Living with atopic eczema
Everyday life with eczema
Atopic eczema, also called atopic dermatitis, is common in young children and begins for the vast majority before the age of five. Atopic eczema is an itchy inflammatory skin disease and means that you have very dry skin with a very itchy rash. Although eczema often goes away with age, most people continue to have dry and sensitive skin even in adulthood. Some suffer from atopic eczema even as adults.
It is common for people with atopic dermatitis to develop other types of atopic diseases such as allergies, asthma and hay fever.
Depending on how serious the eczema is and where on the body it is, the degree of impact on life varies. If you have mild problems such as redness, dry skin, and minor rashes, then lubrication with softening creams and milder treatment creams can provide sufficient relief. For those who have eczema over larger parts of the body, or severe and persistent itching, other medicines may be needed.
This is how severe eczema affects the quality of life
If you have the more severe form of atopic eczema, it is not uncommon for your everyday life to be affected. You may feel that the disease affects everything in your life, both private and professional. Living with severe atopic eczema can cause itching, which can contribute to more problems such as lack of sleep, poor self-esteem or depression. In order to get the right help, it is important that you see a doctor. The doctor evaluates the severity of the eczema and can give you help and treatment. If you already know you have atopic dermatitis, you can do a self-assessment test. The test is POEM (Patient Oriented Eczema Measure) and is used by dermatologists.
Location on the body and how widespread an eczema is probably affects how you experience the disease. If you work with your hands, and have severe rashes on them, the disease can be experienced as very severe. Eczema in the ear can affect hearing and for those who suffer from eczema in the abdomen, sex and intercourse can be affected. People with facial eczema may suffer more in social contexts than those with hidden rashes. Those with hidden eczema still face other challenges.
In a study from 2016, people with moderate to severe atopic dermatitis were asked how the disease affected everyday life. A whopping 91 percent said they felt dry skin daily, 87 percent said their skin itched and burned a lot, 51 percent said their skin bled daily, and 55 percent said they had trouble falling asleep or that they woke up five to seven nights a week. 43 percent showed symptoms of anxiety or depression and over 40 percent answered that their eczema affected both work and social life.
How much are you affected? Take the POEM (Patient Oriented Eczema Measure) self-assessment test.
How much are you affected?
Take the POEM (Patient Oriented Eczema Measure) self-assessment test.
8 ways to manage atopic dermatitis
Suffering from eczema can be frustrating, embarrassing and make you feel embarrassed about your appearance. By understanding what is happening in the body, you can better understand your illness and find new ways to deal with it. It is not unusual for those who have atopic eczema to struggle with negative emotions. The emotional state is further triggered by unpredictable rashes, visible eczema and sleep problems - which can lead to more stress, which in turn can trigger more rashes.
Practice feeling more compassion for yourself. This means that you are kind and understanding instead of engaging in self-criticism. Unlike self-esteem, which is a measure of how positively you view yourself, self-compassion is about taking care of yourself without judging or criticizing.
Emotional support from friends and family can make it easier to deal with ups and downs. But sometimes even those closest to you can't understand what you're going through. And sometimes it can be hard to tell how you feel. Since your atopic eczema is visible to everyone, you may also get questions from colleagues, and sometimes even people you don't know. In these types of situations, it can be difficult to know what to answer, especially on a straight arm. Preparing and thinking ahead of time how you want to talk about your atopic eczema can make it easier for you to answer questions in the future.
The path to care looks different for everyone. Most people start by contacting their healthcare centre. If the doctor there considers it necessary, you will be referred to a dermatologist. Regardless of who treats you, a general practitioner or a dermatologist, it is important to remember this: the doctor is an expert on medical care, you are an expert on you. Share your experiences. It will help your doctor offer you the right care.
Understanding what to do and when to do it is an important part of managing your illness. Therefore, it is important to have an action plan. An action plan is a personal document created by you and your doctor. It summarizes your diagnosis, your doctor's instructions and how to treat your atopic eczema - everything from basic skin care to managing eczema. The action plan makes it easier to follow the doctor's instructions and prepares you for changes in your illness. In this way, you can more easily prevent and follow up on problems.
Atopic dermatitis can have a major impact on your quality of life. Action plans are usually focused solely on medical treatment, but including emotional support in the plan can help you manage the stress of living with a chronic illness. Because your needs can change depending on what's going on, it can also be helpful to have different options to choose from depending on the severity of your eczema. If you want an indication of how severe your atopic eczema is, you can take a self-assessment test. POEM, Patient Oriented Eczema Measure, used by dermatologists.
3 strategies that can provide emotional support:
- Try meditating and practicing mindfulness. It can ease your anxiety and help you manage stress.
- Concentrate on acquiring healthy habits. For example, following your skin care routine, eating healthier and going to bed on time.
- Do guided meditation exercises to deal with feelings of discomfort.
- Watch a movie to take your mind off the pain and itching.
- Use distraction techniques, such as hugging a stress ball or reading a book.
- At signs of eczema, concentrate on relieving the eczema and then let it go. Try to manage and combat stress, it can lead to fewer and milder rashes.
- Try to avoid factors that can disturb your sleep, such as coffee.
- Focus on self-compassion to avoid negative thoughts.
- Develop different diversion techniques to stop scratching.
- When symptoms are severe, your most important goal is to relieve them. A severe eczema flare-up can be stressful, so remember to be kind to yourself.
Atopic dermatitis can look different from person to person, depending on age and how severe the disease is
Read more about symptoms of atopic eczema here- Simpson EL et al. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2016;74(3):491-498.