Eczema Herpeticum Round 7

Well scrap that - me saying I'm on the mend...! I've just come back from A&E with my 7th bout of bloody eczema herpeticum!

Last night at work I had incredibly itchy eyes and just thought I was reacting to something. This morning I wake up with pus gluing my eyes together. Delish! I just thought it was conjunctivitis.

Not too suspect other than a gammy eye

An hour later I look in the mirror to see there are small pimples under my eyelash line... and now it's taken over the majority of my face!

3 hours after waking

I've been to hospital and after having disinfectant put into my eye (I so wasn't ready for it) my eyes themselves are alright, my eyelids are just covered in cold sores. Well my whole face is but it can become a very dangerous game indeed when the infection gets into your eyes. The thing about EH is that because it is a combination of two nasty skin issues it can turn into a super infection and if not treated in time can cause all sorts of horrific problems, even resulting in death in some instances. Not good.

Lol at the yellow disinfectant stuff 

So yep. I've given work an advanced warning that I'm unable to attend tomorrow because I look and feel horrific. It'll be money down the drain but health comes first doesn't it? I've been given 800mg Aciclovir tablets to take 5 times a day, so that should sort me out in no time. Thinking back I think 800mg 5x a day is a little excessive to the dosages I've taken in the past... but if it does the trick, and doesn't kill me, I shan't argue.

Can I have some good luck now please?

Ciclosporin During Topical Steroid Withdrawal

I am truly overwhelmed with just how well received my blog is. Everyone I've spoken to or has commented has thanked me for making it... but thank you for reading it! Just overnight alone I've had 200 views! My blog views are growing by thousands week by week and it's just incredibly mind-blowing to see that people from all over the world are gaining some form of solace from my little piece of the internet. I feel like a proud parent :)

You're probably wondering how I've been faring this week? Well since starting the Ciclosporin for the 3rd time last Saturday I can confirm that it is indeed working! Hurrah!!! I still have some rashy and scabby areas but they are no where near as prominent as they were this time last week. I also had a really bad dehydration headache yesterday evening so that has probably contributed to the rash I have today that wasn't there yesterday but I have faith that it will disappear again just as quickly as it came.

It's also nice having that feeling where you can just physically feel your skin is improving. It's hard to put into words but you just know that it's getting better. Yay for Ciclosporin! Without it I doubt I'd be able to face the hard journey of withdrawal on my own.

I took a picture of my arm yesterday whilst waiting to start work to show a comparison of my arm from the week before. It's startling really, but shows with perseverance and the correct level of medication it can get better without steroid usage.

Last week

   

This Week

Hope everyone is having a good week xx

Friday May 31st

*Be warned that there are some potentially NSFW images in this post.*

So on Friday I went to hospital and ended up being there for 3 bloody hours!!! My appointment was at 10:40 but I wasn't seen until an hour and a half later. I then had to get my blood pressure done, go for bloods, a new prescription of Ciclosporin and produce a urine sample which my bladder didn't want to cooperate with. Because I was there for so long I was unable to have a shower before work, leaving me in a right old state. So as you can see by the images below, it was not pretty.

I suppose I should tell you what happened when I saw my derm. Well he told me he read a bit of the article I gave him on Red Skin Syndrome but didn't find it particularly credible - thanks bud! Luckily my derm nurse seems to find it intriguing enough to look into though, so I shall share these articles and blogs etc. with her. 

I've decided to give Ciclosporin a 3rd chance whilst I withdraw because there is no way I will be able to continue to go to work whilst flaring seeing as I'm finding it difficult enough at present with the state I'm in. I'm completely zapped of energy which isn't helped by the fact that I've had to go to work for 6 days in a row and won't get a break on my days off as they are filled with things that need to be done. Ugh. I need to relax. It takes so much effort to preen myself for a short shift at work and by the time I'm home I'm scratching myself to pieces. Really not nice.

Without further ado - here are the promised pictures. Don't be too freaked out by my near-nakedness.

(L-R) Body; Chest, tummy, arms; Tummy/ above underwear line

(L-R) Tummy; Back of knee; Breast; Arm

A truly grimacing sight. 

My belly is so ridiculously awful. It actually looks like an old woman's tummy due to the loss of elasticity. My poor skin.

I'm also pretty wound up today because some complete moron randomly reversed into my car whilst we were waiting at traffic lights. Luckily there's only minor damage but I'm still hacked off. I didn't have a straight thinking head, and even less so because I was dying for a shower so I didn't get his contact details for if anything does occur later on. I swear people just like to vandalise my car for the hell of it. Must have a retard magnet on it somewhere...