Day 57 Japanese Blog

I am now over 8 weeks into the withdrawal, and the pattern of redness is slowly shifting. My neck is improving every day and I now have regained full movement again. my face is also pretty clear and with minimal redness. Unfortunately, my legs have taken a turn for the worse, with hot, red, itchy skin all the way down the inside of my leg from my thigh to my ankle. The skin at the back of my knee joints is worse, and is constantly wet, and very tight, making it hard to walk. The only upside is that I can cover my legs with trousers or a long skirt, so I would rather have a flare on my legs than my face! I have read that this is a common pattern, so I see the change as a positive sign.

I have mentioned on this blog that the Japanese are a lot more aware of steroid rebound than we are in the west. There is a lady in Japan who is writing a blog similar to mine, which can be accessed via this link and using the translate option. I always find the similarities of people going through rebound astonishing, as we all seem to have the same pattern of rash on our bodies, no matter where we are from or what race we are.

Many sufferers are searching for a miracle cream, but we have to remember that topical steroid rebound is different to classic eczema, and the only real healer seems to be time, rather than creams. Dr Fukaya tell his patients to apply creams for movement, but never for cure, which is what I do. I use creams to lubricate very dry areas, but I don't slather them all over my skin, as I believe the skin will ultimately heal itself and I don't want to be too reliant on any cream, as that is how I got into this mess in the first place.

Basically, we just have to sit this out. I know it is boring, but time appears to be the only consistently proven cure for steroid rebound. I hope that as time goes on and awareness increases, medicines may be developed to tackle this issue better, resulting in a shorter rebound period. Or maybe new medicines will be developed that reduce the need for steroids, or replace them completely, meaning that future generations may never go through this kind of suffering. I hope so.