrexate and some of the other crap they gave him. He was always getting sick and feeling shitty. Of course his insurance won't cover Enbrel.I had a couple patches of eczema a few years back, but the topical got rid of it, and I've never really had any since.  BTW: He got it right after a bad dirt bike accident broke his leg. He had to have surgery with pins, ect... Strange.
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No, it's not OTC, but you can ask your doctor about it. Like I said, it burns like crap, but helps some. I'm going to try the Omega-3 stuff and see if that helps. I'm really trying to get rid of it before I'm up to transfer. It's sub disqual'ing and I like my job too much to choose a surface rate. That and I prefer the set deployment schedule of a SSBN vs. any surface ship. |
fixed it for ya!  I just read the 496 page FDA report on this. The warnings that the FDA released contained only information that was always present in the current package insert. The warning pertained to certain classes of rats and monkeys who were given doses 100+x higher than normal human doses, and not as a cream, but as an internal administration. The warning was particularly aimed at children, however, the findings are unsupported in humans. |
fixed it for ya
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