Eczema is a Greek word meaning “to boil out.” Too many amino acids are put out through the skin which breaks down the epidermis. Dry eczema has flakes and scales. Wet eczema has discharge coming through the damaged skin. Acute eczema comes on suddenly and lasts less than two weeks. Chronic eczema can come on suddenly or slowly and lasts longer than two weeks. Other types of eczema include: allergic eczema, contact eczema, coin-shaped eczema, and eczema in flexures (folds of the skin). See homeopathic remedies for these types of eczema and children’s eczema.
Most causes of eczema usually relate to liver or kidney health. Liver signs include anger and irritability symptoms. Physical problems are usually right-sided. Also look for brown or yellow coloration of the skin. Kidney signs include fears and forgetfulness. Physical signs are abnormal urinary habits or pains in the lower back area. Kidney eczema is usually round in character with a border and reddish inside. Other causes of eczema may be emotional stresses.
Modern medicine uses steroids to treat eczema which suppress the immune system. Avoid internal and external doctor-prescribed medications or over-the-counter medicines as they are toxic and only suppress the problem deeper into the body. Remember that 60% of everything that is put on the skin goes into the body and has to be detoxified.
Chronic eczema can come on suddenly but lasts longer than two weeks. The skin is thickened, with blisters, wrinkles and flaking. Itching is less intense than in acute eczema. Cause: develops out of acute stage. Important: prevent constipation, do fruit fasts, eat more raw foods.
Acute eczema happens suddenly and lasts less than 2 weeks and can be associated with contact dermatitis. Discontinue use of remedies when skin is better. Acute problems usually go away quickly with the right remedy. Use Florasone crème by Boericke & Tafel (Cardiospermum) externally. Acute eczema symptoms start with a red spot. Itching; it can follow from knots, blisters, pustules; discharge is clear and crusts appear; it can move to other areas. Acute eczema comes from allergic conditions and can come from contaminated blood stemming from foods, medications, bacteria, etc.
Eczema and Asthma
It is commonly known in the natural care circles that people with eczema often also have asthma. This is the result of steroid treatments for eczema. This suppressive measure can weaken the lungs with a resulting asthmatic condition.
People with this condition may see the asthma condition improved when the eczema flares up. It is the body’s response to throwing toxins to the surface. When the eczema is fairly calm, the asthma usually flares up. It feels like chasing your own tail. The steroids are administered as inhalers or topically for the eczema.
Look for the cell salt formula below to be used topically and in a water solution to be sipped all day. When the proper mineral balance of the body is met, the condition subsides, possibly going away completely. Dietary needs are a cleansing diet and elimination of dairy products.
From the natural perspective on eczema we ascertain the underlying organ or organs that are telling us that something is wrong; it’s like the warning light in our car. We can use a combination of nutrition, diet, and lifestyle and strengthen the right organ with cell salt herbs or homeopathics. Sometimes results can be seen in a few days, but usually results are seen in a few weeks to months.
Eczema and Omega 3 Fatty Acids
Supplements that support the skin include essential fatty acids such as Omega 3 fatty acids derived from fish oils. Adults need 6,000 mg to 10,000 mg a day for skin and cardiovascular health. Vegetarians may use Borage or Evening primrose oil at 3,000 mg a day. I feel it is essential to take one of these fatty acids.
It is important to use natural remedies for eczema topically to help soothe the skin as the internal organs heal. Use Florasone crème by Boericke & Tafel (Cardiospermum) externally. Use Psoriaflora by Boericke &Tafel (Berberis Aquifolium tincture) externally.
Herbs for Eczema
Herbs are plants valued for their specific strengthening/ tonifying properties.
Use a combination of the following herbs for eczema in capsule or powder for maximum benefit, and adjust as your condition improves. Therapeutic dose is equal to one capsule of each herb or 1 liquid dropper full of an herbal tincture 3 times a day. Choose 3 of the herbs below:
Burdock root – liver, lymphatics, urinary herb.
Milk thistle seed – liver protective, helps the skin.
Oregon grape root – supports liver health, relieves constipation, and reduces eczema.
Sarsaparilla root – urinary strengthening and blood building.
Gotu kola – increases circulation, memory, wound healing, helps with skin problems.
Cleavers – kidney and lymphatic remedy.
Cell Salts to Help with Eczema
To make a cell salt solution, put up to 10 tablets of each cell salt in a 16- to 24-ounce bottle; fill with water and swirl to dissolve tablets. Sip throughout the day.
#5 Kali mur 6X – mucus congestion, lung protection
#6 Kali phos 6X – stress, nerve conditions
#9 Nat mur 6X – skin dryness, emotional stress
#11 Nat sulph 6X – liver restorative, relieves rashesCell Salts for Eczema with Asthma
#4 Ferr phos 6X – used to stem inflammation
#5 Kali mur 6X – to remove mucus and strengthen lungs
#7 Kali sulph 6X – to detoxify the skin and liver
#10 Nat phos 6X – to restore alkalinity to the body*Use this cell salt solution topically as a cream, spray, or poultice. See 6 Ways to Use Cell Salts.
Eczema Homeopathic Remedies
Homeopathic remedies are non-toxic natural medicines safe for everyone including infants and pregnant or nursing women. You may use 6X, 30X, 6C or 30C potencies.
There are several homeopathics here: Acute Eczema, Allergic Eczema, Eczema with Asthma, Allergic Coin-shaped Eczema, Children’s Excema, Chronic Eczema, Contact Eczema, Dry Eczema, Eczema in flexures, Wet Eczema.
Acute Eczema
Use 30c as often as needed.
Apis mellifica – red swelling; stinging, burning pains; hot, dry alternates with sweat; panting breathing; hoarse; suffocative.
Arsenicum album – eczema; asthma; lots of itching, burning; skin dry, rough, scaly, dirty, shriveled; better from heat, worse from cold, at midnight-must sit up, and from smoke.
Rhus Tox – Red swelling and small blister-like; red skin, watery clear secretions, burning pains.
Allergic Eczema
Itching and blisters, typically on the inner hand or feet; may be pustule psoriasis of the hands and feet. Find and treat causes of allergies. Use Florasone crème by Boericke & Tafel (Cardiospermum) externally.
Mezereum – with light watery secretions from blisters, and often has crusts; great itching and burning pains.
Rhus Tox – small, in the beginning, clear blisters with a tendency to burning pains.
Psorinum – small blisters with a pus tendency and extreme itching and strong sweating tendency.
Allergic Coin-shaped Eczema
Use Florasone crème by Boericke & Tafel (Cardiospermum) topically.
Calc Carb – dry skin with a tendency to flakes or mucous pus secretion; generally a pasty and flabby skin.
Sepia – ring forming, mostly very dry; skin flakes and crusts; worsening from water and winter; often combined with hormonal disturbances.
Sulphur – eczema on tightly stretched skin areas; starts out wet, later very strong itching, often burning pains; dirty looking skin.
Eczema with Asthma
Use 30c potencies one time a day.
Apis mellifica – red swelling; stinging, burning pains; hot, dry alternates with sweat; panting breathing; hoarse; suffocative.
Arsenicum album – eczema; asthma; lots of itching, burning; skin dry, rough, scaly, dirty, shriveled; better from heat, worse from cold, at midnight-must sit up, and from smoke.
Carbo veg – cough with burning in chest; asthma with blue skin; hoarseness; ulcers burning and bleeding, carbuncles, bad smelling; varicose veins in pregnancy.
Dulcamara – eczema with thick brown-yellow crusts cold; wet tickling cough; excessive mucus; itching; rashes; disturbed stomach; warts on palms and/or face; boils painful.
Ferrum metallicum – dry spasmodic cough; hoarseness; skin pits on pressure; black or dark violet spots; hot breath; pale skin; flushes easily; symptoms better from walking slowly.
Hepar sulph – boils itching; acne; eczema, pus in follicles; sweating in pelvic area; oversensitivity; hair loss; bronchitis in the elderly; choking coughing; symptoms worse when uncovered, better in dampness.
Lycopodium – acne shoulder, back, chest; eczema; psoriasis; impetigo; aggravation at 4-8 pm; mostly right-sided problems.
Psorinum – thickened skin; dyspnea; better lying down, worse at return of winter and all winter; dirty, rough, scabby, greasy folds of skin, and behind ears.
Pulsatilla – changeable mucus; shortness of breath; worse in warm stuffy rooms; must sit up, measles, acne at puberty; hard red ulcers.
Secale – restless, debilitated, exhausted; chest pressure and burning; skin shriveled, blue; Reynaud’s; bad smelling ulcers.
Sulphur – heat; dirty skin; rotten egg smells; sticks feet out of the covers at night.
Eczema in Children
These homeopathic remedies are especially suited to children.
Graphites – scalp problems, yellow discharges, especially behind ears; scars easily, especially to keloids.
Sepia – cracked or raw in flexures of folds; itching blisters; rashes worse in open air and better with warmth.
Tuberculinum – dry, open, itching, scales, chronic eczema; intense itching at night.
Calcarea carb – obesity, weak ankles; nettle rash better in cold air, red spots, boils; warts on face and hands.
Sulph iod – wet eczema; acne infected arms covered in itching rash; blisters on face’ boils on neck; feels hot.
Arsenicum Album – eczema dry, rough and scaly, eczema alternates with asthma; skin is like parchment; worse cold and scratching; itching, burning.
Lycopodium – eczema with urinary, stomach or liver problems; psoriasis; dry or secretions thick, offensive sweating.
Mezereum – scalp problems; eczema with intolerable itching; worse warmth; crawling under skin, itching, oozing gluey thick crusts, pus scales.
Psorinum – scalp problems; folds of skin; itching worse heat; herpes eruptions; crusty eruptions; lice, scabies.
Sulphur – general eczema worse from heat; child is fearless; odors smell like rotten eggs.
Chronic Eczema
Take remedies in 6c or 30c potency over several days, weeks, or months depending upon your diet.
Graphites – eczema; dry rough skin which exudes gluey moisture, worse in folds, slow to heal; worse with heat; fissures in nostrils or anus; unhealthy skin.
Petroleum – dirty hard rough thickened skin; deep cracks in folds, nipples, finger tips; thick greenish crusts; cracks and bleeds; worse in winter; cracking and burning of orifices (nose, anus, etc).
Contact Eczema
Comes from substances you come in contact with that react to your body chemistry and produces eczema. Can be acute or chronic – can come from living in toxic circumstances. Use Florasone crème by Boericke & Tafel (Cardiospermum) externally.
Belladonna – red and hot skin with acute inflammation processes.
Apis Mellifica – fluid-filled swelling, bright red to pale skin color. Feeling of burning heat and great sensitivity and stinging pains.
Rhus Tox – Red swelling and small blister-like. Red skin, watery clear secretions, burning pains.
Dry Eczema
Skin has flaking and scales. Use Psoriaflora by Boericke &Tafel (Berberis Aquifolium tincture) externally.
Alumina – cracked or chapped from scratching and bleeding; eczema primarily on lips; tendency to constipation.
Petroleum – starts dry cracked but can go to wet eczema; localized on skin, mucus membranes; painful cracks on the fingertips; poor healing; worse in the winter.
Lycopodium – dry, crusty eczema; cracking tendency; worse by water; localization on the hand.
Graphites – starts bad smelling, wet, yellow-colored secretion; later a dry crusty eczema with a sign of lichen, also with cracking and whitish-thick scaly or flaking.
Eczema in flexures (folds of the skin)
Inner folds of wrists, elbows, knees and ears, and in between the toes and fingers. Could also be on the front of the neck. Treatment consists in correcting the basic cause and keeping the affected parts dry.
Carbo veg – skin burning sensation worse at night and in bed; skin raw, open sore with offensive odor; specially indicated in old broken-down constitution with chronic illnesses who may be bed-ridden; burning is much relieved by heat.
Graphites – great itching, worse at night; burning sensation; thin sticky acrid offensive gluey discharge which oozes; burns after scratching; tendency to form cracks and fissures; cleaning with warm water aggravates, better open air.
Merc solubis – itching becomes pleasant on scratching more at night in bed on getting warm; after scratching there is burning and may secrete thin acrid fluid with small vesicle formation; surrounding lymph nodes are enlarged and tender; may bleed when scratched; burning worse from scratching; prone to ulceration and discharge.
Natrum mur – skin is oily greasy dirty, looking withered; sensation of rawness and soreness; eczema near edges of hair, on genitals and groin; may be formation of crusts on scratched area; person feels worse in warm room, on exposure to sun and better in open air; eating salt aggravates itching.
Petroleum – skin appears dirty, hard, rough and thickened, especially in folds of skin; tendency to develop deep painful cracks in affected part; violent sensation of itching and must scratch until it bleeds; parts become cold after scratching; symptoms tend to be worse in winter and the person feels better in warm air and dry weather.
Psorinum – skin is inactive with want of perspiration; skin has a dirty dingy look as if person never washed; itching is worse in bed and from warmth; person scratches skin until it bleeds, with offensive odor emitted by open sore; sticky discharge aggravated before midnight and in open air.
Wet Eczema
Has hot discharges coming through the damaged skin. Use Florasone crème by Boericke & Tafel (Cardiospermum) externally.
Mezereum – wet, strong itching, with crust form; slime-pus secretions and blister building. Worse from washing and warmth of the bed.
Kreosotum – wet scruffy eczema, very bad smelling. Tendency to bloody discharge. Itches themselves raw.
Oleander – itching and wet eczema, especially on the head and ears.
Vinca minor – wet eczema with blisters, generally itchy. Frequently with inflammation on eyes and ears.
Source: Dave’s Healing Notes
