Day 258: Food and TSW (Just My Opinions)

Here is what I think about topical steroid withdrawal and diet:

1. If you are allergic to something, don't eat it.
2. If something makes you feel bad, don't eat it.
3. Vegetables are great. Eat a lot.
4. Fruits are good. Eat some.
5. If your food doesn't go bad, it's probably bad for you.
6. Yes, we all agree that the Standard American Diet is bad.
7. Yes, you should eat more real food in general. 
8. No, I don't think my diet has a thing to do with my flares. I have tried really hard to find a connection and you know what? I can't. 
9. If you can find a connection and eliminating that item makes you feel better, then go ahead and do it. That doesn't mean everyone else should do the same.
10. No, I don't think diet can "cure" topical steroid withdrawal.
11. Yes, I think it can help true eczema if your eczema is caused by food allergy/sensitive. 

Disclaimer: Obviously, these are just my opinions and you probably have other opinions. Personally, I don't care what anyone eats. I am just tired of reading all the theories on diet and topical steroid withdrawal. It seems like every question or conversation has "Eliminate this, that, and the other! Don't eat nightshades! Drink raw milk! Nothing spicy! No, wait, don't drink milk, be vegan! Actually, eat lots of organic beef! You know what, just don't eat anything - only drink water!!"

Day 249: Slowly But Surely

RSS Left Palm, a set on Flickr.

There hasn't been really too much to post about lately. I feel like I've mostly got this thing under control - knock on wood! Some days I feel a lot of pain/soreness but it's mostly doable and I haven't needed to take pain medication very often. Mostly I'm just tired of this (especially the shedding!!) and I'm ready to have normal skin!

I have been taking photos throughout this whole thing and I am going to slowly work on getting them uploaded and organized into Flickr. Here is my left hand palm starting September to today. These are just pictures from my phone but I know I have more on my camera so I am going to probably add those later today. I tried my best to take photos in similar light.

I'm surprised to see how much better my palm has gotten! I knew it did but I didn't realize how much! My hands have always been a wreck, covered in (what I thought was) eczema since I was a kid. I now know that at the beginning it was probably eczema (aka "rash caused by something but we don't know what so here's some topical steroids") but somewhere around my late teens/early twenties, it turned into topical steroid addiction. I had stopped responding to halobetasol, which is one of the strongest topical steroids, and the doctors weren't offering anything except more topical steroids.

These photos don't really show it but also the sides of my index and middle finger had the rashiness. I know that a lot of RSSers have normal palms and the fact that I didn't had me really worried I was barking up the wrong tree. But since my hands are truly ground zero and have been marinated in topical steroids of varying strengths on a regular for years and years, I should not be surprised.

Via Flickr:
Left palm - healing from topical steroid induced eczema (Red Skin Syndrome).

Visit ITSAN.org for more information on topical steroid addiction and withdrawal, side effects of long-term topical steroid use.