The constant itching and scaly lesions can make eczema an unpleasant condition to have. Unfortunately, it is also notoriously difficult to treat. Standard treatment usually requires the use of medications with unpleasant and sometimes dangerous side effects, including increased risk of infection, weight gain and drowsiness. Side effects such as these can make it difficult to function in your daily life. If you want to avoid these kinds of issues, you can take a multi-faceted approach to develop your own natural cure for eczema.
Treating the Symptoms
The first step in getting rid of eczema is to treat the current flare-up. You can do this by making an all-natural paste to get rid of the itching and moisturize the skin. Some examples of ingredients you can put into the paste include manuka honey, almond oil, coconut cream and aloe vera juice. All of these ingredients have a variety of nutrients which will nourish your skin and reduce the inflammation. Make sure you use organic ingredients to avoid traces of potentially irritating chemicals.
To maximize your efforts, you can add a variety of natural products to your bath. Adding things like sea salt, rosemary and sage leaves, and clay powder to warm water helps to keep your skin moisturized and reduces the irritation. As an added benefit, these kinds of ingredients promote relaxation and stress reduction, which can help your immune system. This kind of natural cure for eczema works best if you do it at least once daily for 15 to 20 minutes at a time.
Preventing Secondary Infection
Preventing your eczema from getting infected is a huge part of getting rid of it. If bacteria or fungi come into contact with the afflicted area, they can cause further irritation. If the area gets actively infected, it can become almost impossible to deal with. This is why it’s so important to keep that area clean at all times. Many soaps can make your eczema worse, particularly antibacterial ones. You can use products like apple cider vinegar or baking soda to clean your skin without further damaging your skin.
Apple cider vinegar is moderately acidic, which allows it to kill off a wide range of microbes. All you have to do is saturate a cotton ball with it and lightly dab it onto your skin. Baking soda too is a potent antiseptic, and is often used to clean cuts, sores and infected nail beds. The solution is quite simple to make. Add two tbsp. of baking soda to 10 oz. of water and stir the solution until it takes on a semi-watery consistency. You can use a cotton ball to apply it, or you can put it into a spray bottle and spray it directly onto your skin. An additional benefit of using baking soda for eczema is that it acts as an anti-inflammatory agent as well.
Regulating your Immune System
The regulation of your immune system is the most important aspect of curing your eczema. Eczema is the result of your body overreacting to toxins and bacteria and attacking itself in the process. If you calm down your immune system, you’ll stop having flare-ups and can get rid of your eczema for good. When it comes to immune system modulation, dietary supplements are key. The two best supplements to use are fish oil and probiotic yogurt. Fish oil contains omega-3 essential fatty acids. Your body needs both omega-3 and omega-6 to function properly. The problem is most people have too much omega-6 and not enough omega-3. Omega-6 is highly inflammatory and tends to cause your body to over-react. If you add an omega-3 supplement to your diet, you body becomes more balanced and limits inflammation.
Probiotic yogurt is yogurt that contains live healthy bacteria. These healthy bacteria make sure your intestinal tract stays balanced. Your intestinal tract has to filter out disease-causing bacteria from the foods we eat. To do this, it has to activate the immune system, which is responsible for flare-ups. If you have plenty of good bacteria in your intestinal tract, your body doesn’t have to work as hard fighting off the unhealthy bacteria, which lessens your likelihood of experiencing a recurrence of your eczema.
Dietary Changes
If your body is allergic or intolerant to certain foods, it will alert your immune system every time you eat that particular food, which will send your immune system into overdrive. Avoiding these foods can almost be considered a natural cure for eczema in itself.
You should start by cutting out foods that commonly cause allergies, such as dairy and soy products, nuts, shellfish, and wheat and corn. After a couple of weeks, add them back into your diet, one by one. If you develop a sudden increase in symptoms during this process, you’ll know which food you need to avoid. You should avoid eating large amounts of processed foods, sugar, and refined carbohydrates, such as white flour. Not only do these foods trigger flare-ups, they also weaken your immune system.
A good natural cure for eczema is one that has been shown to bring lasting results consistently for different patients. To learn about these cures so you can get rid of your eczema permanently, click here to visit Eczema Free Forever.
