Overcoming Eyelid Eczema

Winter 2009/2010 was the first time in over half a decade that I was NOT affected (at all) by eyelid / face eczema. To me, this is the some of the best news ever! ((If you have ever had to deal with horrible eczema on your face, you know what I mean…))

Follow my journey as I overcame the horrible experience of eyelid / face eczema.

• Day One – Flax Oil and Eye Cream
• Day Two – Puffiness But Less itching
• Day Three – Puffiness, Pearls and Pirates
• Day Four – Extreme Puff
• Crying and Wine Seem to Help Eyelid Eczema Itching and Pain (at least for me)
• Day Five: A Visit to the Doctor
• Day Seven – Am I Healing or Getting Worse?
• Interesting Findings About My Eyelid Eczema
• Day 8 – Eyelid Eczema Sucks
• Eyelid Eczema or Blepharitis?
• Day Nine – Eyelid Eczema, Allergies, Rice and Being Social
• Day Eleven – Severe Atopic Dermatitis
• Day Twelve – Feeling Much Better
• Day Fourteen – Feeling Human Again
• Day 21 – Gradual Healing and Side Effects
• Day 26 – Almost Done with Steroids
• Day 33 – Back to Square 2
• Day WHATEVER – Good and Bad Days
• Off Drugs – Feeling Better – Found Root of All Evil
• Relapse is Depressing
• My Thoughts on Topical Creams and Environmental Allergies
• My Eyelid Eczema – 11 Months Later

Please let me know your thoughts and experiences!!

My Eyelid Eczema – 11 Months Later

In my constant effort to stay away from all things cat-like, I have successfully maintained a 100% eczema-less face for the better part of the last 6 months.

I have found that my immediate reaction to cats has mellowed out a bit, too – I no longer flare up if the person next to me in line has cat hair on their coat.  I can walk into a house that has cats, as long as I leave within 3-5 minutes and do not touch anything.

I figure my body is no longer in crisis mode so it has become a bit more tolerant. Just a bit, though. I still refuse to go to a pet store or the ASPCA. I still refuse to hang out in a house where cats live.

… and we moved. We moved into a newer home where NO cat has ever lived. When we moved, we left behind/gave away/sold all our furniture that was remotely porous: couches, mattresses, throw rugs, etc… That move, alone, was the icing on the cake for how well I felt.

A friend of mine started going through what I was going through and found that it was an allergy, too!

Now I just need to STILL get rid of those 20 pounds that this whole mess “blessed” me with. (sigh)

It is really sad that cats are my biological/environmental nemisis, but at least I found my cure for my eyelid eczema.

My Thoughts on Topical Creams and Environmental Allergies

My Kitty “Mac” that we had to find a new home for… 😦

I am not a doctor. Not even close …

However, I am going to share something I found out about myself. Maybe it applies to you – maybe not.

I am allergic to cats. Which is weird seeing as I have ALWAYS lived with cats – ever since I was born, and NEVER had a reaction until now. Apparently I hit an internal “threshold” and my body refuses to cope with cats any longer. Totally bizarre, but it is what it is …

Cat allergies are the cause of my eyelid eczema rash crap whatever. If I am in a house where cats are/were, I start breaking out with this crap – as noted in past posts, here. If I am behind someone in line who was holding a cat before thy went shopping, I have to move to another line. It SO sucks.

Cat allergies are an environmental allergy – meaning that I have an allergic reaction if cats are in my immediate environment.

I have found that putting on topical creams when having a flare up seems to make it WORSE. Here are my thoughts on it …

Cat dander (or whatever it is about them) floats around the air and lands on my skin, making me explode. If I run and put on cream/oil, I am now trapping that dander/whatever to my skin … making the reaction worse. Maybe I am totally wrong, and I would not believe me if I were you – I’d talk to your doctor, but these are my thoughts. Just my thoughts.

What I have found is if I wind up being around cats and start flaring up (which now happens 100% of the time), I immediately wash all the clothes I was wearing and take a shower. As SOON as I get out of the shower, then and ONLY then do I put on any topical creams or oils. It is much better …

Again, these are just my thoughts.

Side note: For as much as I am happy that I know the root of my problem, it really SUCKS being this allergic to cats. Not only do I LOVE cats and miss having them in my life, half of my friends have cats and I can now no longer go to their houses. In fact, regardless of how much we have cleaned OUR house, I am ALWAYS worse when I am home. I think we will have to move now. [sigh]

Relapse is Depressing

So, I have been feeling progressively better over the past month. Not 100% … but a good 90% better. I went on a business trip to Austin TX for a week and during that time I managed to get to 100%!!!! I forgot how AWESOME it was to feel so close to “normal” …

ALL the swelling went down

ALL the itchiness went away.

All the redness disappeared.

Then I came home.

It flared up again so bad that I could barely open my right eye. It threw me right into “poor me I am an ugly monster so let me mope around depressed again” mode for 2 days.

Apparently, my face was happy with my NOT being anywhere close to where cats once where (my house). So my face and eyes got all pissed off at me when I came home.

I have spent the better part of the last few days OUTSIDE – which has helped things, but I cannot do that forever. Living in a tent in my backyard is not an option – I am not 8 years old anymore. I like my pillow top king sized bed too much.

I reeeeeaaaaallllllly do not want to move again – especially in this lovely real estate economy, but if this happens again, I may be forced to. [sigh]

Off Drugs – Feeling Better – Found Root of All Evil

Well, I have been off Prednisone for several weeks now. I am not even taking Zyrtec, Zantac … NOTHING.

… and I am feeling almost normal. (Still a little puffy … just a little.)

I have not been to the allergist yet (busy), so i decided to find out once and for all if allergies really WERE the root of all evil. So, I decided to perform a little (sadistic) experiment on myself.

I went to the Humane Society 2 days ago and walked through the cat room.

Not 30 minutes later, my near perfect face swelled up into near unrecognition and along with it came the red rash around my eys … and all down the right side of my face.

I went home, took a shower and went to bed early.

I woke up the next morning, back to “normal” … The ONLY thing that was different in my life was the re-addition of cat dander to my senses.

The hell I have been going through since January was all due to sudden, unpredictable onset of a cat allergy. ( Interesting Read: http://www.allergyclinic.co.nz/guides/7.html )

• I found a new home for my cats. ((Very Sad))
• I cleaned/sanitized my entire venting/ductwork system of my house. (($388))
• Fully cleaned all my carpets. (($318 – 2,000 sf))
• Fully cleaned EVERY porous object in my house to include massive amounts of laundry. ((2 weeks of cleaning and boxes of detergent))
• I spend more time outside in the fresh air. ((At least 1/2 the day))
• I am feeling better. ((I am about 90% better))

… Now all I need to do is lose the 10-15 pounds I gained while on the drugs.

Day WHATEVER – Good and Bad Days

Two days ago I felt better than I have felt since December. Today I feel like crap again. A little puffy and a lot of red and itchy.

The cats are gone. I hate that. I LOVED my kitties, but I had MASSIVE reactions every time I came near them. You should have SEEN my reactions when I dropped them off at the foster home where there were 5 other cats. The poor lady thought I was about to die.

MY symptoms subsided dramatically with them gone, but every time I am at home all day (even though I cleaned my house from top to bottom) or whenever the HEAT goes on, I revert back into freakdom.

This is all a bunch of ****.

I am certain that it is now purely environmental, as I eliminated all the other dietary irritants from my life. (MMM rice. bleh.)

Anyway, my hubby and I are pretty sure that whenever the vents start blowing air, it disrupts all the dander in the 3,000 sf of house – causing me to react. So, we are getting all of our ducts cleaned and sanitized ($388.) and getting a bid to re-carpet our entire home.

God Gawd … I am turning into an expensive wife. (Good thing I am not a shopper by nature, I have saved him 15 years of being high maintenance … making up for it now, though.)

Last round of Prednisone almost over. Full blown allergy testing in T-minus 3 weeks. Maybe I will be better by then.

Thank you to everyone who has left comments on my blog. I would say that you don’t know how good it is to know that I am not alone dealing with this **** … but based on the comments I have been reading, you DO KNOW how nice it is to know that we are not alone.

Good luck to all of you.

Day 33 – Back to Square 2

I went to Chicago and came home and now am horrible again – maybe not as bad as I was before going to the hospital, but close.

My eyes are all but swollen shut every morning and I have massive red and itchiness around my eyes. And now I have a rash all over my body as well. Oh, and the side effects of the Prednisone has given me a face full of nasty acne.

Any lotion or oil that I use winds up irritating me after one week, and I have to find a new lotion.

I am beginning to wonder if I am allergic to something in my home, as it seems to get worse when I am home. I think it may be my cat.  He just hit puberty right at the time that this all happened. I am going to get him fixed and go to an allergist this month.

It takes a lot for me not to be completely depressed right now. I feel emotionally horrible, and ugly and uncomfortable.

Day 26 – Almost Done with Steroids

Day 26 – February 2, 2009

Today my eyes are puffy and over the last couple days I have had more itchiness and redness than previous days. Pretty sure it is stress-related. I only have 1 more day of Prednisone (1/2 pill) and then I am done for good. I am a little worried tho. I have a major presentation on Thursday and want to look semi-presentable. I guess we will see …

Day 21 – Gradual Healing and Side Effects

Day 21 – January 28, 2009

The redness has FINALLY gone own quite a bit. I am still kind of puffy and “out of it” – Which I am sure is due to my diet change and being on drugs: Prednisone. I hear that Prednisone can cause weight gain (or inhibit weight loss), as well as eliminate the friendly flora in your stomach that aids in digestion. To combat this, I am trying to eat yogurt several hours after taking the Prednisone, and once I am all done, I will start taking some Acidophilis as well…

And then there are pimples. I have gotten quite a few of them recently. I hear that can be attributed to steroids as well. Oh well, I’d much rather deal with these short term side effects than go through the mess I have been with the eczema.

I am by no means totally healed, as my eyes still itch a bit each morning. I am still plugging along with the diet, but DO cheat a little once awhile: I had 3 tater tots yesterday, a small serving of home made corned beef 2 nights ago and some stit fried green peppers for lunch. However, I MUST say that I am doing quite well – all things considered. Once I am done with the Prednisone (6 more days), I hope to feel more energized and peppy.

My face looks a million times better, but still a tad bit more puffy than “normal” …

*Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV. In fact, MOST of what I talk about on this blog will not even COME FROM the advice of a doctor. This is just a journal where I track the progress (or non-progress) of treating eyelid eczema as naturally as possible. None of what I talk about is intended to take the place of seeing a doctor for what ails you. Use your common sense for crying out loud.

Day Fourteen – Feeling Human Again

Day 14 – January 21, 2009

Yesterday I spent the morning watching the 2009 Inauguration and then spent the rest of the day in face-to-face appointments. I was feeling borderline human. However, by the end of the evening, I was starting to feel a bit more puffy and red, so I just went to bed early.

… Today I feel even MORE human. My eyes are a lot less bloodshot, and I have had to put less Aquafor lotion on my face throughout the day. As you can see from the picture, I am WAAAAY less red and puffy. And the Eucerin Aquafor has helped smooth out my skin – removing all the cracks and flaky crap. My face is still a little discolored/blotchy, but much, much better.

I am sticking to my pseudo-Macrobiotic diet: rice and rice products, water, baked chicken and fish and steamed veggies. I am also sticking to the Prednisone regiment prescribed by my doctor. I am in the process of slowly tapering off the dosage until I am completelty off of it … and completely healed.

<(^^,)> … Today I feel happy.