With October being Eczema Awareness Month, the National Eczema Association is emphasizing both mental and physical health. Parents of children with the condition tend to be so focused on managing the pain that they rarely think about their son or daughter’s mental health. The reality is that your child might be ashamed, embarrassed, or self-conscious of their skin. It’s possible that they even struggle with confidence at school. As a parent, you constantly worry about what caused a certain outbreak or whether a certain product will yield good results. But there’s so much more to managing eczema than this. In this blog post, we will look at how eczema affects mental health.
Understanding how your child really feels - Skin condition experts confirm that those with eczema have a higher risk for depression, anxiety, and stress. The NEA explains this is due to the way their bodies communicate with their brains during an inflammatory response. What do we mean by this? Well, let’s first remember that our skin is the body’s largest organ. Once our skin becomes inflamed, it makes our brains aware of that inflammation through sensations of pain, heat, itch, and overall discomfort. Dr. Charles Raison, who is looking specifically at inflammation and the development of depression in response to illness and stress, says, “Conditions like atopic dermatitis are associated with inflammation in the skin, and the skin has powerful neuro-connections with the brain. We know that inflammation can talk to the brain, making us feel anxious, depressed, tired and foggy thinking.” In turn, Dr. Raison justifies the notion that someone with eczema is at an increased risk for depression, stress, and/or anxiety. The professor goes on to say, “If your skin is involved in AD and you feel embarrassed, ashamed, or self-conscious, these are huge producers of depression. Those feelings are also very stressful.” With all this in mind, it’s imperative to regularly discuss with your child how they’re feeling both mentally and physically.
Fortunately, there are some lifestyle changes your child can employ to help reduce their body’s inflammation and limit any feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression. Here are some tips to avoid trigger factors of eczema:
At Soothems, we don’t just sell eczema clothing. We take a more all-encompassing approach instead. Soothems storybooks are written to be paired with our smart fabric garments which ease the discomfort of your child’s sensitive skin flare-ups. We hope that the combination of having your child wear our products with the special disappearing prints and reading them one of our books will delight and comfort your child into a more restful night’s sleep.
From eczema suits and eczema sleeves to eczema sleepwear and eczema bottoms, see what Soothems can do for your child. This innovative fabric therapy can work wonders. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions regarding our products.
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A Natural Remedy for Many Health Issues – Including Eczema
Not an old wives tale, baking soda is truly the original cure-all and natural remedy for solving many common household problems and health issues including helping relieve the symptoms of atopic dermatitis/eczema.
Epsom salts dissolved in bath water have been used to relieve muscle soreness, arthritis, constipation, insomnia, treating stress, inflamed skin rashes and a variety of other ailments for hundreds of years.
Read more about how an Epsom salt bath can help relieve your baby's itchy rash
If you have any questions regarding the fit of an item, please contact Soothems at wecare@soothems.com or call +612.601.0700, we are happy to help.
Using soft tape, measure around the head just above the ears, across the forehead to determine circumference.
TEWLTect smart fabric has a generous amount of stretch.
Using soft tape, measure around your head, from the center of your forehead, keeping tape straight and parallel to the floor. Measure around the fullest part.