10 Months TSW

Today will mark my 10 month anniversary of ceasing the use of topical steroids. My skin is still crazily up and down, day in day out, hour by hour, but it isn't stopping me from living so I can't complain.

As you saw from my previous post I have been trialing various lotions and potions to see if they make any substantial difference but nothing seems to really improve my condition. My skin is perpetually dry. In fact the other night I had a horrible itch fit where I was bright red and just could not stop the insane itch, which I was thinking must have been induced by an uptake in moisturiser and so the next day I went moisturiser free. It was manageable. I didn't bother taking a shower or washing myself at all and in fact did some exercise too to try to get some sort of oils going. Exercise was fine and the sweat didn't irritate... I was just very smelly by the end of the day!

The next morning however I looked like a porcelain doll who's face had cracked into a thousand and one pieces. The skin had become taught and wanted to come off in large flakes. I showered to help it along but I just couldn't cope because the dry, tight skin was worse to me than the itchy red skin so I caved in to using a tiny amount of moisturiser. I seem to be on the up again, though incredibly flaky but as I say, I can't complain too much.

I haven't had a day off work on the sick since the beginning of September 2013. That's more than 6 months ago! So I can only commend my body for letting me get this far. Sure, it will take time to fully recover and heal, to be able to wear black clothing again, to wear a bit of make-up, and possibly even dye my hair but I have come a hell of a long way in these 10 months.

I have an appointment with my derm nurse in about a week and a half, I know she'll nag me because the skin is still so dry but I haven't been to the hospital now since January 2nd so surely that must say something in its self? I'll also be told off for not taking my medication strictly but I don't feel I need it any more... she says... until the next mega flare... But no, I'm sure I'm fine.

I'm also interested to see what the summer weather will bring. Last summer and every summer prior to my TSW, I practically died from the heat. I was suffering from heat induced urticaria which has definitely lessened more recently. I can stand to be in the kitchen for longer periods cooking food standing over the hob. Sometimes I will overheat but it is a billion times better than it was initially.

Oh I should mention that I also reached 100,000 page views on Sunday just gone and celebrated with a gorgeous pina colada cocktail! No alcohol has touched my lips since August 2012 because I felt it aided my itchiness what with its dehydrating nature, so this was quite the celebration. I can report that I didn't get itchy afterwards and my skin was alright - Yay! I doubt I will be drinking much these days if at all because I am accustomed to it, but it's good to see that I didn't have the adverse affects I've been so cautious about.

So yes, thank you to everyone who has visited, commented and sent me kind words over this last year. Your support means so much <3 and I'm glad I have been able to create a resource that benefits others who also suffer from eczema.

Happy healing!x

9 Months of Topical Steroid Withdrawal

So today marks 9 months of ceasing topical steroid treatment and about 6 months of completely stopping the use of immunosuppressants.

I'm not gonna lie and say I'm doing fantastically well but I can definitely say that my life is back and I am now able to do so many things that I previously couldn't do. I think my last update is nearly 2 weeks old and in that time my skin has gone backwards and forwards, which is why I didn't really want to collate another post to show you that it has regressed again as it gets pretty boring really. It is comfortable enough to live with and I think that's fine by me, especially going by what I was like this time last year! In fact when I say regression what I mean is my face has gone a bit pink and flaky, my chest and neck have some eczematic parts and my arms are scratched, but my skin is much tougher now so it's not as though I'm sloughing it off with every touch. I should be more grateful really.

So if we look back... showering and getting dressed could take hours and hours, on a bad day I wouldn't even be able to put clothing on! Nowadays however, I can be out of the shower, have a bit of moisturiser on and dressed within 30 mins. Not bloody bad if you ask me! I can also stand to do stuff after I've spent the day at work without having to run headlong for the shower, and even if I do need a shower after work, I'm pretty sure I can be ready to leave the house again shortly after.

Also the way my skin is physically is very different. I was thinking the other day that my skin doesn't peel off in humongous pieces as it used to. It was kind of akin to sun burn peel where you pull a bit and an entire sheet of skin comes off(!), I remember the satisfaction of pulling all of my eyelid skin off in one swift movement. I'm a delight I know. Yet now it's more powdery in formation and isn't quite as joyous I suppose. It's quite dandruff like again.

I'm now off work for 2 weeks to go gallivanting up to Edinburgh for a couple of days and also bypassing my family and the cats on the way there (and back) so it will be interesting to see how I get on.

I do hope that everyone is doing well!x