UK ITSAN Meet-Up 12th January 2013

After almost 14 months off the steroid creams, I finally got to meet some other people going through the same thing! It was a fantastic experience.

Fellow Blogger Kelou organized a meet-up in London via the Facebook group and Itsan forums. Although many of us had been in contact over the Internet, this was a unique opportunity to meet face to face and discuss our experiences with TSW.

So, on a very cold January day, I dragged the hubby and kids to London to meet with other caregivers and red-skinners. We met in Festival Hall, on the South Bank, a nice central location, which was thankfully, easy to find, as I am not familiar with London at all.

Meeting up with the other red-skinners was an emotional and interesting experience. The first thing that struck me was how alike we all looked, sitting round the table with our glowing red faces! I'm not sure what the other customers in the cafe thought! It was clear to me now that there was no way that we had eczema, and it became quite obvious why doctor Rapaport calls people withdrawing from steroid creams "The Red People". Comparing skin (as you do), there were many similarities in the pattern of the red skin, with our worst affected areas being face, neck and hands. It was easy to have an instant affinity with these people; after all, they were ones of only a handful in the country who could actually relate to what I was going through.

We chatted about doctors and derms, the Itsan Forum, work, travel and lack of sunshine. It felt like I had known these people for years. My husband also really enjoyed it, as so far, his only experience with TSW has been listening to me moaning about it. It was good for him to have the opportunity to talk to other caregivers.

It was also really nice to be able to go out and not be judged. A lot of the time I really fret over my appearance, and if I think I look too bad, I won't leave the house. At the meet-up, we could leave our inhibitions about appearance behind us and just enjoy the craic.

I sincerely hope that this will be one of many future meetings. I noticed how many are joining the forum on Itsan.org every day and many from here in the UK. After my experience, I would encourage anyone going through steroid withdrawal to try and meet up with others in the same area. Meeting face to face is so much better than chatting online. I would also love to visit the USA and have a giant international meet-up someday!

After the meet-up, I had lots of time to explore London with the kiddies, even though we didn't scratch the surface!