My Eczema Care Routine

To make ths easier, I have now posted an up to date (July 2016) Morning Routine. You can find it here

I will be adding an evening routine and more details on diet and holistic care. Until then I have left the following bits below. If there are parts of my routine you have questions about or think I’ve missed, please let me know so I can write a post!

My night routine has more on how I manage weeping, skin infections and flaking beyond just applying moisturisers. I do this at night as I have more time. This will be posted soon !

Throughout the day

1) Like any eczema sufferer, I carry cream on me at all times! I don’t leave the house without it though at the moment I am rarely having to use it. If ever I feel dry, irritated (or look in the mirror and see my dry face!) whilst I’m out, I apply my cream. I keep the REN cream I mentioned handy. It is a pump style bottle so is easier to apply in public. This does not leave skin red after applying which is great for me! The Eucering cream I previously used would moisturise but leave my eczema patches bright red! The salves are great too and are handy because they’re small.

2)  I’m a tea drinker! Caffeine isn’t good for our system and dairy is something I also try to minimise, so I’ve now tried to swap to chamomile tea whenever I want tea or other herbal teas like nettle, ginger and fennel (if you have tried any good ones please let me know 😀 ). It doesn’t taste the same and sometimes I miss usual English tea, but I’ve tried to minimise my tea drinking, especially if its in the afternoon/ evening because I find it hard to sleep in general and this won’t help! I do still drink tea, but I’ve gone down from 5 cups a day to around 2.

I used to drink tea with sugar which used to be a big part of the problem as sugar itself makes me itch so I try to keep my intake reduced! I have adapted to no sugar at all now and you know what? It isn’t as hard as I thought it would be! Since a cup of tea is better than no cup,the sugar doesn’t seem so important anymore! If you like your sugar then try and slowly reduce it, honestly, I now find it weird having sugar in my tea and I used to add a heaped spoon. You can cut it out.

If you can’t give up normal English tea, then opt for decaf, it really can make a difference! But I quite like my herbal teas, there are so many to choose from so a bit of trial and error can help!

3)I drink a lot of water each day. I make sure my body is hydrated. I know sometimes when I’m busy I can go hours without water without even realising it, however, I try to keep a bottle on me at all times as I find I drink it if it is in front of me. When I’m at home too, I make sure water is always around and I drink it throughout the day. I steer clear of sodas and drinks with a lot of colour and preservatives in and stick to water. I keep a bottle by my bed, in the car and when I am at work or uni I take a bottle with me. Water really is a natural healer.

Sleep/ Night Routine

When my skin is bad, sleep tends to be very hard to achieve!  I’ve slowly started to make adjustments to my habits to get a better night’s rest. When my skin is flared angrily on my face, I cannot even lean on it without my face weeping so it becomes very hard to sleep. Even when it is calming down, the itchiness can sometimes keep me up. SO I now do the following things to help me try and sleep better and through the night, rather than waking up during the night. The better I sleep, the less I itch in my sleep and that is definitely a benefit!

Now after years, my sleep routine is so much better. I sleep better and fuller and the itching tendencies have greatly reduced!

1) This might seem simple and obvious, but I make sure that I don’t get into bed until I feel tired. In the past, if I had an early start I’d try and get into bed so that I would have at least 8 hours sleep, even if I’d woken up at 12pm on that day! Bad idea when you have eczema. I found that if I got into bed at times like this, I would be restless and end up scratching in my tossing and turning frustrated state which I would then regret when I woke up and looked at my face in the mirror! If I only get into bed when I’m tired, I find that I fall asleep a lot faster and don’t have to go through the aggravation caused by being restless! This simple trick is so effective. Do not go to sleep until you are tired!

2) To help me become tired in the evenings more easily and get a good routine in general too, I wake up at the same time everyday (8 am for me but earlier if I have work). At first, this was hard because I love my lie ins! Who doesn’t think of a saturday lie in as a pleasure? But this has really helped me sleep more fully at night and I cannot believe it is so simple. I thought it would be hard and at first it kind of was but it does get easier! I found slowly moving your wake up time forward is the way to go so rise 10 minutes earlier each day and see how you get on. But I have found with a good wake up routine in place, I now naturally wake up around the time my alarm goes off now or when it goes off and I don’t feel tired, I can easily get out of bed and that wasn’t something I ever experienced before! In general, when my eczema is bad I find it really hard to just get out of bed sometimes, and this early wake up routine has helped me get up and start my day. The routine of waking up at the same time everyday and then going to bed when I naturally feel tired has worked well for my sleep. The early start means I naturally get tired in the evening. As a student, the lie ins til 12pm really didn’t help my sleeping pattern! Yes you might be thinking but what about the weekends etc and this is when I struggle to keep to my routine, but it is worth it if you find sleeping difficult :). In addition, I feel so much more productive if I’m up and showered at 9.30 with the day ahead. I always regret the lie in when my day is wasted….The positive impact on my mood is itself a positive.

3) Before I get into bed, I use my face and neck routine as mentioned in my wake up routine ( I will be doing an evening routine post so keep posted!). Now I used to avoid washing my face twice a day, but actually when using hydrating products it has been better for my skin and stops it clogging up. If I wear make up, I use a a balm based cleanser first and then repeat with a cream based one to ensure I get all of the make up off gently. I like Suti Cleanse (read my review for more info!) and the Organic Pharmacy Carrot Butter cleanser. I also have a general evening routine to unwind. Find something you enjoy and so it nightly. Not skin based but YOU based.

4) I sometimes use Lavender Essential Oil and I place a few drops of it on my pillow before I go to sleep. The University of Maryland suggests there is scientific evidence demonstrating that lavender improves sleep quality, promotes relaxation and lifts mood in people suffering from sleep disorders. Research has also confirmed that lavender produces slight calming, soothing, and sedative effects when its scent is inhaled. All good things when you find it hard to get to sleep! If you search up on the internet, you can read all of the other benefits of lavender. I find that it really helps me, I’m not sure if it’s just psychological but I find that lying there inhaling the lavender really helps me fall asleep. Perhaps it just gives me something to concentrate on as the smell is quite strong! But I now do this and I just like the smell really, I can put those drops on my pillow lie in bed and just do some slow breathing exercises to wind down.

5) I drink a prebiotic drink before bed. It helps to keep bowel movements regular and this can ensure we are getting rid of toxins more easily. It definitely keeps me regular so if you struggle, this works wonders! Just think, we need to get rid of the toxins!

6) YOGA!! Trust me this is a really good way to wind down. I don’t do this daily but I should! I will alternate between yoga and meditation.

7) I spend 30 minutes in bed doing something like reading. I also keep a gratitude journal. At the end of each day I list 5 things that went well. Trust me looking back at this in low points helps you to appreciate all of the small things!

 

Supplements:

I take:

1) Probiotic capsule every morning
2) Vitamin D3 also with food (during winter and when skin flares)

Other Management Techniques:

Now I don’t know about you, but stress is a huge factor for me. I worry, I get worked up and it can impact on my skin. To now combat this, I use the following techniques:

1) I attend yoga weekly. This isn’t for everyone, but it gives me an hour of a half away from busy life to relax. I think the main thing here is the ME time. Just some time for you, peace and quiet. No mobiles, no laptops, no distractions.

2) I have a filofax to keep organised: This has been AMAZING for me! It keeps me in check with my To dos and on ball with uni assignments and work. The plus is I get to personalise it.

3) Meditation: Now I never knew how to meditate but Headspace is guided meditation you can try for free by downloading their app and I really would say try it! I thought it was weird at first, but after 10 days of doing it, I kind of got into it. Now I don’t do it daily (I really am aiming to though!) but it is so calming. It clears my mind. Do you ever have it where you’re stressing yourself out by overthinking? Well meditation helps to clear that for me! If you read up on meditation you can see just what benefits daily meditation can bring!

 

It has taken me ages to rewrite this so thanks for your patience! Hope it helps. Please leave your thoughts and comments!