Quote from: Jane on January 25, 2012, 02:24:29 PM
The first psyciatrist I saw said that as my excema is aggravated by emotions then getting my gender issues sorted may help.
This may be true, but I don't think any competent doctors see emotional problems as the CAUSE anymore. From what I understand, eczema starts because of a physiological response. So getting yourself sorted out might help without actually curing.
Jane, I used to get very bad eczema all over my body. I once wound up in the ER because of some kind of systemic infection related to my eczema. My whole body was one giant edema. Not fun. And eczema does terrible things to a person's self-esteem. I felt very self-conscious for years until I got the worst of it under some kind of marginal control. Some doctors told me that I was in a vicious circle--feeling self-conscious just made my skin worse and reinforced the condition. They might have been right, but the condition didn't start because I was upset.
Back when I was researching gluten intolerance, I stumbled across correlations between gluten intolerance/celiac disease and eczema. There may be connections to other food allergies as well. But this correlation may only hold for people with lifelong skin problems--I don't know. How long have you had the problem? Still, if you have any food sensitivities, you might play around with diet, if you haven't already. Once I found out that my gut was sensitive to wheat (and it got worse as I got older), I started cutting wheat out of my diet. I don't know if it helped my skin because by then my skin wasn't all that bad anymore. But my innards were happier, anyway, and I lost some weight.
My skin condition never completely went away until quite recently. I think that testosterone cured my eczema, but I also eat wheat only very rarely these days. Could be a combination effect. Anyway, someone suggested that estrogen might solve your problem. If T worked for me, maybe E will work for you?
I'm just throwing ideas out there...I plucked a stray beard hair last night because it was in a relatively naked part of my face, and BOY that hurt like mother. Next time, I'll just trim it close. But you don't have that option.