Stress
See, also, my write-up on "Biochemical Rose-Colored Glasses"
 

Hong Kong's Dept. of Health has an eczema web site that states, "Avoid unnecessary ... emotional stress."   The American Academy of Dermatology's section on atopic dermatitis states, "Seek advice from your dermatologist about dealing with ... emotional upsets which make the condition worse.  The Merk Manual's section on atopic dermatitis states, "Intolerance to primary irritants is common, and emotional stress ... commonly cause exacerbations."  

Are You Under Great Stress?

Though eczema stressed me out, dealing with a stressful relationship terrifically helped clear up the eczema.   There is an excellent book on healthy boundaries relationships.   It's called Boundaries by Henry Cloud and John Townsend.  The analogy:  as long as a fish is in chlorinated water, no matter what you feed him, he'll still be sick.   Learn about healthy boundaries in relationships.  Very fun, huge and life saving.  Teach your kids ...
 

How I Attacked Anxiety After It Attacked Me

My eczema was so unbearably itchy that within a year's time I worked my way up to twenty antihistamines daily; that is, 3 every 3 hours and probably enough to put a horse to sleep.   Since the Benedryl wasn't helping anyway, I suddenly stopped taking it.  Soon after, I was experiencing severe adrenalin rushes that wouldn't turn off, otherwise known as the "fight or flight response" or panic attacks.  Although the eczema was bad, the attacks were worse ... couldn't breath, got sick, felt like I needed to die.

Doctors told me that I would have to stay on anti-panic attack medicine my whole life.  Even with the medicine I was still plagued with attacks.  Once again, I had to beat the odds and figure out how to get better despite the hopelessness.  I thank Lucinda Bassett, Founder of The Midwest Center for Stress and Anxiety, Inc., for her book From Panic to Power.  I'm forever grateful.  Panic attacks are sheer terror.  Now, I don't take anti-anxiety medicine and no more attacks either.  I learned anti-stress coping techniques that I'd like to share with you to help curb the stress before it aggravates the eczema.

Another book that helps with self-esteem, emotional anchorage and security is a book by Steven Covey called "7 Habits of Highly Effective People."   I loved it.  Helped me tons.
 

Top Twelve Coping Skills

1.  Overintellectualizing and overanalyzing is not so good.  "What if's" and "I should have's" are not good when they are negative.  The first is anticipatory anxiety and the latter is being over reflective.  Worrying about the future and the past can be unhealthy.  Stay in the present.  If you must think forward or reflect, set a time limit.

2.  If you need to lecture someone,  make it short and not drawn out.   Then, the rule of thumb is to give 10 times that amount of praise.

3.  Be compassionate, patient and gentle with yourself.  Stop thinking, saying and doing things that make you feel bad, anxious or upset with yourself.  I used to think that talking to one's self was for kooks.  Now I know that talking to yourself in an encouraging way is key in a healthy thought life.  Be your own best friend by the way you talk to yourself; be nice to yourself in your thought life.  Your value isn't gotten from what others think about you (not even from what you think about yourself), because God's truth is that you are great and you are loved.

4.  Go ahead and have high standards, but steer clear of perfectionism.

5.   When making decisions, remember that it's not a science and that you can always modify.

6.  Taking responsibility for our feelings instead of blaming them on something else allows us to be in control of our feelings.  The Boundaries tape will help a lot.

7.   Lean to underreact.  I thought that this would be frustrating; but, it actually is kind of fun, because you end up feeling better.  It does get easier with time.

8,    Learn about healthy boundaries in relationships. When to say "yes" and when to say "no" without feeling guilty to take control of your life.

9.    Being unable to forgive people is stressful.   Forgiving and trusting are two different things, so just because you forgive doesn't mean you should trust ..  trust is earned, but no sense in torturing yourself when the enemy is oblivious to your pain anyway.  Remember Cinderella's, "In my own little corner and my own little world, I can be whatever I want to be"  ... angry or happy or sad or whatever, may as well be happy.  (lol)

10.    Tone down on "attentional bias," (a tendency to stress our supposed social stumbles) and "interpretational bias," (a habit of picking up neutral cues from other people and interpreting them as evidence of failing socially).  

11.    Exercise is great.

12.    Vitamins and herbs are helpful.  

Did you know that panic disorder and multiple chemical sensitivity may be linked to enzyme deficiencies?