Hi doppeling: I'm in Minnesota. So I know what you mean about the cold. It feels like mid-January here... very cold for November! I'm not sure how people survived back when the upper Great Plains were being settled.

I read Kraken's suggestion regarding Shea butter. My wife uses this on her lips during the winter. Anything else makes her lips even worse than putting nothing on them.

It sounds as though, perhaps, you need to try to work on your diet. If you can't do allot about that at the moment, could you take a mulit-vitamin? Otherwise, maybe a trip to the doctor would be worthwhile if you can arrange it. The dry & tight parts of your skin condition are probably to be expected this time of year. But the flakey & dark aspects sound less so to me.

I hope conditions begin to turn around for you soon. The circumstances you describe all sound unpleasant. It's hard to succeed in school when you're not eating properly, not sleeping, & in pain. I send you warm wishes...