Topical Steroid Withdrawal: Allergies

When my eczema first began to worsen and become a full body problem I was sent straight to a dermatologist to determine what had  caused this to happen after years of only having had dry and sensitive skin with the occasional rash. After being given prescription after prescription of stronger topical steroid creams, nothing was helping to ease the issue. As the skin first showed signs of inflammation and eczematous skin on my exposed areas (face, neck, chest and arms) it was decided that my problem was down to environmental issues. Blood was taken from me to determine what allergens were prevailing my ailment and the results came back as severely allergic to cats, dogs and dust mites.

Now, the thing that puzzles me most is that prior to this time I did not react severely when faced with any of these allergens. There were cats present in our household before I was born which have still remained to this day (not the same cats as that would be crazy having a cat that was older than 24!) as we are a family who are very fond of them. In a similar vein dust mites were the highest rated of all the allergens which is humourous given that I spent 3 years of my teens working as a cleaner where high levels of dust was present.

My Mum's beautiful mogs

Sure, prior to my eczematous epidemic I may have been a tiny bit allergic to these things, with the odd runny nose and itchy eyes, but this became disastrous. I suffered all summer long with little respite until I left home to attend University in the September, where my condition eased itself to an extent and life became "manageable" again. (Life with eczema is never manageable as even when your allergens are diagnosed the beast still rages on for no real reason, other than "it just does"... or so the specialists like to tell me.) Getting rid of the cats was not an option, and in fact I wanted my Mother to keep more as I didn't want her to be on her own and cats are my favourite animal afterall. When I returned home for a visit in November/ December time, just a couple of months later, all hell broke loose and I was hospitalised with a severe allergic reaction.

This continued until I was given Ciclosporin the following year, which I have previously detailed in this post. When I was forced to discontinue the drug I was back to square one with my allergies. They were still severe and I had to stop visiting my Mum at home; my home. I had to change my position at work; the warehouse and shop floor were too dusty and I was flaring all over the shop, quite literally!

Recently all this has changed.

When I stopped using the topical steroid creams in May of this year I had no idea what would be in store for me. A question on ITSAN's FAQ page struck me, it had stated that:

"Q: Why am I allergic to things that never bothered me before?


During topical steroid withdrawal, your body is very sensitive. After withdrawal, it will return to normal. Allergy testing during topical steroid withdrawal is inaccurate because your system is hypervigilant and reacts more than it normally would."

If this was true it could mean that in the future after withdrawal my life may not be so constricted. I might be able to actually visit friends and family who own pets, be able to carry out routine house cleaning, and generally return to a more normalised lifestyle. It also confirms that my allergies that were only ever mild prior to the eczema break out became severe because of the use of topical steroid creams.

Miss Kitty's blog post entitled "I am not allergic to cats" gave me further hope. Maybe one day I will even be able to own a cat myself.

See! I never used to be so allergic

Last month I visited my Mum. I figured I would probably have a flare so prepared myself for the worst. My skin didn't flare up and I didn't even take my asthma inhaler once! What was this madness, a crazy fluke?! I'm beginning to wonder what is going on.

This week at work a maintenance man took apart one of the tills that had been freezing through transactions to find that it was chock-a-block with dust. I didn't think to tell him that I had allergies and just backed away a bit as he blew it literally everywhere creating clouds of dust that hung in the air and choked me. Do you know what? I didn't need to take my inhaler that evening though my skin did flare later on but I think it was actually more due to the fact I was so dry after work as I haven't been moisturising.

And just yesterday, the very thing that prompted me to type this post... I went to a friend's flat who has the fluffiest cat in history that malts like nothing I've ever seen before, cat fur EVERYWHERE! They'd forgotten to hoover before my arrival, but it didn't matter and it isn't something I'd expect people to do, why should they? Whilst I was there I think I only took my inhaler twice, sure my nose was running by the end of the day and I started sneezing but the fact is I was there from 8am until 5pm. That's an awfully long time to spend with one of my allergens, especially one so fluffy as this beautiful mog.

The fluffiest of mogs! (Image courtesy of The Retired Bridgeburner)

I will admit that I couldn't stop sneezing all the way home and couldn't sleep last night because my nose was blocked but considering I used to literally have to step into the same room as a cat and end up in hospital with a severe full body allergic reaction, just from having it look at me is saying a bloody lot.

I think withdrawing from the medication that was supposed to treat the eczema is the best thing I could ever have done for myself.

I truly do.

Is My Medication The Cause Of My Eczema?

Been doing more thinking about this "red skin syndrome" malarky to try to solve the mysteries of when did this happen, and more importantly, how did this happen?

I was talking on the phone to my Mum regarding when my eczema, asthma and allergies first started. She said my eczema started when I was a child, however she can never remember it being severe in any way, shape or form. It was mostly just sensitive, dry skin to which we stopped using bubble baths and switched to hypoallergenic products.

It was asthma that was most prevalent, often resulting in trips to hospital and taking oral steroids to help return my lungs to a more normalised state. I distinctly remember these times well. I would be at my Nana's house and she would dissolve the nasty little red tablets in some water in the "special medicine glass" to form the most vile pink fluid you will ever taste, which was always far too much for me to neck down, and would always proceed in me gagging. Memories to treasure, huh?

My allergies were also never really that bad. Although I did always have a snuffly nose and would produce more snot than is depicted as normal. Although I do distinctly remember picking up my friends' pet rabbit, and within seconds my eyes swelled shut and I was so itchy and sneezy and my asthma went mental. So never again did I pick up a rabbit. But I do remember going on trips to farms and picking up various animals and never having a problem. Same goes with cats. Misty was around before I was born. So I've always grown up with cats around me. In fact, my brother had gerbils too, to which I never reacted.

 

A face full of make-up, in my "Goth" attire, aged 15. Note the clear, pale skin :(

Fast forward a few years and I would often get small patches of eczema on my inner elbows, my upper lip and sometimes around my eyes. It was an annoyance, yes, but nothing that a bit of E45 and hydrocortisone couldn't help. I'm unsure as to whether my hormones played a part in this or not but I can't figure out what would have been the initial trigger.

Then we come to me aged 16 where I was faced with the awful situation of my Grandfather's funeral and meeting my biological Father for the first time in my life. I don't remember my skin being bad on the train journey down, though I do remember my asthma worsening as we changed trains on London Underground. I just remember the morning of the funeral the entirety of my face, neck, chest and arms were coated in a weeping, swollen rash which was so bloody itchy I couldn't stand it. E45 worsened it and from then on I've avoided it like the plague.

Now whether it was the stress of the situation that brought on the flare, my Grandad's extremely dusty home, the feather duvet's, the woolen carpet, or a combination of these things... I just don't know. It wasn't until the following day I believe, that I was admitted to hospital with an asthma attack. My skin had worsened so much and oozed and was burning and infected, covered in scabs that would just reopen and make me stick to the bed sheets.

It took around 6 months for my skin to return to normal after that, applying a zillion different steroid creams during this period. Then it returned to its "mild" form, not bothering me again for another 3 years. [Although it was during this "resting" period that I developed my heat urticaria. I came out in hives when on holiday in Spain and from then on whenever I got too hot would break out in hives.]

It was then in January of 2009 that it all kicked off again (for reasons I can't quite put my finger on...) and so I returned to using steroids, but this time more potent steroids. I was given oral steroids and antibiotics to prevent my reoccurring infected eczema. Unlike before where it was on my face, neck, chest and arms, it spread down my torso and then down my legs leaving no part of me unscathed.

I assume in the first instance of having eczema that it was down to a severe allergic reaction as why else would it have appeared on my most visible parts? I can only think that it was due to an airborne allergen... possibly the sheer levels of dust? The second time however, I really have no clue.

I have been in the same state since 2009 with only small breaks of respite. As I've mentioned before I've undergone all sorts of treatments, had allergy patch and IgE testing and nothing has really come to light properly, other than my obvious dust and animal allergies.

So could my eczema be a by-product of the steroids? Perhaps it was the steroids that caused me to get eczema to start with if I took them frequently for my asthma troubles. I just don't know and I need some answers soon.

Does anyone else who has suffered from Red Skin Syndrome have severe allergies? I need to help make a distinction I think.

Forever pondering...

Dust & Cat Allergies

So the inevitable has happened - my skin has flared and left me in a bad way. Ugh.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was going to visit my family up north because I haven't seen them for a while and I needed to sort through my old bedroom. Unfortunately hotel prices were ridiculously high for when I had planned to visit so I stayed with my Uncle who lives in a pet free house. My Mum helped to clean and tidy it before my stay to prevent me from reacting to any potential dust.

For her own home, she attempted to make it a cat-free zone for the duration of my stay; locking the cats in the utility room with the freedom to go outside. I felt so cruel for allowing her to do this as they are rescue cats and became really upset and indeed vocal that they were being abandoned. It was heartbreaking. Cats are my favourite animals after all and I hate the idea of allowing them to be upset, but at the end of the day my health is more important.

Benny boy on the window sill - I hadn't realised I'd got such a hilarious photo of him LOL

My Mum hoovered the entire house, paying close attention to textile areas, such as removing the blinds and placing an abundance of carrier bags and whatever plastic she could find over the top of the bed to stop me reacting.

I didn't enter her house until the second day of my visit to withhold from a potential reaction occurring; loaded up on antihistamines. We even took further precautions by purchasing dust masks and cotton gloves to enable me to look through my belongings without touching or breathing in allergens that would cause an asthma attack or flare of the skin. I looked ridiculous and felt ridiculous that I needed to go to such extremes but they did help to an extent. It wasn't until after an hour of being in the room that I bent down to look through a wardrobe that my poor eyes that had been unprotected had a reaction and all of a sudden I had to be out of there. My eyelids were weeping. 

  Me donning mask and gloves
Me when I got home. Annoyingly my phone has made it look less severe than it was but I must stress that my face was clear and pale the day before.
The positives that can be brought to light are that I was still able to look through my things albeit for a short period of time whilst wearing the dust mask and gloves as they minimised my exposure. I should also be thankful that I didn't need to use the EpiPen or need to be rushed to hospital due to the lengths my Mum had gone to make the house more "Jenny Friendly". My asthma did flare whilst I was there but I only needed to take my inhaler a minimal amount of times compared to previous visits where I would take it countless times (naughty, naughty!).
Fortunately I had a text from a colleague last night asking if I could start work 3 hours later today which I am more than thankful for as I am in desperate need of the extra recovery time. A blessing in disguise really!

Hope everyone else's eczema/ allergies are behaving today :)