I will dito the remark about not being a doctor and this not being any diagnosis of any sort , etc. etc.
That said, I have been studying Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) along with an herb course that I'm doing. In TCM the skin and liver are directly connected. The liver is one of our major cleansing organs. Modern living exposes us to MANY toxins in our food, air and the drugs we may take. The liver gets very overloaded and "toxic" which often results in different skin problems. I have suffered off and on over the last 15+ years with chronic hives. After trying many, many things (including western medicine) the only thing that has helped me has been changing my diet, working on "cleansing" my liver and acupuncture. There are very few places left on earth where we are NOT exposed to toxins and I feel that it is very important to do what we can for ourselves to stay healthy, i.e., eat good, organic, locally grown food and take as few drugs as possible. (Not to mention working with and wearing natural fibers <G>)) My 2 cents worth. Katy the Urban Eagle happily living where there is blissfully clean air. On Nov 2, 2005, at 9:59 AM, Gabrielle Menn wrote: > I am not a doctor and am not diagnosing or recommending any > treatment. That said, here's my story: > > About 12 years ago, I saw the doctor for exactly what you described > on my fingertips, palms and feet. I thought that maybe I gotten a > case of athlete's foot that transfered to my hands. It was > diagnosed as eczema. I was told to use 1% hydrocortisone. For > more severe 'outbreaks' I was to use Triamcinolone Acetonide 0.1%. > > I found, over the years, that I would get it in the summer and > again in the winter. Sometimes, it was so bad that I would have no > skin left on my fingertips - just raw tips that were tender and > heat sensitive. I'd been doing okay until this past summer when I > did a two-week dying marathon. So, who knows what could've sparked > it - the gloves, the dye, the soap, the vicious circle of washing & > drying my hands without moisturizing. > > There is a lot of good info about the various types of eczema at > www.eczema.org then click on "About Eczema" in the right navigation > bar. Yes, eczema can be type of allergic reaction. I had no idea > that there were about 7 types of eczema! > > The gal that taught me to spin also had a condition with her hands > that she was being treated for. That's when she was finally > diagnosed with the latex allergy. Which, then went on to include > just about all polymers/plastics. She was working with a florist > and found that her hands did better after working with the > antifungal solutions that the flower stems were soaking in. So, > she started soaking her hands in a vinegar solution. (One type of > eczema is linked to yeast. And changing the pH kills yeast. So, > perhaps that was what was happening in her case: the latex allergy > would cause a flare up that would then get infected with yeast?) > > Whenever I do have a flare-up, it definitely puts a damper on my > spinning. The dry skin 'snags' the fiber and even though the fiber > may be 'washed', we all know that it is still 'not clean.' And > that can't be good when the fingers are prone to infection. > > Gabrielle > > > >> Since we are discussing various maladies here, I would like to get >> some >> feedback on my hands. In the past few weeks, my fingertips look >> as if they >> have been soaking in water for hours, all prune-like, and I have >> tiny bumps >> under the skin of my fingers and palms. It is not painful but >> itches from >> time to time. Also, sometimes the bumps break into little >> blisters on the >> surface of my skin. I have been knitting more than usual, trying >> to start a >> knitted purse business, designing patterns and also selling the >> finished >> product. Has anyone else experienced this or have any idea what >> it is? I >> can barely feel my fingertips anymore! To stop mail temporarily mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: set nomail To restore send: set mail
