Week One:

The first couple of days after quitting steroids were not too bad. Apart from a bit of redness on my face, I did not notice too much difference. On day three though, it was as if the skin suddenly noticed that it wasn't being suppressed any more! The steroids artificially suppress blood vessels and calm inflammation. Without them, my blood vessels were free to go mad, and they did, resulting in redness on my face, neck, chest and elbow crooks. The skin was not itchy, but burned like fire.

When I press on the red skin with my finger, it goes white momentarily. This is further proof that the problem is vascular rather than being "true" eczema, which doesn't react the same way as steroid induced eczema, or red skin syndrome, as it is also called.

By the end of the first week, my sleep patterns were being disrupted, my skin was red and weepy in places and I needed a lot of rest. During this time I felt that epsom salt baths were a real treat, calming my angry skin and helping to slough off excess skin cells, leaving the skin smooth. I used a little 50/50 white soft paraffin/liquid paraffin on my skin, which is basically like very gooey vaseline. It helped a little, but was quite messy and made sleeping a bit uncomfortable.

During this initial withdrawal period, I drew a huge amount of releif by reading the posts on the google group for ones dealing with steroid addiction. They are at various stages of withdrawal, though I am aware that complete withdrawal can take between one to three years.