How to handle a sleepless night, when Eczema is bad?

Don't stay in bed if you are feeling itchy and you can't sleep!

Your tired, irritable and you just want to go to sleep. You find your skin is bleeding and weeping. You like the feeling when you stratch your skin and your welcomed with a stinging feeling a few seconds after scratching your skin to pieces.

What Should I Do?

Get up and make yourself some herbal tea or drink of water. Drinking water is one of the easiest ways to slow down histamine, to reduce itchiness. Take a luke warm bath for 10-15 minutes and put a thin layer of Ointment (Vaseline) on the affected area of skin. Don't apply steroid on your skin if there is a wound, a small scratch is fine. You might want to wrap a bandage around your leg or arm to provide that extra barrier. Relax, read a book and eventully you'll fall to sleep.

If you have work in the morning, don't worry. Add a bit more ointment cream or/and keep the the bandage on. Make sure you take an antihistamine first thing in the morning and drink plenty of water throughout the day. Eat low risk allergy fruit and vegetables throughout the day. When you go home take a bath, apply steroid cream and a thin layer of vaseline. Read a book in bed and have a good nights sleep. Stop using steroid after a few days, and try and avoid applying steroid cream on in the morning. Apply steroid before you go to bed, to allow the steroid to do it's job without any outside influences.

I am having flare-ups often, what am I doing wrong?

Eczema flare-ups usually start in the bedroom. If you have carpet, curtains and you rarely change your bedding. You can expect to feel itchy during the night. Secondly, it's what you eat and drink. If you drink Coffee/Coca Cola before you go to bed, you will be in for a long sleepless night and these drinks have a high histamine level.

If you don't have an hypoallergenic mattress cover and pillow, you will be at a far greater risk of being more vulnerable to dust mites. They are not expensive and will benefit you a great deal.

For the floor, I recommend getting lino flooring. Lino flooring is easy to clean and the dust mites hate this surface.

Keep your bedroom clean and change your bedding weekly. You will see the difference in a matter of days.