Red Skin Syndrome

So today I'm in a state of turmoil and curiosity has finally gotten the better of me. I keep getting hounded by people telling me I have this "red skin syndrome" which to those not in the know, is essentially what happens when you've used steroids for years; your skin becomes addicted and completely dependent on the medication.

The typical symptoms of this are:

1. Red burning skin, hot to the touch, that spreads over the entire body, despite it originating in smaller places with extreme itchiness that cannot be satiated. 
2. Skin that weeps and oozes.
3. Eczema type rashes that spread over the skins surface.
4. Hives/ Urticaria.
5. Difficulty regulating body temperature with freezing hands and feet and you may often suffer all-over body chills.
6. Extremely dry skin that sheds like crazy and needs to be vacuumed daily.
7. The skin is so sensitive that you can become allergic to basically everything.

Now, I'm quite a stubborn person in that when I know I probably wouldn't be able to make something work I'm reluctant to give it a go, however the symptoms are so similar to what I'm going through I'm just at a bit of a loose end.

The only way to stop an addiction is to go cold turkey, no steroids can be administered whatsoever to give the body a chance to recover and cure itself. Many people who undergo this withdrawal find that depending on how long they've taken steroid medication it can take months and even years and years to finally come into remission. They also find that they will need to take a large chunk of time off work because it is virtually impossible to attend.

I'm already fully aware of just how vicious eczema can be as I've spent massive portions of time off from work, university and college in the last few years because my skin is just uncontrollable, inhibiting me from being able to get dressed and even the ability to concentrate. You can see in my archived posts, specifically the ones entitled "Living With Eczema" just what I have had to go through. I'm not sure if I would want to relive all that on a longer term basis because I really have done so much to pull myself out from that pit of depression. I don't want to endure it again.

My only problem is it's been bad enough to try to rebuild my sick record from having all the time off. My employers know the extent of what I go through but I just wouldn't be able to function without my job. Shane and I struggle enough to pay our bills as it is with barely a penny left over to enjoy ourselves, so without a job we'd be in short, screwed.

So this is why I'm in a state of turmoil. I'm not sure I would be able to give steroid withdrawal my full commitment, and I definitely wouldn't be able to give up my steroid inhaler, but I must say that it does seem likely that it is what I have.

At the moment there are only a couple of doctors who believe in it (based in America I think...) and I have mentioned it to my dermatologist in the past but he's just shaken it off. It is only a recent finding so I'm not too sure on the credibility, though no doubt I'll get loads of you telling me that it does work. Yet, if this were the case, why don't more doctors believe in it?

You can read more about it here.


Images of Kelly Palace, before and after, pinched from the ITSAN website.