Drawing my Eczema

I’ve drawn my current eczema flareups the way I did years ago when my eczema was uncontrolled and I journaled my eczema and food intake daily. I’m at the point where my eczema is intolerable more often than it is tolerable. I’m too itchy, my blood is getting on things, and my flared skin is hot to the touch. BUT my face has been fine, so I am over-the-moon grateful.

Last weekend, as I sat at a park chair on a hot summer day, watching my kiddos play, my skin hurt a lot, all over. I was losing my stamina for dealing with it. At that moment, I started considering Dupixent again. It made me sad that my mind went to Dupixent - because I wasn’t going to consider taking it again unless my eczema was chronically moderate-to-severe. I’m not ready yet. I’m grateful to have Dupixent as an option, but the long-term side effects worry me a bit. For example, my face still flushes sometimes when I drink alcohol (a Dupixent reaction), even though I stopped taking the medication three years ago.

Last week, I finally started my dust mite allergy treatment. Today, I started a new homeopathic treatment recommended by my acupuncturist, whom I started seeing again last month. I will try these things and if my eczema doesn’t improve, I will consider Dupixent again. It helped me once and I trust it will help me again.

Bloody Sheets and the Eczema Miracle of Cold Water

I promise I'm not a masochist. But when I saw this duvet cover on West Elm's website, I had to have it for my bed. Was I worried about the big white section of the cover? Of course! White anything (clothes, bedding, pillows, blankets, etc) make me and my always-bleeding body very nervous. 

So I set off in life with my new amazing bedding, constantly aware of my bleeding tendencies while on the bed. Here are a few things I did to avoid getting blood on the bed:

1. If I was laying on the bed and had exposed scabby skin, I'd put an unimportant blanket between the bed and me. 

2. I could say I avoided scratching while in bed, but we all know that's probably not totally true. Also, I have little control over what I do while I sleep! Plus, sometimes a scab bleeds even when you don't scratch it. I did try a little to not scratch, though.

3. I would cover my body with longer sleeved shirts and pants if I was laying on the bed. So blood wouldn't go directly on the bed if I bled.

Unfortunately, I didn't consider my being in the bed with my arms out of the sheets IN DIRECT CONTACT WITH THE WHITE SECTION of my gorgeous duvet cover. Hence, this morning's bloody mess.

It ended up being a scab on my upper right arm that got me. Without thinking, I scratched my arm and placed it onto the cover. Nooooo! Here's what I quickly did:

1. Before doing anything to the stain, I got on Google. I didn't know exactly how to remove a blood stain from cotton sheets, but I knew that without confirmation or advice, I could inadvertently cause the stain to set in with whatever ill-informed method I tried. According to the world of the internet, rinsing the stain with cold water is almost always the first step.

2. I removed my duvet cover and put the bloodied section under cold water for about five to ten minutes. 

3. I went to the sink to remove the duvet cover and start on step two - I was going to wash it with shampoo. Then, a miracle happened. I couldn't even find the stain to start step 2! The cold water totally removed the blood on its own! Success!

CRITICAL: Rinse the stain in cold water AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. The longer the blood is in the sheets, the harder it will be to remove it. 

Thankfully, my husband saw the stain right away and I happened to bleed in the morning, not in the middle of the night. From now on, I'll be checking the duvet cover and sheets for blood when I make the bed every morning ... because I of course make the bed every morning like a responsible adult. ;) 

Eczema in the Hot Summer

Anyone who has ever lived or even just been in Houston for one hour during the summer knows the heat and humidity horrors we go through. It is HOT. And HUMID. Thankfully, we love air conditioning and have it blowing super cold throughout every building. It's so cold inside and so muggy outside that my sunglasses and phone will literally fog up when I move from indoors to outdoors.

But enough about our summer weather. What does it have to do with eczema? Everything if your skin is flared up and needs to be covered. Think long sleeves and pants during the summer. It's not ideal, but sometimes it's preferable to exposing flared up skin or bloody scabs.

My legs and feet still look horrible after months. I've never had anything like this - it still looks like a ton of bug bites, but they won't heal, even with steroid cream. And it's so itchy! I know it's not just in my head, because I was with my two little twin 4-year-old nieces a few weeks ago and they asked me what was wrong with my legs. Little kids are super honest!

Thankfully, I am in LOVE with wearing colorful tights and typically wear them year round, even when my legs are healthy and beautiful. The cold air conditioning throughout the city makes it reasonable to do so. Plus, Houstonians don't typically spend much time outside during the summer - it's too unbearable! Most importantly, eczema sufferers should stay out of the heat to avoid intensifying or causing flareups.

This is me last week doing my belly photos while 31 weeks pregnant. The tights were perfect for the outfit! Still, I'm fine bearing my legs when I'll be outside for awhile or just to be more comfortable. For example, in a few weeks when I get into my bikini, I'll be that pregnant chick with the big belly ... and the eczema-covered body. I'm sure the belly will steal the show, though!