Eczema

[MollyBeth]

I have always been one with dry skin. My skin drinks cocoa butter. I posted on here previously about my face and it's dryness. I can't find the old post though...sorry. At first I thought it might be DH but then looked at some photos and didn't think that rash looked like mine. Then I went to the Dr. and they weren't very helpful. In the past couple years the dry skin on my cheeks spread to the skin around my eyes and caused major swelling and burning.. Before I went to gluten free I would always notice it was worst after a night of heavy beer drinking. Well, I was jsut home and I got glutened pretty bad when I was there and the skin issues came back in full force! What I've noticed is that since going gluten free it's gotten worse. My symptoms seem to have switched if that makes any sense.... before gluten free my skin would break out like this (with the swelling and burning) just two or three times a year but I dealt with digestive issues like D everyday. Well now when I get glutened my digestive issues are very minor and my skin seems to react the most. I had thought that maybe I was just one of the Celiacs that wasn't super sensitive but now that I've connected all the dots it seems that my skin is the best indication of when I have ingested gluten...

Has anyone else had this happen? A switch of sorts with symptoms after going gluten free?

[Mother of Jibril]

Two months after I stopped eating gluten I started getting an itchy rash (first on my hands and then also my arms) when I got cross-contaminated. I never had that before. My dermatologist did a biopsy and said it was "acute dermatitis" (same thing as an "id reaction" or "autoeczemization").

I've had problems with dry skin, rashes, acne, rosacea, halo nevi, dermatofibromas (lots of weird skin issues) ever since I hit puberty. The good news is that I've been really, REALLY strict about gluten and corn for several weeks now and my skin looks GREAT

[CeliacAndCfsCrusader]

I've had dry, itchy, sometimes sore skin on my elbows (only) my whole life.

gluten-free for 18 months, elbows have slowly improved. Now, it's really not an issue.

Definitely some sort of link.

[sugarsue]

I am allergic to wheat and get horrible itchy skin when I eat it. My daughter (age 7) has had bad skin since she was little. She went gluten free in december and her skin got very bad with eczema. The doc didn't have a reason why but now that we've put cream on her skin to clear it up, and she is continuing on the gluten free diet, her skin is starting to look really good and I just noticed the other night that she is not scratching like she used to. I used to go crazy listening and watching her scratch and now it seems like normal itching!

I know that was not really your question but more about the switch after going gluten free but I thought I'm mention our itchy/eczema skin experiences!

[MollyBeth]

Thanks for your answers! The whole eczema thing is new to me. I'm going to go back to my doc and see what she says. I thought DH was the only skin problem celiacs had...but I'm learning that is not the case like so many other things with this disease!! It's learn as you go!

sugarsue,

Was the cream your daughter used prescribed my a doctor? Or is it something I can get over the counter?

[sugarsue]

sugarsue,

Was the cream your daughter used prescribed my a doctor? Or is it something I can get over the counter?

It was prescribed by her doctor, a steroid cream that starts with a T. I can find the name if you are interested. It was the only thing that worked. I don't normally like to use steroids but in this instance, it was a relief.

s

[Mother of Jibril]

Both of my kids have had problems with eczema... My son is fine as long as we don't feed him dairy, corn, or gluten. Unfortunately, our daughter was born first and we didn't understand the connection between eczema and food intolerances! Her pediatrician gave us samples of Elidel, which is a non-steroid cream for eczema. We found that Vaseline helped too... just to keep her skin really moist. We also kept her fingernails short so she couldn't scratch