It’s National Eczema Week and this year we’re focussing on the impact eczema can have on your mental health.
Most adults living with eczema have spent most of their lives managing their skin.
Having eczema as a child can be challenging. The mental toll of looking different to your peers at school, having to be mindful about what you can and can’t do due to your skin and the responsibility of keeping on top of your skin care regime, these can all create mental strain for any young person.
As you reach adulthood, this can significantly increase. You gain new responsibilities, a job, new relationships and an increased emotional intelligence, you’re now having to balance multiple new factors that can add to your mental load.
Now consider day to day skin maintenance, consciousness of how your skin is looking, and managing eczema flares, all whilst keeping on top of everything that people without eczema can struggle with.
Dan knows exactly how this feels, and had decided to speak up about it. This National Eczema Week alongside raising awareness for the impact eczema can have on your mental health, Dan has challenged himself to run 33km each week of September to represent the 33 years Dan has spent fighting his own battles.
His wish is shed light on the difficulties of living with eczema so that others feel encourage to share their mental load and speak up about how they’re feeling. And that ultimately, physical conditions often mean mental, too.
Dan’s story
I don’t speak about this.
Since birth and for 33 years so far, I can count on one hand how many times I’ve felt OK in my skin.
Eczema is a very common physical condition. 1 in 20 adults are living with it. However, it’s mental health impact is often missed.
In my younger years, I’ve been called names, stared and laughed at. At school, I would purposefully forget my PE kit and take the punishment instead. Just to avoid getting changed in front of others.
As an adult, the mental and emotional impact is worse. Adult responsibilities, work, relationships and increased emotional intelligence all undoubtedly contribute.
Everything I do, my skin is on my mind. Everything.
Sat at home working. In the office working. Out running. Out with friends. Summer heatwaves. Winter central heating. These examples hardly scratch the surface (pun) but each can make my skin worse. And that gets me down, big time. Even in situations where I’m not needing to see anyone, it can be demoralising.
I prefer to hide my eczema and my battles as much as possible. Telling colleagues, friends, anyone outside of my family, ironically, makes my skin crawl. To be truthful as I’m writing this, I’m feeling uncomfortable in my skin – an all-too-familiar feeling.
But enough about me. It’s National Eczema Week next month so throughout September, each week I’m challenging myself to run 33km, for the 33 years I’ve been living with eczema and dealing with it’s mental impact.
(And no, I’m not blind to the twisted irony here that I’m choosing to put myself through something that inevitably affects me physically and mentally).
This is my tiny part in raising a bit of awareness for the legends at National Eczema Society, I’ve set a fundraising target of £142 to match the total number of KMs I’ll run in the month.
However, this post isn’t about that.
This is me flying the flag for other people living with eczema out there who’ll be navigating daily physical and mental challenges of eczema in their own ways.
A message to everyone: please remember; physical will mean mental, too.