Location of eczema/rash

[sarah13h]

Hi.  Just read elsewhere that the location of a rash/eczema can sometimes be an indication of what type of allergy your child has.  For instance, the poster suggested that if the rash is all over it's usually a detergent/soap problem, but if it's on the torso it's probably a food allergy.  Has anyone heard this before?

[Jimbob]

I have not heard that before. My ds had eczema from head to toe and his was caused mostly be food allergies although things like perfume and washing powder etc does also flare his skin. James now also suffers from enviromental allergies too. Having said that James's eczema greatly improved once we had identified his major food allergies and removed them from his diet.

[sarah13h]

Thanks Jimbob.  We've just had Stephen tested for food allergies, and he's only come up positive for egg & sesame.  So it looks unlikely that his eczema is food related since he's had neither of those so far.

[Anna & Baby Caleb's Mommy]

Jimbob,
I'm curious about what food allergies allergies james has...my ds is allergic to peanuts and eggs and we're not sure what else because we had to stop the test because reaction was so bad.  i'm at my wit's end with this eczema, which used to be mostly on face but now covers most of his body.  my ds could be so much happier w/o this itching!  i've recently started him on a probiotic supplement and fish oil supplement after reading that people with eczema have a conversion problem with fatty acids and are therefore GLA deficient (gamma-linoleic acid) and that is the acid that is converted to a a property responsible for calming inflammation...probiotic studies have been done (in support of the hygiene theory as being the reason for rise in allergies) that have shown success in reducing inflammation of eczema...i think this is our best shot because honestly with the other  food allergies i didn't want to place anymore diet restrictions on him...BUT i have a good feeling he shouldn't have acidic foods (like his fave fruits), too much sugar, food coloring, msg or other food additives/preservatives..i know this is a lot of info.  i'm just hoping if i give you a good history of what i've been doing to treat his eczema you might be able to identify some things i hadn't thought about. (we've done everything else. western med. treatments such as prescription steroid creams, oral antihistamine...specific bedding, detergent, and toiletries)  any imput would be great!!! thanks

[Jimbob]

James is allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, soy, eggs, wheat, fish, shellfish, citrus fruits, stoned fruits, berries, olive oil, grapeseed oil, peas, sweet potato, potato, broccolli, squash, chicken, beef and pork. There are other things that were in his diet that caused milder reactions therefore difficult to pinpoint. We were going to go back to basics to see if we could identify what his other allergens were but before we got the chance he started refusing all food and will now only have neocate advance and raisins. If we do manage to get James to eat anything else it usually results in him being in pain screaming and pulling at his stomach for around 2 hours in the evening.

As you can see from my reply James has lots of allergies. They cause his eczema to flare but also give him stomach pain, mucousy nappies and his lips and face go puffy. We used probiotics for James when he had been on several course of antibiotics and kept him on them for about a year. We give James starflower oil as fish oil gives him stomach cramps follwed by several yucky nappies within an hour. We started using natural emollients for James's skin as he seemed to react to the ones he got on prescription after the first few days. We think he may have been reacting to the petroleum in them. We now use dermasalve baby and infant cream at the moment but have also found coconut oil good and amazingly James seems ok with that.

I am not sure what else I can say as from your post it looks like you are doing a lot already. If you have any other questions please don't hesitate to ask. I know how awful it is to watch your child suffer when all they want to do is scratch.

[Shdef]

Jenn's eczema was mostly on the bits that weren't covered by clothes. Eyes, chin, neck, fingers, hands. It was stress-related as we found out. We always thought that stress made it worse, but didn't think that it was almost the only reason. Always thought that food allergies played a role, but they didn't really. The dietician said she is working with kids with eczema for 20 years now and only once was a an eczema case food related 

[Jimbob]

I have to say that I know 3 young children who have eczema that is food allergy related and 1 teenager. I know not all eczema is food allergy related but I do think there are more cases than most medical professionals will admit.

Kelly