Health, Weight Loss & Diet Plans General Blog: Eczema

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                                <section class="field-body">More than 30 million Americans have eczema,
 a skin disease characterized by itchy, red rashes. While many people 
have it as kids and outgrow it by the time they're teens, others (about 
3% of adults) are stuck with it for the long-haul. Here, three women 
share what living with eczema is really like—and why it's more than just
 an annoying rash. (<a href="http://www.thepowernutrientsolutionbook.com/?cid=bwo_pvn.com_text_254416&keycode=254416" target="_blank"><em>The Power Nutrient Solution</em></a> is the first-ever plan that tackles the root cause of virtually every major ailment and health condition; get your copy today!)<br />

<strong>It feels like a bad case of poison ivy.</strong><br />
 "But reactions to poison ivy go away after a few days of agony. Imagine
 reacting to poison ivy but it never goes away or keeps coming back," 
says <a href="http://www.drshelleydiamond.com/" target="_blank">Shelley F. Diamond</a>, PhD, a psychologist who has been living with very severe eczema since birth. "That's what eczema is like.</section></div>
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<strong>It's almost impossible not to scratch.</strong><br />
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<img alt="itchy eczema" class="media-element file-default" src="http://www.prevention.com/sites/prevention.com/files/styles/article_main_image_2200px/public/shutterstock_175570568-impossible-not-scratch-kaspars-grinvalds.jpg?itok=_WqWEkH8" title="itchy eczema" typeof="foaf:Image" /></div>
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 Telling someone with eczema to "stop scratching" is one of the least 
helpful things you can do, says Diamond. Usually, the itching starts out
 as a tingling sensation that grows and grows until you can no longer 
fight the urge, says Lisa Choy, a life-long sufferer who serves on the 
board of directors of the <a href="https://nationaleczema.org/" target="_blank">National Eczema Association</a>.
 And once you start scratching, the itch goes deep and becomes 
insatiable. During serious flares, you might feel itchy from head to 
toe.<br />

<strong>People are afraid of you. </strong><br />
 When severe eczema covers much of your body, people are bound to stare.
 Sometimes people shy away because think it's contagious (it's not) or 
unattractive, which can make sufferers feel self-conscious. "I had to 
learn that while some people find skin problems repulsive, others think 
it's no big deal," says Diamond. "I've been in a long-term relationship 
for over 20 years now. It just takes the right person to make a good 
match."<br />

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<strong>It can rule your life.</strong><br />
 Everything from what you wear to the weather can cause extra-sensitive 
skin to flare up, which means your entire day can easily revolve around 
skincare and trigger avoidance. "If someone says: 'Hey let's go 
camping,' my first thought is not: 'Where? That sounds like fun!'" says 
Choy. "It's more like: 'Ugh, camping? What does that mean for me and my 
skin?'"<br />

For Vaune Kostecki, who has had severe chronic eczema her whole life,
 just the thought of wearing dresses or sleeveless shirts makes her 
uncomfortable. And she'd never jump in a pond or a lake for fear of 
catching something, thanks to the open cuts on her skin from scratching.
 Even figuring out how to exercise can be tricky. "Heating up and 
sweating makes me itch uncontrollably," she says.<br />

<strong>There's a lot of trial and error. </strong><br />
 While some people with mild eczema might do well with basic skin care and medicated creams,
 others require light therapy or steroids and some need hormones or 
biologic drugs. Finding an effective treatment can be a lifelong 
struggle, and what works at one point might not at another.<br />

To further complicate matters, your personal triggers can change. For
 example, the sun never used to bother Kostecki, but now that she's 54 
she says she can't leave her skin exposed to the rays for more than 20 
minutes before the itching starts up. "It's a condition that never stays
 the same, so it's kind of like this roller coaster,<br />

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<br />
 Choy feels lucky to have found treatments that mostly keep her eczema 
under control. But she recalls mornings when she didn't want to get out 
of bed and face the world. Even on days when she didn't have to go to 
work, she dreaded leaving the house to get groceries because that would 
mean she'd have to talk to people and they'd see her skin looking like a
 red and irritated mess.<br />

The stress of constantly having to think about potential triggers, 
like whether your clothing will make you itch or the weather will 
irritate you, can quite literally get under your skin when you have 
eczema, says Choy. "You want to be a normal person who doesn't have to 
think about those things."</section></div>
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What It's Really Like To Have Eczema

Photograph by thodonal88/shutterstock ...