[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.
5 comments:
Hi Shiri,
My name is Dorit (Eyal's sister)
I have atopic dermatitis also,
I had it for the first time when I was about 8 years old for a very short period and it started again 2 years ago.
I can't even grasp your long experience, because for me 2 years was more than enough.
I tried almost everything - acupuncture, Phototherapy, homeopathy, naturopathy,
numerous of ointments and spent more money on treatments and therapists than on my degree.
I even stopped studying graphic design at Wizo cos' I couldnt handle the pressure and escaped to the Dead Sea for 2 months (and that didnt work as well).
After an un successful treatment with Elidel and Protopic I decided to avoid cortizone and go the natural way.
But nothing helped and I was lost.
On my Birthday this July It got worse and on the day after it was so bad I made my mom take me immediately to get a steroid infusion (for the first time ever).
The doctor there gave me a prescription for Elocom cream and anti-histamine - Telfast.
and another anti-histamine/sedative to sleep, which she told I don't have to take, if I dont feel I need to.
I used Elocom cream only for a few days and stopped when my skin came back to itself.
Now I only take Telfast pill once a day and thats it.
My skin isn't dry anymore and I dont use ANY ointment (whice was unthinkable till now).
It's been 2 weeks without an Itch.
I take your advice about changing anti-histamines once in a while to my closest attention.
I want to thank you for your very important blog.
And wish you with all my heart as a person who knows "despare" -
SOON recovery and long lasting HEALTH,
Dorit.
Hi Dorit,
Thank you so much for the comments. I have been thinking about you ever since Eyal told me about your difficult condition. I know firsthand how tough and depressing it can be and don't blame you in the least for taking a break from school.
I'm so happy to hear that you are now doing better. I didn't understand - did you get cortizones by pills or just the elocom cream?
I'm so happy to know that you are now OK with just the telfast and hope with all my heart that you will stay healthy!
Please keep in touch,
-Shiri
Hi Shiri,
I never took cortizones by pill,
Just the elocom cream, but only for a very short period (3-4 days).
The only thing I take now is Telfast(anti-histamines) one pill a day.
BTW I used to take Otarex which Eyal told me you recommended, but It didn't help my Itching and I was sooo tired all the time.
It took all the energy out of me.
Telfast makes me a little bit tired, but it doesnt have the same sedative effects as Otarex.
I guess only time will tell...
Promise to keep in touch,
Dorit.
Hi Dorit,
Wow, how wonderful that your situation improved so drastically with so little cortizones! Last time I used the cortizones in cream was a year ago, and after a few months my situation was still only partially improved. So I stopped.
As for Otarex - interesting that Eyal said I recommended it - perhaps he caught me at a peculiar time, because I had trouble with Otarex myself- it made me feel like a living zombie, sleeping 16 hours a day, etc. It also caused me to forget things and gave me serious headaches.
I would give a lot to be sleepy enough when going to sleep and awake during the day. These days I'm not sleeping very well and I wake up at least once a night...
Anyway maybe next time I will switch to Telfast. Who knows.
Thanks again for writing! It means a lot to hear from someone who knows exactly what I'm going through.
-Shiri
Hi,
I am The editor/writer with medicine-worldwide.net. I really liked your site and i am interested in building a relationship with your site. We want to spread public awareness. I hope you can help me out. Your site is a very useful resource.
Please email me back with your URL in subject line to take a step ahead and also to avoid spam.
Thank you,
Maria Jones
maria.medicineworld@gmail.com
www.medicine-worldwide.net
Post a Comment