Eczema Support Group

I try to wear breathable clothing and also wipe down as often as possible... maybe use a damp towel to keep your body cool.

Hi Cowgirl,

I was encountering the same problem myself, as I work out regulary 5 days a week. I found my eczema flairing up after my daily workout. Sometimes it seems that you can't win. I'm 45 now and have only had very small occurances until the last couple years where it has seemed to be speading. I know get it on my thighs, ankles, back and arms. What really sucks is that taking to many showers seems to cause flare ups too. It seems like a catch 22. What I recently tried was cutting out my cardio (30 minutes a day treadmill) and in turn workout with weights instead. I know I am robbing myself of my cardio at this point, but my eczema has definetly gotten much better as a result. When I did do the daily treadmill I would sweat much more and it would really cause a reaction. The only thing that helped was to shower with no soap and dry good. But again, to many showers cause a problem too. But now with my daily weights, showering with little soap...dove for sensitive skin when needed... my condition is much better. I've also found that bleaching my socks and underware seemed to cause major irriation. I stopped doing that and seem to be better yet. I sure wish they had a cure for this stuff...

Same here. The only solution I know of is to exercise in cold weather or with a fan on me so I don't sweat. Sweat is the worst for eczema!

What about swimming to get cardio in? I dont know if you go to a gym or have access to a pool or not, but I've turned to swimming for cardio 1) because of the sweat, and 2) because it keeps my skin hydrated. Luckily, the chlorine is no problem on my skin.

Doing more weights then cardio helps me as well. Plus I feel that I do get more strenght and that makes me feel like I can take control over my body again. Taking off my sweat shirt and let the cool gym air cool me down helps as well. I can not go running outside when the sun is out and it is beautiful. If I do go running it has to be in the early and cold morning hours.
I also had the experience that I can not handle bleaching my clothes. So now I use an orgnanic bleachfree bleach. Swimming is no option, well only in a selin pool. Chlorine is poison for my skin. That is why I have a filter on my shower head that takes the clorine out.
Whenever I do sweat in my workouts I pad my skin down right away to awoid itching.

Try having you body pH tested to find out if it is 7.34 for your blood pH or 7.4 for your saliva pH. My suspision is that it is too low acidic and thus killing your good gut bacteria that allow you to breakdown/absorb food nutients. If you can raise pH to be more alkaline or base this allows the bacteria to grow more. Allowing you to absorb more nutrients making your skin healthier for the inside out!
Taking Probiotics (GOOD GI bacteria) can help too.

Let me know if this ends up being the case.

FYI
veggies, whole wheat are alkaline foods

sugar, OJ, cranberry juice all very acidic

Stress and working out do effect you. My son has eczema but is too young to have a conversation with. I gave him PRObiotics which is GOOD bacteria in your gut that you NEED to absorb nutrients into your bloodstream. If you don't have enough bacteria then you don't absorb as much nutrients. Your skin being your largest organ requires a good deal of these nutrients of which if you are lacking too much skin health goes downhill. Probiotics reduced 80% of his eczema in a week & kept it away for over a month. THen I noticed it got bad within 3 days... thought about it and realized I had introduced him to OJ for 3 days in a row which lowers body pH making it more acidic. So in an effort to increase pH to be more base/alkaline, helping bacteria grow and increasing nutrients being absorbed I put 1/8 teaspoon of baking soda in 2 1/2 cups warm milk. By morning his redness went from redness of 9 to 3 on 10 point scale... overnight! I have taken him off OJ, pineapple and am .. as I have been trying to do.. give him more green veggies which make pH more base.
How does this affect you? I got to thinking that stress and WORKING OUT causes MORE acid in the body. Found below article too. If you are stressed out or know you will be (ie upcomming exam, etc) try taking alkaline water with Probiotics. Eat more veggies, whole wheat and less sugar, OJ, cranberry juice all with higher pH.
Let me know if this works for you.

PS Body pH makes sense, if you have a urinary track infection (UTI) you take cranberry juice to make body more acidic killing BAD bacteria and the infection.
ANTIbiotics kill bacteria and so too your GOOD bacteria so this will probably cause a flare up too.

If you would like to read one of the research articles on this topic go to: http://findarticles.com/p/articles...
Skin health, eczema, and preventative strategies: Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients.
May, 2003 by Chris D. Meletis, Jason Barker

http://www.eczemamembers.com/clubp...
Bacteria and Eczema: Eczema is an Immune System Disorder (atopy), and 75% of your Immune System is found in your Gastrointestinal Tract where 3 to 4 pounds of bacteria reside.

Body pH article below
http://answers.google.com/answers/...

Hello I just wanted to let you know that I gave a friend of mine Arbonne baby care wash, baby oil, and the baby lotion, she tried it out on her eczema and its mild gentle, non-irritating, and it's WORKING!!! I would love to help you and see if this works for you. If you would like you can go to my website at vegan4animals.myarbonne.com you can buy this and have it sent to you or email me at puzzled10@hotmail.com I do want to help you after seeing my friends results