2.5 year update

Here I am at the 2.5 year mark since I began this detox from ongoing steroid use my whole life.
I can't believe I made it this far but the process, as excruciating as it was has been so worth it!

I am now completely eczema free for the first time in my whole life. I am not on any diet or food modification plan at all and I use no medication at all. My skin has all but completely healed itself and every 4-6 months for about the past year I have had some very minor flare ups on my face but the severity is much less and the healing much faster.

It has been so incredible to be able to dress for the weather, not to cover my body and to be able to do things that I could never do, like swimming in the summer with my kids and sleeping an entire night without scratching my skin. My life has changed so much and the only thing that has changed on this entire journey was giving up the steroids and allowing my body years to heal on it's own.

I will do a more comprehensive post at some stage but for now, I encourage anyone who is using steroids on an ongoing basis to be incredibly careful about using them long term. They completely destroyed my body and the reaction that I began to have to them after so many years of use only perpetuated my eczema and continued the vicious cycle.

I have told many doctors that I have seen and have not yet found any that seem supportive and understanding of this journey. Every doctor I have seen just prescribed a different type of steroid and never spoke to me about the long term effects.

I am so happy that I found this online Facebook group and organisation, ITSAN. Being able to do this journey alongside others all over the world has been amazing and the support was what helped me to keep going through the darkest months.

Here is a picture of me from the past few months with my mum and my daughter. No eczema, swimmers, pain free and so much freedom after 30 years of severe eczema from head to toe.
I use to go for a swim in the ocean and sit on the beach for half an hour afterwards, crying in agony as the salt water burned and stung every inch of my body. I can now swim without any pain or discomfort at all which is amazing!

Thanks to my amazing mumma also who walked alongside me my whole life during this journey and did so much to work out how to help me heal from this. We made it! xx

4.5 months into TSW

I'm here at the 4.5 month mark. I didn't think i would make it this far, it seemed like such a long time when i had just started out. This is a very tough journey, I have certainly healed a lot from the first two months but there is much more to go. I can now function much more normally and this makes it so much easier with the children.
I am still covered in this strange split, broken and red inflamed skin. The past month my ankles have taken a battering and have been so extremely bad. They are swollen, red, weeping and very dry. It's crazy just passing each day and not actually doing anything to my skin to bring healing. I can only bath in certain things and put some zinc cream on sometimes that seems to help a bit. I have tried going to the pool to see if the chlorine helps and also to the beach so the salt water can kill the infection. My ankles were so bad they began throbbing so i went to a doctor recently and she was a little shocked at their state so i have been on antibiotics for the past 10 days. I have now stopped and they seem as bad as they were before i started the course of them. I have just been applying zinc and bandaging them so hopefully that helps.

My face has been pretty good lately with only a little bit on my lip and chin area but  can wear light makeup which has been so great as i feel so much more confident when i can show my face. My neck is healing well also and just gets red and itchy occasionally but i don't have to wear scarfs to cover it so that's an improvement.

I have been feeling so extremely tired so had some bloods done and my iron level is very low so i have started on iron and vitamin c which has been making a huge difference.

My hands have been healin up well and are mostly just cracked around my knuckle area now but the red sleeve look seems to have subsided a bit.

The worst is the itch! Oh my gosh the itch, it brings me to tears often, gets me out of bed multiple times a night, terrorises me constantly. It is the worst feeling ever and I often find myself in the midst of tearing my skin apart praying desperately for the itch to stop. It is so consuming and the only relief is scratching my skin. I know its a terrible cycle and once started its very hard to stop. I am sure healing would be much faster if the itch was not there.

Lord please bring healing swiftly from this horrible addiction that i plaguing my body. I just can't do it anymore but there is no way out but forward drug free. I will continue as i know that this is the answer but far out it's tough.

I have been trying to stick to my crazy diet of no wheat, dairy, yeast, almonds, grains, cows milk and more. It's hard to say the least as it is very restrictive and not being able to munch on a cracker or piece of bread is actually really tough. I have lost so much weight, 15 kg now as there is just so little food to snack on unless i do a big cook up which is time consuming with the kids. Im down to 52kg now which is the lightest i have been since i was an early teenager.

Christmas is here and so is the heat. I am praying for some reprieve and that this would be an enjoyable season.

Day 13 of steroid withdrawal

Today my skin has been so incredibly dry once again and weeping a lot.
My top lip and the area between my eyebrows and top of nose is wet and raw and has been very painful all day. My legs are very dry and there is a rash across my thighs and top of my legs that is very itchy. My hands are very dry and I have to keep applying ointment so keep them moisturised as they get so wet and dry out all day.
The lymph nodes in my groin are very swollen which is a sign of the stress this is having on my immune system but each day I am seeing little improvements so keeping positive and staying healthy.

What it's like to have eczema

My eczema healing journey begins