Pyjama Boy

Hi folks, it is Theo’s 3rd ARONIVERSARY!!

There are way over 20,000 more people on the Dr Aron Eczema Treatment Discussion Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/draron/ than there were 3 years ago so I just wanted to share my very FIRST post on DAET about our little guy :

“30th  Oct 2014: Hi everyone. I’ve been following this group in the background for a while now and thought I better introduce myself. I have an 11month old baby who has had eczema since he was 3 months old. It has been a long and exhausting journey as I’m sure everyone understands. At 3 months old his body exploded into a hot red rash of eczema. For many nights we took shifts supervising him because he was in extreme discomfort. At first all the doctors wanted to do was prescribe him oral antibiotics, one course after the next. Finally with our GPs help (we found a great one!) we got to a dermatologist and they were great at helping us getting it under some sort of control, which is where we are at the moment. The thing is that he has a constant itch that never goes away. It’s always a fight when trying to dress him or bathe him, as all he wants to do is scratch. He cries and screams in frustration. I’ve finally taken the leap, completed the consultation, and just received the cream…”

🌟It seems like so long ago for us now… Theo’s skin is very stable and has been for over 2 years. He still has tiny bits of eczema that come and go; and we hardly ever use the compound. At the moment he is on the milk ladder so this means his skin can get a bit flarey but it soon settles.

It’s now been one year with Dr Aron! My little boy is just living a very normal life, he is healthy and happy. We use the cream only for maintenance now, so 1 application per week all over, and 2 x weekly for a couple of spots. It’s a tiny amount, less than 1.5 grams of steroid per week.

Is he cured?: No, this is not a cure. Could he go into remission: There is every possibility, but even if he didn’t and this is what he needs for the rest of his life then I am happy with that.

A little bit about Dr Aron and his treatment of atopic eczema: 

He has been a Dermatologist for 40 years. Since 2008 he has been offering online consultation and has now treated in that period over 6,ooo patients all over the world.

He believes “that the single most important factor causing the inflammation in Atopic Eczema and contributing to flares is the presence of bacterial infection (Staphylococcus Aureus)  in a large percentage of cases.”

What he prescribes is a simple mix of steroid and antibiotic cream heavily diluted in an emollient.

Dr Aron presented a session on “The Aron Regime”. The session was hosted by Dr Peter Lio, MD, co-founder and co-director. Here is an article written by Dr Lio about the Aron regime: http://www.chicagoeczema.com/resource/innovations-in-eczema-care-the-aron-regime/

As you know I had trouble tapering down using the NHS methods. With Dr Aron I have had no problem with tapering down. For a start the steroid is very dilute in the emollient and Dr Aron makes sure we taper very slowly (rather than just being left to figure out ourselves like the NHS). Also because it is diluted tapering can be done over a longer period of time.

Then a news-clipping arrived in the mail from my Uncle in London about Dr Aron. I was so excited, was there really a successful treatment for eczema?

I quickly found the website draron.com and the Facebook page: Dr Aron Eczema Discussion group. It was amazing all these kids and adults with fantastic results. However I felt a bit like a cheat because my little boy’s skin wasn’t as bad as everyone else’s babies. Did he have a right to this treatment? Was I wasting everyone’s time? It seems silly now when I look back and see how unhappy our family was, and the constant itch that drove my little boy mad.

My doctor had been so supportive and I wanted her to play a part in Dr Aron’s plan. I asked to her to fill the prescription, which were all drugs available on the NHS, but she refused after she had spoken to my dermatologist (who had discharged my son, even though I expressed my concerns with the never-ending itch). I was so grief-stricken that they wouldn’t believe in the treatment.

I posted on the Dr Aron Eczema Treatment Discussion Group Facebook page and with the help of the fellow Mums and Dads on there they gave us the confidence to go without our GPs support (though I have kept in contact), so off we went on a new adventure …. pictures sent of my son’s eczema, consultation paid!

Dr Aron was amazing, he looked at my wee one’s photos and prescribed what we needed. He ensured that we stayed in a regular pattern of email contact (yes imagine your GP doing this!?) so he could monitor how he was doing.

Within a week there was no need for scratch mitts or antihistamines. And no more wet wrapping!! All I had was one pot of cream… that worked! The itch just disappeared and his skin started to heal.

I was so thrilled to be pregnant again with my 2nd child, I was so looking forward to having another baby and knowing what it all entailed! For the first 3 months I was bleary eyed with the constant feeding but I knew it was only temporary. I noticed that he had cradle cap and I smiled smugly to myself as my first child had had cradle cap and then eczema but I knew what to do this time around! A bit of steroid cream and emollient and we would all be fine.

At 3 months old his face flared and within 2 weeks his body flared all over. I went to the doctor and they prescribed steroid cream and emollient. But his skin was just one nasty hot rash. After 3 courses of oral antibiotics within a month there was still no change.

My little boy was in agony, he couldn’t sleep, he screamed all day and night, his skin was on fire and he couldn’t control his body temperature. During the night I would hold on to his arms to stop him injuring himself, and my husband and I took it in turns of 4 hours sleep so that we could look after him.

Truly exhausting. In desperation we went up to our children’s hospital emergency room and were told that we would need to start wet wrapping him. They showed us how to apply 4 layers of products that we needed to slather him in and all the garments we needed to make to fit him – vests, leggings, arm all ties with holes and loops to hold them in place.