The Fundamental Problem With the Term: "Heal Faster" .

"...while I, weary traveller, must always take the slower path..." Doctor Who, The Girl in the Fireplace.

Nobody wants to be stuck in steroid withdrawals for any longer than is necessary.

Fact.

The thing is, when I started out on this TSW journey, I had it in my head that it would only take me 6-12 months to heal. It seems madness now that I think about it, especially considering my usage history, but at the time, there was not much information available about TSW and only a handful of blogs written by people who had no healed at that point.

Now that some time has passed, there is a wealth of evidence available about TSW healing times:

1. Children tend to heal relatively quickly, as they have not generally used as much TS as an adult. Keira, who I based my Scratchy Monster story on, took 9 months to completely heal from TSW.

2. Those with minimal use of steroids tend to heal quite quickly too. A member of the Itsan forum whose son used steroid creams for 3 months and became addicted reported that he was fully healed after 10.5 months.

3. For the rest of us, healing can vary dramatically. Rochelle, my fellow blogger, posted a healed video of herself at 16 months, Juliana, another blogger, at 24 months. Those with 40 plus years of heavy steroid usage, such as Kelly Palace, founder of Itsan, are reporting longer healing times. Kelly is now 4 years into withdrawals and mainly healed, but Dr Fukaya has told her that she may take 5-7 years in total to fully heal due to her usage history.

4. When Itsan interviewed a leading doctor on this subject, he started that, on average, most cases of TSW take 3 years to heal.

Based on these facts, we can see that there is a huge variation when it comes to healing times. Why is this?

Well, it mainly has to do with steroid usage and potency. In theory, a person who has used a small amount of hydrocortisone over 6 months should heal a lot quicker than someone who has used oral and potent steroids for 40 years.

Even if someone uses the same cream as someone else over the same time period, usage will vary. One person may get through a 30g tube every week, another every month. Clearly this will affect healing times.

Of course, there are other factors too. Race and skin type may play a part and I hope that as time goes on and more people share experiences, that we will find out if certain skin types take longer to heal. I have a theory that as I am fair skinned and European, it may take me longer to heal than say, someone of Asian or African descent. Of course, the opposite may also be true. I would love some facts and figures on this too see if it is true.

Geography may play a part. some of us live in hot countries, which can be a problem at the start of TSW, but beneficial later on. Others live in cold countries. As temperature affects blood vessels, this will likely play some part in healing times.

Allergen exposure may prolong TSW. If we are constantly in contact with irritants, it makes sense to assume that the skin will be slower to heal. This was true for one of Dr Fukayas case studies, who had a severe rebound after moving house and coming into contact with allergens that caused a severe reaction.

...OK, which brings me to the point of this post. Everyone with TSW wants to know how to heal faster.

But when they ask this question, they are missing an important word.

THAN.......

It makes sense, doesn't it? If something is faster, the word than should come after.

So...faster than what?

So here is where we need a level playing field. Which, by the way, we are never going to get.

Take for example two ladies we will call Mrs X and Mrs Y. Lets say they stopped steroids the same time as me, November 2011.

Now lets say Mrs X took 24 months to heal, Mrs Y took 18 months and I took 3 years.

Why did Mrs Y heal faster? There are simply too many variables to provide a sensible answer. We may all live in different countries, be different ages, eat different food, have different allergies, use different detergents, do different jobs, have different immune systems and have different usage histories,The list goes on.

There is no level playing field. We simply cannot compare these three individuals and come to a conclusion as to why one healed faster than the others.

Now lets say Mrs Y claims to heal faster because she used "snake oil" every day.

As we can see from the above argument, there are far too many variables to validate the efficiency of "snake oil" as a substance to speed up TSW.

So how could we validate the effectiveness of "snake oil"?

Well, an extreme way would be to get a set of identical twins with identical usage histories, put them in a sterile box for 2 years, feeding them with identical food and dressing them in identical clothing, giving one twin "snake oil" and letting the other go without and seeing who healed first.

A more sensible way would be to study two large groups of TSW patients with similar usage histories. Give one group the "snake oil" and see if they healed substantially quicker than the other group.

Repeat the experiment enough times and you will have convincing evidence about the efficacy of "snake oil".

...then repeat the same experiment with the many supplements, creams and "cures" touted for speeding up TSW.

Unfortunately, the fact is that at this point in time, the 20th November 2013, No such experiment has ever taken place. Hopefully, one day it will, but as things stand we have zero evidence for cures that speed up TSW. No studies, no papers, no articles. Zip, zero, Nada.

Therefore, if someone comes along and claims that they have a way of speeding up TSW, demand proof. Demand to see the article, the study, the document, that PROVES what they are saying is true. By the way, the fact that it worked for them personally does not count as evidence, just like someone saying "There is no proof, but this is my opinion, it is obvious", is utter nonsense.

Maybe one day things will change. It is my sincere hope that they do. I hope that one day, scientists will devise a remedy to shorten TSW healing times substantially. But until that time, please do not allow  yourselves to be duped by those who promise the world. In my experience, those who make such promises usually want money and nobody should spend $$$$$ to cure their TSW.

So next time someone claims that "snake oil", or something similar will clear your TSW faster, just reply:

"Faster than what......?"