Homeopathy for Hay Fever
May 21, 2019Homeopathy for Hay Fever
May 21, 2019Homeopathy for Eczema
a natural, gentle and permanent solution
omeopathy can be successfully used to reduce eczema symptoms or even permanently banish eczema altogether. Homeopathy uses substances taken from the natural world to help the body from the inside to build healthy and normal skin on the outside. A good homeopath also recommends natural and gentle topical creams, soaps and shampoos which do not interfere with the skin’s self-healing.
Homeopathy for eczema produces noticeable improvements within 1 month, and a complete course of treatment to permanently clear the skin may take 9 months to 2 years.
Eczema is a skin condition characterized by itching, redness, roughness and cracking
These changes of the skin typically appear in patches and often start in early childhood. Places most often affected are the elbow and knee creases, around wrists and ankles, and around the eyes and neck. But eczema can spread and affect any body part.
Eczema often becomes chronic and it never really goes away for any length of time
Medical creams help to keep the symptoms mild or make the skin appear normal for a few days or weeks. But when the creams are not used the skin will sooner or later break out again in exactly the same way, or indeed worse.
Eczema is medically classed as an allergy which tends to run in families (atopy)
Two other very common atopic conditions are related to eczema and these are asthma and hay fever. Because the inheritance of atopic conditions is so very strong, we usually see several generations of one family affected with a mix of eczema, asthma and hay fever.
There are many children with eczema who during medical allergy tests are clearly shown to be allergic to a variety of foods, pollen, dust and chemicals. These triggers can either get weaker as the child grows, or other triggers may develop over the years.
On the other hand, it often happens that medically no allergy can be identified. Strangely, in some of these cases, children still clearly react to particular foods at home, and definite flare-ups and outbreaks occur.
Because of the allergic nature of eczema, it can be difficult to tell the difference between chronic hives (urticaria) and chronic eczema. Often a person suffers from both conditions, and in fact, chronic urticaria is another condition belonging to the atopy family of medical conditions. The difference between urticaria and eczema is found in appearance and pattern.
In urticaria we see completely healthy skin suddenly affected by intense itching, followed by a sudden appearance of small red pimples or larger red or even white wheals. After a while, these may disappear, either spontaneously or due to the use of anti-histamines. Once the episode is over, the skin returns to normal and stays so until the next outbreak. Urticaria can become chronic and there are many people who decide to take anti-histamines almost daily to prevent outbreaks. In eczema, the development of skin changes is much slower, not as itchy, usually less pimply but patchier in appearance, and far more permanent with skin changes most likely remaining for weeks if not treated with medical creams.
Eczema and urticaria often appear together
This means that a mild, inactive, or pale eczema skin patch can flare up within minutes. It becomes pimply, angry red, swollen and intensely itchy after the child has been exposed to a known or unknown allergic trigger. The subsequent scratching then damages the skin and makes eczema worse, causing cracking and bleeding. The skin can even become infected, if the outbreak occurs at the playground or at the zoo, for instance, when the child may have germs on their hands and under their fingernails while scratching.
Medical treatment of eczema is usually unsatisfactory
The condition can only be managed with creams to treat the inflammation and dryness. Antihistamines are offered to relieve itching and associated allergy. When the creams are not used, the condition comes back with a vengeance.
Homeopathy aims to gradually reduce symptoms so that after 1-2 years no further treatment is required
Healthy skin does not require topical moisturizing. Healthy skin is maintained by a regular supply of beneficial nutrients from the inside, sensible and safe sun exposure and once/twice a day washing with clean, filtered water. A good homeopath can advise about all of these factors and how they can be gradually implemented while the treatment progresses. The aim of the homeopathic treatment is to enable the skin to look after itself and not to be maintained by lotions and potions.
Often, popular over-the-counter moisturizers contain chemicals which help in the moment, but dry out the skin in the long run. A vicious circle is set up where the chronic drying-out is made much worse by the cream which is used to treat it. Homeopathic treatment aims to help the skin to break out of this cycle by using natural topicals which do not harm the skin and natural oral remedies to help the skin to heal from the inside.
Medical treatment also includes steroid creams to calm down the chronic inflammation after it has appeared. If these are over-used, they can have side-effects such as thinning of the skin, permanent colour changes of the skin and even stunting growth of body height, in some rare cases. Homeopathy, on the other hand, addresses skin inflammation by re-balancing inner body processes to prevent the skin from over-reacting to allergens. Instead of re-acting to inflammation, homeopathy tries to treat the root cause for inflammation and resolve the issue from the inside, so that steroid creams will not be required anymore.
Anti-histamines can be lifesaving in cases of severe breathing allergy (anaphylaxis). But if anti-histamines are used daily for skin itching, they often cause a person to become more and more sensitive. Daily use of anti-histamines can cause more severe and even life-threatening breathing reactions, because the body is becoming more and more fragile while using the daily dose of pharmaceutical anti-histamine as a crutch. Anti-histamines have the potential to disrupt the immune system as a whole and cause more serious conditions such as chronic headaches and even abnormal breast development in males. Homeopathic treatment aims to reduce itching and discomfort by allowing the skin to find its natural pH balance, supply itself with natural moisturizing oils, and produce its own anti-inflammatory substances. This will take time, but in the interim period, homeopathic remedies help to reduce the itch to manageable levels.
Homeopathic treatment has no side-effects and no permanent negative outcomes. A good homeopath takes into account any factor which triggers or aggravates the skin condition and the allergy. In this way, attention is given to food and drink, but also to bathing water and soaps, clothes, bedding and detergents, and where possible, heathier alternatives will be suggested.
Good homeopathy is truly holistic
Homeopathic treatment of eczema involves paying attention to the body and life circumstances as a whole. Mental and emotional factors such as stress and anxiety can aggravate skin conditions and a good homeopath will, therefore, include this in his or her treatment strategy. The immune system is, of course, the most important aspect. Homeopathy addresses this from the inside, with specialised homeopathic natural remedies taken by mouth, so that the chronic inflammation of the skin slowly goes away and flare-ups become issues of the past.