My 20-Year Struggle with Eczema (And the Advice That Stayed with Me)

For more than twenty years I struggled with eczema. The flare-ups started in my late teens and followed me well into adulthood. Doctors told me this was simply something I would have to live with. They prescribed topical creams to help manage the flare-ups, but the underlying issue never seemed to improve. Some of my symptoms included red rashes around my eyes and neck, scaly skin, dark patches on my back and legs, and intense itching that often affected my sleep.

So, what exactly is eczema? According to the Cleveland Clinic, it is a type of dermatitis - a group of conditions that cause skin inflammation. Approximately 31 million Americans are impacted. The good news is that about half of all infants diagnosed with eczema eventually outgrow the condition or see significant improvement as they get older.

Well, I was not part of that lucky half.

As the years passed, I remember feeling demoralized watching my skin gradually get worse. I kept trying to rationalize why things seemed to be going backwards. Was it because I was getting older? Was it stress? Was it something I was eating? Or maybe environmental allergens? It was difficult to find the root cause because I would have stretches of good weeks followed by terrible weeks. There was no predictable pattern.

An Early Clue I Didn't Understand

Let’s go back in time for a minute.

In mid-2004 I took a trip to Los Angeles, my hometown, and visited Chinatown. At that point my eczema was completely out of control. I had a dark patch covering almost 40% of my back and shoulders.

Eastern alternatives were not exactly mainstream in the early 2000s, but I was willing to try anything to relieve my flare-ups.

I walked into an herbal medicine store on North Broadway where they sold and prescribed all kinds of teas and remedies. The store owner directed me to the back of the shop where I met an older gentleman who described himself as a doctor.

I explained my symptoms and showed him my skin. He examined it briefly and then said something very simple: “You need to cool your body down from the inside — it’s too hot.”

He prepared a tea package and instructed me to drink it for the next 14 days. At the time, I didn’t fully understand what he meant. The tea did provide a reprieve, but it didn’t last long. Eventually the flare-ups returned, and I found myself back on the same roller coaster of good weeks and bad weeks.

What he said stayed with me, but it wouldn’t fully make sense until many years later when I had access to more information and began learning about inflammation, nutrition, and how the body actually works.

For years I continued searching for answers.

In my next post, I’ll explain why none of the treatments I was trying were actually solving my eczema — and how I eventually realized the problem might not have been on the outside at all.

-- Coach GC