Do you remember the shrill sound of fingernails on blackboard? The one that gives you shivers? Well, the sound of your child scratching rather massacring his eczema prone skin is somewhat similar. That sound is so offensive that it actually causes a measureable physical and mental stress reaction.
When my son was just an infant; even though there used to be a visible discomfort on his face, but as he didn’t know how to scratch his itchy spots, so I didn’t really realize that the scratching part would become such an issue. I myself used to massage him after regular intervals to soothe his skin. But as he grew older, instead to asking me everytime to massage him gently, he starts to scratch so forcefully that his skin always starts to bleed. Because of these continuous episodes there was a point his skin got so sore that even the slightest of touch would make him go haywire.
Since I live in a nuclear family so either my husband or I have to constantly bodyguard my son and watch him like a hawk, in order to prevent him from using his talon-like-nails to scratch. But obviously that’s also not always doable; so whenever he’s not in sight, our hearing becomes super active and the sudden sound of abhorrent scratching makes us jump and shudder out of sheer revulsion, alarm and worry.
Daytime is still somewhat manageable, nights are the one that are more dreadful. Just imagine drifting to sleep and suddenly you hear a loud screeching sound of nails dug deeply in the skin, that too when there is pin drop silence. Trust me, its not pleasant at all. I know our kids are the ones in actual pain and obviously there’s no denying, but that’s besides the point right now..
Honestly I’m really struggling in jotting down my adversity with the sound of scratching. I think only the mothers with eczema prone children can fully grasp the notion. At the same time I pray that may Allah heal our children and ease their discomfort.