A-Z of Corticosteroid Withdrawal: Chills

C is for Chills:

The skin is the largest organ of the human body and responsible for many body functions, including the regulation of temperature. it is understandable, therefore, that when something is wrong with the skin, body temperature can fluctuate and chills and sweats can occur.

Chills are a common symptom of TSA/TSW and a symptom that I personally have experienced. When I first stopped using steroid creams, I would fluctuate between feeling very hot and very cold. I remember sitting on the settee with a blanket over me and I could feel the heat rising off my body in waves, as I shivered and juddered under the blanket.

Now I am five months into withdrawals, the chills are less intense, but I still experience them in the evenings quite often. I wrap myself in layers of clothing and start shaking and shuddering, whilst everyone else in the room tells me that they are perfectly warm! Chills may or may not be accompanied by sweating, as many people find that steroid use over a number of years actually causes sweating to stop, as it suppresses the sweat glands. In fact, sweating can be a good sign, as it shows that the sweat glands are no longer paralysed by the steroids in the body, and the body is slowly returning to normal.

Here are some comments about chills made by the members of the google group:

"I am 7 weeks into w/d and the whole time the chills have affected me quite
bad especially today, I look like a crack head needing my next fix is as
best as I can describe it. Its peak of summer here in NZ (23-27 degrees)
which is quite hot. When I get in the car I'm cranking the heat instead of
the AC.!!"

"I did get really bad chills.  It was mostly in the first
few months along with the profuse sweating.  My body temperature was
totally out of wack.  I'd be shivering violently and bundled up in
blankets while everyone else was in T-shirts.  Meanwhile I was
sweating and oozing through my clothes.  I hated this stage because
the sweat would make me itchy and I was always freezing."

"While on steroids, I had chills and shivers all the time.  I remember my
teeth even chattering.  But I am not sure I was really cold.  It was a wierd
chill that almost came from inside the body.   I could not stop shaking... "

Chills are an unpleasant symptom of topical steroid withdrawal, but like most symptoms, they do tend to subside over time.