Day 204 Staying Upbeat

Had a crazy day running round like a headless chicken, boxing up the endless amount of junk in our house ready for the move on Wednesday.

The stress has made me pretty itchy and I keep scratching away at my arms. I think it is because scratching releases endorphins! I am also drinking pints of chamomile and valerian tea to try and put myself into a herbal tea-induced stupor and calm myself down.

I'm hoping that my skin will settle once we have moved. We won't be so near the motorway, so I'm hoping that my asthma will improve. The new house has laminate flooring instead of carpets, so it should help keep the allergens down.

People often comment and ask me how I can be so upbeat and positive during the hell of steroid withdrawal.

The answer has to do with the difference between suffering and endurance.

Suffering is when you feel pain and there is no way out.

With endurance, the pain is just as real, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. It is that hope that helps you to endure the pain and cope with it.

Yes, rebound from steroid creams is awful. The symptoms are vicious and nasty and disabling.

BUT

The 2000 people that Dr Rap has healed, along with the many, many more in Japan and other countries who have posted their testimonies and photos on the Internet prove to me that it is possible to have lovely, eczema-free skin at the end of this.

And that is why I am positive and upbeat. Not because steroid withdrawal is easy, but because I believe I will heal, even if it takes several years.

Day 203 Sunday Flares

I have passed comment previously how my skin always seems to flare on a Sunday. It can be fine all week, but as soon as the weekend comes, my skin will start acting up again.

This week is no different, although I am flaring somewhere different from usual. My right thigh, which was previously clear, has come out in a burning red rash. The rash is actually giving off quite a lot of heat and when I put my hand on it, it feels warm to the touch. My arms are also flaring and itchy.

On the positive side, at least the rash is somewhere that I can hide it with clothing. I would still love to know how my skin knows what day of the week it is!

6 1/2 months into withdrawals the flares are definitely diminishing in intensity and don't have the power to slow me down like they used to. Despite the rash on my leg, I have been busy preparing for our impending house move on Wednesday (stress...stress!), something I could not have contemplated during the worst stages of withdrawal.

I'm like: "C'mon skin! Is this the best you can do?" But I don't say it too loud in case my words come back to haunt me!

Day 202 Stress and Flares

I'm so happy to log on today and see that my pageviews have topped the 20,000 mark. If just a fraction of those people manage to get off the topical steroid creams, then I am happy to have helped them.

Today I definitely noticed a correlation between stress and flare-ups. I am in the process of moving house and it is a pretty crazy time. Every time we think something is going smoothly, we get a call and there is another "blip" to stress us out. Needless to say, I have been quite itchy!

When I am stressed, I start to feel really tense and start clawing at my arms. I think it is because scratching an itch releases endorphins, which make you feel good, or maybe it is because stress increases histamine levels. Whatever the reason, I get the itchy bugs all over me when I am tense and upset. I don't want to scratch too hard and put big holes in my arms as there is still lots of work to do and I don't want to be ill on moving day.

Interestingly, there have been quite a few posts on the itsan forums about itching, particularly from people who have itching all night. Itching is a very distressing symptom and TSW is very stressful in itself.

I've just poured myself a cup of chamomile tea and am trying desperately to chill out.....calm....calm....calm..

Man, I'm itchy typing this!

Day 201 Better Labelling of Steroid Creams

I have just been reading kelou's blog: “The Boy, the Greek Fire and Me,” about her struggle to help her son who suffered badly at the hands of the steroid creams.

The picture of the boy struck a chord with me, because I have been in the same situation as him and know how awful and unnecessary this thing is. Something as simple as labelling steroid creams correctly would go a long way to preventing people from getting steroid induced dermatitis in the first place.

We need to campaign for better labelling of steroid creams. This is particularly important when these creams are used on young children. Better labelling would enable parents to see exactly how long to use the creams for and make them aware that prolonged use of these creams can lead to addiction.

Visit the blogs on my blog list. Each person has a story to tell about how steroid cream addiction has affected them. 

Day 200 Trip to Safari Park

Happy day 200 to me! Yay!

Life is good. Life is normal.

We took the kids to the Safari Park today. The weather was absolutely awful (British Summer, typical).

We got drenched from top to toe in the fairground. Our clothes were so wet you could wring them out.

Despite this, we had a great time. We enjoyed the animals and the kids enjoyed the fairground rides.

And guess what?

My skin didn't bother me at all.

The moral of the tale is this: If you are in the early stages of steroid withdrawal, take heart. A few months ago, I was laid up on the settee with no energy and burning oozing skin. I wondered if all this talk of a cure was really true. I feel so much better now. Time really does heal. People keep coming up to me and telling me how much better my skin looks.

So many people give up in the early stages of topical steroid withdrawal because the symptoms are absolute hell and will leave your whole world grinding to a halt for several months.

But I'm glad I stuck with it.

It was worth it in the end.

Day 199 (photos)

It doesn't seem that long ago that I was posting my progress at 100 days. Now here I am at nearly 200, the time is flying by! I thought I would post some progress photos to illustrate how things are going for me.

Life is pretty good. My skin is not perfect, but it is tolerable, and trust me, with TSW, tolerable is way preferable to oozy, red, itchy and sore! I can go about my daily business as normal without my skin getting in the way. I feel good and that is the main part. The rest will come with time.

I have been reading a lot of comments from the itsan form lately from newbies just starting out on this steroid free journey. They have all the same questions that I had, namely wondering whether healing is really possible by quitting steroid creams. They are red, sore and oozy and see no end in sight, just like I was a few months ago. But things do get better. Slowly, very slowly, but things do get better.

If you compare this "mug shot" to previous ones on the blog, you can see that my face is definitely less red. The skin is mainly white, although it has some dry patches and blotching.This is the area where I used the strong steroids, so it will take the longest to heal. Progress is slow, but discernible.

The same goes for my neck area. The blotches are really lightening up. The oozing has stopped again and the area is healing well. The neck area had been really problematic for me during TSW and at one point I could not even turn my head because the skin was so tight, but now the skin is soft and supple, even though it is slightly blotchy still. I am happy with how far I have come with this.

The skin on my arm is pretty much normal. I'm very happy with the progress here. If you look back over the blog at previous pictures, the skin on my arm was very tight and had no elasticity, but it is great now. I can bare my arms in the sun (if we had any!).

This is the latest photo of my troublesome wound on my calf. I can get it to this stage using moist wound healing, but cannot quite get it to return to normal skin. It is the best it has been since January though, and isn't giving me too many problems. I think it will go away on its own when it is ready. The wound on my other calf has almost vanished completely. Look at the lovely skin around the wound. It is normal skin!

So, almost 200 days off the steroids and things are progressing nicely. I am so happy with the way things are going and how I feel. I have come a long way from that incapacitated, burning, oozy person that I was at the end of last year.

There is life after steroids. I hope my photos help people believe that. The next lot of pictures I post will be even better, and I can't wait to post some of completely healed skin.

These things take time.

Baby steps...baby steps.....

Day 196 Scratched my Arm Up

Lets play a guessing game....

Guess what terrible, fearsome creature did this to my arm?

OK, yes. It was me. I woke up this morning with deep dig marks in my arm where I must have clawed at the skin during my sleep. My fingernails are pretty short, so I must have really gone crazy. I have no recollection of doing it.

For some reason, my skin seems to flare every Sunday. It is like my skin knows the day of the week! No matter how good my skin has been during the week, I can guarantee that my skin will flare on Saturday evening and that I will have a bad day on Sunday.

I'm oozing again too, on my neck and chest. Boo.

Oh well, I hope that my skin improves in the next 4 days ready for my 200th day progress photos.....