Day 47 (photo)

My second flare is almost over. Over the last couple of days my skin has been less red and has flaked profusely, revealing softer, smoother skin. I am able to move a lot better, because there is less tightness in my elbow joints and the skin on my neck. my energy levels are up and I am less fatigued, although I still have trouble sleeping.

During these calm phases, life is more tolerable and it is much easier to get on with everyday activities.

I now have two flares under my belt. The first flare started a couple of days after I quit topical steroids and lasted about 18 days, with a small amount of overlap, as not all parts of the body heal at the same time. I then had a period of about 4 days of relatively calm skin when I was able to go out and socialise as normal. The second flare then hit and has lasted about 21 days before calming down again. I am hoping I have a longer break before the next flare, as I have a party to go to next week and I really want to be there!

This pattern of flares and breaks has so far been entirely consistent with the description of steroid rebound outlined in Dr Rapaports articles. If I continue the same pattern of flare and healing, I will hopefully be healed between 6 and 12 months. Even if it takes longer, I am confident that I will heal and the current state of my skin, which is lovely and smooth, gives me an idea of how good it can be potentially.

I am especially happy with the skin on my face:

As you can see, the skin is not perfect by any means, and I still have blotchy areas on my chin and cheeks, but the skin is pink rather than red, and more importantly, not burning or uncomfortable. I am glad that the oozing and crusting have stopped, too (compare this to my yukky day 12 photo). I am hoping that this area will continue to improve, as it was the area where I used potent topical steroids for an extended period of time (I'm talking many years!). Ironically, despite the slight flushing, the skin looks much better than it did when I was actually using the steroid creams, so I am glad to be seeing such improvement at just under 7 weeks of withdrawal.

Steroid rebound is hard, and many people are put off quitting topical creams because of the burning and bad effects of rebound. Unfortunately there is no way that I know of at the time of writing this to avoid steroid rebound. Maybe this will change in the future with the advent of new medicines.

Basically I had two choices:

1: Continue using the steroid creams, which my skin was get used to, requiring the use of stronger and more potent steroid creams which thin the skin, cause rosacea on my face and ultimately cause more rashes for the rest of my life.

or

2: Quit using the steroid creams, which will cause a massive, burning rebound flare, followed by less severe flares over a period of about 12 months, but ultimately will lead to clear, healed skin and no more dependence on creams.

I chose option 2. It has not been easy, but now I am really seeing the benefit.