The Dermatologist...

The long awaited visit to the dermatologist finally came around. Bub was 21 months old. Of course as is almost always the case when you go see a specialist her skin seemed to be going through a "good" patch. But after the dermo had seen her she was diagnosed with server eczema.

She gave us loads of advise on the new plan of attack and the steroid creams she was prescribing for bub. Hubby and I had some concerns of skin thinning but she assured us that the eczema makes the skin thick and you want the creams to thin it. We were not told of any side effects and  I clearly remember her telling us " The pharmacist will tell you to use this sparingly, but don't worry about that. Use as much as you like when ever you need. Slather it on". We were instructed on wet wrapping and on the way we should put the steroid cream on then a thick layer of ointment, (we used dermeze ) morning and night.

She gave us a script for 12 tubes of Eleuphrat for her body and 4 tubes of Advantan fatty ointment for her face. This came with 2 repeats.We left the appointment with new hope and confidence that the steroids would help.

Feel free to google these creams, you will easily find a huge list of side effects and information about how they should not used for more then a few weeks and only used under supervision especially in children. I have not included   this information because it is very confronting and deeply upsets me.

We saw a huge improvement within only a few days but no matter how well her skin became the eczema always came back. We continued using the steroid creams until the time came that we had none left. I rang to make another appointment with the dermatologist and was informed by the receptionist that an another was not needed and they would send me a new script in the mail. The next day sure enough i received a new prescription with 2 repeats for the same steroid creams...

Our Journey Begins

One of the most joyous moments of my life was the moment our first daughter was born. She was perfect in every single way. For the sake of her privacy I will be referring to her as Bub throughout this blog. During our stay in the hospital we all noticed her little skin flakes on her hands and feet. All the midwives and our Dr all assured me it was just because she was a little overdue. I am sure this is the case for many babies but i always think back to those first few days and wonder if it was a sign of things to come.

Like many parents we took our precious girl to have some new born photos taken at around 2 weeks of age. On the way we made a stop at the local chemist so daddy could make a quick run in and grab some moisturizer suitable for a tiny baby. Her face was quite flaky by this time and we wanted something to smooth it for our photos.

                                                    Bub's flaky foot from the photo shoot.

For a while her skin was fine, but sometime in the following months she started to develop little dry patches on her shoulder blades and from there it just got progressively worse. Before she was even able to walk she had mastered the art of scratching her back on the floor.

My first stop was a Naturopath who suggested we change her formula to goats milk and gave me a huge long list of different foods to cut out. Everything from eggs, dairy, gluten and a number of different fruit and vegetables. We swapped her formula and changed her diet but saw no improvement.

We got into a bit of a routine to try and sooth the itchy monster that was attacking our daughter. I can't begin to imagine the amount of money we spent on "eczema" creams that all did nothing. One night after she had had her shower daddy was applying a new cream that came highly recommended. With in seconds of putting it on her her skin became red and she started to scream, luckily quick thinking daddy threw her straight back in the shower with me or i fear the cream may have burnt her skin right off. From that day i have ALWAYS patch tested any creams/lotions  we use and have been reluctant to try new ones.

I took Bub to numerous different doctors in the hope of a referral to a dermatologist. All of them said oh just try this cream first and gave me a prescription for a form of cortisone/steroid cream. The thing is the steroid creams worked but the itchy eczema always came back with vengeance. The worst of her eczema came when she was around 18 months old. I decided to try another doctor I was told had an interest in dermatology. I left the appointment in tears. He pretty much accused me of neglecting my child. He didn't listen to a word I said and talked over me the whole appointment but i thought he was a godsend as with my tears I left with the referral to a dermatologist I had so desperately wanted.