It doesn't appear many people are aware of the latest scientific findings about atopic dermatitis/eczema on this forum. According to new research at the University of Michigan, there is a clear link between the bacteria Staphylococcus Aureus infecting the skin layers of 90% of patients suffering from this disease. A toxin named Delta is emitted from staph-colonized skin; this causes the degranulation of the mast cells, liberating a whole lot of histamine, whichin turn is responsible for inflammation and itching. Simply type Delta Toxin and University of Michigan in your search engine to access the paper.
Then, if you want a potential cure for your condition, please read about St. John's Wort by typing Topical Applications of St. John's Wort silae in your search engine. You will find out that St. John's Wort has antibiotic properties to combat the particularly tough to beat strain of Staph bacteria involved, that it has anti-inflammatory properties particularly suited to help relieve the redness associated with skin disease, and finally, that St. John's Wort has been tested successfully on humans to help repair damaged skin and close wounds.
I am completely cured from my 20 year case of Eczema after having followed a 6 month oral course with 600mg a day of St. John's Wort extract. The disease has not returnee for over 2 years now. St. John's Wort may interact with other medication and may not be side-effect free for everyone so it is important to read about it on serious websites, but generally speaking, it is safe and rarely causes any harm. I had a perfect side-effect free experience with the treatment.
Good luck to all!
This is interesting, Greg. Thank you for citing a study and also disclosing that an herbal remedy may not be for everyone - so often people push natural as naturally perfect, but it's not always the case.
I'm very happy that you've found success!! My son has Coeliac Disease as well as eczema, so I will look into a safe form for him (in the US, supplements aren't well regulated and even gluten free ones have been shown to have quite a bit of gluten - I'll look for certification from a trusted 3rd party, plus check with his GI doc).
Bless you - 20 years!! My little guy's seven years seems like seven too many! Thanks again!
Hi Aveline,
A natural pleasure to help. I find it so frustrating that medicine can't always advance as quickly as we may like due to the need of clinical trials that rarely materialize due to the costs involved. There is so much despair out there and obviously, 20 years in my case was no picnic. I could only relieve my condition successfully and temporarily with plenty of sun exposure and sea water baths until I discovered St. John's Wort.
If your son is taking medicine that may not be suitable with St. John's Wort oral extract, then please research good sources for St. John's Wort Oil or creams. St. John's Wort applied topically should not be a concern (except in the case of allergy), because so little is absorbed systemically. However, the tradeoff is that the oil or cream has to be particularly pure and fresh, so that the main active constituent Hyperforine can still be active. Again, you will find out in the second paper that St. John's Wort cream has been tested successfully against eczema in a small scale clinical trial.
Good luck!
Hi Greg. Thank you for this. I'm going to give it a try. Did you use a cream as well or just the supplements? If you used a cream can you let me know which one you used?
This is very exciting!!!
Thanks again,
Oxygen.
Hi Oxygen,
No, I never had the opportunity to try a cream and as I already explained in the Alternative and Complementary medicine forum, my cure from eczema was the result of a pure accident. I was trying St. John's Wort to deal with a small sleeping/anxiety issue; when my wounds started dissappearing, I started digging deep to find out how this unexpected miracle was possible. So now you are reading about what I found out AFTER being cured.
Best of luck!
Hi Greg, thanks for sharing. Simon.
Hi Simon... I hope you have found these articles as fascinating as I have!
One thing I wanted to add about these new findings concerning the bacteria Staphyloccoccus Aureus: many people who are given antibiotics usually experience a temporary remission of their eczema. Also, many others who try natural creams/supplements and do obtain a partial relief of their symptoms, often don't realize that such supplements/creams may contain a molecule that combats Staphylococcus Aureus. SJW is not the only natural substance against SA. There are many others in nature. How potent they are is another question. But all in all, this anecdotal evidence tends to give concrete support to the new findings at the University of Michigan School of medicine that SA plays a major role in eczema. Because the strain of bacteria involved is so tough to beat, it is little surprise that few therapies can "work" for very long, or result in a complete cure.
With SJW however, it is more than likely that you not only combat SA little by little, but you also combat inflammation and help repair the damaged skin layers. That's a three-way approach against the disease and I can definitely testify to the fact that there is not a single trace left on my body that I ever had Eczema. All the damaged tissue has been replaced by brand new skin, eventhough I had deep-rooted scars that did take several months to dissappear completely.
Best of luck if you elect to try the treatment!
Hi Greg,
This is for me personally, fantastic news!
I've been suffering from eczema as an adult for the last few years and it seems to be getting worse. So bad that I am to embarrased to wear dresses or even a bathing suit due to the scarring. My entire body seems to itch and I can't help myself scratching, which I know is the worst. I've been to so many dermatologists without any long term benefits, as each treatment seems to work a little while only.
You mention taking an oral course for 6 months and having noted that there is no guarantee, I am very keen to try this asap, so do I just head to my health shop and get a few month's supply of St. John's Wort extract capsules?
Hi Theresa,
I know exactly where you are coming from concerning dresses/swimsuits... I couldn't wear shorts in the summer for years because my legs made me look like I had just experienced a major bike accident, or that I was suffering from some form of infectIous disease... It was very humiliating in public.
If you are not taking ANY medication and asides from your eczema, know you are healthy, there shouldn't be any obstacle to at least try it. It might be wiser to start by getting a month's supply and taking the minimum dose of 1 pill a day (300 mg), just to make sure you tolerate SJW well. After 2 weeks or so, if all is well as it should be, you should be able to raise the dose to 600 mg or even 900 mg if you feel comfortable. Remember, St. John's Wort being mainly an antidepressor, should help you feel sleepy, so it might be best to take your pills an hour or two before bedtime. Some people take it in the morning and just feel relaxed all day long... It's always personal.
As for results, I started seeing major changes on my skin after 6 weeks at 300mg. Other people I've helped on similar forums on the Web have seen results in as little as 2 weeks, others, in as much as 12 weeks. Everyone reacts differently (and for a few it doesn't seem to work at all due to allergies or other unknown issues). But in my opinion, there is no doubt that considerable time is required to get rid of the potential infection and fully repair the damaged skin layers. Don't expect the instantaneous miracle of an Aspirin tablet agains a headache... In fact, you probably won't even notice anything special for a while until suddenly, the itch and the redness will have mysteriously dissappeared! You must then go on taking SJW for a while to make sure everything is healing for good.
I wish you as much success as I had with this wonderful plant and encourage you to post feedback on eventual results. All the best!
Greg.
Thanks for that Greg. I have nothing to lose and definitely need to give my skin a break from cortisone based creams etc. which I use when the flare ups are really bad!
I will definitely post updates as I go along and fingers crossed this provides any level of relief as currently I'm at my wits end!
Hola Greg,
Gracias por compartir esta información. Voy a probarlo y espero y rezo por lo mejor.
Mi caso es extremo, he tenido el caso más grave de eccema, tal vez nunca antes. Lo he tenido desde que era niño o bebé, ni siquiera recuerdo haber tenido piel normal, ni una vez, nunca. Todas mis extremidades están dañadas y mi torso y cara parecen “bien”, pero la sequedad es tan extrema.
Estoy muy frustrada. Ahora tengo 31 años. Tengo un hijo de 4 años increíblemente hermoso y sin eccema. He sido bendecida. Y te digo con total honestidad que si no fuera por mi hijo… ya no estaría aquí. Mi hijo es mi fuerza y la razón por la que me levanto cada día. La razón por la que estoy trabajando en mi licenciatura también. Porque mi corazón duele tanto en este momento, que siento que ya no puedo seguir así. No quiero intentarlo más. No quiero que la gente me mire con disgusto y/o me pregunte: “¿Qué te pasa?”. Creo que lloro todos los días… Lloro con el corazón roto, sola, hasta el punto de temblar y no querer vivir más. Justo como estoy llorando ahora.
Pero luego hago lo mismo todos los días… Me seco la cara, me compongo, me arreglo el cabello y el maquillaje, me visto bien, y enfrento al mundo… mientras oculto mi dolor por dentro. La gente que conozco dice que soy hermosa, y tal vez así parezca desde lejos. Nunca he tenido problemas para salir con gente. Pero me siento horrible, me siento como un monstruo y nada ayuda ya. Bueno, casi he dejado de intentar cualquier cosa.
En todas partes excepto en mi torso y cara, parece que hubiera sufrido una quemadura horrible en algún momento de mi vida. Pero voy a probar esto, voy a darle una oportunidad y rezar por lo mejor. Supongo que es peor si ya no intento más.
Así que gracias por compartir esta información y espero que esto ayude a todos nosotros que sufrimos esta horrible condición.
Jbrand11
Hi jbrands11,
I'm glad you have found my post because, although I cannot promise you any concrete results - we are after all talking about a highly experimental therapy for which scientific proofs are yet incomplete - I believe you may be one who benefits most from St. John's Wort therapy, based on the description of your ills.
After 20 years of suffering from this horrible disease, I had also given all hope of finding a permanent solution for this disease. Like you, I was in deep inner pain, because I had l just lost a career in the turmoil that followed the financial crisis. I could no longer sleep peacefully at night, knowing I would have a very hard time reorganizing my life. I did not want to seek any external help (psychologist or psychiatrist), because I knew my situation was not due to my imagination and could only be helped if I regained a sense of purpose in this world. So until I might be able to do so, I needed a temporary "fix" to get my emotions back under control and stop the "vicious hamster" inside my head from causing further damage, because it can never find an immediate solution to various problems.
So I read about St. John's Wort's claimed benefits against depression/anxiety and decided to give it a try. Within 2 weeks or so, I was sleeping way better, and slowly but surely, my anxiety levels went way down, and my mind was able to come to acceptance of the difficult situation I was facing. But when my eczema wounds started dissappearing after 6 weeks, you cannot imagine how happily surprised and puzzled I felt! I simply could not understand how this was possible after having tried every trick in the book against this disease over a 20 year period. At first, I figured my dermatologists had been right all allong when they said my disease was stress-related. I figured... maybe I had suffered from depression all my life without knowing it. That was... until I managed to find all this new hard-to-find scientific evidence on the Web.
So this long story to let you know that I have great faith that St. John's Wort may provide you with immense benefits to get several aspects of your life back in order. I cannot stress enough that you must read about potential side-effects and interactions if you are taking any medication currently, but otherwise, I wish you, like all those who are reading this, a wonderful experience in healing!
Best of luck!
Greg.