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!
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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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