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57 Years of Atopic Dermatitis: Strained Marriage and the Stress of Motherhood

I will be 60 years old. I have had atopic dermatitis for 57 years.

Well, today I want to look at the positive things in my life. I never thought I would live to be so old. Thought I wouldn't get married as I was inflicted from the age of 7 and had bad bouts when a teenager... But somewhere there was the desire to fight it and try and live a normal life.

Finding love and starting a family

Not too early but in my late 20s with 1 affair behind me, I met this gentlest man who liked me. He found me attractive in spite of my pigmentation but resting atopic at that time.

Had wonderful 7 years and 2 children and then it all went up in a fire... The stress of looking after kids and sex along with 24x7 relations with skin started to get out of hand.

My skin got worse and my husband left

Wanted to live like a normal person but my skin was screaming and getting worse. What happened for the next 13 years was just stress and more stress. Eventually, my husband walked out of the marriage...

In retrospect today after over 10 years of separation and not getting any better skin-wise... I feel that it's been better because the tension of sex and proximity went away. Today my darling kids are so affected by my poor health. Noble to be that good mother with a broken marriage. They bring so much joy.

Accepting my ongoing skin struggle

I feel I will go anyway cause I have not had more than a week of feeling on the top about the skin and it seems it will be like that till the end.

How has eczema impacted your life?

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