<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
 
Thanks to all who replied!   I'd appreciate any new input as well.  The
following is a summary of the posts I received.  Also, I received a very
useful collection of files from Don Wiss.  I'll forward that to anyone
interested.  My original post, for those who missed it, is reprinted at the
end of this one.
 
  ****
I have the same symptoms
and am gluten free. I had no symptoms during the summer either. I was
thinking of going milkfree to see if it helped.
So far Skin so Soft by Avon sort of helped the condition and teatree oil.
  ****
My son has almost identical symptoms to what you describe. I believe it is
a form of DH. We can usually control it by limiting his intake of gluten.
  ****
I'm sure that your daughter has food allergy related eczema, but I can't
say if this is DH or related to it in any way.  Her case sound exactly
like what I've had for 30 of my 31 years - from the time I was weaned
from breast milk.
 
As a child I had it on all my joints: back of neck, inside the elbows,
tops of wrists and behind the knees.  As I grew older, each one went
away, from top to bottom and left to right - except my right knee, which
I still have.  The only time it went away was after being very strictly
gf for about a year.  During that time I was trying to cure myself of
fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue.  I can't remember exactly what I was
or was not eating, except to say that I was definitly not eating wheat,
the only dairy was one cup per day and several ounces of yogurt per
day.  Once my fibromyalgia was gone, I went back to cookies and cake and
immediately, the rash returned.  I now realize that I can't eat wheat
and I've been gf (though I'm not careful to check all ingredients) for
several months but the rash is still there.  I will be trying to be more
diligent in the next few months - I'm determined to resolve this again.
 
You ask why it is worse in the winter.  It is because winter makes a dry
situation even dryer.  We all get dry skin in the winter and eczema
tends to get itchier when dryer.  Sugar also seems to aggravate it
almost immediately, and I believe it is due to the fact that it takes
water to metabolize the sugar we eat.  Drinking lots of water is helpful
and in the winter you might want to supplement your daughter with borage
oil.  It is an essential fatty acid that helps the skin maintain
moisture.  Also, I know that minerals help a person maintain their water
balance, especially potassium.
 
I would go ahead and test your daughter but regardless of the results,
try the gf diet for a while.  The rash responds rather quickly to
ingestion of foods, so I think you'll know soon.  In my case, I start
itching 5-30 minutes after I eat something.
 
Though I get a much milder version of your daughter's problem, I offer my
thoughts: I have always gotten itchy bumps in the winter on my thighs and to
more recently on my hands, but not in the summer. My dermatologist says it's
simply dermatitis--an inflammation caused by drying of the skin. He suggested
I keep my hands out of water as best I can (hire a housekeeper?) and use
Complex 15--an expensive but incredibly good moisturizer found only at the
best pharmacies. It works. Also, I now use the liquid shower soap by Olay.
The difference it makes is a kind of miracle--no more itching.
 
Alos, try a humidifier in your daughter's room, turn down the heat, and open
the windows a crack, even in the coldest days of winter (my allergist's
suggestion). I'm hoping you'll see a big difference.
  ****
I  have DH and my son suffers from the same promblem as your daughter.
Because I have DH, I was able to say for sure that Tim was afflicted with
this skin problem.
 
It sounds like the same as your daughter,but the only way to know for sure
is to be tested.
 
I have found that going gluten free  for Tim and me, we have controlled the
out breaks to a large extent.
 
I also use apple cider Vinegar in the bath,2 cups, when he's felling itchy
or epsom salts. Also its important to rinse the body with distiled water to
get rid of the clorine, which causes dry skin. I the use a small amount of
olive oil and rub the dry areas while still damp. If he has a break out I
use a good quality aloe vera gell to soothe the itch.  hope this helps.
  ****
I am a 57 year old celiac who has the same problem with my itchy hands,
wrists and bends of my arms. I hate to ask the doctor about it, since I
seem to have so many things wrong with me (nothing really serious, but
needing medical attention). My hands have such cuts that people often ask
me what happened and my wrists I think are permanently scarred. If you
get some good answers, I would be very interested in them. I did go on
Dapsone for a while because of white bumps on my chest, but theu
disappeared and this problem continues. Thanks for helping.
  ****
Karyn, sounds exactly like my daughter's skin and she has excema.  A
really quick test would be to buy some hydrocortizone cream - 0.5% is
available over the counter and apply twice a day for a few days and see
if that helps.  The reason it is worse in winter is that excema can get
worse when skin is not healthy as happens in the dry weather when skin
dries out.  In Victoria, B.C. we have a group of professionals who help
families with allergies, asthma, and excema and this is what I have
learned to help excema.
 
1.  Bathe at least once a day as water moisturizes skin.
2.  Immediately after bath apply a thick moisturizers - glaxal base is
the only cream my daughter will tolerate - it is so non-allergenic is is
the base used for prescription creams.
3.  Double rinse all laundry as the laundry residue can aggravate excema.
Double rinsing is often better than changing soaps.
4.  Moisturize whenever skin is dry at all.
5.  Keep a log to see what foods seem to cause excema to flair.
Sometimes cutting a food out of the diet does not show a decrease in
excema for several weeks.
6.  Many people call excema the itch that rashes as you are seeing with
your daughter - she gets the bumps but because of the itching she gets a
nasty rash.
7.  I have a list of foods and additives from Dr. Joneja that are
implicated in excema - let me know if you want them.
 
With following above and eliminating foods my daughter, now 19 mos, has
virtually no excema - something that hasn't been since she was 2 mos.  I
hope this helps.