Hello Darkness, My Old Friend...

Well, I am nuts deep into the dreaded anniversary flare folks.

After having a break for a few month during the Summer the Winter months have put me right back in it again. Even though I was still flaring during my "break" period, my skin has taken a wrong turn down south since the start of November.

I've been holding off to post lately in hope for some good news to share with you. Sadly, that isn't the case.

All the original symptoms have returned. Even the horrible insomnia. Positively and strangely, I have enough energy to get me through the working day which is huge for me. I've only ever had a few days off from work during my entire time with withdrawal.

Is it a severe as my first "big" flare?. I dunno yet to be honest. My skin is getting worse by the day so I might not have peaked to that level. Judging by my previous updates from my blog my skin should be getting better by March/April time.

Got a trip booked in Amsterdam for my birthday at the start of March so fingers crossed my skin drops back into a more calmer period.

The anniversary flare is tougher to deal with mentally as you think you're on your way out then BOOM!, back to square one. Just have to keep pushing on I suppose and keep Kicking TSW's ass like a savage!.

Last good skin day. October 31st, Halloween,. My Sister & I.
I Dressed up as Charlie Brown from "Peanuts" for attending a Halloween party.

Looks like a penis, no? :)

All of the above photos are from November. The temperature outside here in Scotland started to drop as we entered Winter time...


Below are some images from December with the temperature dropping even more. You can see my skin getting worse with time.

The images below are from the other day (in January now).

As always, it's time that will heal us from this beast.


Gary

TSW Highlighted in the Mainstream Media

Just sharing some awareness from "big media" regarding withdrawal from the you know what's.

The article featured is from The Daily Mail newspaper, here, in the UK. Feeling quite pumped about this latest piece of recognition. It's getting out there folks!. Hopefully it's not too long for our condition to be recognized as a genuine medical illness. The future is looking bright gang. And hopefully not of the red variety either;)

Credit goes to Louise who's blog I found the article from. I also tip my hat to Laura Stageman, who the story is about.

Will update you on my own condition & progress in early January.

Take care and don't be too hard on yourselves. Remember you're going through a terrible ordeal which is no fault of your own. We can do this. We all have an end time. A guaranteed, better quality of life is at the finishing line awaiting us.

All the best for the new year. Healing thoughts & positivity be with you.

You can find the online news story here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3350782/Eczema-patient-spent-20-hours-day-bath-soothe-flaking-skin-suffering-severe-reaction-stopped-using-steroid-creams.html

Loise's blog link is here:  http://topicalsteroidwithdrawal.blogspot.co.uk/


Gary

19 Months Update

Hi fellow itchy friends.

Been a while. How you doing?. Just passed the 19th month mark of my withdrawal a few days ago. So what's my current status with my withdrawal I hear you ask?.

Recorded a short video with all the gory details :)

Hope your skin is treating you good.

All the best,

Gary

17.5 months (Day 534) Update

Hi folks.

Day 534 has now been reached in my quest in being healed from TSW.

Where do I begin to fill you in on my progress?. Lets start with my diet. I posted (2nd last entry) about trying the gluten free & dairy free diet. Has it worked. Hmmmm, not 100% sure to be fair. Obviously there are health benefits in cleaning up ones diet but has it affected my healing?. As stated above I don't quite know. It's been a hard change and I have to admit there has been some days where I've ate some gluten and had some dairy. I'd say that I've stuck to the diet about 80% of the time. My lymph nodes have gotten smaller so there's less inflammation over all. But, I continue to flare daily although not as intense as previously, thankfully. I have more energy too and continue to take part in sports and hit the gym which has gotten more & more consistent recently.

So to answer the question of has my diet change increased my recovery speed?. The Jury's still out on that one. It could be just a coincidence and that time is making me feel & look more normal. As we all know by now time is the one and only true healer in this battle.

I've only been applying Jojoba oil to the skin when I get out the shower or bath in the mornings. My skin is more stronger and doesn't tear up or crack open. Still have some troublesome spots but only my hands, face & neck continue to break open during a flare attack & be the most stubborn of areas to heal. The oils are returning too. I'm only putting the Jojoba oil on once or twice in any given day.

Life has taken over recently thankfully which can only be a good thing as I haven''t been thinking too much about my skin. Not long moved into a new place and have been more & more social by getting out when I can & catching up with my friends & family.

Below are some picts of my slow but comforting progress.

At a family celebration last Friday evening. My sister and I (14.08.15)

As always thanks for stopping by. I hope all is well with you.

Gary

Adverse Effects of Cortisone (Corticosteroids/Topical Steroids)

Hi friends

Just sharing a link to a simple but useful website that I stumbled upon. Its filled with tons of informative info about all you need to know regarding topical steroid addiction (TSA). Including adrenal suppression, repeated infections & sleep problems.

Quite a good, wee read if I don't say so myself.


Hope all is well at your end.


Cheers

Link to website: http://www.askdrshah.com/cortisone-adverse-effects.aspx

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.