If your skin is getting you down...

Skin getting you down today?. Here's a hilarious video from Youtube to take your mind off it for a bit. I laughed so hard I spat my tea out!.

#Brother loses bet and has to dance on busy intersection. People walking by join him.






Hope this brought some rest bite and a smile to your face.

Remember, we're all healing one day at a time.

Your itchy/scratchy pal,


Gary

Wee update...

DAY 42

Just a quick update...

Face has calmed down a good bit. Still a bit puffy and scabby in parts but definitely an improvement from a couple of days ago. Been sleeping better the last few nights also.

When I got up this morning my whole body was super dry, felt like a robot walking about my room. Instead of my usual morning shower I jumped in a bath with Epsom salt.

Here's a couple of photos of my Chevy Chase (face;)

Cheers for stopping by folks.

Happy healing,

Gary

I lied. This is the worst day so far...

The "lovely" pictures below are from Friday the 11th of April - day 38. I woke up at work (I work in the care sector and occasionally do sleepovers from time to time to help out) ha, I say "woke up" when I actually meant a nap, as all I'm getting sleep wise these days is a couple of hours a night. F**k you insomnia!.

As of writing this I'm on day 41. Skin isn't as angry as it was on Friday, thankfully. This is my first major TSW flare. Only seems to be my face and hands taking the worst beatings from my withdrawal.

Warning: The images below are very graphic! - you've been warned...

Hope you're all having a better skin time than me,

Gary

Yo-yo skin & the Mad Hatter... DAY 35

                                               WARNING: May contain traces of nuts


Man, my skin has been crazy (not the only thing) during the past couple of days. "RED" is the word of the moment for me and my largest organ. From all the many, intense itching spells through to the often orgasmic feelings of relief that the scratching brings forth.

My mood has been up & down, scatty to say the least. One minute your skin looks OK - happy days ensue then BOOM! itchy, scratchy time turns you into a red mess followed by the old mental state dipping into disappointment and despair. Roll on a couple of hours later and it's back to looking decent then BOOM! scratch, scratch, scratch... relief, relief, relief and a cheeky look in the mirror to reveal my skin is then back to sore, angry, red looking... downtime then occurs for your state of mind again!.

In all honestly, thankfully? at this given time, my withdrawal symptoms only appear to be affecting my head, forehead, face, behind the ears, neck, upper back between my shoulders, creases in arms, wrists, hands, fingers and creases in my legs. Not a lot of affected areas then eh?, ha.

Currently, my face and hands appear to be the worst off. My forehead if it's not red and itchy is dry and shedding with the same pattern happening for my writs, hands and fingers.

Forgot to also mention the exciting irregular body temperature and insomnia that's in the mix too. The lack of sleep is the main killer for me at this stage of the withdrawal process. Sleep is very important to give the body's cells a chance to repair, while also keeping your mind clear and moods more stable.

Check out my recent pics from DAY 35 below.

MIDDAY

Face is a wee bit patchy here

Chucked some Shea Butter on as it was getting dry

Dry and red - notice the familiar "red sleeve"

Had a good scratch at my hand the previous night

"Red sleeve" happening on my right wrist

Good times

And again...

EARLY EVENING

Bit redder and swollen?

After a mini flare

Neck's a bit red

LATE EVENING

Bit clearer

More calmer looking skin

The dreaded dry skin returns on the left side of my forehead

Cheers for popping through again ladies and gentlemen.

 
As always - HAPPY HEALING TO YOU ALL!


Gary

Best/simplest way to describe topical steroid addiction?(TSA)

There's a chance (not 100% though) that you 

have what's known as 'topical steroid addiction', 'topical steroid 

withdrawal' or 'red skin syndrome'.

Yes, this is a very real thing.

It simply means your body has become physically dependant on 

the steroids to keep your inflammation at bay and no longer feels 

the need to produce the all-important anti-inflammatory hormones itself.

So basically it's gotten lazy...

It's relying on you to keep supplying it with a steady dose of

cortisone to keep suppressing the immune system and preventing

inflammation.

You see, cortisone is a synthetic version of a naturally occurring

hormone in the body, cortisol. Cortisol is the second-most

prevalent hormone in the body and is produced by the adrenal gland

to cool inflammation.

Cortisol is extremely powerful stuff and it's synthetic cousin, cortisone 

is even more so. Think of cortisol as Tony Stark and cortisone as 

Tony Stark in his Iron Man suit which lets him punch through cars, 

fly into space and rescue people out of crumbling buildings.

Powerful but deadly.

Cortisone was initially created to be used only as an absolute last

resort if a patient was about to die, was under intolerable amounts

of pain or to turn around a major disease. The maximum length of

dose used to be 7 days, but now, some people have been taking it

for decades.

Not good!.

Like antibiotics, they're now handed out almost like candy to

anyone who asks. This is creating a very serious problem where you

need more and more to keep your skin under control. But, because

you're now taking such a high dose, your body is becoming even more

dependent on it. It's one seriously nasty downward spiral.

But there's good news: There is a way to get out of it.

Basically it involves cutting out your steroid creams, pills and

injections 100% for as long as it takes to get your skin back to

it's previous state. Think of it as locking your skin in a dark

room to kick it's cortisone addiction cold turkey, like some kind

of desperate heroin addict.

You need to give it the tough love it really needs no matter how

much it puts up a fight.

And like with all things eczema, this is pretty simple, but far from

easy. The longer you've been taking steroids, the longer it will

take to get back to normal and reduce your dependency completely.

For many, just a few months is enough to spring back, while for 

others it can take 6 months, some up to a year and a small minority 

up to 2 or even 3 years. For some, the process is mild with the eczema 

receding away on it's own while for others their skin flares up out 

of control stronger than ever before.

I know it's a tough pill to swallow but this might be the first step on 

your journey to having 100% clear skin.

So if this describes you, you need to first make 100% sure that you

are in fact suffering with this and not regular eczema. I'm not an 

expert on this topic so I highly suggest you get in touch with the 

knowledgeable folks at:

http://itsan.org/

**Received this brilliant and informative description of TSA in an eczema email newsletter from a dude called "Widing" today**

You can find out more about him and what he does from his webpage: http://thetruthabouteczema.com/

Please note: I'm only sharing this info. I don't know this guy personally or am I trying to promote him. Just sharing the knowledge is all;)

Happy healing,

Gary

720 Hours now completed with TSW!

DAY 30

 

That's me at the first milestone. One month down, x left to go!. My nasty Eczema herpeticum has all but been defeated, thank you antibiotics along with the body's power of healing.
 
I've written up a list of symptoms below experienced during my first month with topical steroid withdrawal. I've also included a list of experiments that I have implemented to try and ease my TSW symptoms.


List of symptoms

• Intense itching 
• Dry, flaky skin
• Red, tight skin
• Swelling of the face & neck (lymph nodes)
• Insomnia
• Fatigue
• Irritability
• Mood swings
• Irregular body temperature
• Chills & shakes
• Infection (Eczema herpeticum)
• Nerve ending pains (neck)
• Increased food sensitivities
• Decreased movement & stiffness of the body
• Purple hands when cold!

 
List of strategies and skin combat experiments

• Diet changes - no alcohol, cut down on sugars/processed foods & caffeine, gluten free, increased water intake & supplements (Vitamin D, Quercetin & 5-HTP)
• Dead sea salt baths 
• Almond oil baths
• Moisturizing up to four or five times daily
• One day water fast (Will do every two weeks)

 
Overview: It's far too early to record any significant findings. I shall update any positive results once I've reached a more advanced state with my withdrawal process.


In the mean time my face and back of neck are still a bit red. Creases in arms, wrists and hands are itchy, red, dry and sore. The rest of my body, although itchy for periods during the day seems to be unaffected at the moment.


Below are some images from day 30. 

 

 

Thanks for dropping by. One month in the bag - happy days!.


Onwards and upwards,


Gary