A-Z of Corticosteroid Withdrawal: Quiet Periods

Q is for Quiet Periods

Quiet periods are the breaks in between flares.

The good bits.

The process of TSW is different for everyone, buy many of us have a series of flares which involve a red, juicy phase, followed by a dry shedding phase and a period of calm skin.

I remember the first time it happened to me. I had been off the creams for about 3 weeks and had been flaring constantly and then all of a sudden I got a one-day break.

I was flaring the day after, but the break was heavenly. Over time, the flares got shorter and the breaks got longer.

Every time your skin gets a break, you hope it will be the last one, that you will never flare again. It can be really disheartening when, after a long break of a week or so, your skin suddenly flares again for no reason. it feels like three steps forward and two steps back.

Here are some comments from the good folk on the itsan forum about breaks between flares:

"Sometimes it feels like walking through the pitch dark and waiting for something to jump out at you. I am hopeful, but I still find myself waiting for the next flare up each time things calm down a bit. I guess it's just natural. However, having all of you around to talk to makes a big difference to me, and just accepting that this is the way it is also helps. "

"Remission is a weird one, this is such a slow process, I think it's often hard to tell. Sometimes people post pics and they are obviously much better to the group, and yet they feel like they're as bad as ever. To me, signs include, umm...
When the skin *looks* less red for a significant amount of time - not just a few minutes. Sometimes these days my face can be a really sallow colour that I don't ever remember it being before - it was always just pink.
Inflammation disappears, so the skin isn't hard and white when you press it - eg like what you see when you flex your wrists/fingers (if you're effected there) This is great, as the itch generally settles down too.
For me, pimples definitely crop up when my skin is about to settle down. I see it that all the inflammatory cells are done and dying, and the body is finally prepairing to get rid of them.
Shedding is an obvious one, but I'd say that's more end of a flare rather than the sign of a true period of quiet.
I think the best sign that you're in remission is that your skin doesn't consume our every waking moment, and you can stop thinking about it 24/7 Best feeling ever!"

In conclusion, quiet periods between flares are great, but it can put you on a real downer when the flares come back again. Sometimes you hear of people who have healed completely and then suddenly, after several years of good skin, they can have a random flare. I guess all of use TSW people live in fear that we may flare again at some point. It is always in the back of our mind.