Financial Stresses on families with eczema and allergies

There are financial stresses on us all, and right now is probably the worst time to think about them; while we’re all planning Christmas – presents and celebrations, pantomimes, and open houses. It all adds up and can become excruciatingly expensive.

But for families with any sort of condition or illness to cope with, the normal, day-to-day expenses can be significantly greater than for the rest of us.

I thank my stars that our experience of both eczema and allergies are relatively minor compared to what some families suffer and yet the costs associated with the girls’ conditions do pile up. We can’t scrimp on treatments or choose not to do them until the next month, because it puts their health at risk.

There have been times when we have had to decide to focus on getting well and healing at the cost of something we would really love to have or do.  We are very lucky that for us, it has never meant resorting to borrowing or food banks, but I know that for many that is the case.

Before I had my children, it just wasn’t something I considered or factored in. I guess few people ‘expect’ to have a child with a condition like eczema.

I would estimate that we spend at least £500 a year on treatments, clothes, creams, and therapies.  It would be more if we tried everything that we thought might help, such as salt therapy, allergy testing and trips to Avene.

And of course, I own an eczema shop, so have access to some testers and lots of good information.

I know many families that simply don’t have the money for extras and are completely reliant on GP’s to prescribe all treatments.

Here are just a few of the extras that we budget for:

• Creams – the ones that work for us are not available on prescription
• Bamboo and Pure cotton clothing, and bedding
• Allergy-free mattresses and pillows or dust mite covers
• Specialist vacuum cleaners, that get the dust mites
• Natural detergents for washing clothes
• Extra electricity – air drying clothes in summer is no good if suffer from airborne allergies
• Having a water softener installed
• Chemical and allergen-free shampoos, conditioners, soaps, cleaning products,
• Work days lost from nursery/school ringing you because child is unwell/itchy

What have we missed?  How do you do it?  Do you put aside something each month or just deal with it as it comes up?

I would love to hear how other families manage it.