After months and months of no eczema its come back with avengence on my left arm and is very itchy and sore. I usually use a product by a company called orba originals but it contains goats milk and seen as I've not used it for a while its gone off! I can order more online but it may not come until after the weekend and I can't wait that long! Does anyone know of anything that works quickly that I can buy from somewhere like boots? I don't like using the cream from the doctors as it can cause thinning of the skin.
Thanks in advance, Caroline

Diprobase should do the job in the short term if you don't want to use any steroid/hydrocortisone creams.  You can buy it over the counter and it costs about £3.  L'Occitane shea butter is great too but pricey at about £22

I know how you feel.
I had a bout of eczema about 7 years ago and the doctor had put it down to the stress of getting married,moving from Scotland to England,selling my flat, leaving family etc etc.. and sure enough as soon as I was settled it totally went away until a couple of weeks ago. The doctor has given me a steroid cream but like you I don't like to use it unless it is really really bugging me. I would love to try something that isn't so strong, what is the product called that you use if you don't mind me asking :)

How about Calendula cream?

Thanks for your suggeistions I will pop down to boots tomorrow and see what theyve got - I cant take this itching for much longer!

In response to CALI2 I usually get my cream from orba originals  [url=]www.orbaoriginals.com/[/url] (hope I've done that link right not done one before) and the product I use is called goats milk cream. It is excellent and completely natural. Just been on to order some more and theyve started doing cleansers and moisturiser which I am tempted to try as even though I don't get eczema on my face (thank God) I have quite dry skin and know many cleansers and moisturisers are full of chemicals where these shouldn't be. I would definately recommend giving the goats milk cream a try if you have eczema.

Thanks I will give that a try.
Luckily I don't have it on my face either it is just on my legs. I don't know why it has flared up again after all this time, it is not something I have ever as a child or when I was in my teens  until my bout of it 7 years ago.

Within 24 hrs of being born , my son's skin started to peel off his whole face/body . He was eventually diagnosed with eczema .
The only creams that cleared it up was a natural collection called Elena's Nature Collection.She does a lot of different products but the only ones we used were the oil and lavender (day ) cream .You must persevere for the 3 months.
I can also recommend Liz Earle natural beauty products for sensitive skin . Especially the Hot Cloth Cleanser ,the skin tonic and moisturiser ( dry/sensitive).
I also use Surcare for washing clothes and bedding .

Thanks for the suggestions :)

Epaderm ointment is brilliant for eczema!  You can buy it over the counter at pharmacies.

> The only creams that cleared it up was a natural collection called Elena's Nature Collection.She does a lot of different products but the only ones we used were the oil and lavender (day ) cream

Can i ask where you got this from?

Thanks :-)

My eldest has bad ezcema we use Aloe Vera gel which gives immediate relief on the irritation. Then she uses Oilatum cream which is very good at hydrating and makes the skin very supple :-)

Oilatum for the bath too - just be careful when you stand up to get out as it's slippy!

I used to use Oilatum cream and Oilatum for the bath for several years then it stopped working on my very itchy skin, i now use Aveeno cream and Aveeno bath stuff which i wash with, the bath stuff looks like runny toffee but goes white when mixed with water.

I developed a reaction to Oilatum as well.  I now use acqueous cream to wash with (it's dead cheap and readily available from most chemists) and Ultrabase as an all over moisturier (great stuff...leaves my skin looking and feeling lovely...even some of my friends have started using it and they don't have skin complaints ;-) )

Aveeno is great too.  I was originally given it the first time I was hospitalised (made a nice change from all the prescription stuff that I was used to getting from doctors) and now I always keep a tube in the kitchen as it really soothes my skin which gets irritated when using dishwashing detergents and the like.

Angels2 - just Google ' Elenas Natue Collection ' and you should find it , if not let me know . I believe that it is now available on prescription .
We didn't use the oil in the bath - we slathered him in it , then put the lavender cream on top . However , as i said ,you do have to persist for 3 months.
The Surcare for washing clothes and bedding is also beter than Fairy( in my opinion ) for eczema.

Hope this helps !

Re chapped hands when dishwashing - i have swapped to Ecover washing-up-liquid as my hands are much better when using this .

>Re chapped hands when dishwashing - i have swapped to Ecover washing-up-liquid as my hands are much better when using this .

Ssssh!  Keep your voice down!!   At the minute I use my skin as an excuse to get out of doing the dishes as much as is humanly possible ;-)  Don't want OH knowing there are products out there that would mean I could wash up regularly :-D

Sorry !!!!!

My mum has it really badly, luckily (touch wood) me and my siblings avoided it and only suffer with dry skin in parts but my youngest daughter has very very dry skin on elbows, face, knees and even her nails are quite dry and flaky so I think she has inherited it slightly. I am keen to use something without parabens, additives etc

chickweed cream from any health shop gives my daughter relief from excema and she used to suffer with it really badly.

My son had really bad eczema, was on steroid creams all the time, which really worried me :(  Even using the creams he still itched so badly that he scratched himself raw :( :(

As usual I hit the 'web' and found information about Evening Primrose Oil and Fish Body Oils being used to alleviate it.  I felt we had nothing to lose, as the bath was disappearing under the bath gloop (it's really difficult to clean off) and we were spending a fortune on alternative creams trying to cut down on the steroids (roll eyes)  After a few weeks we saw a huge improvement, and in a month his skin was normal and he hadn't itched for ages.  He takes them all the time now and his skin is lovely.   He takes one large capsule of each once a day.  It's the same thing as the IQ supplements ;)   Now and again in the school holidays we get a bit lax and we're soon reminded because he starts getting itchy, crepy skin behind his knees and in his elbows - so it's definately working :)

ETA - forgot to say, within the month he was able to stop the sterioid creams and hasn't used them since :)

I have started using the aqueous cream from the chemists on her dry patches and touch wood but there is a massive improvement, unfortunantly she is too young to take the supplements (20 months). :-)

Son was around 3 or 4 when we started with the supplements ;)  (with consultant and dieticians support ;) )  until then we found the best relief was with a natural cream (all natural oils) from Holland and Barret, can't remember the name (white tube with blue writing and pale orange stripe? ) but it was about £10 a small tube