positive thoughts being sent your way.
Don't Quit

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up, though the pace seems slow -
You might succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor's cup.
And he learned too late, when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out -
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt -
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit -
It's when things seem worst that you mustn't quit.

- Unknown

((((Angela)))) Sending good thoughts your way!

Does the skin problem itch? Hope it clears up soon. Sending prayers for your SIL and DFIL.

when dd1 had a skin condition as a child (and saw 7 drs in one summer) the final and last one a dermatologist, was the only one who did s skin biopsy...in one week she was on a medication, and aside from one trip to er (i didn't get enough water down her with the med) was "cured" within a month.

They took scrapings from hands and feet a few weeks ago. I don't know if that's a "biopsy" or not though.
It does itch. And is extremely painful.

Yeah, 2009 is starting to shape up as a rather sucky year already for some of us. Bummer about your skin. I tried to take a picture of my hand with my phone, but it doesn't seem to be cooperating. Mine doesn't look quite as bad as yours, but have none of your doctors suggested eczema? It looks a lot like that to me. It itches, and my skin cracks open and then it hurts like heck. It's an immune disorder. The doctor gave me two different steroidal creams. One for when it's not too bad and another for the bad times.

When you look at photos of eczema, not many of them look like your photo. Most of them show red blotches and patches. But mine is more of a white peeling and flaking, similar to yours, so don't be so sure it isn't really eczema.

I hope you find relief soon.

Have you tried using mineral oil on your skin? I remember when I was nine years old, my mothers hand looked just like yours. She used mineral oil for a few weeks, I think, and it finally cleared up. It's a form of dermititis. We had just started to run a restaurant, and I think in her case she was having a reaction to all the dishes that were washed. Back then, it was all done by hand. Does Aveeno help you at all? A little baby oil in the bath? Gosh, I just want to douse you in oil! LOL I'm itchy looking at it.

Dear KT friend. You are carrying a heavy load. I have no advice, just sending caring thoughts and prayers that you can find a solution for your skin problems and healing prayers for your ailing loved ones. Dottie

This is what I've tried so far:

Nivea moisturizing lotion
Vitamin E
Vaseline
Benadryl
A steroid cream and anti itch cream, prescribed, which made it worse
Aloe Vera, from a plant in my kitchen
Desitin (yes, butt cream - hey I'm desperate! LOL)
Cider vinegar in my bath water, per the doctor, and the only time I get any relief is in the bath
I've gone through two regimens of antibiotics and one regimen of Prednisone

I'm sure there is more.

All this started right when I burned my foot. They thought I was allergic to the sulpha in the burn cream they gave me. But it's been far too long now. It's getting worse and worse and I stopped using the burn cream almost two months ago.

A real good friend of mine has a condition that makes her hands look like that. Her hands would crack and bleed if she didn't keep it softened. She tried a lot of different prescription and non-prescription things and uses the Neutrogena lotion. For a while I had dry hands and she had me try a bit. Took very little and boy did it work well. Not greasy either and no offensive odor. I hate lotions but this stuff is good. A cousin has skin conditions and has used light treatments, different formulas of prescription and non prescription and he too likes Neutrogena but since he thinks it's so expensive (but you use so little that a tube lasts a long, long time). He uses a lot of the stuff, I think it's called Udderly Smooth? It has the black and white "cow" pattern on the bottle. Little more greasy, and doesn't work quite as well, but he likes it.

Good luck. Hope 2009 is better for us all. Sheesh, haven't we put up with enough lately???

I started having weird breakouts around my eyes and mouth a couple of years ago. MD could not figure out what it was. Current MD told me to start taking my Zyrtec-D again and that seems to keep it under control. She thinks it may be some strange version of eczema. i also try to take extra Vit-E. Try petroleum jelly instead of all the lotions with chemicals and by-products. they may be making it worse.

Oh, oh, oh- ask you dermatologist to do a skin allergy test- found out I was allergic to some of the preservatives in over the counter topical medications. I break out in crazy hives. the more I tried to treat the rash myself the worse it got. Got a prescription med without the preservative and it cleared up in no time. turns out my brother has the same allergy.

There are so many forms of dermatitis out there now, but two things you mentioned makes me wonder.

Sometimes when your body suffers a trauma, your immune system goes out of whack!!

The two things are 1. The seroid cream makes it worse and 2. the bathtub is where you get relief.

I suffer from dermatitis herpetiformis. This is an auto-immune skin problem. It is associated with Celiac Disease (which I do not have). I am on a medication called Dapsone(I will need to be on this for the rest of my life).

I know you just want answers and I hope you get them.

I know I saw more than 5 doctors who all said dermatitis.
What does that mean. How do I treat it. Why does it hurt and itch so bad that I want to scratch down to the bone!!

I know what you are going through and I sure hope you find relief soon.

Sue

I was going to say that you should see a dermatologist, not a general practitioner, but after that many drs you probably knew that.

I hope you get relief soon. That looks painful. I have psoriasis and know how bad skin conditions can hurt! My skin will split and bleed too if I don't keep lotion smeared on all the time. Did they rule out any form of psoriasis?

So sorry about the illness in your family and of loved ones passing. My Dad had throat cancer and was a 20 year cancer survivor before he passed away from something totally not related to his cancer. I hope your SIL can stomp the cancer's pa-tooty!

Deb

I'm so sorry for everything you and your family are going though now.

do the new patches start with little bubblely looking things? I had some on the palms of my hands and applied otc cortisone anti itch with pain medication.. cant remember the name... put in on many times a day and it looked so much better in 5 days.

Almond oil... someone here mentioned how good Almond oil was on some skin like yours... I figure ALMOND oil can't hurt! might be worth a try...

I just got out of the bathtub and realized that there is one more thing you can try, but you might need eBay or a Lush store. Try a lotion bar! They're made of cocoa butter, shea butter, bee's wax and sometimes other butters. You should try to find one that has no perfume in it. I started using them when the company I was working for started making them. They're not due to be released though until Mothers Day, I do believe. They work wonders on dry skin! This is the first site I googled, but you might want to try other sites. Just google "lotion bars" or go to eBay. the reason I say try to get one with no perfume is because it may be the scent that is bothering your skin.

Here is a link that might be useful: lotion bars

I'm sending some good thoughts and hopes ... plus some prayers.

I hope that you find the trouble with your skin soon, that it's not hard to treat and can be cleared up.

And that the issues, the worry and the pain with the family can be resolved in a satisfactory way.

Through it all, may you carry on with trust that things will work out well and may your heart be filled with peace.

ole joyful

I get eczema on my hands from time to time, it looks much like your rash. I've been using expeller-pressed virgin coconut oil, and it really improved my skin condition. I've also read of people using extra virgin olive oil, perhaps you can try both and see if one of them works for you.

You post prompted me to google eczema, as I've had some strange itching cracking and flaking on my feet. It seems to be better now though. There are many types of eczema. Who knew! Hope this link helps you identify whats going on with you and give you some things to try.

Here is a link that might be useful: Check it out!

A woman who works with my husband had always suffered from terrible dry, flaking skin. She made it her mission to find products that were beneficial, not harmful. There is a lot of crud in "regular" soaps and lotions...

She swears by Hugo Naturals products, which we also use.

Another good company is Absolutely Natural.

Have you been to an allergist? Also do you ever use a hot tub as the chemicals can cause that, my sil had it for two years when I suggested cutting out the hot tub and it disappeared in three days. If all else fails, consider acupuncture.

Angelaid,
Any chance you're allergic to elastic and/or tape? Or even sensitive to them? I am and though I haven't had severe reactions like you're showing, I can break out and/or get an itchy feeling.
This means I'm allergic to my underwear..lol! And, with so very many clothing articles containing Spandex, I'm having a tough time finding clothes I can wear. The problem with an allergy or sensitivity is that if you continue to come in contact with the irritant, you will become even more allergic/sensitive and your skin reactions will become more severe. Spandex clothing is something that would be in constant contact with skin.

Just another thought for your consideration. (Also, I, too, remember KTers talking about how good Almond Oil is and that people with eczema shouldn't use products with mineral oil in them.)

Leslie/KS

Angelaid -

I agree with the above posting re: an allergist or a dermotologist, and I will add one more (please disregard if you do not want to hear it) - a nutritionist.

Many illnesses & conditions are linked to high levels of toxicity in your organs. Your skin is an organ. I am not a nutritionist - don't play anything on TV - but I am looking at this as a way to address some health issues I have. Friends of mine SWEAR by their holistic practitioner/nutritionist.

If you have any interest & want some help locating someone appropriate in your area - e-mail me. I would be glad to help. Good luck to you -

((((Angelaid))))

Prayers for you, and your friends and family.

Oh, my, bless your heart. I have one more suggestion. Have you been tested for candida? I think there is another word that goes with it. It is a yeast infection on your hands. My sister had it and the only thing that cured it was following a yeast-free, fungus-free diet. I can remember no bread and I can remember no mushrooms (a fungus). There are books on this subject. If it weren't so late I'd call her and ask her about it. Something to look into. She'd never had it either and then suddenly - she did. When she followed the program outlined in the book, It went away and she lost weight in addition.

It doesn't look like eczema to me. My little girl has been suffering from eczema, which is just a severe form of dry skin. She then got psoriasis on her scalp. She saw a Dermatologist who specializes in psoriasis. We've been using this topical steroid for 2 months. It goes away for a day or 2 and then comes back. It's on her scalp and in her ears. Poor baby. She is miserable. She's 7 1/2. We go back tomorrow because I noticed on the insert of the topical steroid - "Not recommended for children under 12" I emailed the doctor right away. It's one of those inserts with microscopic printing and I didn't think anything about it because a Dr. prescribed it. I am now worried that I've done some harm to my child. Didn't mean to hijack your posting...

So sorry that you are going thru all this.
Prayers and good thoughts for you and your loved ones are all I can offer.
Sure hope you get better very soon!