How to treat Heat Rash/Prickly Heat?

Summertime can either be a blessing or a huge nuisance for eczema sufferers. Heat rash, or prickly heat is a major cause of eczema flare ups during the summer and can be easily controlled without making a appointment with your local GP. Human sweat has a very high salt content and is a potent skin irritant, which may cause a skin rash.

When the summer months arrive everyone wants to go for a walk or a jog, but the thought of a heat rash turns people off. You should not fear because heat rash can be easily treated.

• Apply a packet of frozen peas or cool packs over the affected areas for two minutes.
• Drink water to control overall hydration and body temperature.
• Wear cotton clothing to allow heat to be released and avoid clothing that traps sweat.
• You can apply Calamine lotion or Eurax lotion. Make sure you wash the lotion off with cold water, after a few minutes of applying the lotion.
• Try applying a dry powder to your skin to absorb the sweat. You can use Corn Starch or Unperfumed Talcum Powder should be sufficient.
• Wear loose clothing to allow your skin space.
• You can use a mild steroid cream to eliminate a heat rash. You can buy Hydrocortisone cream without any prescription.
• Wash the sweat areas of your body every morning. The Sweat areas are under the armpits, under breasts, genitals, bottom, and feet.
• When your forehead begins to sweat, make sure you pat the forehead dry immediately with your cotton shirt.
• Try to stay in the shade when sunlight is at its peak.
• You can use an antihistamine like Piriton or Claritan to stop the irritation for the short term. If you take Piriton make sure you take this just before you go to bed because Piriton will make you feel drowsy.

You don’t need to do anything extreme to treat heat rash, and you can still do the activities you enjoy without fearing any horrific flare ups. If you do have an unfortunate flare up, it can be easily treated.

Are Antihistamines worth the price you have to pay?

Antihistamines are excellent drugs for a short period of time during the hayfever season, but are they really beneficial all year round? My answer is NO! Continuous use of taking a particular antihistamine over a period of 3-4 months will result in the drug not working anymore. The reason for this is, your body's immune system begins to build up tolerance to these drugs and so therefore the drug isn't as effective as it used to be.

Drugs like steroids and antihistamines only make the drug companies richer and make you poorer in a financial and health sense. Doctors will never find a solution other than rotating different types of antihistamine over a long period of time, it's not exactly getting to the root of allergy sufferers problems.

You need to find an alternative way to find out the root of your symptoms. You need to check the environment you live in and your diet. For example, if you own pets (cats and dogs) there is a strong possibility you could be allergic to them and they need to eliminated from your living conditions. It could also be carpets and soft furnishing which dustmite thrive in.

If you think a food intolerance is causing your symptoms, try cutting out a certain food from your diet for 3 weeks and see if your symptoms persist. I recommend trying this process with milk/eggs, wheat/gluten, nuts/seeds, citrus fruits and soya. Dairy and wheat are the most common food allergies, and I recommend eliminating this family of food from your diet first and work through the other groups of food allergies.

You may want to consider making an appointment with a Allergist/Immunologist, who treat people with the diagnosis and treatment of allergic diseases of the immune system. They will be able to find out the root of the problem.

If you have been on antihistamines for a long period of time, you might want to reconsider alternative treatments. You will feel less drowsy and more comfortable without taking antihistamines everyday for the rest of your life.