RE: OT: Parent Sensitivities

[Guest guest]

Kristy,

You might want to try using Cetaphil on your hands (yes, the kind you use on

your face). That was recommended for one of my kids by a local pediatric

nurse when we went in for a wrist rash. It's a very hypoallergenic soap...

so if the cleaning products were irritating your hands, the Cetaphil might

help calm your skin down. We just keep a dispenser of it at the sink (and

we use the generic Target or WalMart brand (can't remember which). She also

recommended Aquaphor for moisturizing... we really like it because it

doesn't sting if your hands are cracked.

We did also have a prescription hydrocortisone cream for my child... and it

helped, too, but the Cetaphil made a huge difference right away before we

even got the cream. Dr. G is not a fan of cortisone creams long term (not

sure what he thinks about short term use)... I'm sure he thinks it's a

better idea to remove the trigger, and so do I (easier said than done

sometimes).

A few weeks ago my daughter mentioned that this year she was glad that the

school had gotten gloves for the kids who helped the lunch ladies wipe off

the tables after lunch.... she said her hands " used to sting " after she

wiped the tables. I didn't know she was wiping the tables to begin with...

heaven only knows what was on those cleaning cloths (yuck!). This is the

first winter in the past few years that her hands haven't been a mess...

Actually they look great. I'm sure that those cleaning cloths were the

trigger... now I know why her hands always got well during the summer...

gee, and I thought it was the warm weather!

I recently found out that our elementary school nurse uses Cetaphil on her

hands ALL of the time because she washes them so much at the school. She

says otherwise they'd be dried out and cracked open.

It's weird to use because it doesn't lather up, but evidently it cleans well

enough.

I think the swelling idea is a good one, too... maybe your fingers need air

or maybe the chemicals got trapped in your pores under your rings.

Last thought... could you be allergic to cleaning gloves if you were wearing

those?

Good luck figuring it all out.

Caroline

[Guest guest]

On 1/13/08, Caroline Glover <sfglover@...> wrote:

> nurse when we went in for a wrist rash. It's a very hypoallergenic soap...

> so if the cleaning products were irritating your hands, the Cetaphil might

> help calm your skin down. We just keep a dispenser of it at the sink (and

> we use the generic Target or WalMart brand (can't remember which). She also

> recommended Aquaphor for moisturizing... we really like it because it

> doesn't sting if your hands are cracked.

You know, I just got to thinking about this. We have almost completely

stopped using store bought soap, because of allergies to scents

(several people in our " family " are allergic to a wide variety of

scents). We decided to make our own, as a start for Christmas gifts.

Well, it's January 13th, and today, the last of our Christmas soap

(which we handed out from Dec. 16th onward) is gone. I mean, gone and

USED.

We made lye soap, like grandma used to make, except we made it with a

lot of oils to alleviate the dried skin problem that our pioneer

mothers used to have. Lye, unlike the chemicals in commercial soaps

today, will actually lift most cleaning products and toxic oils (like

poison ivy!) off your skin before it becomes problematic. Since we

began using our own soap (made with lye, honey, and ish oatmeal,

and coconut, palm, and olive oils only), everyone's skin is better,

we've not suffered at all from our normal winter cracked skin, and

allergy levels have gone down.

You can purchase decent lye soap, though. You can buy something called

Naptha soap online or at some hardware or " country " stores. It's a

proper lye soap. It works almost as well.

Allyson

[Guest guest]

Thanks for all the great tips!

Kristy