This was taken earlier today, December 11, 2015 ~ I am not 100% healed BUT getting close. I have a small amount of coverage in a few spots and inside corners of eyes. I have been putting together gallery that is so past due and will hopefully get posted before end of year. This is about 17 months

Hi!  I have been taking pics but as improvement comes and life begins to take shape again and I'm no longer confined it's been a challenge to get to my 2 month update but it will be posted soon. I'm not 100% but so much better than a year ago. My hands, one wrist and to lower section of face and my neck are still hold outs. It's been over a year now since my last and final TS use, one of the best and a life saving choice. My thyroid is working proper again, it seems my adrenals are as well blood test will confirm that one as well. Don't forget to scroll down and check the progression of my journey.

end of month TEN May 30, 2015

Month 8 March 2015

Getting better by the day, so much going on, so little time to update but will do a progressive update video very soon. It sure has helped me to see the progression. The journey is a reminder of how far I've come and how there is no way in 'hell' I would go back to that horrific roller coaster of a ride. Check back soon for updated video. oh yeah, this pic was taken April 3, 2015

it can be so difficult to describe the depth and intensity

of pain, burn and itch that can come all at once, close as I've come so far is to imagine, using the thumb..... smashing the thumb, tying a band around wrist to slow circulation [induce throbbing], then peeling the skin away while spritzing with lemon juice, it really is just the most intense form of discomfort imaginable.

I have an extensive history going back to childhood, approximately 47 years. The list includes and is building as I recall more. Hydrocortisone .05%-1%+ multiple rounds of Prednisone, Diprolene Ointment, 0.05%, Diprolene Cream AF, 0.05% Flonase,steroid shot/wrist. Desoximetaone USP 0.25%,Kenalog Cream/Spray, 0.1%,Topicort Cream/Ointment, 0.25%

Here are some pics from past couple days, it's been tough, but the hot spring soak was helpful earlier in the day, not sure how much yet. It was too short a day as it was necessary to return home. I'll have update in photos post soak later on.

It can be so hard to express how painful this is, it goes beyond the surface, deep. All right, though sleep was better after soak, it was still too short & the urge to sleep is back, can't fight it.

Another sleepless night, so counterproductive, how can one heal when one does not sleep and how can one sleep when one is not healing.

After posting a couple of overview videos what I may do here is post by the month progression of this journey. Who knows how long this will last, we're talking 40ish years of intermittent use of multiple varying strengths of corticosteroids, not to mention steroid injection, inhaler, Flonase nasal spray, pain patches, you name it, seems I unwittingly became a steroid junkie. I was never warned of such a thing.

Video featuring recent and also past TSW

02-11-15  was looking pretty good and then THIS - hard to compain, these are the BETTER days



02-13-15 [what a difference a couple days can make]
and some good cover up doesn't hurt, but mostly healed. [02-18-15] It was short lived but will take all I can get.

Seems that stress truly is responsible for this outbreak, as my face
was pretty clear the evening prior, my son became agitated with me
and I slipped on eating 'wheat' containing food, seems to be making
a difference to avoid not only gluten but all wheat. An experiment in
the works.

a connection - Topical Steroid Withdrawl aka TSW, Topical Steroid Addiction, Red Skin Syndrome - Autoimmune Disorder-Leaky Gut- phBalance [think of an aquarium] Sleep disorders.... and more click link below for a short journey through recent effects .....
 Link below to a short video featuring more recent journey through TSW

the face of Topical Steroid Withdrawl - Autoimmune Disorder

Month SEVEN

There is so much more to this journey than finds it way to this page, hopefully soon. For now this continues to be a time of distress with itch, burn, pain and swelling, many sleepless nights, tired days and it goes on. Life goes on as well, barely it seems to creep along, it is a time for healing. Healing? Yes along with all the discomfort there is a measure of healing, the intensity is less when I stop to think, the areas not as large.

It is hard to realize that when the pain is so unbelievably intense. There have even been times I've looked at my hands and wondered, my word, HOW can you feel so much pain radiating with heat but not the fire of a few months back.

I should be fast asleep, my body needs the rest for healing but the itch has kept me awake, the thickness of the skin on my face has returned with red like a burn. WHERE does this come from? My thumb is the worst now and so slow to heal, one day it will but for now it's a tease. One day I awake and it seems to have improved but then I see this really is not the case.

Compression gloves have been helpful but can not wear them on my face. Some days I use fresh aloe vera to cool my skin, on nights like last a bag of ice for my hands through the night. Oh and somehow after all these months there was a leak of icy water in the night around my pillows, though I was too tired to fully care.

      It is difficult of course to see from photos but the pain in hands is nearly indescribable 02-16-15

One of the most frustrating things is the insomnia, here it is coming up on 4:30am and sleep is still to come, though I've made efforts to get all comfy and then the ITCH. Though it's better than the sheer pain and burning of the past several days, it still interferes with sleep.  My face flared for past week, past couple days seemed to be worse with not [only the sweliing, redness & burn but it started oozing clear fluid that began crusting over. Ok better sleep while the urge is strong.

It's been a long long journey ...

The motivation for starting this blog posting came from the many many posts I have read/viewed over the past few months or so by others traveling the Topical Steroid road of recovery. This being ONE of the more challenging personal aspects of my life, which truthfully has been for the majority of my life, I've finally found the keys to moving forward.

Keys, yes a fistful of keys dangling from a ring. Now it's time to take them, sort through and use each one to open a door that leads to recovery.

This leg of my journey began about the last week of July 2014 following surgery... it seems it may run on for many more months to years, it's been a long long time coming. Being so ill for over two years now, it's encouraging to have that ring of keys, otherwise things would be hopelessly bleak. Now, however there is much work to be done.

That said, with so much work to be done, postings will be as they come, as there is time and as fatigue is overcome. My family doctor thought keeping photo journal was a good idea, so many photos may be posted, perhaps even more than dialogue for a time.