Documenting My Topical Steroid Withdrawal

[myeczemaexperience]

August 2nd!!!! Neck/chest/face/ stomach area has been soooo good lately. Texture is as smooth as it has been since this all started. The skin looks normal!!!

[myeczemaexperience]

my hands on April 18th. Texture was good and barely red.

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Comparison of March 14th vs April 10th

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Comparison of my red sleeve feb 10 vs apr 1

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March 25th update

My break started march 21st, and ended yesterday. So my break lasted basically 3 days. I’m starting my fourth flare, it isn’t tooooo bad. My last flare lasted 2 weeks.

[myeczemaexperience]

March 16th update

My flare is really acting up right now. It started March 7th, so day 9. At the moment I’m red. Red face and neck/chest. My body is covered in red bumps. Hands are red and swollen. Terrible itching. Hot flashes are back. Been getting really dry but trying to consistently moisturize. doesn’t really help. I also have had panic attacks.

[myeczemaexperience]

From March 7th. My body is going through another flare after feeling really nice and smooth and not itchy. However I can say that the flare is not as intense as before.

[myeczemaexperience]

A few days ago, I've collected these little bumps under the surface of my hands. Apparently it's from sweating. They pop and open and turn white when dried.

[myeczemaexperience]

February 24th Update

I stopped using epsom salt in my baths as it was doing two things : 1) drying out my skin 2) Elevating my heart beat and pulse. I felt like I was going to faint every time I got out of my bath. Now my baths contain 1) apple cider vinegar to prevent any infections bc of my cuts in my skin and 2) tea tree oil. The minty-ness actually helps distract me from my pain and itchiness and the sensation is honestly more bearable than hot burning and itching. I quit my job and I no longer go to school so now I just have to focus only on my skin which is nice. I started going to acupuncture again. Hopefully it'll help balance out my skin. Part of my withdrawal is nerve pains, the acupuncturist is giving me herbs and teas to drink to try to alleviate it. I also finally I'm seeing a naturopathic doctor. She gave me some digestive drops to help with the lymphatic system, kidneys and liver. I also Drybrush every day before my bath to help get rid of the flaking and help the lymphatic system. Each morning I take a teaspoon of fish oil as well as probiotic, and a histamine blocker, I also add about a teaspoon of chlorophyll to my cups of water to drink. So far the withdrawal effects I'm noticing are lack of sleep, being extremely cold but sweating at night, as well as the red sleeve which has been on me for a while. I am less flaky, a little less red, I do have pus pimples on my stomach but my skin is not as bumpy as before. The most irritating part is probably not being able to sleep . now I take Benadryl to try to help me but I still itch and wake up when I'm sleeping so I'm not getting very good sleep. Every morning I wake up and I have sweat on the back of my neck and my hair is stuck to the back of my ears because of the pus. It becomes very hard to try to get out of bed so I'm trying to figure out how to deal with that.

[myeczemaexperience]

Update of how my hands are looking. Less red, less wrinkly. I've started taking walks everyday to get some activity in. I'm finally able to move around the house, so it's better than it was just days ago.

[myeczemaexperience]

February 22nd update

I’ve had to drop out of college. Right now my skin is better looking but very itchy and I sometimes get nerve pain. I have all of the symptoms of tsw. My feet are swollen.

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My hands at work.

[myeczemaexperience]

February 12 update

Skin is better, the flakes aren't leaving but it's better. I started dry brushing, so that might help. My legs turned purple-grey, I'm not sure what that's about.

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Drying up a ton I look like an old woman. It's like this on my neck, face, feet, stomach.

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February 9th

Eczema is making it hard to go to school. I've missed almost all my classes this week bc I'm in too much pain I feel like a failure

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February 8th. I scratched myself raw last night after being so excited that my skin felt okay and wasn't itchy. I got 3 hrs of sleep. It's not bumpy like initially but I can't stop scratching sometimes and it literally picks my skin off and those cuts are little chunks of my skin being scratched off. It burns a lot. I took an epsom salt and olive oil bath which helped.

[myeczemaexperience]

February 5th update

It's getting difficult again. It's rly hard to moisturize bc it feels disgusting and sticky all over and I just itch. I've been so so so itchy, and at night I haven't been able to sleep. My skin is getting dry and tight and unbearable and the only thing to help is epsom salt baths followed by Vaseline which like I just said is super sticky and so gross feeling and I can't stand. My skin feels raw to touch but it's still better than the initial flare up. I need to remind myself it isn't as bad as it was. I think what's happening is a second flare up which they say happens with healing crisis'. Apparently u flare now and again while going through it but each flare is not as bad as the last. So that's good because that means the next one should be not as bad and so on. My face is splotchy again which sucks bc it was looking so clear, so clear that it was really really nice. It sucks because my skin is getting better but I can't enjoy it bc I just keep anticipating when it will get bad again. I also hate that the dryness never goes away. I'm always physically in discomfort whether it's being too dry or so sticky it's disgusting.