3 years in the making, life is good!!!

Soldato
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Well today I finally finished my AS Art and Photography after 3 years!!!

For 2 years my eczema has stoped me from going to college, forced me to quit me job and kept me in the house everyday for basically the whole of 2005. I stopped going to hospital until Oct/Nov last year when I forced myself to sort myself out. It didn't really help at all and neither did the councilling so I continued the same withdraw from society habit going untill March when I suddenly started getting better.

Scince then I went back to school and even though things have still been shakey it's been awesome to be doing things as normal and to have sorted out what I'm doing next year as I wouldn't want to be at the same school for a ninth consecutive year!!!

The next big thing for me to do will be to get a job although I'm not so sure it would be a good idea but I really need the money!

Anyway to sum things up life isn't the best it could be be it's dam well good atm!!!
 
Woman of Honour
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Congrats :) Sounds like a real accomplishment as you've gone through all that.
Hope things continue to improve for you!
 
Soldato
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Congratulations :)

I've got a friend who's been stopped from finishing his A levels(Last year and his exams are meant to be now..) as he had glandular fever a while back and now has ME.. :/

He has nothing to do at all, and can't really work due to lack of energy and afaik there's no cure, so he just has to wait until, hopefully, it goes away.
 
Soldato
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I had mild Eczema on my elbow and a small patch on the top of my back for about 15 years - it also completely disappeared randomly as I finished my third year of uni! Bizarre!
 
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NickXX said:
I had mild Eczema on my elbow and a small patch on the top of my back for about 15 years - it also completely disappeared randomly as I finished my third year of uni! Bizarre!

I think he means a much more severe case? Well done to the OP though! :)
 
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Andelusion said:
Congrats :) I didn't know Ezcema could affect someone so badly? :confused: /naivety

Three years ago I was working on a twilight shift and we had a new worker and he was covered from head to foot with eczema. One evening he came in and we could see he was really having problems and he lifted his sleeves up and his arms were covered in blood and it wasn't through scratching either. He then lifted up his tight trackie bottoms and half the skin off his legs fell onto the floor and the girl next to him fainted. We ended up letting him off for a week while he put himself into hospital and had some type of light treatment. I was quite amazed when he came back because he was clear but it wouldn't last long. He reckoned he was the second worse case in Britain and theres only a girl worse than him. He and his family were also saving up to send him to Turkey where there are special fish that eat the eczema off you and then other fish clean the area :eek: He's also the drummer in this band - http://www.myspace.com/stokeburnt and he said when he comes off the floor is covered in scabs.

It puts my slight eczema on my head and ears into perspective.
 
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Andelusion said:
Congrats :) I didn't know Ezcema could affect someone so badly? :confused: /naivety

One of my close friends from school has had serious excema all her life. It covers all of her body and is as you can imagine exceptionally itchy. Imagine having an itch that covers your whole body, and no matter how much you scratch it doesnt go away but you cant stop scratching until the skin is raw and/or bleeding. Its pretty much like that really. I wouldnt wish it upon anybody, but it always has amazed me how well she coped with it.
 
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My bro has a condition which is similar to exczma and seems to get worse in the summer months or when he is stressed, he's seen no end of speiclaists over the years and although they all agree it is probably tiesd to some form of alergy, he's never had a 100% diagnosis. He's had similar problems to the opening poster around exam time andmissed exams in the past, and in the last few years the GP has been giving him steroid injections when it gets really bad as this seems to releive the symptoms.

We think he's starting to grow out of it now though.

Not nice in the slightest, and having seen someone become withdrawn de to this type of thing I can thouroughly sympathise with the opening poster, but also say congratulations for pulling through it :)
 
Soldato
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Who invented eczema.. i want to kick them.. hard.. in the balls/ovaries.. and if they have both.. both.. and then give them eczema.. on their balls/ovaries.. :mad:
 

beh

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Can definitely empathise. My eczema was especially bad the first year of my a-levels. Not a happy time, just constant discomfort. Was probably due to stress. Had it to varying degrees all my life and I am quite withdawn because of it.

Grats on getting things sorted :)
 
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PeterNem said:
My bro has a condition which is similar to exczma and seems to get worse in the summer months or when he is stressed, he's seen no end of speiclaists over the years and although they all agree it is probably tiesd to some form of alergy, he's never had a 100% diagnosis. He's had similar problems to the opening poster around exam time andmissed exams in the past, and in the last few years the GP has been giving him steroid injections when it gets really bad as this seems to releive the symptoms.

We think he's starting to grow out of it now though.

Not nice in the slightest, and having seen someone become withdrawn de to this type of thing I can thouroughly sympathise with the opening poster, but also say congratulations for pulling through it :)

Is it Psoriasis? It took years for doctors to realise the patch on my back wasn't excema, but rather Psoriasis. Again, it's nothing that can really be cured, and flares up with stress - although UV light (I.e. summer) helps to settle it. I had a small patch from the age of 12 up to about the 21, then it just vanished!

Both excema and Psoriasis can get very very bad, but it seems a lot of people just grow out of it all of a sudden.
 
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Soldato
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Yep it can get really bad. Basically the itchness is caused by the dryness and in most cases a trigger which is where the alergys come into it.

People with eczema, astma or hayfever or a combination suffer from being atopic and usually have a above average IgE level which suggests they have a lot of allergys. In my case in order of reactivity it went: Dust Mites, Nuts, Cat Dander and Egg. Those were the things I was most reactive too. This is also the reason people with eczema take anti-histamines regularly.

At the time I was also put on Sodium Chromoglicate, usually used to treat asthma but in my case to reduce my allergen reactivity. I was also put on light treatment which is used to reduce redness and toughens the skin over time. Steriod creams are also to reduce the redness but when using the strongest over a long period can thinnen the skin. I've actually been using all of the above plus oral steriods to try and keep my skin under control.

For me I'm in a transition period as atm I'm comming off my oral steriods (which I've been on for months),my light treament is ending and I'm going to start using some creams which block the white blood cells that overeact to cause the inflamation. So i'm going to see whether I can still keep it all under control.

Sress also aggrivates it and my proffesor even reccomended avoiding stress and following a career that wasn't that stressful!!! Easier said than done!

One of the stupidest things I did last year was stop using steriods because I was getting paraniod about all the side effects which just made it worse.

When I did have a job I wouldn't go to school during the week because I wanted the skin on my hands and face to get better but I'd always have a massive itching attack and last year I wouln't be able to sleep untill I had itch my face till it was weeping. I'm pretty sure my skin was constanly infected for a long part of last year as I would be shaking an at one point me feet were swollen which is what made me go to the hospital.

The itching of the face was the worse thing ever because I knew if I didn't itch it it would get better but every day I would and wouldn't know why but now I understand it was becacuse of all the alergys.

Also for those of you who know people with Eczema there's a great book about trying to beat the habit of sctratching. I'll have to look for it later but it's helped a lot of people unfortunatley not me but it's also a very informative book and only £3 or so IIRC.

Also the gene that causes eczema has been found recently. Instead of me typing me out even more heres a link .

This must have been the longest post I've every made. :eek:
 
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