If you accept the fact that eczema is a chronic condition and that it reflects a mild but quite fixable internal imbalance, don't expect everything to clear up permanently after just a few days of diligence on your part. Using these supplements, coupled with dietary and other lifestyle changes, may hasten your healing, but you need to be patient.
How to take the supplements
Start with vitamins A, C, E, as well as the quercetin/bromelain, evening primrose or borage oil, grapeseed extract and zinc/copper. (Add the copper only when you are taking zinc for more than one month; the two minerals are often sold in a single supplement.)
Try to include a tablespoonful of flaxseed oil every day. You can mix it with juice or pour it on a salad or over some rice. For even more omega-3 fatty acids, eat plenty of cold-water oily fish (salmon, tuna, mackerel), so that you don't have to bother with fish oil capsules.
For maintenance:
When the eczema shows signs of improving, start tapering off on all the supplements in the chart. (They can be taken long-term.) A good maintenance program should start with a high-potency multivitamin plus vitamin C (1,000 mg) and vitamin E (400 IU) every day.
Then you'll need to keep taking the evening primrose or borage oil (supplying 240 GLA), and the grape seed extract. You can get your zinc from seafood, poultry, and nuts, and will have to include the quercetin/bromelain only if you know your eczema is allergy-based.
Rather than having to take more pills, your omega-3s can come from eating fish and adding flaxseed oil to your salad. You'll probably have enough vitamin A in your multivitamin formula. And if you feel you need a maintenance dose of vitamin A, limit yourself to 10,000 IU a day (5,000 IU if you're pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant).
For special consideration:
Food allergies are a common trigger in chronic eczema, so as you begin taking supplements, it's also important to try to identify any foods that cause an allergic reaction. These often include milk, eggs, shellfish, wheat, chocolate, and nuts. You can use our food elimination diet to uncover foods that trigger an outbreak of eczema.
