Maybe start gradually introducing fermented "live" foods as a matter of routine.

Worst that happens is you eat more veggies and try out a different diet. And if you find something that helps, all the better.

It's pretty well known now that skin conditions can be related to gut conditions.

I plan on trying longer fasts (3days, 5days), maybe 7days as well.

A food and symptom journal can be helpful for trying to connect the dots.

High IgE levels can be due to parasitic infections and these have something of a tendency to go underdiagnosed in the US because they get seen as "third world problems."

This is a good idea, I will try this once I start cutting out foods again.

"High IgE levels can be due to parasitic infections and these have something of a tendency to go underdiagnosed in the US because they get seen as "third world problems."

How does one go about testing this? I visited my gp multiple times and a bunch of tests were taken. Aside from the general itching and rashes, I don't really have other symptoms. Maybe a little fatigue occasionally.

This is a good idea, I will try this once I start cutting out foods again.

You should start the journal now. You need to establish a baseline to compare things to. Start it well before you start making changes and don't make more than one change per week. Reactions to changes can be delayed and it's pretty complicated stuff.

How does one go about testing this?

Sorry, I don't know. I never figured out the secret handshake or whatever to get the medical system to give me the right test to actually identify my infection.

I looked up my symptoms online, drew my own conclusions and I've gradually gotten healthier, though I get treated extremely abusively for trying to talk about it online so I got nothing more for you than the two tidbits above.

Best of luck.

Do you take night showers? If your house has hard water or your water dept. adds excessive chlorine, then either of those could be the culprit.

Just recently, I found this in medicalXpress https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-01-acute-eczema-patients...

Which you may want to check out because of IgE. It goes into how typical antihistamines don't work because the itch signal is from a different pathway, etc.

Also this week I found out about this book https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/588965/clean-by-jam...

from this article

https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/what-happens-if-you-stop...

"James Hamblin, physician, staff writer for The Atlantic and author of Clean: The New Science of Skin; and Jack Gilbert, a renowned microbial ecology professor at the University of California, San Diego and co-author of Dirt Is Good: The Advantage of Germs for Your Child’s Developing Immune System."

One of them recommends using soap only for "pits and bits" :) But as runners both, thats hard to do when covered in sweat and salt.

I switched to natural soap bars a while ago, as I like those anyways more than typical body washes one gets from e.g. cvs or walmart. For hair, shampoo every time is simply not necessary. I use that 1x a week, but some people don't use it at all- check out nopoo. I don't have issues with my scalp but my dermatologist did mention that Head and Shoulders can make eczema issues worse because it's abrasive.

I will check that book out.

"But its getting out of control. I was reading that itching from eczema drives people to suicide, just like dry eyes"

While I don't have those thoughts, I completely understand it. I'm not sure if people who've never had this kinda of eczema before can understand it. But the constant itching (which is both physical and mental) and the mess afterwards from scratching is brutal after a while. Scratching at 3am (after sitting in bed and trying to concentrate on anything other than the immense signal to scratch) brings a brief bout of euphoric relief, then regret and depending on the size of the scab, blood/sticky fluid. I basically had to wash my sheets and blanket daily because there would be residue all over.

For a while, the backs of my thumbs both kept on weeping. So imagine sticky fluid getting on your keyboard, guitar, etc and constantly having to wipe it. The same happened to the entire back of my right hand as it had gotten a bit infected, so I had to go to the ER and get a corticosteroid (dexamethasone) shot to calm the situation enough that it could get back to "normal"- scabs and immense itching urges.

"Which you may want to check out because of IgE. It goes into how typical antihistamines don't work because the itch signal is from a different pathway, etc."

This is something that I have been noticing too. I took benydryl occasionally and it seemed to have no real effect other than maybe placebo. Same with hydroxyzine- I've taken at max 100mg (4 25mg tablets) about 30 mins before bed, and the only thing it did was make me real sluggish the next morning / sleep through alarms.

I also stopped using shampoo years ago, and a daily rinse keeps it fairly clean. When I can't shower for several days, like hiking, I do use soap everywhere, because I'm dirty enough that a rinse isn't sufficient.

Ensure you're changing your bedsheets every 5 days, and wash them with 70degree+ water.

All of that is to suggest that you think about what you have changed about your diet, medication or anything else either in May or shortly before that

Well, there are only 2 things I can think of. Firstly, due to covid I had been working at home from March to May. Before covid I would still go out a lot to cafes/social workspaces and get sunlight. And around mid-march I started running. By May I was running about 5k-7k daily throughout my neighborhood.

So we initially thought it was a bug related thing, but everything came back clean. We tried eliminating food, but nothing really seemed to have an effect after a week or two.

I spoke to my immunologist and he believes it's not food related as I already have food related allergies (peanuts), so eating something else should give me quick reactions like peanuts do. Also, he said it's rare for adults to spontaneously develop something like that. Bloodwork has been inconclusive because my IgE is so high that it's causing false positives. I did a diff of my allergy bloodwork from and back in October, and multiple values did increase.

I have tried basically everything- getting more sunlight, using sensitive detergent (3 different brands), cutting out coffee/gluten etc. Hell, we even replaced the carpet in my parents house with hardwood, and once I moved into my house we cut out the carpet as well.

Ultimately I think my solution will be to go to a tertiary/quaternary center like Duke.