Hi everyone
My name is Ty and i am from the UK . I have decided to create a blog so i can follow my own progress in this journey through withdrawel from topical steroids .
I am nearly 45 years of age now and have used topical steroids on my skin for about 17 years .Different strengths from cortizone cream to Betnovate .
To start with i will say that i have suffered with excema from being a child but didnt use steroid creams until i was an adult . at times the excema was bad but was always under control by using just light moisturisers . it seemed to get worse when i started work in the food/fish industry many years ago . obviously now i know that it was the contact with fish and fish water and colourings i was using that agrevated my excema .
i would start work and by the end of the day parts of my body that contacted the irritants would be red and itchy . but this was still manageable . slowly it got worse so i decided to go to the doctors for help . i cant remember the date now but i do remember unscrewing the lid off the ointment tube ,turning the lid around ,piercing the film on the tube , squeezing the tube and then rubbing the ,what i thought ,miracle cream on the excema . wow , within days the rash had gone and the rest is history .
Up until about 4 years ago it was still pretty manageable . i thought it was just down to the fact that i was born with a condition that was ongoing and would come and go when it wanted to . I got used to it .
Then sudenly , without any warnig , it all started to get out of control . it spread all over my body and to parts that i had never had excema before .i wasnt working in the fish industry any more and hadnt for a number of years . i work ouside in the fresh air . what was causing it to get worse ? . i had no idea . SLOWLY IT GOT WORSE .
Two years ago ,it spread to my face and neck . my hands and arms were getting worse and i also had it on my legs . all the doctors said to do was to put more moisturiser on and more steroid cream .
A year ago it went crazy . my eyes would swell then my whole face would swell . my joints would swell without warning and then i would shed copious amounts of dead skin then it would die down . i would be free from it for a few days then it would repeat . At the start of 2012 it escalated even more and after several trips to see the doctor ,they put it down to being photosensative . panic set in and that just made it worse . all they kept telling me to do was to apply more steroid cream . i was even told that i could put it round my eyes as long as i didnt put any on my eyeball .
THEN , one day i woke up with gew streaming from my eyes . i washed and cleared my eyes and rested for a few days . i just couldnt function . my wife was so worried . I was searching the net about being allergic to UV rays when i came across the words RED SKIN SYNDROME .
OH MY GOD .......This cant be real surely . i didnt know if to laugh or cry . on one hand i was elated to find that i had found the truth . then i read blogs and saw photos and realised what lie ahead .
That was exactly 103 days ago . 6th october 2012 .
i have come through the first 3 months feeling battle scarred and at tiome ,emotionaly wrecked . but here i am today . i flared for about 80 days solid but now i am actualy feeling pretty good in comparison .
i will go through what happend in the first 100 days later on but for now i am just pleased to get this blog started and begin to reach out to others with the same journey ahead .
thanks for reading anf i hope to get back soon to discuss progress .
kindest regards ..Ty .(uk) .
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