It is generally accepted that there is no cure for Eczema and that it mainly affects children who mostly grow out of it by their teens.
There are still many hundreds of thousands of adults who suffer in varying degrees with seemingly no hope of prolonged or permanent relief. A quote worth reporting from the National Eczema Society states
“One in five children and one in twelve adults suffer from Eczema in the UK alone and one in five families are affected by Eczema to some degree”
Most people find that they need a variety of methods to try and reduce the condition and the holistic approach may be the most suitable one to take, in my understanding of Eczema and other skin conditions there are three areas that affect and aggravate the condition, and they are:
· 1 The food we eat
· 2 The water we drink, bath, shower and wash our clothes in.
· 3 The increasing amount of chemicals that we come into contact with in our daily lives around the house, and mostly they all seem to be connected.
That is not to say that there are hereditary causes of Eczema and allergies, but they are dealt with elsewhere.
Everybody that suffers or has a family member that also suffers from Eczema or other related types of skin condition know how very distressing and traumatic it can be and how difficult and frustrating it is to deal with, one thing certain is that no one leaves it to fend for itself and at some point will have tried (or use on a regular basis) the ever increasing army of creams, lotions, wraps, remedies , oils etc, etc on the market many of them are very useful in helping to reduce some of the symptoms, but as yet there is no single product that will ease the condition to such a low level that it is no longer a problem!
So the Holistic approach is a very good way of covering most possibilities of finding the most likely way of controlling and reducing symptoms but it will take a lot of effort and determination. I do not propose to talk about the Creams, Wraps, or special clothing because they are specialist products that are applied to help ease Eczema sufferers symptoms “after the event” what I will be talking about is what may cause irritation and flare ups to occur, and because we are a company that produce water softeners and filter system we will start there.
The addition of a water softener should be very high on the list of priorities in a house hold that has Eczema sufferers, not only for its superb ability to totally remove damaging and aggravating hard water scale from water but also (and almost as importantly for an Eczema sufferer) its ability to remove the harmful effects of Chlorine from your drinking and washing water.
Water is the most important and natural skin moisturiser and works from outside and from within the human body
Without water we dehydrate, without water we die, without water we do not exist.
This is what the National Eczema Society says:-
“Some people with Eczema find that their skin improves when they move to a soft water area, or if they install a water softener. Hard water contains high levels of calcium and magnesium salts that have the potential to irritate skin; however the amount of people that this may affect is unknown”
Yet we take it so much for granted that we fail to understand its importance in our daily lives, for instance any water soluble substance can (and will) be dissolved and taken into solution and become part of the water itself, and that includes all of the good things that water collects on its way to your kitchen tap such as minerals and all of the bad thing such as farm residues, factory pollutants, heavy metals etc, and Chlorine.
There are numerous scientific studies that report that Chlorinated tap water is a skin irritant and is associated with conditions such as Eczema.
Chlorinated water can destroy polyunsaturated fatty acids and vitamin E in the body while generating toxins capable of free radical damage, this may well explain why supplementing the diet with essential fatty acids i.e. evening primrose oil, flax seed oil and borage oil together with vitamin E, selenium etc can help with so many cases of Eczema and other dry skin conditions.
We will look at vitamins and minerals together with food later.
Drinking Water
Water softeners and specific drinking water filters can remove Chlorine from drinking and cooking water and in the case of filtration can reduce or remove harmful chemicals to a very high degree and help to keep your skin hydrated and naturally moist, and as water becomes a much more pleasant drink it helps to promote more consumption.
Freshly filtered water also is critical in flushing toxins from the body and eases the load on your kidneys, it is also vital for optimum brain function and aids concentration and learning, even moderate dehydration can cause feelings of dizziness, light headiness and headaches especially if occurring in the afternoon or evening, a glass or two of water can give remarkable results without the need for headache tablets.
Research has shown that just a 4 to 5% reduction in body fluids can cause as much as a 30% loss in work performance, concentration and learning.
Do not under estimate the importance and power of good water, after all without it you would not exist! Keeping your body and especially your skin hydrated with fresh filtered water can be an easy and very cheap weapon in your new Holistic approach to Eczema control.
Washing Water.
As a water softener dramatically reduces the amount of harmful Residual Chlorine coming into contact with sensitive skin, and removes calcium and magnesium salts also, it is found that a high percentage of water softener owners find their condition greatly improves, and coupled with the 50-75% reduction in harsh soaps and detergents used, it makes a water softener well worth considering. Because softened water requires such a little amount of soap, shampoos and detergents it may well be worth having the added advantage of using some of the much milder, natural alternatives that are so much kinder to dry skin conditions, and as you will use so little the price difference will hardly be noticed.
Chlorinated water destroys much of the intestinal flora, the friendly bacteria that help in the digestion of food and which protect the body from harmful pathogens. These bacteria are also responsible for the manufacture of several important vitamins like vitamin B12 and vitamin K. It is not uncommon for chronic digestive disorders as well as chronic skin conditions like acne, psoriasis, seborrhoea and eczema to clear up or be significantly improved by switching to un-chlorinated drinking water and supplementing the diet with lactobacillus acidophilus and bifidus.
“Free residual chlorine in bathing water reduces the water holding capacity of the Stratum Corneum in patients with Atomic dermatitis and is known to exacerbate the conditions"
Chlorine has been documented to aggravate asthma, especially in those children who make frequent use of chlorinated swimming pools. Several studies also link chlorine and chlorinated by-products to a greater incidence of bladder, breast and bowel cancer as well as malignant melanoma. One study even links the use of chlorinated tap water to congenital cardiac anomalies.
Hard Water Scale
You will know if you are living in a hard water area, but you may not know whether it is mildly hard, medium hard, very hard or even extremely hard so it may be very worthwhile having your household supply tested to determine its hardness.
What is the difference between hard and soft water and why it may affect delicate skin?
Rain water is naturally soft but after it has passed through Chalk Downs or Limestone it becomes hard as it dissolves the rock and takes it into suspension. When it is heated the microscopic particle in suspension are released from the water and bond together to form into rock particles again, if you get scale forming in your kettle your are in a hard water area. Soft water by definition has no dissolved solids of Chalk (or Limestone) in it, and hard water has varying levels of dissolved solids (Calcium and Magnesium salts) in it and this amounts to about 60% of the country.
When hard water enters your household plumbing system your problems begin, and there are many of them! Blocked pipes, increased water and heating bills, more soaps and shampoo to use, up to 75% more detergent in laundry, damage to washing machines to name a few, but for the time being our main concern is how does hard water effect delicate (or otherwise) skin.
Hard water scale and the scum (caused by its reaction with soap etc) will not rinse from your clothing and bed linen properly so you have the added disadvantage of these residues being in constant contact with your delicate skin 24hours a day, rubbing, chafing and irritating, it’s a continual process, added to that it does not rinse from your body properly after bathing or washing leaving blocked pores and harsh dry skin.
Softened water is similar to rain water and will rinse soap, shampoo and detergents etc from your laundry and your body keeping your skin naturally moist as nature intended, remove the twin culprits of hard water scale deposits and sticky curd like scum from your water and see the benefits that beautifully soft water can have on delicate skin, and by using up to 75% less soap, shampoo and harsh detergents this can further enhance the benefits of soft water.
The combined effects of Chlorine, Scum and Hard water scale on your skin can be very damaging to any one with (otherwise) healthy skin, but if you are one of the many thousands of sufferers of dry skin, Eczema or Psoriasis it can to your suffering without realising what it is.
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