Updates and such

I realize this blog has been quite inactive for some time, and i realize that it does not have to be that way. The idea of the blog was to make something static, summing up my experience. People can still read the basics but i will post some status reports to be more visible from now on. I want my experience to reach people who struggle and help them live easier lives with their eczema.

I will also include some pictures for your reference.

best,
Itchy

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How am I doing: Winter 2016

Hi all,

I thought i'd give an update to how I'm keeping my skin healthy these days. Im doing quite fine despite not sleeping much at all lately. I think the main reason is the damp gym I go to, seems to work wonders to sweat there for some time. Anyways, here's some pictures to give you an idea. It is a little dry, I was out yesterday and did not sleep much tonight, also I am using a shitty cream as my Apo Base has run out.



Lately I'm regularly making sure to visit my gym. Here I run for some 20 minutes and it makes me really sweatty, this might scratch at first, if very much so, maybe consider hitting the shower imedeately afterwards. Remember to keep the shower cold, so that you dont flush out your moisture.

Since I am very prone to scratching, I have found a way of really minimizing the potential damage should I loose control. I keep my fingernails very short and filed down so that when i scratch they make very little impact on my skin. Do your self a favour and disarm yourself ;)

I noticed lately that my exema defenitely acts up when I am around dogs and cats. I dont know if it's the fact that my skin get exposed or just my general sneezing and exertion from the allergy that does this.

I notice that large amounts of unhealthy food and alcohol definitely make an impact on my skin. Lately I am trying to eat modestly to see if it plays a part. Worth a shot!

Hope you enjoyed reading. I will try to write these updates so that people can see how Im doing.

Best,
Itchy

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The Training Schedual

I like to keep in shape, and it really brightens up my mood and creativity, but I am in reality forced to exercise at leas twice a week because it clears away my eczema symptoms. I belive this is affecting me both physiologicly and mentally, it helps me to think and reduces stress (both of which makes me scratch), also it makes me sweat out irritants, helps blood circulation and removes alot of ichyness and inflaming. Beeing forced to work out is one of the reasons why eczema can be a blessing in disguise, ;)

A normal week for me now days typically includes two or three runs/or cycling trips, and one or two strength sessions. They don't have to be long but often i experience mch more relief when at least one of the runs or cycles last for around two hours, this would typically mean cycling 90 km or running 15 km. This involves drinking alot of water, I remember one trip, it was probably a little longer than 140 km bike ride where I drank 5.25 liters of water and a 0.5 of energy drink.

When i have acess to a salt-water pool i am happy to go for a swim as often as i can, as these are realy nice for the skin and for my mental health as I find it very relaxing and pleasant. This would involve about 90 minutes of swimming if i can spare it, differing in intensity. When i work strength I always make sure to warm up properly, and not wear clothes that itch.

But it has taken a couple of years to be able to pull off this amount of exercise without feeling exessively fatigued or get injuries, so my advice is to advance slowly and listen to your body. Find the activity that suits you best.

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Cold Showers

I am a sucker for hot water, realy. But I am planing an experiment with cold showers now, it shouldn't be too dificult but well see when winter comes and cold comes-a-crawling! I don't believe it will have any negative effects on my health otherwise. This post will be updated in accord to my experiences.

I have tried an experiment with this earlier, but it wasn't very sucsessfull, Im hoping that i can make some strong conclusion as a result to this. My earlier thought is that you sometimes need to wash away bacterias with efficient (somewhat warm) water, as bacterias may accumulate in the oils on your skin. But this remains to be seen!

Wish me luck!

update 28/7 2014

Took my first cold shower at work today. At first I was realy not looking forward to it, but when i stepped in I tried imagining it as a normal, warm, shower, and it worked quite well. Well see if it works the next time aswell

update 04/08 2014

No slipping up thus far, and i must say, it's a little challenging for the psyche, but it yields really good results! I haven't worked out seriously (except some rafting and softball) for 10 days, which would normally mean an outbreak, but my skin is very much keeping it's moisture and staying not-irritated (despite wearing alot of wetsuit). I think everyone should give this a go sometime!

update 03/03 2016

Showering in cold water is absolutely vital for my skin

I have been showering in cold water consistently for a while now, I must say, It is so much easier to keep my skin healthy and moistured when i do this. Sometimes it can be a little lame to step into a cold shower after winter surf or a long day snowboarding but it really maintains my skin. I hope everyone will put down their thought of showering in hot water as some "humanitarian right" and give this a try.

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Mental Health

First I have to underline, I have only my own experience, what I have read, and some stories to base these following oppinions on, and mental health may not be relevant to your case at all. I will append this post with scientific data later if I can find any.

I just want to state this explicitly. It probably pisses you off if youre suffering from atopic eczema, but there is a connection between atopic eczema and mental health. As I have stated earlier, a lot of the methods that work for me are related to stress, and i believe that emotional factors are well as important to my eczema beeing well, as physiological factors.

When I was a teenager I had some very difficult periods, and at one point I scrathced myself bloody, making huge wounds, without even feeling ichy, just to relieve the emotional turmoil. I believe this has stuck with me somehow, even though I am a happy guy, content with my life, I take out my emotions on my skin. I believe, that for example this survey (the first one i struck on google) has not adressed the possibility of emotional turmoil significantly worsening eczema symptoms.

There was a book that i read that made me aware of this, it's called "Skin Deep", you can find it online. It's to be taken with a grain of salt though, these beliefs in psychology are very much out of date, but I think it is very relevant, and important to be aware of none the less. For example, the other day I had an argument with my father, i had just been on a run and after the argument i just went balistic on my skin, it's not deliberate, it happens automaticly when i think about things that bothers me, that i scratch. This goes back a long way for me, and I think it's a mechanism to dampen my emotions.

I hope therefore, that if you are one of those that nothing seem to work on, that you go to a professional to help sort out whatever emotions that might be provoking your eczema outbreaks. I have thought about it many times, but haven't gone yet, but if I get worse again i will definitly give it a try. If it doesn't work, well then at least I tried!

I wish you all the best,
Itchy

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Views on dieting

Dieting is something i think many of us are trying. And with good cause, we eat a lot of strange things. Myself have experimented alot and found that lactosis are amongst the triggers for outbreaks, but this is an individual thing.

But I try to keep to two general rules. I try to avvoid excessive intake of fat / carbs / sugars as these are likely to surface to my skin, I would imagine that protein powder, or mass gainer would be make quite the impression. And I try to get the variaty of vitamins, minerals etc etc that the body needs. Also alcohol really gets to my skin, so if youre a heavy drinker, you should see where it leads to lay off for a while, or at least avoid getting drunk.

With atopic eczema I think, one could get a blessing in disguise: As many people live their whole life ravaging their bodies, living unhealthy, your skin has a way of telling you to live more healthy, avoid chemicals, sleep, exercise and stress less. So please try it for a couple of weeks and see where it gets you, you might experience a really big change.

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Feedback

Hi, please leave your feedback in a comment on this post. The main idea is to help people that may stumble upon this blog, so if you have any ideas of how to achieve this, type it out!

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