Entering Month 13....(photo)

I have decided to give up on counting the days of TSW. I think after a year, counting in days becomes slightly meaningless and it makes more sense to count up in months to give people an idea of where I am.

Therefore, I will just be entering the month in the title.

It seems that the horrific flare period that I have had since October 1st is slowly dying. The oozing has almost stopped, apart from on my eyelids of all places, and a bit at the bottom of my chin. I also have a small oozy patch underneath my bra-line, but at least I can hide that!

Here is today's photo:

As you can see, the skin is paler and has lost the redness and slapped cheek appearance of the last few weeks. My nose is a bit red and there is slight blotchiness, but the texture of the skin feels great and not at all scaly like it has been recently. I can actually smile because I can move my skin!  I am still a bit pink though. It looks like sunburn, which is odd when there is no sun....

My biggest problem is that my face feels "allergic". I presume it is some type of reaction to allergens in the environment. My skin feels itchy and it is hard not to scratch. Cue socks on hands again...

My eyes are a bit puffy in the mornings and have wet cracks in the eyelids. My face and neck are pinker than my body, which is normal colour.

I am taking cetirizine tablets (OTS antihistamines) to deal with the allergic feeling. They help but are only supposed to be taken once a day. Trouble is, the effects only last about 6 hours. I have thought about splitting the tablets and taking half in the morning and half at night.

Another thing I am trying is Starflower oil, also known as borage oil. I had a comment on the blog from a mom in Singapore who uses it on her child. I bought some yesterday in capsule form. I squeezed a little oil out of the capsule and rubbed it into my skin. It absorbed well and was not irritating or greasy. I then took the rest of the capsule orally with some water. I am interested to see how it goes.

I think if I can get past the allergic phase, my skin should be good. I reckon once winter kicks in and there are less mould spores in the air, things will get better for me. I am still stuck on the steroid inhaler, but don't intend to mess with the dose at the moment, as I really need it.

I actually went out last night, although I was a bit reclusive and didn't feel like talking much. I didn't want anyone mentioning my skin.

For any TSW'ers in the UK, we are planning a big meet up in London on January 12. For more info please check out the Itsan forum or Itsan Facebook page. I feel sorry for whoever has to hoover up after us, but it is a great opportunity to chat and compare notes with other sufferers!

By the way, I clocked my pageviews today on the right hand side of the screen 75,000 pageviews. WOW! If all of the blogs get this kind of readership, then we can really get this message out to people.

Thanks for reading, and here's to the next 75,000!