★★★★★
I've had eczema on my hands for several months. As it began to spread and redness, and itching became worse, I decided to try vitamin D (I already take 1g fish oil & 1g pumpkin seed oil daily). 400 IU of vitamin D3 twice daily cleared it up immediately- overnight! No more redness, flaking & zero itch. The skin over my knuckles still appears a bit ‘swollen' but that's it.
Multiple Remedies
HI U OLE PATOOTS DOIN,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, may be preaching to the choir here, but I bring up this slate black oil, ICHTHAMMOL OINTMENT, that was a staple in every family's medicine cabinet when I was a kid. Few people know of it now.
Our Atlanta daughter is a registered nurse and has been in the medical field for some 25 years . She had a small splinter in her finger for several weeks that would not come out. My Tractor Driver told her to go get a tube of ICHTHAMMOL OINTMENT and it would come out on it's own in few days. She had to go to 3 drug stores before someone knew what the ointment was. She used it and the ointment caused the area around the splinter to fester and soon she just pushed it out easily. She was amazed. She had forgotten that we had used that on her many times in her youth.
My wife then decided to see what it would do for a two spots of eczema on her leg and they were gone is less than a week. Our tube must be at least 50 years old. Folks used it to draw out splinters, briars, and things embedded under the skin. Also used to draw boils or cyst to a head, ingrowing hair anything that needed “drawin".
In a mill in Arkansas, I got a splinter in my finger and went to the mill nurse to remove. Did not have emergency rooms back then, so she wanted me to send me to the local doctor. I told her to forget it, my wife will take care of it. Soon she turned in her resignation and I ask why? She said she was going back to school to get her Masters so she can teach. Good people, she was ahead of her time. She could not do her job, so she now teaches that same job. Sounds right to me.
Deirdre, suggest you try this ointment from yesteryear. It is still around.
====ORH====
Digestive Enzymes
★★★★★
Okay so I had an eczema rash spring up on my arm out of nowhere. It started off as small fluid-filled blisters that got worse when I scratched them. It was spreading to different parts of my body. I read that excema is the result of digestive issues. So I went to the health food store and purchased some digestive enzymes. After a couple days of use, it started to clear up. I tried all type of topical oils, aloe vera, vinegar, baking soda and the only thing that worked was coconut oil to relieve the itching. But it only started to clear up when I took the enzymes. The one I used has HCl, L-glutamine, digestive enzymes, and herbs.
Lemon Juice, Magnesium Oil
★★★★★
I have finally cured the big patch of eczema which covered my upper right arm, after four years of trying many of the cures recommended on this site. Products which helped included ACV, iodine and clay. This was probably due to them removing the dead skin because, in my case, all moisturisers made the eczema itchy. I think the moisturisers were feeding the dead skin and not allowing the healthy skin to breathe.
My cure is probably a combination of lemon juice, transdermal magnesuim chloride oil and possibly overnight fasting of 16 hours e.g. stop eating at 7pm and breaking my fast at 11 am with a decent breakfast.
The lemon juice was a sheer fluke. My arm was so very itchy so I grabbed 1/2 a lemon which had been sitting in the fridge for a few days. The rind was hard and so rubbing the arm with the lemon rind was sheer bliss. Hours later the redness had disappeared and the skin was still calm, not itchy. I continued to rub my arm with lemon juice only washing it off before the next application. The lemon juice exfoliated all the dead skin which may be the reason that the itch and redness disappeared but the skin was still thick (lichen simplex chronicus) but not scaly so I decided to drench it regularly with transdermal magnesium chloride oil which I massaged into the skin.
When all the rough skin disappeared except for two extra thick "spots", I removed the top layers of dead skin painlessly from these lumps with a sterilised needle. It was about this time that I changed my regime only eating during an eight hour window during the day which means that all the food in my stomach will be digested before I tuck into breakfast the following morning.
Epilogue: I broke my upper arm four weeks ago and since then it has been envelopped in a sling so my arm has not been exposed to much fresh air recently but I have continued to spray my lovely smooth skin on my arm with the magnesium chloride and to date the eczema has not returned. Hurrah!
Multiple Remedies
★★★★★
Finally eczema is disappearing fast after three years of trying most of the natural remedies recommended here. I realise that it is slightly premature to post my good news but there has been such a remarkable change for the better in the appearance of my skin that I wanted to tell other eczema suffers about my success. Even if it does not cure the eczema 100% (which I hope it does) the condition seems to be fading fast. Recently I started to eat lots of sauerkraut with my main meal of the day and have been spraying the eczema patches with transdermal magnesium twice a day. The improvement is outstanding and although the condition has not completely disappeared I have only been on the sauerkraut regime for just over two weeks now but hallelujah the itch has gone and most of the dead skin and inflammation too!
Concerning ACV in my case it calmed the itch because it sloughed off the dead skin. Moisturising the eczema helped create the itch because the dead skin was soaking up the creams and oils and they probably discouraged my skin from producing its own moisture while I plastered it with lotions and potions. I have had a modicum of success with Lugol's oil too as it obliterated the dead skin and tamed the itch.
The first and only other bout of eczema that I have experience was 17 years ago and I managed to clear that up immediately thanks to four treatments of colonics but that did not work for me this time round. There was no marked improvement after three sessions whereas the previous time, the eczema cleared up overnight after the first session but I had been recommended to have a minimum of four sessions so I completed the treatment.
Let food be thy medicine! Good luck!
10% Sulfur Soap and Sulfur Cream
★★★★★
I have occasional flare ups with eczema, mostly because I eat and drink too much of stuff I shouldn't and because of the weather (usually really hot or cold). I have found for me that the one thing that really helps me calm these breakouts down is 10% sulfur soap and sulfur ointment, both of which can be found on the internet. As you could imagine it smells a little bit, but I've never had anybody say anything to me about it and my wife says she can only smell it if she gets really close to me.
I don't know if you should use it if you ever get to the open sore phase, but ever since I started using it when I noticed the beginning of break outs I've never got to the open sore phase again. I also use ACV, coconut oil, and turmeric and that seems to help as well. Hope this info helps. I thought I should post about it since I didn't see it as one of the many potential remedies.
-Eczema sufferer since 2012
Colloidal Oatmeal
★★★★★
I have had a mild eczema flare. Borage oil supplements always work for me, but I get lazy about taking them.
I bought a generic eczema cream at Stuff Mart. (The ingredients were identical to that of the Aveeno eczema cream and included colloidal oatmeal.) This stuff has worked quite well. It is very moisturizing for dry skin, too. (Without being greasy.)
~Mama to Many~
Natto
★★★★★
I have had eczema for over 15 years. I was forced to resort to prescription cortisone salves to keep the flare ups under control.
As a result of being diagnosed with osteoporosis and refusing to take prescription medications to treat it, I discovered (as a reader of Dr. Joseph Mercola's daily emails) that Japanese Natto (fermented soybeans) contains vitamin K2 which is helpful in protecting bones.
I began eating a spoonful of Natto daily. It does take some getting used to as it is very slimy.
Low and behold as a side benefit of consuming this fermented soybean, my eczema completely cleared up!
I still eat Natto daily and consider it essential to my healthy regimen.
★★★★★
I can't say sure but I think B12 shots can cure Eczema.
My daughter had really bad eczema she had it on the soles of her feet so bad she was hobbling around like an old lady but she was only 25. Her hands were painful, cracked and bleeding. She had gone to several doctors and tried all kinds of topical treatments with limited success.
After a couple of years of trying to deal with the eczema she was diagnosed with severe B12 deficiency. Her body can't process B12 properly so she needs monthly B12 shots for the rest of her life. Well, she got her initial loading doses (6 shots once a week for 6 weeks) and she noticed her eczema seemed better.
Her eczema waxed and waned so she didn't get too excited. She has been getting her shots for 6 months now and her eczema is almost totally gone. She still has one tiny spot on her foot but it's not sore or cracked. The only thing she can attribute it to is starting B12 shots. I thought I would share this in the hope it can help someone else. A lot of people are B12 deficient and don't know it. A simple blood test can tell you if you are.
Hi Deirdre...I had both eczema and psoriasis when I had systemic candida all those years ago. After I used my anti-candida protocol for a year, my candida was gone and the psoriasis and eczema surprisingly also disappeared (never to reappear again). And I never used any topical remedies to get rid of these skin problems. That told me a great deal about the actual cause of my eczema and psoriasis.
So far you've only tried topical remedies for your eczema, and you've been treating it like a local skin infection. What I'm suggesting(according to my own experience above) is that your eczema may not be a local skin infection, but rather be an indication or symptom of a wider internal systemic infection in the blood (candida?). It's also well known that when people have systemic candida that this condition greatly lowers the immune system's ability to defend against other pathogen species. So, as I've mentioned before, you can also have many other pathogenic infections in your body caused by bacteria, viruses, mycoplasma and parasites etc as well systemic candida. This is well known from the research and this fact is what also confuses most allopathic doctors who, like as not, will always pounce on any bacterial infection as the main cause of your problem while completely ignoring other possible and significant pathogens (like candida or parasites) that may also be causing or contributing to your problems.
The simplest internal protocols that you could try for your eczema problem are listed below:
1. Pure Gum Turpentine: One teaspoon a day.
2. Lugol's Iodine.
3. Ted's Borax Water.
4. Alkalizing.
5. Ted's anti-fungal protocol - hydrogen peroxide/sodium molybdate/chlorella.
The above protocols will act to purify and disinfect the blood, tissues and organs in your body. My detailed anti-candida multi-protocol is shown here. Also, do not ignore the Alkalizing Combos at the end of the anti-candida protocols -- I deliberately added these alkalizing combos as a more convenient and simpler way of taking some of the recommended anti-candida protocols and they are very powerful.
Other internal nutrients/herbs that have a significant effect against systemic candida are shown below.
1. Marigold (Calendula officianalis). The essential oil and/or extract are both anti-fungal.
2. Quercitin. Has antifungal, anti-bacterial and anti-biofilm activity.
3. Resveratrol. Only use the resveratrol capsules that are derived from Japanese Knotweed(JK) and avoid resveratrol tablets derived from red wine. The resveratrol capsules from JK have a much higher trans-resveratrol content. You can purchase high-quality JK resveratrol capsules from Gaia Herbs.
What might also help you, if you're not really sure whether you have systemic candida, is to have the candida antigen test. This is a fairly new allopathic test that is accurate -- you can ask your doc for this test. This test checks whether candida is in your blood I.e. whether you have systemic candida. Do not have the candida stool test (which your doctor might recommend) because it is very inaccurate.
Just some ideas for you...
Multiple Remedies
Hi Deirdre,
I think the mix you tried previously may have been water with xylitol and glycerin instead aloe with xylitol and glycerin, but it sounds like you may have a pretty stubborn case. In any case the pine bark with egcg that you are taking should be helpful because it will lower your total inflammatory and oxidative stress levels, but those effects are probably one to two weeks away if you are already taking it at high dose.
In addition to that you can take high potency probiotics and start the xylitol again. This will be for the purpose of trying normalize your gut microbiome. This combination would be considered a synbiotic. It attacks both inflammation and elevated oxidatative stress as well as improves your insulin sensitivity, repairs the intestinal mucosa, increases your short chain fatty acid production in the form of butyrate, lowers high cholesterol, reduces triglycerides, lowers blood pressure, acts as a histone deacetylase inhibitor(which is important in your case), increases hydrogen sulfide production, increases glutathione production and overall this should help return you to homeostasis and your whole body to a much better state. As I mentioned before in many posts, the synbiotics have many more health benefits that I did not mention and are a straightforward approach to improve overall health and ward off many health issues!
With the xylitol, for maximum effect, you will need to take more than just using it as a sugar substitute because in this case you are using it as a prebiotic and will need to take 12~15 grams per day. In order to avoid gastric issues typical of many prebiotics, you will need to dissolve the xylitol in water and sip throughout the day so if you are already taking borax water, just add your xylitol to it and sip throughout the day. Good luck and keep us posted!
Art
Aloe
★★★★★
I struggled with eczema for 20 years. And then discovered liquid aloe vera. Drinking about 45ml on an empty stomach first thing in the morning and 6 months later it is gone! You need to continue with it as our comes back of you stop, but I have been rash and itch free for 15 years now.
I don't even have a little bit any more. Hope this helps.
Hydrogen Peroxide
★★★★★
I used a 10% hydrogen peroxide liquid on my eczema, it cleared up in about a week. I applied it 4 times daily.
Turmeric
★★★★★
A trick that worked wonders for me for eczema was cheap, at home and painless. I took 1/4 tsp of tumeric powder mixed with a little warm water. And drank it followed by a large tumbler of water and it worked wonders overnight. Better than ACV and any other medication. I did ensure that I took it a good few hours after my last meal. At the same time: gluten free, healthy diet, cut out sugar and really reduce dairy products. And pray.
Apple Cider Vinegar, Fish Oil
★★★★★
I am so utterly grateful for simple healing remedies for severe eczema!!!!! I have been suffering from this for approximately 1 year. No prior history of skin rashes. I have a 13 year history of being a dog groomer and using various harsh shampoos. My hands have never had sensitivities to these chemicals. I was raised on whole, homogenized/pasteurized milk, meat and potatoes, wheat bread etc. And have never had a problem with food allergies... Until now. At the age of 42 my right hand began with itching and redness at the web of my 3rd and 4th finger. The redness, and (intense!!! ) itching kept spreading up the back of my hand. Water feels awful on it, especially hot water. Chemicals bother it and I itch it so fiercely, it cracks and bleeds. During the day it oozes a clear, viscous fluid and my whole hand balances between being swollen, extremely itchy and utterly hideous to look at to swollen, painful and utterly hideous to look at. I am now an acupuncturist/herbalist and you can imagine the shame of hiding this while treating people from an alternative/holistic perspective. I wore a nitrile glove on my dominant hand for 6 months to cover my grief and shame. My hand was lobster red and scaley.
I began noticing that I was getting very reactive to foods that I normally had never had a problem with. I did my research and learned that oral birth control pills upset the flora/fauna of our intestines which makes it ripe for candida albicans to overgrow especially if you aren't on a probiotic. Fast forward to trying different remedies... I am a food lover and was so distraught at the severe restrictions of the candida diet that I tried various herbal formulas and probiotics to avoid having to thoroughly change my diet. I believe in herbs and eating healthy but my body seemed to over react to everything I put in my mouth. Eventually, I was hopeless thinking my severly damaged skin would never heal as it got to the stage of lichenification.
I had read during my research that eczema sufferers tend to have in common a severe deficiency of essential fatty acids and I also knew that disease thrives in an acidic body environment. If you properly alkalize your body, disease retreats. If you are deficient in a mineral or fatty acid then supplement with it. I had tried both of these in the beginning but I didn't stay the course with either of them.
Fast forward to today... I have been taking fish oil 10-14 capsules per day and 2-3 TBSP of unpasteurized ACV with the 'mother' in it mixed in 8 ounces of water per day. I unbelievably have not had to severly restrict my diet. I even can eat some sweets. My eczema that I have been so hopelessly suffering from is now 90% healed!! I have pictures! I am increasing the ACV and fish oil to see how soon I can finish healing that last 10%. I cannot tell you how blessed I feel!! I hope that those of you who are suffering from this infuriating disease can find some hope in my story! My heart goes out to you! Know that you too can heal!!!
Activated Charcoal
I have suffered from eczema for 14 years, this past year it has gotten out of control due to high stress and anxiety. Recently my Husband had an abscessed tooth and I looked on here for some remedies when I came across the activated charcoal, it draws out toxins so he used it and it drew out the abscess (in the bone) in two days, he is now pain free.
Anyways, I have been unable to sleep through the night or even function normally for months, I got another rash on my hand and decided to take some of the poultice I made for my Husbands tooth and put it on my new rash. I left it on for a few minutes and washed it off, which proved to be the most frustrating part of this cure!
A few days later (which brings me to today) I ended up itching severely on my lowers legs, this has been my area of most irritation, I popped open two capsules and mixed them with organic coconut oil and applied it to the most painful areas. WARNING; this stuff will stain everything: skin, clothes, tubs I mean EVERYTHING! I ran a bath as I allowed to stuff to sink in, grabbed a book (after washing my hands a million times) and got into the tub. I stayed in for about 20-30 minutes after which I proceeded to wash my skin over and over and over with an organic all natural bar of soap and a clean washcloth (I wash all my laundry with a solution of borax, grated and diluted organic lavender bar-soap and a few drops of lemongrass essential oil, this has helped allot with my skin irritation and allergies) My skin was a dingy grey after wards and so I drained my black rimmed tub and showered, again washing my skin thoroughly but not too much as to irritate my skin again, then I washed out my tub, dried off with a fresh towel and relaxed for a few minutes (this I found to be highly important in stress management, which contributes to eczema).
My skin never felt better and I actually had some energy. I still have black lines and dingy skin but I really don't care, it will wash off the next shower I have. I have also decided to take one charcoal tablet a day to help with the IBS I frequently experience and know that it contributes to low immune function and the plethora of health issues I have faced since I was about 10.
Anyone with severe skin issues I highly recommend a healthy non-gmo diet, elimination of industrial chemicals in household products, elimination of fluoride and as odd as it seems placed in this list: Inner Child therapy (I find the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh the best, he treats the body, mind and world as a whole) Most of these immune issues stem from severe stress and trauma experienced during childhood, things we didn't and still have not faced that resurface as health problems.
Recipe for skin poultice:
- 2 caps activated charcoal Aprox. 1 Tbls
- equal amount of Organic Coconut Oil
- Mix together and apply for at least 30 minutes.
Like others have stated you may experience a urine-like smell and this indicates that it is working (not sure why, will have to look into that) First time I did this I smelled urine, very strongly in the tub until I washed the charcoal from myself and the tub, its gross and quite pungent, perhaps this is the toxins that are drawn out? If anyone has information on this mechanism please reply with your info!
An FYI in case anyone is interested, I have tried the prescription meds since I was very young, every other home remedy on this site as well as other but nothing has provided the immediate relief I experienced from the charcoal poultice. The itching, burning, swelling, redness, and small pimple-like lesions have disappeared all that is left of it is the scabs where I have scratched so much I opened the lesions.
Please drink plenty of fluoride free (if possible) water after ingesting or applying charcoal as it dehydrates the body.
Try a less messy poultice by mixing the activated charcoal with a little fine psyllium powder and water to a manageable paste. It firms up after a while and then to a consistency which can be peeled off eventually. Makes a good facial mask.
Blistex Lip Balm
★★★★★
Blistex Lip Medex Balm (medicated) for Eczema and Psoriasis
A friend of mine developed a strange rash on his hand and wrist that looked like eczema. I remember hearing that Blistex Lip Medex Balm ($1.25 for .38 oz container) may help control Psoriasis so why not Eczema. So I stopped by the dollar store and picked some up for him. He would apply the balm to the rash several times a day. He started to see results and a few days and the rash was gone within a week.
Active Ingredients of Blistex Lip Medex Balm: Camphor, Menthol, Petrolatum, Phenol. Purposes: External Analgesic, External Analgesic, Lip Protectant, External Analgesic. Inactive Ingredients: Beeswax, Benzyl Alcohol, Diisopropyl Adipate, Flavors, Fragrances, Lanolin, Menthoxypropanediol, Microcrystalline Wax, Myristyl Myristate, Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, Saccharin, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Seed Butter.
Vitamin D, Eliminate Dairy
★★★★★
For several months I had eczema on my forehead; my skin was red, itchy and flaking. I tried many things to cure it including various supplements, creams, and diet changes, but saw no improvement.
In March, I tried two new experiments to see if I could rid myself of the eczema.
First I began sitting out in the sun for 20 minutes each sunny day to generate natural Vitamin D. Even though it was early spring and there were limited ultraviolet rays, I wanted to slowly build up my time in the sun since I sunburn very easily. At the same time in March, I eliminated all dairy foods from my diet.
Within about 2 weeks of the sunbathing and the diet change, the eczema was already showing great improvement and within a few more weeks my skin was completely smooth and free of the eczema and has remained so.
As I write this, it's the end of July and I've continued the sunbathing making sure I sit in the sun for short periods nearly every sunny day all summer (I've read that 20 minutes a day 3 times a week is sufficient to maintain an adequate Vitamin D level, but I've exceeded that amount since I've sunbathed more than 3 times each week).
About 3 months into my experiment, I began slowly adding a tiny amount of dairy foods back into my diet to see if the eczema would return. I've had no reoccurence of the eczema. I plan to keep my dairy food consumption at a minimum and also plan to continue sunbathing as much as possible. In summation, I have no way of knowing if the diet change or the addition of natural Vitamin D cured the eczema â¦. perhaps both played a part. I am just very grateful for the learning experience and grateful that the eczema has been eradicated.