Today, I'm Going to Show You...My Hands!

Ok, so most of the pics I use come from morguefile.com. I just don’t have access to all the props for every single photo idea that strikes me as something that would be cute to use. (Don’t you just love that little baby?) Besides that, my camera is not the best in the world. Not the worst, but certainly not the Canon that I would one day love to have.

Today, though, I’m going to put up some pics I took…just for you. It occurred to me that I can describe this dishydrotic eczema all day long, but it’s really difficult to imagine without some visual aids. But, before you get to see my hands, I have two things you should know:

1.  You are not allowed to laugh at my decaying nail polish. I have been terrified to use nail polish remover, afraid that it might make matters worse. You can, however, laugh at my decaying skin all you like. ;)

2.  These pics do not do justice to the worst parts of dishydrosis. My hands look really, really good in these pics compared to what they were like before. So, as gross as they are now, imagine that times about 10 and you’ll have some idea as to why I spend so much of my time trying to figure out how to treat it.

So are you ready? I now give you…my hands!

A Twist on My Saltwater and Baking Soda Techniques

While we’re talking about my necrotizing skin, I may as well share what I did last night. I was thinking about making the baking soda paste and then wrapping it instead of letting it dry then rinsing. I wanted to look up to see if anyone had done that before, but couldn’t really find any good information. I did, however, come across someone who suggested making a paste with baking soda and olive oil.

Well, that intrigued me so I dug around a little more on the net. I never did find another mention of doing a paste, but I did find a couple of people who had sworn their dishydrosis cleared up after doing this soak for a few days: ½ cup baking soda, ½ cup Epsom salt, 1 Tbl olive oil, all mixed into a basin of water. I didn’t have Epsom salt, so I subbed in sea salt.

I have to tell you that it was one of the grossest feeling soaks I’ve ever done. Quite slimy. I wasn’t sure it was doing much good at the time, but this morning my hands were way better. They have retained much more moisture than usual, which I am attributing to the olive oil. I have still had to use my Carley’s moisturizer, but it’s really been quite amazing how much longer my skin is holding on to it.

So, as gross as it feels and as bad as it stinks—yes, it smells rather repugnant—I will be doing another soak like this tonight. I’m going to cut the amount of stuff I’m using though and just use a smaller bowl. That’s really an awful lot of stuff to use just to dump out, after all. We’ll see if it was a fluke or if it’s really as good as it seems like it could be.

Finally...Dishydrosis Relief!

So, you know that I had to break the cleanse rather abruptly last night. One of the reasons I was doing the cleanse was in the hopes that it would help to clear up my dishydrotic eczema. I am happy to report that, since I began the cleanse, I have seen virtually no new blisters erupt. That means that the existing blisters finally had a fighting chance to heal.

In order for them to heal, however, I had to dry them out and stop the incessant itching. The vinegar soaks were helpful but less potent than needed. The saltwater soak worked wonderfully to dry the blisters, but within a few hours, the dryness and itching was unbearable. At that point, I was desperate and proceeded to apply generous amounts of alcohol to the lesions. Yeah, that was fun.

The alcohol worked as well, if not better than, the saltwater soak for drying. It certainly hurt enough to make me forget about the itching in any event. Still, in just a few hours, the incredible itching was back. It didn’t seem to matter what kind of moisturizer I used, either. Cocoa butter, Curel Intensive Healing, coconut oil, Carley’s Clear & Smooth products: nothing seemed to help for more than 15 minutes at a time. Though, I will say that Carely’s moisturizers were the most helpful—I love Carley’s!

Help is in the Kitchen

I had come down to the last natural option I’d read about but had dismissed because it just seemed like there was no way it would work: baking soda. Supposedly, you could make a paste from baking soda and a small amount of water, then cake this paste all over your problem areas for relief. The mild abrasiveness is supposed to help the dead, dry skin come off, and the pH of the solution is supposed to balance the skin somehow.

Again, I was desperate and out of options, so I tried it. It felt amazing during application…very soothing and only a mild sting here and there on the worst areas. It wasn’t until I rinsed the stuff off that the burning began, which I found strange. But…immediately after my first application of this stuff, I noticed my skin improving. It was more than just an improvement in the blisters, too; it really did help the dead skin to slough off.

I’ve continued applying the baking soda paste 3 times per day and it’s working wonders on my dishydrosis. I still have some blisters, but they are improving. My skin is pretty irritated in the worst areas and I still have some swelling in my fingers, but it’s nothing like it was before. I am actually beginning to see new, healthy skin forming where there was once nothing but blisters and hard, dry, cracking, thick scales.

It’s really important to stay moisturized so the skin can continue to heal. I’ve given up on everything except my Carley’s products and coconut oil. I alternate applying them about every hour or two. Carley’s seems to absorb better than the oil, but the oil is soothing and smells nice, so I like using it.

I think the cleanse, even no longer than I was able to do it, arrested whatever reaction it was that was making me flare up. This, in turn, allowed the topical treatments to begin working toward healing. So if nothing else good came from this, maybe I’ve gotten the eczema under control. I just hope my having to eat so soon into this process won’t undo the progress. I’ll have to be very careful about the types of foods I eat lest I aggravate the condition again. And it goes without saying that I cannot go back to Coke again. Still having a hard time with that one. 

Saltwater Soak for Dishydrotic Eczema and a Rant

Ok, rant first. I was able to sleep for all of 2 hours before my hands started in. This dishydrosis has gone beyond the point of irritating and now has gotten to the point of being flat-out infuriating! Stress supposedly aggravates dishydrotic eczema, yes? And sleep deprivation causes stress, yes? So how on God’s green earth am I supposed to get better from this stuff if it won’t let me sleep?!?!? ARGH!!!!

In addition to the insanity of my hands, I’ve been indescribably thirsty. Since I cannot have my beloved Coke—which I miss sorely, by the way—I’ve been chugging the heck out of some water. This is why I don’t like drinking water…because the more I drink, the thirstier I am. Coke, tea, and coffee don’t do me that way.