Eureka!

 

No, no sadly I'm not healed yet...

Close, yes but not quite there I'm afraid. Although I'm fully confident I may have found the information and guidance needed that will super boost my healing capabilities. Stumbled across a blog from a fellow TSW sufferer earlier today. EUREKA!. After reading her story and viewing her images (brave, brave person by the way might I add). I've came to the conclusion that I might be suffering from a leaky gut which is prolonging my symptoms and healing time... maybe, just maybe.

Now my symptoms are nowhere near the severity as this brave lady. Hold on a minute, lets stop calling her "her" & "lady", her name is Ahfaye and she is from New Zealand. 

You can find her blog here: http://byebyesteroids.blogspot.co.uk/

The reason behind my confident self-diagnosis is her, "Ahfaye" :) hand image is very similar to my own right now. Also, recently everytime I eat wheat or sugar I break out in a flare not long after eating said culprits. Wheat and sugar are two of the many intolerance's one can have if a leaky gut is present. I've been on the old world wide web doing some research & gathering up information to give this leaky gut cleanse a shot. Now I know my symptoms could still all be related to the steroids. But I think that I'm nearing the end of my withdrawal with the leaky gut being the last remaining underlining issue that I MAY have.

Thinking to myself I've got nothing to loose. Why not give this a blast?. I'm nearly 15 & a half months into this beast now. Over the last couple of weeks I've seen HUGE improvements with my health. Most notably being my sleep. I can wake up and spring out of bed like a six year old on Christmas morning, I kid you not. Skin is slowly but surely improving too. The bodies oils are returning at a snails pace. Got a few troublesome spots hear and there like my face, back of neck, and hands. My back and ass are as soft as the day I was born. Legs and other body parts are dry but nowhere near as dry as say 3 or 4 month ago.

Got a two week break from work planned in the middle of July. This is when I'll start my cleanse. I'll include some of the links *below that will fill you in more on the symptoms of a leaky gut and how to heal it naturally. 

It involves getting some lovely Colonic Irrigation sessions and a liver cleanse for good measures too. First things first though. You have to eliminate some foods that might be causing your skin to break out and give your gut a chance to heal. Some of these foods are; Wheat, dairy, alcohol & sugar. Yip, yip all the good things I hear you say!, ha ha. Never fear though as its not the end of the world. Thankfully you can reintroduce all these foods containing the above ingredients. So relax. You'll still be able to go out with your buddies and get shit faced while eating pizza and chocolate, if that's what you're into or floats your boat.

Ah well. Feeling super excited and confident that this might be the answer to my prayers on my quest to normal, healthy skin...

Lets wait and see. Onwards & upwards we go. Hope your doing well out there;)

Gary

*Links to information about leaky gut & liver flush and how to heal them from the inside out:

http://draxe.com/4-steps-to-heal-leaky-gut-and-autoimmune-disease/

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-10908/9-signs-you-have-a-leaky-gut.html

http://www.colonzone.org/liver-flush.php 

Pre TSW - Found some old photos

Pre TSW - Found some old photos...

So I was deleting some files while cleaning up my hard drive when I stumbled across some old photos of myself from mid 2013 whilst I was still using corticosteroids.

The images show typical red skin syndrome, one of the many adverse effects from using the evil poison that is topical steroids. As you can see from the images below my skin was super red and inflamed while the others show my skin during a dry, flaky phase - all from the same month might I add.

Interestingly and thankfully I no longer suffer from that level of inflammation & redness. Well, only on my face these days. Also, that level of dryness has never returned throughout the latter stages of my withdrawal.

Just passed my 15 month into withdrawal dear reader. I will be me again, one day that is. Until then the fight goes on!.

Cheers & best wishes friends! :)


Gary


P.s.

Just thought I's share this wonderfully created video regarding TSW. The lady Briana, gives a humorous but powerful insight into what to expect while going through withdrawal. I encourage you to share the video with friends & family as it really does describe all the symptoms and negative impacts that TSW can have on ones quality of life.

Day 447 - Quick video update

The roller-coaster ride that is TSW

Day 447 - Quick video update. The 3rd of June will mark my 15 month anniversary of my withdrawal from corticosteroids. Offft, it's been one hell of a journey, I tell thee.

But I will prevail!. Hopefully by the time I reach 18 months my withdrawal will have ended. Fingers crossed.

18 months seems to be the lucky number for some people who have reached the end of their withdrawal. Not being naive. Just confident............... or stupid?, unreasonable?, ha ha.

Guess we'll just have to wait and see!.

 All the best.


 Gary 

Positive exposure for TSW & ITSAN from Canada

Hi folks.

Someone posted this article from the Huffington Post News in one of the Facebook support groups that I am a member off.

"B.C. Woman Whose Skin Fell Off Warns About Steroid Cream Addiction" is the name of said article.

 Full story can be found here: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/05/15/steroid-cream-addiction_n_7236986.html


Nice, positive story & a good read.



Gary



What Doctors Aren’t Telling You About Steroid Creams – Janelle’s Incredible Story. Link @ http://www.collective-evolution.com/2015/03/09/what-doctors-arent-telling-you-about-steroid-creams-janelles-incredible-story/

 Click here to listen to a documentary featuring Janelle Norman.

Join the Facebook support group. Link @ https://www.facebook.com/groups/212642132257327/

More info and all things topical steroid withdrawal related can be found @ http://www.itsan.org/

Day 432

Day 432...

Just sharing my progress as of late folks.

My energy levels are still going strong compared to previous months thankfully, dear reader.

Flaring, sadly is still an everyday occurrence for myself. It tends to get worst around the start of every new month, which is interestingly about the time that my withdrawal started, "the third day" of the month that is.

At the start of the month there (May) I started getting random, sweat attacks during the day. Embarrassingly, I was up at a friends house when it began. It got too much. My skin just started pouring out copious amounts of sweat!. Then the ITCH, f**k me the itch was intense. I asked my mate if I could hop in their shower. Que, orgasmic sounds coming from the shower room! (you know what I mean, right?) ha ha. 

Sleeping much better too. Only wake up a couple of times during the night for a good, ol' scratch then quickly, without any problems fall back to sleep.

Took some pictures of the parts of my body that were the worst affected. You can see the redness has faded. Still have some dry, eczema like spots to heal here and there too, check the picts out below.

 

 

 

As always,

Muchas Gracias for stopping by. Healing thoughts are always with you.

Gary

Progress in pictures - March 2014 to April 2015

My progress so far from March 14' to April 15'. Nearly 14 month into my withdrawal from corticosteroids.

Please scroll down below to view the images of my progression.

I warn you now that some of my pictures are quite graphic, like horror movie graphic!. 

You've been warned...

March 2014

April 2014

May 2014

June 2014

July 2014

August 2014

September 2014

October 2014

November 2014

December 2014

April 2015 - Today 23.04.15

Feeling much more like my pre TSW self again as in internally. Although my skin is still going through the motions. Maybe being completely healed is not that far away for me now, fingers crossed!.


Cheers,

Gary 

13.5 Months and a bit completed now

Red, raw but happy...

Recently I told you that I'd switched to coco-nut oil instead of good, old reliable petroleum jelly for applying to my face & neck. Well, I got a bad reaction almost instantly when I put the CO on my face so I reverted back to the PJ only applying in the mornings and if my face got a bit dry during the day. Bear in mind that I'm still continuing with the moisturizer withdrawal everywhere else.

My face and the back of my neck have been given me some serious jip of late. I think the PJ is the culprit. So from today I'm refraining from using the PJ. Someone from the Facebook support group suggested hemp oil. Luckily, I found a bottle that I purchased a couple of months back in my drawer.

So I applied the HO (no instant reaction) after my Epsom salt bath, went and sat outside in the glorious, lovely, warm sunshine that we thankfully have been getting recently here in Scotland. Came back inside the house after about an hour then went for a nap. Woke up to a big red face, ha ha but at least it wasn't dry & flaky or sore and weepy.

So for now it's hemp oil only to be applied to my face/neck. MW will continue for the rest of my body. I plan to go completely product free on my entire body once my body's natural oils return. 

In the meantime I made a short video to capture my mood at the time :)

Strength and healing thoughts to all!

Gary