Hi All – thanks for all your comments on my last topic. I’m still using the surcare washing liquid and it isn’t causing me any problems, so I’ll go on using it. I use non-bio too, but tend to stick to the surcare for my own clothes since they’re going to be in contact with my skin for longer.

The reason for the long break is I got married at the end of March, and had lots of other things on my mind! I wondered if the background stress was encouraging lots of extra dry itchy patches to appear, but having been away on holiday I’m not so sure now. 

We were very lucky, and after two years of saving, we went to Mauritius on holiday. The climate is hot and humid, but breezy, and just about suited me because I don’t do very well in extreme heat. I burn, I feel ill and I have to stick to the shade – and stick to the shade was what I did!!

We were only in Mauritius a week, but I didn’t itch or scratch while I was there, and most of my more troublesome patches started to heal up!! All I can think of was that it was a combination of: not wearing my jeans or any other heavy fabrics against my skin, constantly being warm and sweaty, having UV light on a lot more of my skin than normal, and swimming in sea-water.   Some or all of these factors helped – and it was like magic! Trouble is, I couldn’t have managed to stay in the heat for any longer than the week, but I definitely think it helped. Unfortunately, within days of being home to England, I was dry and itchy again. I have three new very annoying patches on my tummy which are waking me at night now. Meh.

I think I will try the following:

1) Try another emollient which contains urea – perhaps Eucerin as recommended by Jonat in my last post. Natural urea is found in sweat – so I wonder if it might help?

2) Buy some Piriton to take before bed. Piriton knocks me comatose if I take it in the day, but its a good anti-histamine and hopefully will help stop me waking in the night.  

3) Try to lay out in the sunshine in my swimsuit for 10 minutes if at all possible.

4) Avoid wearing Jeans. I’ve stuck to my lightweight trousers since I noticed the new patches appear.

5) I probably need to have at least one emollient bath a week, rather than relying on just a shower a day. My lower legs are incredibly dry from standing in the shower, so I should try to rehydrate them a bit. Not sure what with at this stage, but I’ll see what I can find.

Lets see how the programme goes.

How about you folks? Any tips?

I’m doing my best to put a barrier between my skin and my outer clothes at the moment by liberally rubbing in E45 (the lotion is easier to cover larger areas than the ordinary cream) and then covering my torso and hips with a cotton vest. Not the sexiest underwear, but it does seem to be helping a little.

Oh, and I’ve started using Surcare liquid for my washing, which I hope will also help!

I’m going to try wearing a cotton vest, and change my washing liquid to see if it helps reduce the dry patches on my torso and the scratching.

I’ve just spent two evenings at my parents house with the dogs, and I’ve definitely reacted to the allergens in that place – by eyes and nose are streaming!!

I’ll let you know how I get on – but I’d love to hear from you too. xx

Well, I’ve had a week or so off over christmas, which has been lovely, but I’m suffering. Time off really doesn’t seem to agree with me!

I’ve told you before of the two dry patches on either side of my tummy – which are annoying, and have been there years now. Sometimes they’re better, sometimes they’re worse. About two weeks ago, my need to scratch became overwhelming, especially at night, and I suddenly realised it wasn’t just the two ‘normal’ spots on my tummy. I realised I have another small area of dry on my right side, further up, under my breast, and that most of my back, just below waistband level was dry and red-looking.

Bloody annoying, I can tell you for nothing!

What’s changed?

I’ve been in the house in the central-heating a bit more, and I’ve been using a different anti-perspirant. One that promised to be kind to skin.

I guess it lied.

I’m going back to my old one again – to see if it gets better.

Meh.

I’m still scratching, but I haven’t felt much like talking about it lately.

Meh.

How are you all doing?

I was outside after sundown on Sunday evening, and the flying nasties managed to bite me.

Not that I knew about it until 24 hours later. For some reason I don’t seem to get an instant reaction to things that bite me – it takes at least a day before the venom or saliva or whatever seeps into my tissues before my system starts the war against it. So today I have a big red wheal just below my elbow crease on the outer edge of my arm. Its hot and red and about the size of a 50p coin with a raised centre - where the original bite is.

I’ve rubbed soothing anti-hystamine cream in, but its not helping much.

I shall try anti-hystamine tablets and some hydrocortisone cream for sleep tonight.

I suppose it could be worse, I think I’ve only got one.

Haven’t posted for quite a while – things have been busy, but my dry patches haven’t been too bad, really.

But today I’m sore again, and I think its a combination of stress, heat and uncomfortable clothing.

Unfortunately my local chemist isn’t stocking Elave shower gel at the moment, so I’m going to have to order online again, but to be honest its no hardship. The cost isn’t much difference, and they always send me trial samples of other products, so its well worth it.

Hope you’re all doing OK.

Spaniel xx

In my last post I told you that a company had asked me to try a product and let you know what I thought of it. I have been using a sample of Dermasalve Body Cream (see here for more information on it), for three of four weeks now, and I have to say I quite like it.

The company which produce it say that it contains no common skin senitisers – and considering I’m allergic to a great many thngs which come into contact with my skin, all I can tell you is – it was nice stuff to use, and certainly didn’t give me any problems. It is creamy, but fairly thin and easy to put on. It gets absorbed quickly by your skin, so you don’t have to spread it on thick and worry about rubbing it off again by accident, which I really liked. The blurb on the back says it works for around 12 hours, and even though I’m not entirely convinced of that, it certainly helped me get to sleep without scratching when I had used it at least twice in the same day.

The best combination for me was a quick soak in the bath using Sanex dermo protector bath cream in the morning, apply the dermasalve body cream particularly to the two nasty dry patches of eczema, but also to my fairly dry legs (if I had time!), heels and elbows. Get dressed and go to work. At bed-time, reapply the dermasalve to the dry patches and get a good night’s scratch-free sleep. I would say it took me a good few days to feel the greatest benefit, but certainly a good feeling straight away. After a few weeks of this routine, my dry patches are feeling a lot softer, smoother and more hydrated. They haven’t gone completely, but I wonder if they ever will….

I’ve been looking to see where I could buy some from in my local area, and I can’t find a local retailer, although their website does say Lloyds chemists stock their products. I’ll check mine and let you know. You can also buy online from PN4H. Its about £6 for 100ml, but I think a little goes a long way. I certainly haven’t finished my 20ml sample tube after a good month – but then I haven’t been covering a huge area of skin.

What more can I say except – give it a go!

 Spaniel xx 

Here at Dry Patches, I’ve been asked to trial some samples of a range of skin-products from a company which sells them, and obviously values word-of-mouth advertising. I’ve said yes – all I have to do is try out the products for a while and then write about them here. I’ll keep you posted!

Spaniel xx

Have a look at this.

Interesting.