Hi Everyone. Wanted to know if anyone here has the skin condition eczema? If so, what's it like for you, where do you have it at, frequency,etc. Also, I was curious...just speculating here...but has anyone heard if it's related to mood disorders in any way? i.e. is there a connection between the two? I know for Bipolar disorder certain things are more common to have - substance abuse, migraines and others. I am a recovering alcoholic and also get migraines. Lucky me.

Anyway, I've had eczema for many, many years. As a kid even. Usually get it on my elbows, hands and feet, altho I can get it elsewhere. Mine starts out as an itchy patch somwhere. It turns into clear liquid/bubble(s) under the skin. Usually breaks open as you HAVE to scratch it. So far I've been lucky and it's tolerable. I've used various steroid creams to help. I'm currently diagnosed as bipolar II, mixed states or nos.

Later all. Have a great day.
Bunkee

I think you are right.

Actually i found a link myself a few weeks ago.

My mom's side the family suffers from eczma - so it is genetic sort of for me.

However, its not something I've ever had really, until two years ago.

I was perscribed "Cortate" to put on the spots, right now I only have 3 tiny spots on my entire body, thankfully I don't get it bad, but if it is to come anyplace, usually its on my face so its really annoying. Right now I have two spots on my adbomen smaller than a dime, and one of my arm, smaller than a dime too.

Basically, when you are under stress, your body i think produces some type of hormone that destorys the skin creating eczma. The coritsol levels in your body drops (now i could be completely wrong here, but its something like this) and basically, there's some type of imbalance.

The Cortate that i'm on basically is an oitement of the hormone cortisol, and it fixes the spots.

My uncle, who has it bad on his joints just told me one day if i see it to avoid stress, and oddly enough it was a few weeks later i found the link between my oitement and the stress i've been under the past few years.

I suffer from hypomania, and my doctor is thinking bipolar II however that may change. Personallyi think I could be OCD more than bipolar now that I'm researching. But definitely suffer from hypomania. I've been under a lot of fustration and irritation lately which caused me a lot of stress, and these spots only started when all of this "stress" came upon me, so there is a definite link between

stress, eczma, how its treated vs. the link to stress and the hormone cortisol, its all linked, definitely.

Thanks for your reply. Ah, genetics. They are interesting aren't they? I tooo think stress and cortisol (oh and add in hormones) all tie together somehow with eczema (and probably other things too).

A side note...I've heard of people who have eczema so bad the only thing that relieves the itching is water evaporation. They have to roll in a damp sheet and then remove it to let the evaporation soothe the itching. Weird, but kind of interesting.

i also have eczema... and i hate it! i get it on my neck, my elbows, hands, sometimes around my lips, and on my eye lids. i can only use cetaphil cleanser and moisturizer on my face... i have tried all the steroids.. and they only help for a little while.. but it always comes backs. right now my hands hurt so much, they are cracking.

i am bp, panic disorder, ptsd, gad, ed-nos

I also have it as far as mood there is many schools of thought on how thoughts play a role in physical illness. It seems.I have heard ,and read where stress could make the eczema worse also heard it could be anything that is causing it. In my case I thoguht it was more of an allergy two different doc's two differnt opions.


I get it on my face back ,and cheast keep mostiurizer on it sleep with a humidifier I fogot what script i have for it i know need to get filled. Cortizone can help somtimes it drys out the skin more

This post has been edited by mccoffee: Dec 11 2007, 10:07 AM

i also suffer from eczema.
since i was about 20. that's when it got really bad. about everywhere, hands, face, elbows, knees, legs, arms, body, ...
it took me years and a long 'odysee' to find a good doctor and treatment.
too long was i treated with corticoids, which did not serve me well. of course, it can give some quick relief when used for the first time, but with me the eczema got worse and worse in the end, with the cortisone and its derivates.
after some try and error now i've found an anti-histaminic pill that can help me with the terrible itching. and i've found some cream/salve to take care of my usually too dry skin, while the eczema isn't yet too bad or just beginning to get more again. when the eczema patches get infected (like it often happens when the 'bubbles' open, and it IS difficult not to scratch...) and it gets really bad and painful, the only thing to smear on that really helps me is a certain green ointment that the skin doctor makes. too bad i hardly ever get to go there of late, it's far away, and this dermatologist the only one that uses this ointment that could help me, and i haven't met much other doctors that have even heard of this (old-fashioned) green stuff. the others usually just prescribe cortisone creams and such which does not help me.

nowadays it is not as bad as it used to be, it used to be really really bad. now it comes and goes. usually some itching here and there. some spots. (i've learned not to scratch too much, at least i try. if it gets worse i have to sleep with gloves so that i can't scratch. in daytime it needs a lot of self control not to scratch..) i have to adjust my diet and can't eat some things otherwise i get allergic skin reactions. which can trigger more of eczema too and it takes long to get better again. i can live with the on-and-off mild(er) 'attacks' of it (well i have to..), as long as i don't get the 'full-blown attacks' again...
for me it gets worse in winter (the sun seems to help it get better), and i know that it gets worse with stress.

probably had some skin problems as a child too, several allergic reactions, and sometimes little patches of eczema, but not that bad. there is some allergic skin reactions and sometimes a bit of eczema too with my parents and siblings, and one of them had it bad as a child, but only for some years then it disappeared.
i've often heard and read that there is a 'genetic predisposition' as one of the contributing factors to "atopic eczema" (i think that's how they call it when they can't find a reason for it?)

i don't know if it is related to mood disorders. may be?

i have severe depression, ptsd, and gad (and social-/agoraphobia w panic attacs)

i had the eczema before i got depressed, before i had the traumatic experiences that started my life to fall apart, and (long) before i was as anxiety ridden as i am now.

i know my depression gets worse when i suffer more from physical illness on top of it.
and my scare of having to go anywhere gets worse too when i have patches in the face. even when it's not in the face or on the hands but hidden under clothes and 'just' itching and uncomfortable all the time.
i have not yet noticed that my skin gets worse when my depression gets worse.

i don't really know why, but it seems the St. Johns Wort, that i had tried for my depression some years ago, didn't do very much to my depression, but has helped a bit with the eczema. it was better those two winters that i took it.
maybe it has to do with the same effect that causes the phototoxic side-effect, making the skin to somehow 'absorb' more of the available light?
i know some doctors have a kind of special 'light chamber' too, for treatment, to help with the eczema, it is supposed to get better from being exposed to certain wavelengths of the sun light.

btw this cortisole thing has puzzled me before. i don't understand how this works.
the cortizone creams are supposed to help (anti-inflammatory, i think?), well usually they do help for a (short) time.
doesn't the body also produce more cortisole when under stress?
and all the same eczema can get worse when too much stress?

i've heard that omega-3 supplements can help with eczema..
also i've heard links between eczema and asthma..

Yes, I do believe your body does produce cortisol when under stress, therefore I'm unsure about corticoids. I'm no chemist though. Thanks everyone who posted. Interesting stuff.

I'm 17, nearly 18, and I've had eczema since I was 4 years old, its a real pain in the ***. I've spent my entire life in and out of hospital, on every medication and cream possible, so i understand what you're going through.

At a stage in my life i was COMPLETELY covered in eczema, from head to toe. I missed out on alot of school when I was younger, and even had to attend in bandages. There was even a point when i had to get my hair cut short (from it being all the way down my back) because it thinned my hair out and even fell out because i scratched too much, this was when i was probably about 7.

I had to get blood taken every monday for about 6 months to try and help, but they not always succeeded, as it took my mum and about 4 other nurses to hold me down with my constant screaming from being afraid of needles, lol.

I was then put on Cyclosporin, which wasn't usually used for treating eczema, but because i was that bad I was put onto it and I was the second child in Northern Ireland to be put onto it for Eczema, and it worked for me. I was then taken off of it and within about the next 6 months my eczema started improving.

It came to a time when i only had it on the backs of my knees and on my hands (which i still have now) but I could control it, something that i could never have done before.

I think the nurses dreaded seeing me because of the amount of screaming i did lol.

Then about October 2007 it started flaring up again...and resulted to me being back in hospital about a month ago. From being in there, and having a routine of creams and medication, i was out within the week. At home i wouldnt be able to stick to a routine because i have work and i had to get cream/moisturisor on 4 times a day in hospital, which would be extremely hard for me to keep up with.

I came out of hospital better than ive seen myself in a long time, even with being able to control it for so long. Then because i couldnt stick to my routine its flared up again, especially on my neck, as there are some days that i cant stop tearrin at it because its so itchy.

I also think it's do to with stress, and it would definately give me mood swings alot. So yeah it could most likely be connected.

If anyone needs any help, questions they wud like to ask, or want to know anything else ive been through, feel free to talk to me. I can even let you know how the hospital got my skin so clear within this month, might even help you's? Which i think it would, its just having to stick with the routine that's the problem.

There's so much more to how my eczema was than just them few paragraphs lol. Anyway, i'll let you's go now but if you take the time to read this then thank you.

N xxxx

This post has been edited by FallenAngel17: May 29 2008, 08:21 AM

Thanks Fallenangel

I will pm you sometime.

Trace

This is so interesting! My husband has had problems with very itchy skin for most of his life. I have noticed that his flare ups are directly related to his depression and moods. Until now I wasn't sure if it was a coincidence or actually related. Now I'm convinced. Thanks!

Interesting. I get rashes. Allergies and asthma used to bother me as a kid but not anymore, at least not the athsma. My allergies are not very bad. Both of my sons have allergies. My baby has eczema. It is better now than earlier on in his life. Contact with some enviornmental allergens, detergents, if he slobbers on his chin too much, all cause it to get worse. I use lots of lotion and oil. Some types are better than others. Aveeno lotion is great. Some brands seem to make it worse. When it gets very dry and rough what works well is Cortaid 3x a day for about 2 weeks or until gone.

I have a depression that comes with anxiety and phobias such as avoiding elevators and plains. I had acne from 14 to 18, but it disappeared when I got out of hight school. After graduating, however, I found myself working as teacher on short-term contracts and underpaid - often in black. Then I gave up and shut myself in. My colleagues had noticed the rashes. Some students noticed it and stared at me. It was awful.

I shut up in my home and not got out for weeks - I did not want to tell anyone about my 'jobs' and that led me to stop dating as well. People were talking - said bad things about my being here with papa and mama at forty and all.

I got pimples on my face - small lumps of fat deposits that I started to scratch. Hard to scratch because they were deeper than in my teens, and the harder to scratch the more the damage. I had some on my cheecks, my upper back, shoulders, neck. Once cut, the skin needed at least two weeks to heal. However, as i started to lose weight my skin improved and now my skin is much better.

Although doubt i got over it yet, with the right ads, less and more balanced eating, moderate exposure to sunlight have done me a lot of good. I fear a relapse is possible though because i have to motivate myself to get out.

Sorry for not posting in a long time but i have been though (another) bad spell - when that happens i am unable to work from behind a screen.

The eczema I have now has spread all over my body - I know the dry winter weather doesn't help. This is the first year I've had it and it occupies every moment of my life. If I am not scratching, I am picking at the blisters or experiencing the burning/throbbing from the skin that is ripped open. It is even all over my face and ears and one of my eyes is swollen shut when I wake up each morning. I hate doctors but finally went and got a prescriptiong cream - but I have read all the bad things about the cream on the internet and am too afraid to get the prescription filled and use it. For people that have lived with this all their life, you have my utmost respect and admiration at your coping skills and perserverance in dealing with this. I know I am a big baby, but I am finding it absolutely horrible. If you have any comments/advice on persuading me to use the cream, I would be most appreciative.

I also suffer from depression/anxiety (but don't take that medication either because I am worried about the side effects/effects of the AD's).