I “met” Judy through another customer, and her first email to me was one of those heartbreaking stories I occasionally get from people who are looking for answers to their serious skin problems. She was diagnosed with eczema by a dermatologist and was given a prescription for multiple refills of a steroid. Not wanting to go that route, she opted to cover herself in a zinc oxide sunscreen, which she described as a walking “Casper the Ghost.” She hoped that one of my products might help her.
I mailed her the diaper rash cream, a Beesilk Jr and a Beesilk hard lotion bar. I also directed her to Joey of redskinsyndrome who also suffers from the effects of steroids and recently started a website to help other people.
Judy kept in touch over the past month and recently answered my many questions about her skin condition:
Describe your skin problem. On a scale of 1-10, 10 being extremely bad, what number would you assign your “before”.
8
What do you believe is the root cause? What’s the dermatologist say it is?
It started with a small patch of what the dermatologist called eczema a few months ago.
What was the dermatologist’s recommendation for dealing with it? Did any of the treatment suggestions make you uncomfortable and if so, why?
She gave me what she described as a “strong” prescription topical cortisone cream and told me to use it non-stop for ten days, no matter whether my skin looked better or worse. I had always avoided cortisone, but having tried a variety of home-remedies for several weeks with no result, I gave up and used the cortisone. It did the trick, but came back a few months later, with many additional spots. I was headed out to an out-of-state search-and-rescue mission, so I stopped at the drugstore and purchased a minimum-over-the-counter anti-itch cream w/cortisone. When the search ended two days later, I stopped and purchased a maximum-over the counter version, as I seemed much worse, went home and schedule an appointment with the dermatologist a few days later. Her plan was to put me back on the “strong” prescription cortisone cream, WITH REFILLS, as she said it would continue to re-occur, and that “NO, modern medicine has no idea the cause of eczema.” I smiled, nodded, walked out with the prescription, but vowed not to fill it. (I’m not into the band-aid approach, especially not with steroids! I went home and began Internet research of skin condition support groups.
I went out the next day and purchased diaper rash cream (40% zinc & Gold’s Anti-Itch Lotion, which provided some relief, but over the next couple of days, my entire arms became inflamed and swollen. Mercifully, a spent the next afternoon with a friend walking the beach (covered in CVS hypo-al sunblock (4% zinc)) looking for all the world like Casper the Friendly…scratch that…Frustrated Ghost! Tracy mentioned & highly recommended your Hardlotion & was dismayed that she didn’t have any with her. Checked out your website that evening, and was in contact with you the next day.
Are you finding Joey’s research to be the same as what you were dealing with?
Your mention of Joey’s redhands website was truly a Godsend, as are your products. I had never heard of cortisone withdrawal and was at first skeptical, as I had used it for such a short time compared to most, but the symptoms were such an incredible match, that I changed my mind rather rapidly over the next few days. I’m still not sure there isn’t a candida component (looks SO much like thrushy nipples from my baby-nursing days) and PLAIN YOGURT was the ONLY thing that would stop the itching initially.
What are you doing now that seems to help (including diet, if that’s working too)?
Anti-yeast diet (mostly protein & veggies) seems to be helping. (But who knows…perhaps it’s just making me overall healthier…my diet had been going downhill for years, compared to the grind-my-own-wheat & make-everything-from-scratch days of young motherhood.) I’m eating a LOT of plain Greek-style yogurt (Trader Joe’s is my favorite…and am eating that made with whole milk – think the fat content may assist healing, and since I’m eating so much better, not worrying about the calories for now.) Was having a couple of spoon-fuls every couple of hours initially. Still eating at least a cup a day. (Have a long history of vaginal yeast, and know the yogurt helps. Also taking some yeast-elimination capsules from the health food store (combo of Pau D’Arco, Grapefruit Seed Extract, Caprylic Acid, & Tea Tree Oil) and for the first week, was drinking (slowly throughout the day) a large pot of Pau D’Arco tea.
I stopped using regular hand-soap, opting instead for a total vegetable oil based soap w/tea tree oil, which also seemed to help (another item from Trader Joes.)
And, very importantly, getting extra sleep in able to be well-rested & strong enough to heal optimally. (Itching was initially keeping me awake at night – I’m not a good day-napper, but I did it anyway.)
Initially, when my skin was constantly and over-all violently hot and red on my hands & arms, all of your products & other “natural” options such as virgin olive oil felt marvelous for a minute, but triggered violent itching. At that point, the diaper rash cream w/40% zinc was all I could tolerate that seemed to soothe rather than trigger itching. I used that primarily for several days, but was looking for an alternative asap, as it contains BHA. As the day would wear on, it would dry, my skin would feel really good, and seemed that some damaged skin would flake off with it. My skin would look better for a few hours, then the burning/itching cycle would start again, and I would reapply a thick layer of the diaper cream. (It also seems that a soft long-sleeved t-shirt was soothing – don’t think my skin liked the air or everything in the air in the barn.
As a few cracks began to appear on my fingers, I experimented with your diaper rash cream, Beesilk Jr, and Beesilk Hard Lotion. The Hard Lotion was the winner, hands down, and even with everything else going on was healing cracks rapidly – an early victory!!! As I was getting REALLY tired of looking like Casper, I began trying larger areas of Beesilk, but that too triggered itching, as did the olive oil. I gave up and went a couple of days doing nothing (by now my skin was more dry, peeling and cracking, rather than angry red most of the time. (I had seen a study from Japan that said something about allowing the skin to learn to develop its own moisturizers.) Asked the redhands crowd their thoughts, and they were not impressed. Neither was I after a couple of days of more dryness & cracks. Stumbled on to realizing that I could tolerate the hardl lotion if applied in a very thin layer – that didn’t seem to trigger itching. (Perhaps a thick layer of anything holds in heat and starts the itch? ) I began what I described as “polishing” my hands and arms with Hardlotion. More cracks, so I decided to try the olive oil again. Now, (because my skin still feels, at best, very leathery) perhaps half-a-dozen times in a 24 hr period, I liberally soak my hands and arms in vigin olive oil for a couple of minutes. Then, I wipe off the excess. A little while later (within an hour or two) I begin applying small amounts of Hardlotion to the spots that are beginning to dry out and apply to any cracks. (I’m still amazed at the crack healing – I’ve dealt with finger cracks off-n-on for years and NEVER before found anything that clears them up, this usually works within 24hrs!)
On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you assign your skin now?
Hmmm…2 or 3? My arms still feel pretty “leathery” and I have an occasional red/itching spell, followed by cracking/pealing, but everything looks dramatically better! Your products are truly heaven-sent!
Thank you, Judy!
By the way, I followed up with Judy to suggest something that we tried at home – melting the hard lotion and keeping it warm allows the lotion to be “painted” on with a pastry brush. There’s no need to even rub it in if it’s a light layer of lotion. Just don’t burn yourself, but this is a great way to get the most out of the nourishing ingredients on sensitive skin, without the “rub.”
