Self Help for Eczema and Itchy Skin
April 20, 2008 by Dr. Nicole Sundene
Filed under Eczema, Skin Rashes
Recently quite a few readers have been asking me about natural home remedies for eczema and other general itchy skin problems.
The most common culprits of itchy skin are eczema, psoriasis and seborrheic dermatitis.
Although this article is mainly about eczema, most of the tips will benefit all types of itchy skin as we “treat the cause” and “remove the obstacles to cure” in true nature cure fashion.
Now most people with itchy skin will improve if they just start drinking more water and taking fish oil. Dry skin is not hydrated skin. Good fats from fish or flax oil are needed to maintain a solid healthy barrier to skin. Nutrient deficiencies such as zinc, selenium, biotin and most B vitamins are also common causes of dry and itchy skin. More extreme cases of eczema though will require more extreme measures. Remember that for each year that you have had a problem, it will typically take a month to permanently resolve through natural means.
Eczema can be “contact dermatitis” or “atopic dermatitis”. Contact dermatitis is pretty simple to to cure because we just need to find the chemical or other substance that is irritating the skin and remove it. With that being said I would suggest that all sufferers of chronic skin conditions switch over to hypoallergenic laundry soaps, bath soaps and other personal care products. Avoid contact with chemicals such as bleach and other harsh cleaners whenever possible. Also switch to a Whole Foods Diet to eliminate as many chemicals from your diet as well. Getting off sugar is key. Sugar is a chemical in our diet that just makes itchy skin that much more unbearable.
Consider the possibility that your itching is from a food additive or preservative. Aspartame, MSG, sodium benzoate, and yellow food dyes have all reportedly caused skin rashes.
The word “atopic” means allergic, and 80% of eczema sufferers have elevated IgE levels, which means that their immune system is over-reacting to some kind of food or environmental substance. You can easily see an allergist and have skin testing done to test for environmental allergies. Food allergies and intolerances are a bit more difficult to detect as the Gold Standard is a Food Allergy Elimination Diet which is difficult for many people to comply with. Blood testing for allergies is only about 60-70% sensitive and specific.
Most people that I see with eczema either have a problem with wheat or dairy or both. Most children with eczema will improve when their favorite food is taken away. If your child is obsessed with bananas it is probably bananas. I am not trying to be the bad guy, I have just noticed that kids tend to form “addictions” to the food that is causing the problem. Keep the food out of the house. Tell your kid that you are “all out of____ food” deal with the crying that should ensue around that food for a few days, and then they will usually forget about it. If it is not in the house and no one else is eating it, there is less of an energy battle over it. Once the food that is causing the symptoms is removed and the child is feeling better, they tend not to even like that food anymore. Kids heal quick, and usually improve after four days without the irritating food, adults usually take a week or two.
Just because a food is causing a symptom does not necessarily mean you have to avoid it for life, it just means that temporarily it should be eliminated while the body does some healing, and then in most cases it can be rotated back in.
Identifying and eliminating the food sensitivity is only half the battle. We need to treat the reason why it developed in the first place. The main reasons are typically stress and intestinal dysbiosis from frequent antibiotic use and/or lack of cultured foods in the diet.
Getting a handle on stress management is key for eczema. Stress causes food allergies because we do not properly digest our food when we are stressed. Betaine HCL is a well researched alternative treatment for itchy skin, that simply increases our stomach acid (which stress suppresses). Stress coincidentally is also a leading cause of itchy skin. Stress is commonly accepted to exacerbate both psoriasis and eczema.
The over use of antibiotics kills off all the healthy bacteria growing in our intestinal tract. These friendly bacteria are necessary for breaking down our food as well as producing certain vitamins.
I put everyone with eczema and most skin conditions on a course of probiotics like acidophilus. Be sure to only purchase acidophilus that passed the independent laboratory test at www.consumerlabs.com; always keep it refrigerated, and if on a course of antibiotics take at a two hour separate window to ensure they do not get killed off. Enzymatic Therapy, Jarrow and Kyodophilus are brands that passed the test and are available over the counter.
Temporary herbal solutions for itchy skin are topical products that contain calendula, chickweed (Stellaria media) gumweed (grindelia spp), comfrey(Symphytum officinale NOT to be used internally), impatients, and plantain (plantago spp). You can make an herbal infusion (a strong tea that you allow to steep at least 15 minutes) with these herbs and then freeze in dixie cups. Peel back the paper and apply the “herbal ice” to the itchy area. This is also a great trick for kids itching with chicken pox. Calendula ointment or succus (juice) is well worth trying to temporarily calm down the itch while we address the above causes.
Other herbs such as burdock root (Arctium lappa) and dandelion root (Taraxicum officinale) are helpful for detoxing the system. Most patients I see with skin problems resolve when we gradually support the liver’s ability to detoxify. For most patients a light diet, digestive support, liver support and repletion of nutritional deficiencies will quickly clear up the annoyance of itchy skin.
Be sure to work with your physician to establish a proper diagnosis for the cause of the itchiness before self treating.
References: “The Textbook of Natural Medicine” by Murray and Pizzorno, “Medical Herbalism” by Hoffman
Thanks for stopping by my kitchen table!
~Dr. Nicole Sundene
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Thanks for posting this Doc. My skin usually clears up if I can keep dairy out of my diet. I was not aware of the problem with sugar.
Stress certainly agrivates it though I don’t think its the root cause.
Jusin- Anything for my #1 fan! You have serious entitlements around here being my top commenter and all. Yep you just nailed it right there…dairy, sugar, stress. You get those things out and itching should be gone…
You’re the best. There are so many frustrations regarding eczema treatments that work. My mother developed eczema a couple of years ago, and as usual, nothing helped her.
I had her start on fish oil capsules, and green tea in the morning. She is a bit set in her ways, so I had to go easy to even get her to do that, but it did clear up. She continues her green tea and fish oil with no further skin problems.
I hope everyone hears what you say when you reference nature’s intelligence – that connection has far reaching implications for personal as well as planetary health.
Thanks!
Hi Kathleen- the healing power of nature, is what we refer to as “the vis” in naturopathy, and it’s powers have never ceased to amaze me. Many MD colleagues will be frustrated by patients and just drop them off with me and say…”ok Nicole, they are all yours…do whatever voodoo it is that you do…”
So my voodoo is this: Clean up the diet, improve sleep, manage the stress, support them during this process….and sit back and watch them get better. When you think about it, I am not really even doing anything. I am just “removing the obstacles to cure” so that the body can do it on it’s own. Thanks for stopping by and leaving your comment, hopefully that will serve as some good motivation for others!
Dr. Nicole, this was an amazing article! I just went to the dermatalogist last week. I sure wish I had read this first. I got some steriod creme which has been wonderful in clearing it up almost completely, but I expect it to come back when I stop using it.
Diary, sugar, and stress. Wow! How do I live without them. I’m working on my stress level now, with much improvement. Dairy and sugar…. those will be tough for me. I have dramatically cut down my sugar intake over the last year or so, but all together – that will be a challenge.. Dairy, I intake a lot! Cheese is my favorite food – maybe that means I should cut it out.
What alternatives do you recommend?
The most amazing parts of this aritcle to me are the amazingness of our bodies AND how it only makes sense to treat the causes for something in order to really make it better. That’s so true for anything in life!! All to often we just look at the surface and treat symptoms without going deep enough to find the root causes of problems. That is the only REAL solution. This is something that has been on my mind a lot lately.
Dr. Nicole,
Thanks for your comment on my blog regarding adding Vitamin A for Keratosis Pilaris. I liked this article too, and added your site to my reader. What a great site. I LOVE it, and will be back often. Thanks again!
Thanks for the information, but can i ask if this is a possible cure for Psoriasis? My friend who had this really suffering from itchy , she scratched a lot and almost tear her skin like ecsema?
http://www.onlinehealthfitness.co.uk/
Thanks for the information, but can i ask if this is a possible cure for Psoriasis? My friend who had this really suffering from itchy , she scratched a lot and almost tear her skin like ecsema?
I was wanting to know more about how to treat the flare-ups without using steroid creams. I have a 4-month old who has had a continual line of flare-up ons his body for 2 months. He is primarily breastfed (only having formula at daycare when they have run out of beastmilk). I have eliminated milk out of my diet and once I re-introduced organic, grass-fed milk nothing seemed to change.
I have been using Emu Oil to treat the flare-ups and it completely took away everything on his face, but his elbows and the bottoms of his legs are still deep red rashes that weep every now and then.
I feel so horrible as a mother that I can’t do anything to help me more than I already have and I don’t want to use steroid creams (when he was first diagnosed the doctor gave us a steroid cream to use and it made it all worse and almost gave his face a burn – it looked SO bad.) and I don’t want to get close to them anymore. But he needs more help than I know how to give naturally.
What I’ve been doing: Emu Oil lotion 3-4 times a day with Emu Oil concentrate applied directly to the flare-up areas, Neem Tree Oil soap for a 10 min. lukewarm bath each night.
Thanks!
Thank you for the link to this article. I think for the cause of my mother’s flare up is probably due to the copious amounts of cheese she’s been consuming. Her skin is improving now that we’ve eliminated that from her diet. She’s also started taking cod liver oil.
Has anyone had success with an oily itchy scalp? It started suddenly abt 8 mos ago, and is irritating beyond description.
I use tree tea oil before shampooing and Dr Bronners castile soap shampoo, nothing else. I’ve been to allergist and he says it is not yeast or psoriasis; just calls it suborrehic dermatitis and gave me steroid cream.
It helps some to avoid wheat. Then recently I got a systemic reaction to 4 yellow jacket stings. I wonder if I have allergies that are connected?
How do I prevent another systemic reaction?
Thanks!
[...] would recommend for anyone with an itchy skin problem to read my article on eczema, as in my mind they are all basically all the same thing and tend to resolve by using similar [...]
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For itchy oily scalp, you can try washing your hair with baking soda. I have been using it for months now because I was having trouble with itchy scalp. I wet my hair and apply handfuls of baking soda until I have some all over. I add a bit of water and rub it to wash the hair. I rinse it out and use just a small amount of conditioner. It has been working good for me for 6 months now. I have to be careful of what products I use, I seem to be allergic to alot of then.
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Oh man, this is good post,it will be one of my best source for my blog, bookmark this!
Wow, now that I think about it my skin did always get itchy when I would eat milk.. lol i mean drink milk… with my breakfast that day.
Thanks for the article, now i’ll be able to get my work done rather than scratch sores into my skin!
Recently, the mercury levels in fish have led people to worry about eating fish. Some people do not like swallowing liquid fish oil directly from the spoon,because it taste terrible! If you don’t like the taste of it, fish oil capsules comes to the rescue! Fish oil capsule is a good solution if you do not like fish, while at the same time you want the benefits of EPA and DHA in your diet.
hi,
thx for this post. it helps me alot for my study.
thanks alot i found this article while doing some searching i have had ezcema for 5 years now on hand and recently have it cover most of my entire body going on 6 month also at the same time my 8 year old has it too now for 6 months its so sad to see a child go through all thsi they give her the steroid creams lots of lotion different creams for scalp face its begining to get ridiculous !!!! i am going to try to cut some of the dairy products out of her diet see if that will help at this time anything worth a shot .. i did read another article somewhere about wheat soy peanuts and eggs to start with someof them to see if any of those are triggering her constant flare up ..
My baby girl (3) months old is experiencing hair lost , dry scalp along with rough skin except for her covered area with the diaper. Redness in the creases of her neck and arms. I will try some of these methods. Thanks.
Do you get any sleep at all? This is a well written article on this subject and must of taken you hours to write
Wow! Was looking to read about yeast infection remedies when I found this post. Nice.
Another difficult problem women have to deal with.
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Hi. Tani here from the Philippines. I suffer from eczema. The dermatologists I’ve been to are quick to prescribe me with clobatosol cream and never even suggested alternative ways how to relive me from the itch. Thank you for this post. Your site is very informative. I linked it up in my blog.
sir, i am suffering from itching, please help me
The Made from Earth Pure Aloe Skin Treatment is GREAT for dry and/or sensitive skin. I used to get eczema-like rashes on my face during winter time. This cream has solved the problem completely. It is absorbed by the skin very quickly, there’s no greasy residue.
If you are prone to acne breakouts this cream will also work for you since the aloe has astringent properties. My sister who is prone to acne used it for her dry skin, and her skin looked AMAZING. Its amazing what a bit of pure aloe can do for your face. I recommend this from the Made from Earth product line.
This is awesome advice. I have tried everything and nothing has ever helped. I will definitely try this.
Howdy, I found your site a little while ago and have ploughed through all the info slowly. I decided I might post my firstcomment. Unsure of what to comment but here goes. Interesting blog. Will come back soon to see more of what youve got to offer.
Thanks a million for your post. I have tried alot of stuff, gone to dermatologists and my eczema has never gone away. Will be sure to try this.
My son who is 20months old has had Eczema since he was 3months. Weve tried EVERYTHING! (Oatmeal, olive oil, Wet dressings, steroids, every cream you could imagine) Is there anything else?
Also hes allergic to: Wheat, Egg white (can we give him the yellow?), corn (can we give him corn starch, high fructose corn syrup, ETC), tomatoes, soybean, cats, dust mites, chicken, apples, oranges and peanuts. Which makes it extremly hard to find food for him! Were currently trying to get an appt with an allergist, just wanted some more info now =]
He doesnt sleep AT ALL and its driving me insane!
Please help!
Nicole.
[...] Self Help for Eczema and Itchy Skin : Kitchen Table Medicine [...]
Cut out Hight Fructose Corn Syrup, Sodium Benzoate, BHT and MSG. It will help.
Good Morning just thought i will let you know that i also had a issue with your blog appearing blank also. Must be gremlins in the page.
Hi Jeffrey thanks for letting me know, this is one of THE most popular pages on this 600 page archive…if not THE most popular….so it errors occasionally, let me know if you are still having probs. Thanks….a lot of people with itchy skin I guess.
AMEN!!!
Wow this would drive me insane too….you poor thing!!!! Fussy babies with food allergies are really tough. Are you still Breast feeding or did you stop at a year? If so you should eliminate the foods he is allergic to. He has more than allergy’s he has leaky gut inflammation that will just result in more allergies. I would read my article on food allergies and then visit a local pediatric naturopath to get him on a gut healing regime that should include bifidum bacterium… the baby form of acidophilus. Dip your finger in water….then in the powdered bifidus and let him suckle on your finger….or mix it in to his food. Also check out the hypoallergenic section here to see what kinds of recipes you can come up with. Someone needs to make a 1-900 # for people with food allergies….it is tough to find stuff to eat. Best thing to do with kids is keep the foods they can’t have OUT of the house….or hidden when possible. Less tantrums that way.
detox your body…
I need to know more about detoxing my body…
I really enjoyed this article, I have suffered from seborrheic dermatitis since I was a teenager , I was wondering if you could suggest something herbally to help combat this condition. Which foods should I avoid? and which ones would help?
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Useful and helpful information.