a quick note to say i'm sorry for the delay in posts. i had company in town 2 weekends in a row and we are about to start filming at work so, my free time has been extremely limited. i will have some great budapest updates next week tho, promise! now, on to the good stuff.
my skin has been a problem my whole life. i've had eczema since birth and still will scratch a random patch in my sleep so that it's very hard to fully heal. i've managed to keep it a bay for the most part with a water filter shower attachment and a strict seasonal rotation of aveeno products. guess what they don't have in budapest: aveeno!
my skin has been a problem my whole life. i've had eczema since birth and still will scratch a random patch in my sleep so that it's very hard to fully heal. i've managed to keep it a bay for the most part with a water filter shower attachment and a strict seasonal rotation of aveeno products. guess what they don't have in budapest: aveeno!
coming to europe without my trusty aveeno wasn't entirely planned or unplanned. i stocked up on the travel size gold bond cremes and eucerine because i like to keep those in my purse as my hands get very dry. having not had a real flare up in a while, it didn't really occur to me to worry about my body lotion. i had already scoped out shops on google maps, i knew i'd be able to get my lush dream wash and butterballs locally. i figured finding body lotion would be the easy part, oops.
it never occurred to me that i wouldn't be able to find fragrance free body products here. the stores are jam packed heavily with perfumed body wash, lotions and balms, (and 20 kinds of femme wash) but fragrance free was hard to find. same with laundry detergent. my beau thinks this is a hold over from when they showered less so needed to smell artificially clean, who knows. after fruitless trips to every supermarket and drugstore chain in town, i settled on nivea cocoa body lotion. i've used it before sporadically and knew it wouldn't break me out. for the most part i was right.
my legs and body made the adjustment pretty smoothly, but my arms and my hands broke out immediately and would not heal. i could keep them moisturized and refrain from scratching during the day but at night, lost cause. i went so far as to wear long sleeves and yoga gloves to bed, something my mom had to do to me as a baby. seriously, all my onesies had fold-over mittens.
a few weekends ago on the first truly beautiful day we've had, a friend/co-worker and i were enjoying a pint at the beer fest when i commented on my skin. i was happy that the cold, dry weather was behind us b/c my skin needed the warm, humid weather. she said she'd had a similar situation when she arrived, a month before me. her dermatologist suggested le rocher-posay and said it cleared everything right up. i was ready to try anything! i began a regime of the hand repair cream during the day and the anti itch at night. it worked for the most part, but i still woke up scratching in the middle of the night.
after some further research into my old childhood staple, eucerin, i began using the repair hand creme with 5% urea. urea is key for treating atopic dermititis. i also purchased the body wash and lotion specifically for atopic dermatitis, only using it on my arms and hands where i'm having the break out. between the new skin care and the warm weather, i'm healing quite nicely. i guess the true test will be when the winter comes round again. at least this time i feel prepared.
after some further research into my old childhood staple, eucerin, i began using the repair hand creme with 5% urea. urea is key for treating atopic dermititis. i also purchased the body wash and lotion specifically for atopic dermatitis, only using it on my arms and hands where i'm having the break out. between the new skin care and the warm weather, i'm healing quite nicely. i guess the true test will be when the winter comes round again. at least this time i feel prepared.
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