dry skin, possible eczema?

hi, i have suffered from 2 bouts of horrible, painful dry skin this winter. the first was before christmas, which cleared up after about 2 weeks, and now i have had the same problem again for the last 2 weeks. it started between my fingers, it was intense, burning and itching, the skin was very dry and started to 'scale'. It was just on my left hand to begin with. it then spread to my knuckles, and then to cover my whole fingers, front and back. it is worse on the knuckles. i also have a couple of deep cracks on the sides of my fingers near the joints, which are extremely painful. the pain is much worse for immersing in water, especially hot water. It has made my hands really rough, like sandpaper, which is a nightmare for me as i have a little baby who needs her nappy changed etc. i don't know if this is eczema, or just dry winter skin. i have taken one sepia 30c about half an hour ago, as that seemed the best remedy from self diagnosis. however i am concerned that if it is eczema it could be that my problem is miasmatic, which is something i don't yet feel confident prescribing on. what do you think? also would a topical cream like calendula cream relieve the itching and dryness short term? i tried putting cocoa butter on my hands a couple of days ago and it was agony, i had to wash it off again, it seems that any kind of moisture really aggravates the condition. hope someone can help, sorry to ramble on!