Topical Steroid Addiction & Allergies to Animals

Hope everyone's eczema isn't too bad? Mine is actually brilliant today. It's still there, and most prominent on my arms with scabs left all over my face, neck and chest but today has been the first day in such a long, long time where I haven't had a shower and I don't feel horrendous for skipping it. It's quite a big step given how my eczema has been manifesting itself recently, to the extent that without a shower I don't feel life is worth living so this is a MASSIVE development as it isn't often at all that I'm able to appreciate this luxury.

Today I had an appointment with my GP who I very seldom see as I usually just go straight to the dermatology department at the hospital as they're more understanding of my needs. I came out with an Epi-pen in the hope that it will be an added reassurance for when I go to see my Mum next week. I have severe allergies to fur bearing animals but have never gone into anaphylactic shock so wasn't sure if I would qualify, but my reactions are so severe that I warrant immediate hospital attention. My entire face swells, with my eyes swelling shut; I become incredibly itchy from head to foot, with a very prominent red rash; my skin begins to weep even if I don't scratch it and I have a severe asthma attack (and this is without even touching the animal!). It's gotten worse and worse every time I've been back there but I need to look through my belongings in my old bedroom to see what can be chucked and what kept. I'm just frightened that one day I will have an anaphylactic fit, so at least I now have a necessary precaution if it was to occur.

I was quite annoyed by the doctor's attitude to the situation. He told me I shouldn't enter a person's house where there will be a fur bearing animal, yet surely there will be a time where I will unknowingly and unwillingly go into someone's home who does have a fur bearing pet. What on earth do I do then? I mean I obviously understand why he said it, as it's my health that needs to be kept in check at the end of the day, but still, I can't completely avoid animals when the majority of people I come into contact with on a daily basis do own fur bearing pets.

It's hard enough as it is at work accepting returned clothing where you can visibly see it is completely covered in animal fur. Obviously I go and wash my hands directly after I have dealt with the customer for fear of touching my face and having a bad reaction, but it's not an unavoidable thing for me to actively do. Even friends and family end up being covered in animal fur and it isn't as though I can wear a bubble suit whilst acquainting them. It's a bloody annoying allergy to have and it makes me despise my body. I love animals a huge amount but my body has decided that it doesn't. So sad.


Do you have severe animal allergies? How do you deal with them?


  My Mum's gruesome twosome!
Cats are my favourite animal ever :( My life is shit.

Eczema & Staying With Others

Having severe eczema can be really, really frustrating and tedious when divulging in social events. Strict routine is necessary in ensuring that your condition remains manageable so staying at someone else's place can certainly be a chaotic experience.

I've mentioned before on here that my morning routine literally takes me hours. On a good day I can probably decant my routine into around 2 hours or so, but on a bad day... well it can take me basically half the day!

I always find myself getting super frustrated when staying with other people because although they understand my condition, they don't necessarily understand exactly what it entails for me to get my skin preened to a comfortable state. For example, say we have to be ready to leave at 9am I would need to get up at 6am whilst the rest of the party wouldn't even contemplate getting out of bed until at LEAST 7am. However when there are a lot of you,  then they often spill over into your time and if you're not quick and fast thinking enough you can easily see yourself getting to the back of the queue which then causes more distress and panic because you know you won't be getting ready in time.

This weekend just past saw a similar state of affairs, though fortunately there were 2 bathrooms so no one struggled with time-keeping. I was slightly panicky that I was to spend the night in the living room/ kitchen area on an airbed because I knew people would want to use the space first thing in the morning for breakfast and such. With me needing to moisturise, which in itself is the most time consuming part of my routine, I wasn't sure what I would do as you can't exactly walk around in the nude in a house full of people. We came to the conclusion that I would book out the main bathroom for as long as it took me to get dressed and everyone else would fight over the other shower room.

Staying with friends in student places is the most difficult as you can't hog their bathroom but at the same time you don't really have any where else to go and carry out your routine.

I just find that eczema is such a demanding condition, turning people into selfish beings, because I know that if I didn't follow out my routine to a T I would be uncomfortable for the rest of the day and wouldn't feel like I could enjoy myself because the necessity to pander to my skins needs would be too much to bear.

I hate that it has so much control over my life in this way, but the only way to get it to a manageable state is to preen it to perfection so that it can get better and easier to control. Vicious circle. It also makes me feel so guilty that I do have to be selfish but rather that than getting unbearably ill.

The London Marathon - Raising Money For Eczema

This weekend saw my other half, Shane run the greatly prestigious London Marathon, his first EVER marathon! He did extremely well, running it in 3 hours and 47 minutes and for that alone I reckon is a major commendable achievement. After all, he isn't doing it for himself, he's doing it in order to raise money and awareness for those who suffer from this awful skin complaint in the hope of providing the National Eczema Society with the much needed capital to fund necessary research to finding the cure.

Despite not being in the best shape for this big run; lack of quality sleep and eating far too much rubbish due to his birthday being earlier this week, he's done amazingly and I am so proud of him. Next weekend he will be running the half marathon in Stratford though does have the option of running the full marathon if he wishes. It's probably for the best if he recovers though!

Please, please sponsor him >>> www.justgiving.com/shanes1000km

Photo after he'd crossed the finishing line.

Shane & I before the run. We weren't allowed to walk through into his area so this was goodbye until after the race.

After the race. The weather got out really sunny. It's hard to see here as my face is shaded but I'm actually very sunburnt.

Unfortunately because I take immunosuppressants I am much more susceptible to sun burn. It's my own stupid fault for not having sun cream to hand, but I'm yet to find one that doesn't irritate my eczema. I find that sun cream tends to have a drying out effect on the skin, so need to moisturise directly after application but this then defeats the object of wearing sun cream as the moisturiser acts as a grease, thus heating up and causing a cooking effect. Rubbish! Looks like I need to shop for a big floppy hat in the near future!

I will write up a separate post relating to some other issues I've thought up this weekend so keep your eyes peeled for those.