Today I thought I would share the many hacks and strategies I’ve come up with that have made it possible for me to survive severe eczema on my hands and better manage this debilitating condition. Eczema is extremely torturous to deal with and if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the past 6 months, it’s how to rearrange my environment in order to get by as best I can.
If anyone else is wondering, “How do you survive while barely able to use your hands for months?,” here’s the hacks I’ve put in place.
Rubber bands on everything
The only part of my hands that hasn’t been covered in severe eczema has been the tips of my fingers. Thankfully this has allowed me to do some very basic things like hold a spoon and feed myself. But I was finding it extremely difficult to hold my glass (which is actually a large glass jar), open the bathroom door, and open various containers of food. Because of the severity of my hands, my fingers had next to no grip on anything. During the worst of my eczema, I actually got stuck in the bathroom several times because I couldn’t turn the doorknob and let myself out. Finally I asked my boyfriend to put rubber bands on everything that required some grip – my drinking glass, doorknobs, jars of food, bottles of water, the thermos my boyfriend puts my smoothie in everyday. This has made it possible for me to do more things for myself when he is not around.
All natural anti-itch ointment
I’ve tried dozens of eczema lotions and creams that are supposed to stop itching but honestly, the best and most soothing thing I’ve found for my hands has been a simple concoction I’ve made at home: raw honey plus a slice of fresh aloe leaf gel. That’s it! The aloe is cooling, soothing and the ONLY thing that has ever helped lessen or even STOP the itching in my hands, while the honey locks in moisture and keeps the aloe from drying out my skin. You can read more about when I first came up with this combination here. My boyfriend mixes up a fresh batch for me every morning and I pretty much bathe my hands in this throughout the day as needed. HUGE lifesaver for itching! I love this mixture because it’s simple, all natural, raw, and toxin/chemical free!
Substitute “hands”
I’ve carried dishes and glasses with my arms, rearranged the bed with my elbows, opened and closed windows with my feet, and even moved something with my teeth once. As silly and outrageous as this all sounds, I have really surprised myself at how resourceful and inventive I’ve gotten with the rest of my body. I was joking around with my boyfriend a while back saying, “Who needs hands… I use my whole body to get stuff done!!”😂 Anything you can do to bring some lightness to the situation, you know?
Poncho sweater – my winter clothing savior
Anyone who’s ever had severe eczema knows that wearing clothes is a big problem. I was really dreading the winter because I couldn’t dress myself and let anything touch my hands. Even a slight touch from fabric would burn, sting, and send my hands into a fit of itching. Wearing long-sleeved anything was out of the question. Basically for the past 5 months I’ve been wearing 1 of 3 cotton nightgowns (2 of which are actually old sleeveless summer dresses). I need my boyfriend’s help getting any of them on. Once the weather started getting colder, I really started panicking thinking I would freeze to death in these skimpy summer outfits – but then I remembered, I have a poncho sweater!
This poncho sweater I picked up a couple years back at a thrift store and I am SO GLAD I had this on hand! It has become the single most important piece of clothing I own right now, because I wear this thing literally every single day. I’ve been able to successfully pull it on and off over my head as needed and there are no arm holes so I never have to worry about any fabric touching my hands.
Especially during the fall when the eczema on my hands was at its worst, my whole body was having weird hot flashes and I needed a piece of warm clothing that I could easily take on and off. I constantly felt like my body temperature would quickly overheat – I’d turn the AC on even though it was 60 degrees outside, then I’d eventually get chilly again so on would go the poncho; then in a matter of minutes I’d overheat again and pull it off. My boyfriend who is used to me always being cold was freaked out and we both agreed my body temp was all out of whack due to the high levels of inflammation in my body and overwhelmed liver. I am extremely grateful for this poncho! It’s also pretty cute to wear, with a ruffled bottom and rainbow sparkly thread weaved throughout.
Handy wipes
You might be wondering how I clean my hands since I have not been able to wash them with water and soap for the past 5 months. The answer is, handy wipes. I order large packs of handy wipes, the kind that kills 99.99% of germs, and use them throughout the day to spot clean and sanitize my hands as best as possible. I think I’ve gone through over 600 handy wipes in the past few months so far! Being the germaphobe that I am, this is still not ideal to me but is honestly the best I’ve been able to do given that washing my hands is currently not possible.
Hand soaking
I soak my hands at least twice a day and if I can fit in a third time, I will. Because I don’t like the idea of soaking my hands in chlorine and other tap water chemicals, I have to use bottled spring water and am going through quite a bit with each round of soaking. First I will soak my hands in hot water with epsom salts for at least 20 minutes – the hot water helps to bring circulation to my hands and the epsom salts are great at helping with detox. Then I’ll switch to soaking in ice water for 30 minutes. This is my favourite part because even though it’s winter, the ice water feels amazing. I have so much inflammation in my hands and soaking them in ice water feels akin to shutting down a fire. I think the shock of freezing ice water also kind of stuns the itch temporarily out of my hands. The whole time while soaking them in ice water and for a little while after, I have little to no feeling in my hands which means NO itching. RELIEF!!
Soaking has become my go-to whenever the itching is getting really intense in my hands. It’s like hitting a reset button and flushing the toxins out that have accumulated for the day. Soaking does take up a lot of time but the relief it brings is always worth it.
Watching TV
I will never EVER call TV a waste of time and energy EVER again because this has literally become my saving grace and the only distraction powerful enough to somewhat take my mind away from the Constant.Itching.Torture that is severe eczema. I have watched an obscene amount of TV over the past 5 months, like more than you could ever imagine. (By the way, when I say TV, I mean Netflix, Amazon Video and YouTube since I don’t actually have cable, just a laptop). I have poured through 10 seasons of a show in a matter of a couple weeks. I like watching shows much better than movies because I don’t have to keep looking for new stuff to watch every 90 minutes. I can put a show on auto-run and be covered potentially for the next several weeks.
During the worst of my eczema flares, I had TV running almost constantly throughout the day in a desperate attempt to take my mind off the itching. Now that my hands have healed to a certain extent, I can spend a bigger chunk of the day working or hanging with Meadow. By the time 4 or 5pm hits though, I am thoroughly pooped and need to spend the next several hours resting in the comfort of TV. It is the best part of my day and I’m long past feeling guilty over it because TV has literally saved my life during a time of total torture and hell.
Tilting bed table
I have dealt with so much fatigue over the past 5 months. I don’t know if this is something that everyone with eczema experiences but for me, the severity of this condition and constant agony and panic from it for months has resulted in my developing adrenal fatigue. Throughout the day I just get so exhausted – it sort of feels like I’ve been hit by a bus and I have to lay down often to give my adrenals a rest. (Fun fact – when you have adrenal fatigue, even sitting up can feel like work because your adrenals are involved in helping you to stay upright).
My boyfriend got me this table that I can use as a workstation in bed. I can raise or lower it to different heights whether I’m sitting up or laying down but the best part is it tilts so that you can lay down and still use your laptop. I only wish I’d gotten one of these sooner! This has meant I’ve been able to lay in bed and still do work or watch some shows. It has taken a ton of stress off my plate, just the fact that I can lay down and work and give my adrenals a break. I had to give up coaching for the time being but I’ve been trying my hardest to hold onto a freelance job while having severe eczema because I really want to continue having some money coming in. Working a job while barely being able to use your hands that are also constantly itching and burning has been SO HARD but at least I can now do this laying down.
Prayer
There were so many times over the past 5 months when I was hanging onto life by a single thread, literally pushed to the brink and feeling like I was ready to take my own life to finally get the torture to end. During the absolute worst of my eczema flares I would be in bed frantically shaking my hands, sobbing and screaming for help, help from God, help from the angels, help from anyone who could hear me. And I am not even a religious person but I very much felt in pure desperation and survival mode. This is how extreme and overwhelming the itching was.
During those times, I prayed. I begged and prayed for relief, even a small amount of relief to help me keep going on. Sometimes I would notice after praying that the itching would actually lighten up to a degree that felt more manageable or sometimes even die down for a bit. I truly believe angelic help and spiritual prayer has gotten me through the absolute rock-bottom times when nothing else was working to bring relief.
Self-compassion
It is so easy to feel useless and depressed and full of self-hatred when you spend every single day stuck in bed, unable to contribute or be productive or do things you love. I have developed so much compassion for myself over these past months and feel like I’ve come to understand much deeper the meaning of self-care.
Even though technically I am freelancing a little (about 15-25 hours each week), because of the severity of my eczema plus the adrenal fatigue, I have only a small window of time each day when I am physically and mentally able to get stuff done. On a good day, I can be upright and working on my laptop for 4 or 5 hours. On a bad day, it drops to 1-2. Some days I barely have it in me to work at all. When these days happen, I always remind myself that it’s OK. I am doing the best I can and need to be understanding, patient, and forgiving with myself. We can be so critical and demanding of ourselves, pushing ourselves to meet expectations at the expense of self-care but when you have a chronic illness, operating in this harsh way just doesn’t work. You eventually learn you must change your expectations and the things you tell yourself, otherwise you will tear yourself apart.
My trauma coach has reminded me to think of myself as a little kid. What would I say to a little kid who was suffering with severe eczema and feeling tortured and unable to use her hands everyday? Would I berate her for not being productive? Would I tell her she’s lazy and not doing enough? Of course not! I’d want to comfort her. This is what I remind myself to do when I am feeling those pangs of guilt over not being able to do the things I want or need to get done. Self-compassion is vital for getting through eczema or any kind of chronic illness.
Calm music
While working I always have peaceful piano music playing on my laptop. This really helps me to remain in a state of calm while trying to get things done because my work days can often get stressful and overwhelming. I feel a lot of pressure to deliver good work, get things finished on time, and not disappoint while also struggling to take care of my hands, stop the itching, eat often, rest, battle fatigue and the whole mental struggle that accompanies chronic illness. It’s a LOT to deal with and it can be easy for me to slip into panic and overwhelm (which only sets my adrenals back more). So listening to calm music whenever I have to work helps to promote soothing vibes.
Rest – specifically laying down
Although a majority of the itching and rash has gone down in my hands, I’m still dealing with itching and swelling and irritation everyday. Currently I often have a low grade itch going on in the palms of my hands underneath the thumbs (nevertheless, this is still a bazillion times easier to manage than the torture I was experiencing a few months back!). Feeling chronically itchy sends the body into a constant state of fight or flight because when you can’t stop the itch, your body starts to panic. I have gotten so sensitive to my adrenals that I can feel them surging when this happens and I often have to stop what I’m doing to just lay down until it passes. Eczema and chronic illness are extremely challenging, but that also means we need to allow ourselves ample space to rest and recover while not feeling guilty for doing so. When I have a lot to do and am feeling super stressed, sometimes just laying down to rest and close my eyes for 10 minutes (or watch a show for half an hour) can do a lot.
Online shopping
I got the idea to treat myself to a little shopping spree for clothes because I thought this could be fun and exciting and would also give me something nice to look forward to (beautiful clothes to wear once my hands are better!) I felt it was important for me to plan for the future when my hands are healed to give me hope and keep my faith alive. I was totally right about this being fun and exciting. I personally love online shopping better than shopping in a store because I really like to deliberate over clothing and take my time before making a decision. I gave myself full permission to buy some new dresses and think I spent a good week looking at clothes and figuring out the pieces I wanted to buy.
As far as a great distraction goes, this was a big success! I found a bunch of dresses that fit my criteria (which is pretty feminine and bohemian – think pastels, ruffles, long flowy fabrics). They were so beautiful, I was thrilled! However, it was only after everything arrived in the mail when I realized, whoops I can’t try this stuff on!🙈 I really hope everything fits because at this point it’s too late to return anything. While being fun and distracting, this is something I’m trying not do again given the circumstances.
Reading stories of trauma
I am a highly sensitive person who gets very affected when I hear of others suffering. However, reading memoirs of personal trauma where the focus is on hope, faith and persevering despite all odds feels incredibly inspiring to me. It all depends on how they were written. For example, one memoir I read was all about this woman in the Holocaust. She actually survived the concentration camps and was one of the few who made it out to tell her story. Throughout the whole book she talks about inner strength, believing in a better future and having faith that somehow things will get better. She credits this mindset as to what kept her alive and continue to persevere in the camps when so many around her were dying everyday. I personally found her story to be SO encouraging and inspiring. It gave me hope and left me feeling like, If she can get through that, I can get through this.
One of my favourite passages from her book is this line, “No one can take away from you what you’ve put in your mind.” It’s a reminder that no matter what hell we’re going through, no matter how much we lose or is taken from us in life, our thoughts are ours. They can never be taken away and WE decide what story we will tell. We have the power to keep in our mind thoughts of hope, faith, positivity, freedom. We have the power to change our perspective. Writing about this now is literally giving me goosebumps. It’s such an important message.
Finding the “gifts” in suffering
I believe each of us has come into this world with a beauty and gift that the world needs and that we are supposed to share. I know I have a joy and a light to share, it’s one of the things that most people who know me have commented on at one point or another – my ability to find happiness in even the smallest of ways.
When we are sick, when we are going through a tough and dark season, it’s easy to start asking questions like, “Why is this happening to me? What did I do to deserve this?” The truth is bad things happen to everyone, there is suffering and trauma all around on this planet. And although not everyone experiences the same kind or same level of suffering, this does not mean that the person suffering the most did something to deserve or “attract” this terrible life event. Rather than asking WHY, I feel it’s more important to focus on your perception of the situation and how you will respond to it.
For example, when someone goes through a rock bottom experience, they often realize what’s important and what matters in life. Trauma can lead to making a big life change that allows that person to be of greater service to others. It’s less about the WHY and more about how you can learn and grow from what’s happening in a compassionate and loving way. We are here to love, love is at the very core of our being and who we are.
I came to the conclusion that if I had never gone through so many health challenges my whole life, I wouldn’t even be close to the person I am today. If I hadn’t gotten severe eczema, I wouldn’t have developed anywhere near the level of compassion I have now. I wouldn’t understand this level of suffering or be able to relate. I know I have strength and compassion to share with others who are struggling and that what I’m going through will help so many others I cross paths with in life. As I find ways to rise above and reconnect with my inner light, I’m better able to help others navigate the darkness and uncertainty of life to find their own.
Giving, even on a small scale
There are a lot of ways that I used to give my time and energy to others that I can no longer do right now – health coaching, dance studio work, cleaning the house and buying groceries, making a smoothie for my boyfriend every morning to take to work, taking Meadow outside to play in the yard, helping my family in FL. When you are unable to give in the ways that you used to, this can cause a lot of depression and feelings of uselessness. For me, it has been important to bring awareness to the small ways in which I can still give to others. This helps me to connect with a sense of purpose that keeps me going through the tough times. We all want to feel useful and needed in some way.
I realized just because I can’t do a lot of big things for others, doesn’t mean I can’t uplift in tiny ways. For example, my boyfriend is really struggling trying to do so much for me while also working a full-time and demanding job. A silly text during his workday or even just acknowledgment and gratitude for doing so much can really brighten his day. Meadow is like a little toddler and always eager to soak up lots of hugs and cuddles and affection – simply just being present with her for a while and scratching her head can make her feel special and seen. I can surprise my mom by ordering her something that she really needed but couldn’t afford.
A few weeks ago I noticed a couple squirrels in the backyard rummaging around for food. One looked skinny and the other had a gash of fur missing from the side of its face like it had been attacked. I felt bad for them – it must be so hard being a wild animal trying to survive in the freezing winter months! – and I wanted to help. I asked my boyfriend to put some nuts and seeds in the bird feeder outside. This is something I used to do on a daily basis over the summer but had to stop once the eczema on my hands got so severe. Sure enough, squirrels started coming and ate ALL the nuts in one sitting, didn’t even stop to bury any. I decided to make it my mission to feed these squirrels.
Since I couldn’t go outside to refill the feeder everyday, I started throwing nuts out the kitchen window onto the desk for the squirrels. I now have a few squirrels who faithfully come up to the kitchen window everyday to get their share of organic cashews and sunflower seeds😂. They are a little scared but sit right on the window ledge in front of me to eat. Looking deeply into their eyes, I can feel their gratitude and pleasure of receiving this little blessing of abundance.
The joy I experience and sense of purpose I feel from feeding these squirrels cannot be described. It seems like such an insignificant thing but I feel these squirrels are counting on me, that my contributions to them are helpful and needed, even if it’s just leaving some food on a window ledge. I can’t protect them from everything but I can bring them a daily dose of joy, hope, and kindness. It’s shown me that purpose can be found in so many small ways. I can make a difference to a few animals during a time of struggle and that is something I can feel good about right now. Giving doesn’t have to equate to this big monumental thing. It’s the energy and love behind it that counts.
No matter what we’re going through in life, we all have the opportunity to give love and compassion to others in small ways. Let this be of comfort that you always have something of value to give.
And when you give love, love is what you receive in return.
I hope this list has inspired you with some hacks you can incorporate into your own healing, whether that’s with eczema, chronic illness, or something else. I would love to hear what helps you to get through illness or a difficult time in your life.
Read part 6 of my eczema healing journey here
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