Allergy stories
If you're living an allergy, you're far from being alone. This is where you can hear other people's experiences of allergy management. If you’d like to share your own story, please get in touch with us!
Parabens
My eczema was not helped by my allergy to parabens
Hello, My name is Jackey and I have been an Eczema sufferer since I was a child. I have used an assortment of treatments from the doctor and have had almost eczema free periods and periods where my eczema has been severe covering most of my body. When I became pregnant with my 1st baby my skin was pretty clear. At around 3 months pregnant, the eczema came back, worse than ever, with a condition I now know as photo allergic dermatitis. The problems became worse over time and it became clear I was in trouble. Creams from the doctor were not working, basic emollients had not helped. I had to stop breast feeding my daughter as I could not cope and all my nutrients were going to the milk and not my body. After this the eczema eased a little but I was still covered and very uncomfortable. I returned to part-time work when my daughter was 9 months old and had to take time off due to severe flare-ups. I finally got a referral to a dermatologist in December 2008 and got allergy tested. I discovered I was allergic to Parabens (found in body care products - moisturizers, shampoo, conditioner, soaps creams etc) and chromates (found in make-up and leathers). Some strong steroidal and cortisone creams were prescribed, but the flare-ups did not stop. I tried some expensive 'eczema cure' treatments off the internet which did not work, in fact made the condition much worse. I was at a loss and 2 months ago I resigned from work because of my skin and I began scouring the shelves of top high street pharmacies and supermarkets, and smaller shops, only to find there were very few, almost no products that did not contain these chemicals. There are some sites on the internet where you can buy paraben free products, but they are expensive and I needed easier access to them.
I then discovered, right under my nose, in my place of work that Tesco have a range called bnatural made with active botanical extracts and totally free from mineral oils and parabens. In the range you can buy almost every product a woman needs in her bathroom completely free of these chemicals - shampoo, conditioner, body butter, eye cream, face masks, bath bubbles and salts, hand cream, body-washes, scrubs. I have been using these products for around 6 weeks now and my skin is 99% improved and actually feels soft. I have not used the prescribed creams very often since and I threw all my emollients away- interestingly some of them contained parabens too.
I have just begun using the body butter on my daughter who is now 15 months old and also has eczema and her skin is already feeling less dry and flaky. The bnatural range is not very expensive and the only range I have found on the high street that is totally free from all the bad chemicals. I hope that my story will benefit anyone suffering with skin problems.
Jackey, Ryde, Isle of Wight