Updation Nation

Sorry I haven’t written here in a while, and I even said that I was going too. Le sigh. I will have to work on getting better at blogging. I blog on so many sites, youtube, here, tumblr. And for work! I’ll be back!

Hawaiian bread.

I just ate a lot of Hawaiian bread. I love Hawaiian bread. I think I have an addiction. I don’t think I could ever get sick of Hawaiian bread. I hope this doesn’t affect (or is effect? I need to re-take an English class my small patch that I have. Yesterday was hot, and just in between the thighs – my skin got a little irritated.

I also had sangria, tacos, chips and salsa and DAIRY!! Big boba milk tea fan, and chai tea latte fan ESP in the morning. Eee. Well it’s good to document these things because if my skin does flare up than I’ll know.

On another note…
Tomorrow I will be exercising in an 85 degree room. Lets see if that effects my skin too!

Youtube user eczema remedy suggestions!

Here are some suggestions from my Youtube viewers!! Please comment if you have any that you would like to put. I apologize if I did not list yours!! I will update this list periodically!

Greeneyes8723- Aveeno Baby Fragrance Free soothing relief moisture cream
Eucerine Calming Creme
Vanicream
Aquaphor
Baby Petroleum Jelly
TheTotally2 -Lush’s Dream Cream
Hotover- Aqueous Cream as a soap
Hemp face moisturizer
GooGoo32-AppleRocks2691 -pure organic cocoa
beachballsify2- egyptian magic, 100% natural products like avalon
Steepaan – Oilatum Bath soak
Pred1919- Vaseline Intensive Rescue locking lotion- hypoallerginc
Valenheartlouie- Mustela Lip Treatment
Fsk1123- Indian Herbal Drink called SAFI
Lapetitchat- OPC-3 Powder from Market America
GooGoo32- Coconut Oil
720Ent- Pure SheaButter
Abonlady- Yu-be Moisturizing Cream
Nireshnr- Tom’s Toothpaste
Belladonna5- Pineapple juice on face
Dottilicious- Cardiospermun Cream
Jamesdean5000- Manuka Honey, Ponds Light Day, E45, Dove Beauty Moisturizing Cream
Cigarettesandviolets- Roche Posays, zinc supplements
Taniaboox- Aveeno Skin Relief Body Lotion
Juliasjulie- Derma smooth Peanut Oil
Sukkiphy- Lush Dream Body Cream
Doiber- Aveeno Active Naturals Daily Moisturizing Cream, Elocon Cream
Redceligts- Dermarest Eczema Medicated Lotion
Artistnsoul- Merlot Grapeseed Moisturizer

Eczema as we know it.

I’m back. It has been way to long since I started this thing. I hate starting something and not finishing it. Where do I begin? I turned 25 in May. Wow 25. 24 was a rough year for me. I could not find a job, my skin was horrible, I was stressed out, and the apartment that my sister and I lived in was a pretty “crappy LA apartment.” Maybe my skin hates the unclean air out here. Maybe I’ve been having too many glasses of wine a night. Actually thats a lie. I rarely had wine. In fact, when my skin was so horrible I barely had any alcohol. Nothing seemed to work, so I became even more stressed out.

I honestly don’t know where my eczema went for a turn for the better. Maybe after I had that horrible outbreak of what I thought was shingles. Maybe I then realized that there are worser skin conditions than eczema.

Eczema really made my first year in LA tough. Especially in superficial LA where people are either blonde, blue eye’d, fake boobies, tall and rich. Then you have me, the short Filipino girl who just wants to live her life! How can you live your life when your skin feels like it is on fire, and then you scratch and it is amazing, and then you look under your nails and it’s completely filled with skin.

TMI?

Welcome to my life!

A personal voice for eczema sufferers.

It started when I was three years old. The constant itching, the irritation and redness on my skin that just wouldn’t go away. I wanted to jump into a hot shower to wash away the pain, but a hot shower was off limits. I wore mittens when I slept so I wouldn’t scratch my skin raw. I constantly applied lotion to any area that felt dry to prevent any flare up from happening. Back then I didn’t know what was going on with my skin or why it was happening to me. Little did I know, I was not the only one with this disease. Little did I know, that in 20 years I would meet a community of people who shared the same pain as I do.

Atopic dermatitis is what the dermatologist told me I have, aka: eczema. 22+ years of going to the dermatologist and even with his prescriptions, I am still finding myself searching for something better. There is no cure for eczema but there are remedies to prevent flare ups. I have tried many remedies like the eczema diet which only consists of raw foods. I could barely last a week. You would think for someone who wants to prevent eczema that I would try harder but I want to continue living the way I want too, without having eczema guidelines on the back of my mind. I had a dance scholarship in college, but the constant sweating made my skin dry out even faster, which eventually would irritate my skin causing flare ups on my face and neck; the places I sweated the most. By giving up dance, I gave up a little of me. And when that happened, I knew I had to do something, find another way, connect with people and hopefully find a remedy that would let me live my life without giving up some of my favorite things.

I went on Youtube sometime in 2008 and searched for eczema video blogs. I saw hundreds of blogs; these blogs ranged from doctors preaching the same information to people stating an eczema cure. I heard it all before and decided to use my own voice and my own eczema knowledge to make my own video blog. I did a weekly video blog about lotions I used and sometimes, I included my food diet. To my surprise, I started gaining subscribers and receiving messages from random viewers expressing similar experiences with eczema. In just one year, I had almost 800 subscribers leaving me messages and comments every day on YouTube. It never occurred to me in the beginning that my video blogs would be helping others struggling with eczema and self-esteem issues.

I made it my mission to reply to each and every message I received. I wanted to let my viewers know that they were not alone. I gave them my advice along with the advice from other viewers. Eventually, some subscribers bravely managed to start talking about their eczema themselves on YouTube. This is when it became an eye-opening realization; I realized I was helping a community of people who just needed someone they could relate too. Dermatologists can only give us prescriptions, but being able to relate to someone who knows exactly what you are going through, is something much more powerful than the technical know-how behind the skin disorder.

Even now, I actively video blog about my eczema on regular basis. After discovering the social power that a video blog can muster up, I decided to write the National Eczema Association to tell them about my YouTube experience. They responded right away and told me that they are in the midst of changing their website, but at the same time, they are very interested in my site and feel that I have the potential to become one of their personal voices on their new, upcoming website.

What I accomplished in these last two years is absolutely astounding to me. I hope to inspire many more people and give them the courage to battle their inner skin-demons. There is a community of people looking for that same one voice. And once that voice is heard, there is nothing more empowering than knowing that you are one among many.

Eczema update 7/28/09

To make a long story short, the little bumps on my arms, hands and forearms have spread to my entire body. First the arms, then my legs, to my stomack to the sides of my back. I went to the derm, and they took a bioposy of my mole and another part of my skin. He told me it could either be a severe allergic reaction or I might have skin cancer.

I cried for the at least 4 days straight, but I believe the doctor just had to tell me the worse case scenario just in case it is the case. I have been taking benadryl the past couple days and I have started to see a difference. I am not itching anymore on my legs and the bumpiness is drying out. Everyone says it just looks like I have goosebumps. They are not red and they do not hurt. They just itch occasionally. The bumpiness on my legs has gone away and some parts of my back. The worse part is all over my arms. The doctor said it looked like the rash was where all of my hair follicules were. My neck and face are GOOD, just the regular eczema and no bumpiness! Thank God!

Just when I thought I was catching a break after the shingles attack, this happened.

The only thing that has changed in my life is that I have been working overtime the past 2 1/2 weeks, and they were doing contruction in our building. Maybe it was the chemicals I was exposed too?

I am currently only using Vanicream, Jojoba Oil, and cetaphil as my moisturizers right now. I finally go back to the doctor tomorrow 7/29/09 to get my stitches out and to hopefully get my results.

He said it may take up to 10 days so I might not find out tomorrow.

Le sigh.

Testimonials

I decided to take out TECH on my site because it doesn’t really have to do with eczema and I want to make this a community site. I really would like to hear from all of you and hopefully make this website more active.

Please write your experience with eczema under Testimonials. And please respond to other people who have written there.

Here, maybe we all can help each other.

Update on my crazy eczema.

Currently, my eczema is slightly under control. However, there is a dog in the house that is making me kinda itchy. I am using Vanicream, Jojoba oil, Cetaphil lotion, Cetaphil soap etc!!

I have little bumps on my forearms that are super itchy. I REALLY do not know where this came from because I have NEVER had a breakout on my arms?!? I mean the creases of my arms but definitely not my forearms? I am thinking maybe it is the Vanicream. The Vanicream is working wonders on my neck and face. Maybe it not for the body?? Will try and just use it for the face and neck and see if my eczema on my arms go away. Lets hope so!!

I currently made another twitter…twitter.com/eczema_lyss YEA ridiculous that my name is ECZEMA_LYSS on twitter but I am just trying to make a point. And it kinda goes with my name?

Anyway I am also taking multivitamins and purified fish oil pills. We’ll see how that goes. Changed my laundry detergent to all natural and changed my toothpaste to TOMS. Also using natural shampoos and conditioners.

These bumps on my arms are worrying me? Why must one part of my body be under control and then another part of my body go ballistic?? Is it the steroids?? Is it the lotions??

I am also currently running every other day after work. Trying to see how that changes my body. I like feeling exhausted so I fall asleep easier. Makes me scratch less..

Hope your eczema is ok Let me know!

SHINGLES?!

Guess what!? Those bumps that I thought were acne, is actually SHINGLES!! Can you believe that? I have shingles on my eye and all over my cheek! Only on the right side! Can you believe that? Crazy I know.

I am taking time off work and I am now up north relaxing with the family. I am pretty sure it was the Protopic!! But I could be wrong, might just be nerves? Might be nerves and the protopic? Might be the jojoba oil and the omega 3? Might be????

Bumps bumps and more bumps

I’m crying at home right now. I just got back home from work with a quick run to the grocery store. I bought Benadryl itch stopping cream and Benadryl allergy pills.

I am having an allergic reaction to the Jojoba oil and it was caused major small bumps on my top eyelid and cheeks. ON ONE SIDE.

One side is perfectly normal while the other side looks like I got hit by a bus. I don’t know what happened. I am completely freaking out.

My eye lid looks like my sister’s hand when it had small eczema bumps…but on my eye lid!!!

I feel better that I am writing in here. I’m not crying as much.

What is crazy though, my neck and arm eczema have slightly gotten better with the jojoba oil. I guess it works for my body but not my face.

I don’t know what to do…..somebody help!