Six months back, I was busy preparing for my entrance exam for medical college.During those busy days, I suffered from some bad rashes on my skin. I kept on neglecting it because at that time, my priority was my preparation of the test. One day, during my biology class, my teacher who was herself an allergy doctor in Karachi noticed the redness on my face and recommended an instant check-up to an allergy specialist. I didn’t notice the spreading rashes from my face to hands and fingers. During night time, the itches didn’t let me sleep due to the irritating dry skin. Due to ignoring, it got so worse that I couldn’t focus on my studies.
This was the time when I decided to go to a doctor for diagnosing the type of allergy and treating it.
Getting to know the cause of my Allergy:
The first challenge we had to face was to get to know about the cause of my allergy and things that trigger it. Every disease requires to be diagnosed first for better understanding. For this purpose,I went to Lifeline Hospital Karachi, as it was near to my hostel. The cause of my allergy shook me apart as it was due to Stress. Probably, it was due to the coming year and time management regarding my preparation. It was Atopic Dermatitis. It can have many different causes other than stress like
- Exposure to dust,pollen or mites.
- Pets
- Peanuts
- Some dairy products
- Long-time dry skin
- Skin irritants at home e.g soaps/fabrics
It made me quite curious about knowing more related dermatitis that can help me prevent it further.
Interesting Facts about Dermatitis:
During my treatment, I got to know some unknown facts about Dermatitis. Let’s get into them together:
- Dermatitis is more habitual among younger children than adult ones.
- More than 20% of people have to face dermatitis once in their lifetime.
- It is an autosomal disease-equally affecting man and woman.
- Having any X-ray treatment can cause radiation dermatitis.
- Most of the types of dermatitis are due to genetic disorder.
- Dermatitis can steer away on its own when we treat it accordingly.
5 Incredible Ways to Prevent Dermatitis:
It was a boon for me that my doctor taught me a lot about Dermatitis, about its prevention and cure. I’ll share some of the useful ways I myself availed to prevent dermatitis.
1. Managing Stress
I will rank “Stress” first in my list because we usually neglect it. During stress, our pituitary gland releases a hormone, cortisol. It is an inflammatory hormone. In the condition of more stress, more cortisol is released and it causes our body parts to infame. This inflammation leads to the skin to blister or flake off.
2. Moisturizing my Skin
Our skin needs to be moisturized well.For this purpose, I increased the intake of water. Using wet and cool cloth to clean my rashes really sothened me. According to the National Eczema Association, vaseline has been proven to be helpful for the itches and dry skin.
3. Taking care of Yourself
This factor isn’t bound to any kind of disease. Our body deserves to be treated well in every condition. Taking a warm bath daily, applying bandages on the blisters and wearing cotton clothing are little ways to take care of yourself.
4. Maintaining my Diet
I took help from my doctor and researched about the food I should eat or what I should avoid.
Food to take:
- I took food with high content of potassium like bananas, cooked spinach ,potatoes, mushrooms, peas and cucumber.
- Additionally, tumeric helped a lot.
- Whole grains
- Olive oil
- Fruits
- Fermented dairy products
Food to Avoid:
The food we need to avoid depends on the type of allergy we are facing. Some of the food items I avoided were:
- Peanuts
- Fish
- Raw fruits
- Raw vegetables
Proper Medication
All the remedies work along with the medication. So, always take proper regular medicine after consulting your doctor. Anti-inflammatory medicines and steroid creams are recommended by the majority of doctors. These medicines help prevent night-time scratching and ease sleep.
Wrapping-up
Health should be our priority over every other daily activity. In my case, I neglected my health and alongside, I lagged behind in the progress of my studies too. That’s the reason, I got stuck to this quote by Buddha,
“To keep the body in good health is a duty…otherwise we shall not be able to keep the mind strong and clear.
