It's Just My Skin

California desert

 

 Winters in the Midwest can be quite bitterly cold.  Which means we run our house heat all the time.  Running heat all the time gives our homes a dry feeling, which in turn can cause a lot of problems for people with dry skin and people prone to Eczema.

I know I've been feeling the dryness big time!

Recently, I travelled to the desert for a little vacation time.  The sun was great to soak in and the warmth was heaven sent.

Each morning I'd wake-up still following the Midwest time zone, which was 2 hours earlier than most the people in our complex would be up.

Each morning, I'd wake-up with stiff muscles and feeling chilled.  You see, the desert in the morning was around 45-52 degrees f.  And so, I'd grab my bathing suit, towel, a cup of yogurt, the pool key, a warm fleece sweater, and head down to the pool area.

As I approached the pool area, I could see the sun reflecting beautiful, warm rays on to the steaming pool and hot tub.

A greeting to me saying, "Welcome!  Come and jump in and allow my heated water to comfort and warm you."

 I'd speed walk (just about running) across the pool deck with goosebumps erupting continually across my entire body with anticipation of the warmth awaiting me.

 

After days of using a highly treated Chlorine hot tub, my skin said "Enough!"  I broke out in an Eczema itch.

For those who have had Eczema breakouts before, you'll understand the extreme discomfort.

Many people tend to outgrow Eczema after becoming an adult, physically.

But some still will have breakouts, just not as often.  Eczema may be from having skin that is highly sensitive to- chemicals and dryness.  It has been said that people with Eczema are not able to keep the proper amount of moisture in their skin.

I know for me, breaking out starts off with intense itching and dryness.  Think of Poison Ivy, intense- itching.

It feels good in the present moment to itch. It's like feeling the best massage all over your body.  

 But the more you itch, the itchier you get!

The more you itch, the more likely you will cause open wounds.

Eczema and itching can cause a small, bumped rash that can feel moist and highly itchy.  

The itching will also cause a person to feel like they are high on caffeine- tons of anxiety and panic.

 

In the past, I used to use Hydrocortisone cream.  But using these creams may not be the healthiest.

The drug stores have body lotion that contains oats to help with itching.  I have not found these effective when you have a new breakout.  Though it's nice lotion to use every day for keeping moisture in your skin.

What causes breakouts?

-Chemicals: Chlorine is strong and drying.  I'm sure there are other chemicals out there that will also cause problems.  

Solution- Staying out of chlorine pools and bath water as much as possible.  If you take baths, limit your bath time to a minimum.  Instead of 1 hour, go for 15 minutes.

Instead of taking one shower/bath per day, try skipping one day or more if possible.

-Heat: Too hot of bath/shower/pool/sun can cause an outbreak.

Solution- For baths/showers, turn down the heat.  Have a warm bath/shower instead of hot.

Limit your time in the sun.  Do Not use oil suntan lotions!  The oils clog pores, causing you a huge breakout.

When I was a teenager, I was able to go with my relatives on a Hawaiian trip.  Well, I had brought SPF 2 Suntan oil to use.  (In those days, most people did not wear any SPF.)  Wow, what a regret that was. Within 2 days, I broke out in the worst, all-body rash/itch reaction.   

-Suntan lotions: The chemical suntan lotions can cause problems.  These suntan lotions are worse if the suntan lotion is old/past a year.  The sun combines with the chemicals causing a reaction with Eczema prone skin.  Big-time itchy rash all over.

-Too tight of clothes.  Adults with Eczema can have a breakout on their ankles and tops of their feet.

A little bit of tightness from your socks can cause the intense itching feeling.  

Solution- Wear clothes that are not tight.  If your socks tend to leave marks on your ankles, then they may be an issue.  In the evening before sitting down, pull your socks off.  Massage some lotion on to ankles and feet.  Allow this area to stay clear of any materials the rest of the night.

-Sweating.  Again, wearing tight clothes or man-made materials (polyesters, nylons, elastane, etc.) for your clothes may cause extra sweating.  The warmth/sweat can cause an Eczema breakout.

-Anxiety.  We all have stress in our lives.  Learning to handle the stress in a positive way will go a long way towards better health.  Learn to calm yourself down in a positive way.  Meditation is a great way.  Walking/hiking in nature.  Stay off foods that cause stress in the physical body-refined sugar, artificial Trans-fats, Sodium Nitrates/Nitrites, food coloring, too much salt, too much animal fat.

-Air dryness.  Living in the Midwest, we can use humidifiers to help with moisture in the air.  Boiling water everyday can help also.  Growing plants in your house will produce extra moisture in the air.

-Not enough water drinking.  Drinking the proper amount of water per day is essential to our health.

Dehydration causes many problems with all people.  The physical body cannot work in a healthy way with lack of water.  Try drinking at least 8 x 8 oz of water/day.  Most of us may need more.  (Drinking liquor and caffeinated products will cause more dehydration.)  Also, try not to drink more then 2 cups of water in one sitting.  If you do, the water is not used in the body, it just is urinated out almost immediately instead.

My experience while on a vacation in Mexico.

Many Midwest and Canadians go to Mexico's coastline for taking in sun, warmth, and the ocean's healing vibes during the winter months.  Every morning, my husband and I would go to the bakery and buy some meat pies and pastries for our lunch at the beach.  One day we spent the whole day snorkeling and having a great time at the beach.  

That evening, we went to a restaurant for dinner.  As we sat there, our Pina Coladas came before our meal. After drinking 3 sips of the drink, I could feel myself be affected by the alcohol in a huge way.  Yep, I am a lightweight, but not typically that much!

Dehydration!  Hot sun, lots of heat, and little water.  And to top it all off, drinking alcohol. 

-Allowing the skin to get too dry.  

Solution- After every time you bath or shower, gently dry off. (No rubbing.)  Before you lose the moisture layer from the shower/bath, place a quality body lotion on. 

 After you're done, use a quality, organic Olive oil all over your body.  Olive oil has been used since ancient times.  The oil layer stops evaporation of moisture from your skin and sealing in moisture.  The lotion underneath acts to sooth and soften the skin.  (Note, products that contain glycerin seems to help skin feel dewy and moisturized.   But the glycerin pulls the moisture from within the cell and places the moisture on top the skin layer, making it seem like it's moisturizing.  The glycerin has robbed your inner skin cells of its essential moisture to stay healthy.  My thoughts- ditch products with glycerin.  Not a healthy product.  Mineral oil also does not help.)

 

Products that may help you during an Eczema breakout and afterwards as well.

• Aloe Vera gel.

I've always been told that if you want Aloe Vera gel to work on inflammation, you need to use it fresh from the leaf.  Enzymes in the leaf tend to deactivate when it is not fresh-such as gels bought from the store.  Using fresh Aloe Vera gel, you will need to pick a leaf from the plant, cut off sharp barbs on edge of leaf and open the leaf up with a knife.  Gently rub the Aloe Vera gel on the inflamed skin.  Do not use many leaves within a month or so.  You will end up killing your plant.  (P.s., I grow this plant specially for sun burns.  Works great!)

I did try Aloe Vera gel from the store.  It was a little helpful at soothing the itch and healing the inflammation.  If you do buy Aloe Vera gel, make sure it does not have alcohol in it.  Alcohol tends to dry skin more.

Try to buy with the least amount of ingredients in it.  Preservatives and coloring can cause more inflammation in your skin.

 

• Non-hydrogenated Coconut oil.  

This oil has been the best product to stop inflammation (itchiness and rash) on my body.

Coconut oil takes away inflammation from your skin cells, while placing a layer of moisture protection on the affected skin.  I will take a bit of hard Coconut oil in my palm, allowing it to melt.  I then will massage it on to my broke-out skin.   It soothes it immediately. The panic and anxiety that I felt from the itchiness reduces immediately, by about 25%.  Using this whenever you feel the need is a good way to reduce the inflammation.   The itchiness tends to slowly go away.  

Using Coconut oil is healthy! And it has that “on the beach” type fragrance-coconut smell.

 If you breakout on your scalp (itchy or sore scalp) place some melted Coconut oil on to your scalp at nighttime by rubbing under hair.  In the morning, wash hair.  For daytime, try to use Aloe Vera gel on scalp.  (The Aloe Vera gel does not make your hair look oily.)

I use Nutiva coconut oil.  I enjoy this brand the most for eating. (Taste and smell.)  This brand is also great for my Eczema breakouts as well.

 

How to manage your sensitivity.

• Eat simply and healthy.  Balance your intake of not the greatest foods with healthy foods.  If you eat salty chips at lunch, make sure you eat a banana also with your lunch.  The banana is super healthy, lots of fiber and other good stuff and it has so much potassium, that it will help neutralize the salt in the chips. 
• Watch foods and beverages that contain reactive ingredients.  Reactive ingredients= refined sugar, caffeine, artificial trans-fats (Hydrogenated, manmade fats are extremely unhealthy to consume.  Found in desserts, pkged gravies, frozen pizzas, and many other manmade food products in the USA.), too much salt, food coloring, MSG, preservatives, concentrated isolated proteins/refined, manmade, and too much pure protein- Found in protein bars, breakfast cereals, and snack bars.), refined cooking oils, and fillers.  
• Use a quality moisturizer on your body, especially after your baths/showers.  Quality meaning-look at ingredients and look them up to see if they are healthy!  The cosmetic industry has lots of what I call "junk" ingredients that are not healthy.  You may think you're getting the "awesome look" you’ve been craving from some, but in the long run, they may be causing you to age premature.

Use this webpage to look up your cosmetics, including toothpaste.  

https://www.safecosmetics.org/get-the-facts/chem-of-concern

• On top of your layer of body lotion, use a quality oil to seal the moisture into the skin.  I like Olive oil.  It's best to use an organic, unrefined oil due to our skin being the biggest organ we have.  The skin absorbs what you put on to it.  (Remember this when it comes to questionable metals from jewelry and kitchen utensils and pans. Heavy metals.)

If you want, use Non-hydrogenated Coconut oil for your whole body every day.  Otherwise, Sunflower oil works well for inflammation as well.  Just make sure you're not buying a refined oil.

Here's to healthy skin!

All the ideas are from Cynthia’s experiences.  If you don’t agree with something, that is just fine.  Just dismiss it.

By Cynthia Bergsbaken, Reiki Master of Reiki in the Prairie LLC

January 31, 2022

Disclaimer by Reiki in the Prairie LLC and Cynthia Bergsbaken copyright 2015

I am not a psychologist, psychiatrist, or medical doctor.  These articles I have written, are from reading and experiencing them.  Many of these articles are my own experiences with my own inventions to heal as well.

If you have a medical condition-physically/mentally/emotionally, please see a qualified medical doctor.  Do not substitute my articles for proper medical care.  You are too important to the world.

I have used all procedures I have written about and have found them to be helpful as tools to help myself become a better person.   I am sharing them with you because used as a tool, they are helpful in Shadow working on ourselves.  (Shadow working is healing our inner shadows that are unconscious or subconscious.  Inner shadows are our belief systems, our thoughts, our behaviors, our life experiences.)

I created this blog for my Reiki clients originally.  Combining these tools with Reiki creates a happy, healthy person.  These tools, when used alone are also beneficial!

 ***All original content is copyrighted by Cynthia Bergsbaken, Perceptive Blogger & Reiki in the Prairie LLC.

Reiki in the Prairie LLC is a legal Entity under law, 2015.

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April 11, 2020

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