Your Stories - Steroids

Eczema and Steroids - Joy, Ottawa, Canada

I have had eczema since, I was 5 years old. I am 20 now and still suffer from it. I have always used steroid creams to treat it and I always found it would offer short term relief. I have been doing a lot of research on steroid creams now and I have found out that they have long term effects on a persons lungs. Which would probably explain why I have developed asthma and a weakened immune system within the past 10 years. I just thought I should share that information with everyone since my doctor failed to mention it to me. If I could go back I would NEVER have used a steroid cream, rather just some Epsom salt bath water which provides the same relief for me! (November 2007)

Fucibet - Charlotte, Grimsby, UK

I'm not sure if I said this already, but I am 26 and had bad eczema for years since being a toddler, and when I was about 21 I was prescribed Fucibet for the first time, and the doctor said that when eczema is red it's infected, and that steroid-only creams can make it worse. He explained that Fucibet contains anti-fungal and I think anti-bacterial ingredients and some steroids. The effect of the cream is that it makes the skin go back to normal colour within a couple of hours. It doesn't make the skin "wet" but allows it to dry out and heal. This was fab for my itchy cracked and often weepy skin.

Although you should never pass on prescribed drugs of any sort to others, I did let a couple of friends and colleagues try some on some problem patches and everyone reported that indeed it was magic as I had found. Brill. The best thing about it is that if you have a flare up, it clears it within a few days of use - you don't need to use it all the time, just once in a while.

I don't really consider myself as having eczema anymore and my skin has returned pretty much to normal for the first time in my life - just from breaking the cycle of itching and damaging the skin, it's allowed it to heal. Of course it can come out again, but with Fucibet it never gets cracked and bad.

It makes me sad to think of all the times as a child it hurt and cream stung, and how it itched and how as a teenager I was so self conscious of my hands that I'd always wear long sleeves, even in summer. I hope other people don't have to feel those ways.

As most people with ongoing things think, most things are worth a try, so it might be worth asking your GP if you can try it. (April 2004)

Trimovate helped my eczema - Ian, Horley, Surrey, UK

I've had terrible eczema for 18 years since I was in my early twenties - ignoring the pain, the worst thing was not sleeping - I'm 6' tall and weighed 9 1/2 stones - I lost my first career because I couldn't concentrate - I became a teacher and did well, but eventually cracked up with stress and ended up in hospital and haven't been back - I have a lovely doctor at East Surrey Hospital who gave me Protopic - it worked at first but as usual it rapidly lost its potency - then just before Christmas I was getting pretty desperate, itching like mad and unable to sleep, she gave me Trimovate cream (Glaxo) which is a mild antibiotic/ antifungal/ steroid cream and it really works - I can feel the eczema there sometimes but a tiny amount of the cream clears it no problem - I'm still using the same 40mg tube and sleep like a baby - it is the first thing I've ever tried that works more than once and I've used the strongest steroids as well as all the newest products - please let other people know and if you suffer yourself try it, you never know it my help you too! (March 03)

Traditional medicine worked for us - Sarah, Notingham, UK

My daughter has had atopic eczema since she was 2 months old. I remember times when she looked as though she had been scolded her skin was that red and sore. The scratching was unbearable! We tried a number of things such as cutting out dairy products, with no effect. All she did was lose a lot of weight. We tried Chinese medicine what a nightmare, it made her skin 100 times worse - the scratching was unbearable, sounded as though her skin was made of sandpaper. In Feb 2002 we got to see a dermatologist - he was fantastic, a real people Doctor. Anyway he gave her some antibiotics to clear the infection and put her on a 10 day steroid blast, the improvement was brilliant, within the week her skin was clear. I have to say it's like that most of the time now, we keep her skin well moisturised with 50/50 ointment-grease we call it, because that's what it is - it's our miracle! Don't get me wrong my daughter still has flares but perhaps only once a fortnight for about 2 days, it used be every week for about 5 days! Sometimes modern medicine is the answer.
(October 2002)

Steroids used properly helped me - Cathy, London, UK

Only recently have I seen the benefits of using steroids. My dermatologist took the trouble to show me how to use them correctly - the fingertip method of measuring the right amount. Now, when I have a flare up I use steroids for a couple of days and it gets my eczema under control. Then I can go back to rigourous applications of moisturisers to keep my skin from drying out.

Fucibet works for us - Richard, Billericay, UK

Fucibet cream - it has made a big difference to our 2 1/2 year old son in just two days. We have tried lots of creams and treatments but this is very good and it has stopped him itching and scratching and the physical difference in his skin is amazing. I would recommend this cream, it is a mixture of antibiotic and steroid. Although we do not expect to be using it much after a few days, it is there as a back up in case of a flare up. (Aug 02)

Steroids - Theresa, Lurgan, Northern Ireland

As an eczema sufferer for the last 36 years and very steroid damaged person, I have tried every new product and every new therapy under the sun; some with good results like Chinese herbs and homeopathy and healing. My tip is, if you do not get results within the first three sessions I would give up and don't waste anymore money on that one and give an other one ago. Also, I find I am allergic to nearly every cream now and I am so steroid damaged I find that the only cream that does my face any good is Neutrogena facial cream. It is brilliant and it's cheap. Sanex bath moisturiser to wash in makes your skin nice and soft. Also Sudocrem helps my little boys mild eczema when he gets it in the winter. I found a brilliant cleanser which didn't irritate but it was discontinued. It was Sudocrem baby lotion. If anybody has any clout out there with a pharmaceutical company this was a brilliant product. It was made by Tosara products Dublin and Liverpool who say it didn't sell well. But if somebody could persuade them to put it out or sell the formula that would be great as I can't praise it enough. Sorry for going on - I hope this is of some help to somebody.

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Page updated: 6 November 2007