Refreshing treatments

So as of yesterday I started refreshing my day-to-day treatments. In fact, when it comes to antihistamines for atopic, doctors recommend you change your medication every so often as it stops being effective. Something about the receptors becoming blocked. Later you can switch back - the block isn't permanent. I forgot about this trick for a while there, but around March I went to an allergist/immunologist that reminded me of this, Dr. BZ. So I switched from Aerius(mornings) and Zyllergy(nights) to Profiten twice daily.

[Side note: some people get drowsy or sleepy from the antihistamines. Not me. Doesn't do a thing. Or like my mom would tell the doctors when I was a kid: "I wish it made her sleep".]

Seeing as my atopic's been getting worse lately, my mom reminded me of the switching scheme again just the other day. So now I'm back to the old regime: Aerius mornings, Zyllergy (aka Histazine) nights.

Plus, my boyfriend (smart guy) reminded me of a more natural tack that I had taken in the past and we agreed helped - Evening Primrose Oil. This natural dietary supplement is supposed to make your skin healthier and more moist. And indeed, I must say that last year when I stopped taking it I felt a marked decrease in the skin moisture, so I went back to it. For some odd reason I stopped taking it again later in the year and forgot about it completely. Well, now I'm back on it.

All this, by the way, is in addition to:

• the homeopathic remedy that I've been taking for the past half year;
• the moisturizing creams I use constantly; and
• the oil and/or oat baths I take twice a day.

Sometimes it's hard to know what helps and what harms. But I do my best to figure that out as best I can.

Edit (29.9.07) : looking up drugs for this post, it turns out that Dr. BZ was pretty far off the mark in the actual recommendation. Profiten is more of an asthma prevention drug than a generic antihistamine. So even if it's a good idea to switch, don't be so sure that profiten is the drug of choice for atopic dermatitis.

Put on a Happy Face

Hi there. As I said above, this blog will be devoted to my self-research, recommendations, insights and plain rambling about atopic dermatitis. Also known as skin asthma. If you're here you probably know what it is so I'm not going to bother too much with that. Welcome here.

I have it, and have had it since I was 8 months old. I'm now 23 years old which gives me over 22 years of experience to share, not to mention any number of doctor's recommendations that I've heard and unconventional treatments as well. As of right now my atopic is pretty darn severe. This comes and goes in waves of a few years at a time.

So I will begin with a funny insight I had the other day. I woke up after a good night's sleep (a rare occurence for me these days) but due to some renovation noise on the floor above me, my good mood soon turned annoyed. Took my bath and started putting creams on (more about all that later) and was really upset and itchy. This surprised me because, as I said, I woke up with a smile on my face after my first 8+ hour sleep, possibly in weeks. Yet twenty minutes later I was grumpy and as far from smiling as night from day. And then it hit me. I was down and couldn't bring myself to smile, for a very simple reason. My face was so dry that it actually hurt my muscles to smile. I immediately applied my favorite moisturizer to my face and, surprise! The smile came back. It was like magic. Try it the next time you're grumpy for no apparent reason.

By the way, I believe this realization took part in place due to the difficulties I was having in the previous evening's sports class - I attend a muscle-training/toning class. Usually I enjoy the class but that evening I was so dry that it was literally painful to stretch and work the muscles. The next mroning I recognized that very same feeling when I tried to smile. So take this for all muscles, not just your facial ones. Exercising can lift your mood as well as smiling, but if you have atopic, make sure your muscles are getting a reasonably moist skin to work with. Otherwise you will just be in pain.

Introduction to "A Topic: Dermatitis"

Hi, my name is Shiri and this blog is about atopic dermatitis.

A few clarifications and disclaimers before I start. First and foremost, I am not, I repeat, not, medical personnel of any kind. I am a young woman who was diagnosed with atopic dermatitis at eight months I've lived with it nearly all my life, on and off. Any and all recommendations in this blog are my own personal opinion. They may be based in whole or in part on many doctor's recommendations, or other people's recommendations, but eventually synthesized in my own mind and doled out however I see fit.

In fact, I recommend to take everything anyone tells you about atopic, including myself, with a massive grain of salt. Atopic is one of the least understood conditions - certainly for a condition/disease so widespread, one could expect more research and comprehension of the problem but this is not the case. What's more, atopic often varies widely among individuals or even among the same person in different periods. It is extremely important that each and every atopic patient tailor the treatment(s) to his or her own special needs. Trial and error with careful tracking of results is the best way to go. Always be careful when starting a new treatment of any kind. Be aware of the consequences and any new reactions that may stem from it.

One more thing, I live in Israel, not that it's of great relevance but has some bearing on weather-oriented recommendations, so keep that in mind.

It is my intention here in this blog to raise awareness to atopic and provide people diagnosed with atopic (or their parents) with some basic tools to handle it. Atopic Dermatitis is a difficult disease to handle, one that is not well understood neither by doctors nor by society. While asthma is nowadays considered common and no one would be surprised if a kid pulls out an inhaler in the middle of nowhere, the alternative of that same child scratching is often misconstrued, ridiculed or just evokes confusion. Meanwhile the doctors (especially pediatricians who are not dermatologists) react in various ways, often contradicting ones. Recommendations are unclear, and day-to-day recommendations are confused with actual treatment. Prognosis is always foggy and usually completely unreliable.

I want to clear away some of that fog. But again, I implore you not to trust me. Try things for yourself. I'm here to offer you the options and to share my experiences with them. I also wish you the best of luck and invite you to share your experiences with me. I'd love to hear from you.

Thanks,
-Shiri