Will I Ever Be Eczema Free?

Next year I will turn forty-four years old, and it got me thinking...I have been in a war with this dreadful disease for decades, and if I am realistic, I reckon I will forever be at war with this until my dying days. That's a nice positive start to my article, isn't it?! It actually sounds more nihilistic than I intended it to be.

Actually, I figured it is about learning to accept the fate that life has given you. Us eczema patients are always looking for that one magic cure. The one pill, diet, cream, or lotion that will free us from these shackles and perhaps it does not exist. Perhaps there isn't a solution to our problems.

Learning to live with eczema

It is believed that around fifteen million people in the UK suffer from eczema. A huge number of people will also be fighting other illnesses that come with this skin condition, such as low self-esteem, anxiety and depression, extreme fatigue, and, if they're really unlucky, asthma.

Looking for comfort, not just a cure

As we all know, there are so many different triggers - environmental and genetic that cause these conditions to arise, so trying to find a cure can be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Nigh on impossible! Of course, it does not mean we should not try to find one. It would be stupid if we didn't! It means we should try and find some kind of comfort by knowing that there might not be the perfect solutions out there for us. We need to try and live our best lives around this condition.

Draw from the positives

I don't want to come across as one of these super optimistic types who focus on all things lovely and wonderful but ignores or pays very little attention to the extreme lows that having atopic dermatitis brings. When I read of such things like this, I straightaway assume, rightly or wrongly, that they cannot be going through what I am going through. So I get that being ultra-positive can be highly irritating. However, to get through one day at a time with this disease weighing down on me like a ton of bricks, I have to have hope. Hope that tomorrow will be better. That next week will be better. That next month will be better. That next year will be better. I have to have that hope because sometimes that hope turns into reality. Often it doesn't, but occasionally it does.

My privilege puts things into perspective

Along with having hope, I think about how privileged I am. I have a great job, lovely friends, and family. Knowing I can call people up and sound off to them is a real privilege. Knowing I can take a nice hot shower or eat good food whenever I want is so amazing. Having hobbies, making music, art, reading, watching documentaries/films. Whenever I want!! Puts things in perspective for me. So when you are at your lowest ebb and think that life is pointless. I say to you...remember the good times. They will come again.