tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22747037465922548752024-03-13T11:51:31.282-07:00Cortisone Induced Eczema RecoveryRecovering from cortisone addiction that had turned my skin permanently red, dry and itchy as hell. By Joshua StrawczynskiAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10528954325994743167noreply@blogger.comBlogger77125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274703746592254875.post-27507480945246765212017-11-28T13:23:00.001-08:002017-11-28T13:30:39.681-08:005 Years On Living An Incredible LifeAn update video 5 years after I started this channel, and removed cortisone steroids from my life. I'm now 100% healed, happy and living an incredible life. I wanted to take this opportunity to send out a message of support to all those who are going through the process. Well done, keep going!<br />
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Cronic eczema can be solved, and getting off medication is how I achieved it. If this is new to you, I recommend you read the rest of the blog, and google all the other survivors. </div>
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Thanks to Dr Rapaport who's research led me to find this answer. I strongly recommend you read all his information and papers. They are truely mind opening and totally scientific. You can read more about him here, the man who can <a href="http://www.red-skin-syndrome.com/dr-marvin-rapaport-md/">cure eczema</a> simply by offering support and knowledge.</div>
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Please share this with anyone going through this issue. It cost me nothing in medical bills, or crazy tests. Just simply my time and perseverance to find a solution.</div>
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Live the life you can. My love to you all.</div>
<br />Joshua Strawczynskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02891141806965021549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274703746592254875.post-83633274688872928182015-06-14T18:02:00.001-07:002015-06-14T18:02:11.571-07:00Why alcohol causes red skin | TSW | Steroid recover<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This very quick video explains the science behind why drinking alcohol causes inflammation and red skin. For those suffering from topical steroid withdrawal, or cortisone induced eczema, whilst there is conflicting information out there, what I'm tell you is beyond dispute. </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10528954325994743167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274703746592254875.post-59558763487421715022014-03-18T18:59:00.002-07:002014-03-18T18:59:36.304-07:0018 months on from TSW<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I'm 18 months into my recovery and looking and feeling great. This is an update for everyone at home who has been wondering where I went and what's going on. The long story short is that life is brilliant, my skin is brilliant and all is great.</div>
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<br />Joshua Strawczynskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02891141806965021549noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274703746592254875.post-72174136636472141512014-03-03T15:16:00.002-08:002014-03-03T15:16:12.096-08:00A letter to a fellow TSW recovery friend<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Going through the recovery, it's very normal that your skin hurts,
remember it is completely broken, so the pain is a mixture of
inflammation and dry skin.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Inflammation: </span>The redness in
your skin is inflammation that the body is creating because of the
damage caused by the steroids. This is what is making you both really
tired and really uncomfortable. This takes a long time to heal, but it
will go down and you can minimise the impact by using cold packs and
drinking lots of water + using: cod liver oil + primerose oil +
moisturiser.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Dry Skin: </span>Your body is creating
new skin cells as fast as it can because all of the ones on your body
are damaged. This should create a top layer of very dry, damaged skin
on top, and very new fragile skin below. This is uncomfortable and it
takes time to fix itself.<br />
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Painkillers and sleeping pills are your friends. I took quite a lot of
them for the first 4 or 5 months of recovery. I also minimised my
activity to really just watch movies and take very small walks around my
house. I also showered and bathed, but only for very short periods of
time.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Warning:</span> Do not take long baths, you will be way too tender afterwards. No more than a few minutes.<br />
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Finally, this is a game of mental toughness. If you can focus on the
end goal and not worry about the current, then it becomes a million
times easier. Imagine a marathon runner pounding the pavement... do you
think he likes running, the gut wrenching pain, of course not, but he
focuses on his goal and pushes through it for the ultimate victory. In
our case, we just have to get to the end goal (set yourself a timeline
to focus on). What you will see is that the days tick by and soon you
are 6 months in and feeling great, then a year, then two years and you
can't remember being sick<br />
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My friend Michelle is now about 6 or 8 months into recovery and she
looks so good. You wouldn't know anything was wrong with her, and she
is back to exercising and loving life. She had all the same questions
that I get emailed daily, but she focused on the goal (with a little ass
kicking from me), and now she is happy as ever. You can do this to.
You go girl!!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10528954325994743167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274703746592254875.post-39961792711306096182014-01-05T02:42:00.002-08:002014-01-05T02:43:03.467-08:00Looking nomal again after TSW<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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After 14 months of recovery I'm looking good and feeling great. I'm back to normal with every part of my life and have done thinks I haven't done in years like swimming in the ocean, playing sport and leaving the house without moisturiser across my entire body.</div>
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I wanted to share a quick picture that was taken of me the other day and I hope this motivates everyone else going through the recovery from cortisone induced eczema. </div>
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Best of luck to you all</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10528954325994743167noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274703746592254875.post-24218429924671447432013-12-21T19:42:00.000-08:002013-12-21T19:43:17.066-08:00A Christmas Message to help TSW recoveryThis is a Christmas shoutout to all those recovering from topical steroid withdrawal (TWS). Sometimes you just need a little confidence that it's all going to get better and my friends I promise it will.<br />
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See you all in the new year. Merry Christmas.<br />
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<center><iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/vdaNDXAt5cg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center>Joshua Strawczynskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02891141806965021549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274703746592254875.post-59971299884531098722013-12-17T16:21:00.001-08:002013-12-17T16:21:23.964-08:00Surviving a music festival - Recovery month 14.5A quick pre-christmas update on month 14 of my recovery from cortisone induced eczema and red skin syndrome. In this addition I talk about going to a music festival with my friends and being able to handle the highly stressful (on the body) situation of drinking, late nights and general dehydration.<br />
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Here's the video of my mates and I enjoying the festival. You can see a little redness in my face, but I think the bay watch outfits were making it look worse than it was, certainly nobody said I was in anyway red. #winning.<br />
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Joshua Strawczynskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02891141806965021549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274703746592254875.post-39907024547197089652013-11-27T14:14:00.002-08:002013-11-27T14:15:52.490-08:00TSW Cortisone Recovery v Sex DriveBefore I begin, very sorry about the way I filmed this video. I used the iPad for the first time and learned a valuable lesson about how I need to hold it :(<br />
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The upside is that I feel incredible, look brilliant and have the best life I've had in many years. What do I chalk all of this up to? Simply getting off those dirty nasty steroids the doctors kept giving me.
Power on!Joshua Strawczynskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02891141806965021549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274703746592254875.post-55158369970854044682013-11-06T18:06:00.000-08:002013-11-06T18:07:07.409-08:0014 month recovery update - Red Skin Syndrome<center><iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/CwyXYdhQ3lI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10528954325994743167noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274703746592254875.post-45868495998050138792013-10-20T00:01:00.000-07:002013-10-20T00:01:58.386-07:00Red Skin Syndrome Update month 13.5<center><iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/JjSEjb5hf0A" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center>Joshua Strawczynskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02891141806965021549noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274703746592254875.post-84502598385381862802013-10-08T18:57:00.002-07:002013-10-08T18:57:26.775-07:00A letter to Dr Rapaport<br />
I sent this email today, and wanted to share it with you all. If it were not for Dr Rapaport I don't know where I would be. Whilst i never actually met or spoke to him, by using the resources he made available, I was able to mentally commit to my recovery and stay off steroids permanently.<br />
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Dear Dr Rapaport,<br />
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My name is Josh Strawczynski from Australia and I was a sufferer of Red Skin Syndrome. Thanks to finding information that you published and the many other people suffering from this alfiction, I have been off steroids for 13 months and am now 95% back to normal. Whilst there is still a little dry skin and occasional rash on my chest, my life is back to normal and nobody except me is any the wiser.<br />
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I can't thank you enough for providing your research to the global community. If it were not for you I would still be searching for a miracle cure to something that my doctors and dermatologists were inadvertently doing to me. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have found you and your work and will remain indebted to you for all my days.<br />
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In my recovery I have kept a blog, mapping the progress with images and videos and through this have made contact with many many other sufferers, and helped to diagnose a few people also in the same boat. It's only a drop in the ocean, but I'm glad to be sharing your work to help others and will continue to support as best I can. My blog is http://redskinrecoverydiary.blogspot.com and as I said, there is excellent footage and imagery there. I'm also a public speaker and insanely positive about life and the whole recovery process, so if there is anything in there that can help you, by all means you have permission to share it.<br />
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I just wanted to drop you a line to say thank you and if there is anything I can do to help, just let me know.<br />
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Josh<br />
Joshua Strawczynskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02891141806965021549noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274703746592254875.post-39923977042369196842013-09-08T22:20:00.001-07:002013-09-08T22:20:33.075-07:0012 month before and after - Cortisone induced eczema <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10528954325994743167noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274703746592254875.post-86793755241071175582013-08-25T23:12:00.000-07:002013-08-25T23:12:28.562-07:00Cortisone Addiction Recovery - Month 11.5 updateRecovery from cortisone addiction which sent my skin very red and very dry for years and years is near the end!! For so long I was told I had terrible eczema, when in fact all I had to do was stop taking cortisone. Now 11.5 months off the steroids and I'm looking and feeling fabulous!!
<center><iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/uNXW2v1tXg0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center>Joshua Strawczynskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02891141806965021549noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274703746592254875.post-88693629471402412662013-08-07T21:43:00.001-07:002013-08-07T21:43:52.580-07:00Coming to a beach this summerA friend sent me this and I couldn't help but share it. I think I'm about 6 months away from being fully healed, and this summer (approx 6 months away) I am going to be brown as a berry!!
Throughout this recovery I have continually given myself things to look forward to, to work towards. This is one of those thing!
<center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/0722x_o84Qs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center>Joshua Strawczynskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02891141806965021549noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274703746592254875.post-74878621755329860582013-07-29T09:13:00.002-07:002013-07-29T09:13:41.016-07:00Cortisone Addiction & Red Skin Syndrome Recovery - Month #10<center><iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/cDdbpa7G-C4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10528954325994743167noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274703746592254875.post-61803288652242702322013-07-24T06:27:00.001-07:002013-07-24T06:27:18.987-07:00<center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/7kmHe8aSs5s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center>Joshua Strawczynskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02891141806965021549noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274703746592254875.post-68956725365333813982013-07-21T21:45:00.003-07:002013-07-21T21:45:55.209-07:00Looking and feeling great after 10ish monthsI'm thrilled to post this latest video, my skin looking absolutely brilliant after ten months of recovery from red skin syndrome caused by cortisone cream usage. For the first time in a long while there is much more white than red and the full range of movement is coming back into my body.<div>
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I'm ever so thankful for those many people who have helped me through and am delighted to be helping everyone else also going through this.</div>
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There are still ongoing symptoms including:</div>
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<li>Small dry skin flakes</li>
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<li>Light itching</li>
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<li>Ridiculous good looks</li>
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All of these are very manageable, even if you do get sick of vacuuming constantly. Overall I'm extremely happy to be back and gearing up for my USA trip in September!</div>
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Joshua Strawczynskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02891141806965021549noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274703746592254875.post-42540794918185113242013-07-14T15:57:00.003-07:002013-07-14T15:57:51.210-07:00Mainly white skin after 10.5 months of recoveryI cut cortisone out of my system on the 6th of September 2012 and now 10.5 months later I look basically normal. In that time of course readers and fellow followers will know about the horrible symptoms I went through, but now, a mere 11 months in and I'm basically healed.<br />
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Across my journey I've been meeting lots of other sufferers, Aussie's, Americans, Asians and Europeans. My friend from work introduced me to his girlfriend and immediately we diagnosed her as also being a sufferer. It is just so common, you wouldn't even believe!<br />
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What I take a lot of heart from, is that the cure is all so easy. All you need do is stop using the cortisone. Sure there are a lot of symptoms along the way and it's not a pleasant next stage of your life, but recovering from red dry skin is an amazing feeling.<br />
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Good luck to everyone<br />
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JoshJoshua Strawczynskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02891141806965021549noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274703746592254875.post-88324302168567652302013-06-25T01:26:00.001-07:002013-06-25T01:26:37.184-07:00Back into sport - Cortisone recovery month 9.5I've been getting back into sport of recent, playing a bit of ultimate frisbee and touch rugby at Albert Park (where the grand prix is held). Whilst it has been a bit hard on the body to start with, I realised that once the sweat glands started to work, they cleared the dry skin and it all felt great. In fact, the body is the best it has been since I started.<br />
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Good diet and only minimal booze has really helped and I feel like I'm almost at the end of this journey. To be clear, what I mean by this is that I'm through the bad stuff, now I just wait a few more months for the skin to strengthen and the moisture to come back fully.<br />
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To everyone following my progress, please encourage others to do the same. I've been given a new lease on life and it really wasn't that hard. I say that in a relative context, meaning of course it was hard, but compared to losing a leg or getting cancer, a year of dry red skin really isn't that bad.<br />
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All the best and keep messaging in.<br />
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JoshJoshua Strawczynskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02891141806965021549noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274703746592254875.post-62922306524076492102013-06-17T17:34:00.003-07:002013-06-17T17:34:40.167-07:00TSW recovery update, doing it in style after 9.5 monthsIt has been a rocky journey with some ups and downs, but the TSW recovery is going really well as we pass the 9.5 month mark. I'm confident that in the next 6 months I will be back to normal, as I am already living a very normal life and no longer get comments about being red.<br />
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Joshua Strawczynskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02891141806965021549noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274703746592254875.post-25106258776000685722013-05-29T17:51:00.002-07:002013-05-29T17:51:43.405-07:00Vitamin D Tablets - My skins best friendIt probably sounds funny that I live in Australia and need to take vitamin D tablets, but recovering from cortisone induced eczema has seen my shy away from the sun, rarely going out when it is bright and hot and never taking my shirt off to catch some rays. As such, my vitamin D levels would be low I assumed, and after a few weeks of my skin playing up and being generally red and uncomfortable, I thought I would give them a go.<br />
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It's hard to know if it was cause and effect, or if my skin was just ready to improve, but since taking the vitamin D capsules my skin has been much smoother, whiter and much less itchy. Of course I have nothing to compare this to, so I really don't know if it's fact or fiction, but reading through ITSAN, it seems vitamin D is a winner in the recovery process.<br />
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Sunlight is something that ITSAN regularly reports as a successful helper in the recovery process, so it makes sense that vitamin D in any form would be helpful. Vitamin D helps the skin hold together with a whole realm of necessary functions. Congruent with this, it's all about balance, and missing any key vitamin or mineral is going to slow down the healing process.<br />
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I'll keep you posted on my progress, but this is the best I have consistently looked and felt for some time.Joshua Strawczynskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02891141806965021549noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274703746592254875.post-36328144824503354332013-05-26T06:40:00.001-07:002013-06-17T17:35:08.602-07:00The recovery of red skin continues - 9 months<center style="text-align: left;">
It has been over 9 months of recovery now and day by day it's getting better. Internally the body is healing and that extends to the external look and feel. This video highlights the recovery to date from cortisone induced eczema.</center>
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Cheers for reading, any questions just comment below.</center>
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Joshua Strawczynskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02891141806965021549noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274703746592254875.post-42491814839508904072013-05-22T21:09:00.000-07:002013-05-22T21:09:38.381-07:00Is diet causing my red skin flares?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I'm not sure why diet has crossed my mind recently, but I have been thinking about it for a while. Others like Jake and Lib have gone on the gluten free, sugar free diet and seen great results, whilst there are other recoverers that have maintained a terrible diet. For myself I've notices my skin colour and texture fluctuating regularly, and whilst I know this is common, I wonder if I can influence it via diet.<br />
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Quite red in the face and hands after 9 months of recovery from topical cortisone steroid addiction</div>
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To test this theory I'm going to be good for the next couple of week. Lots of salad, chicken and fish, plain unprocessed foods, no alcohol and minimal sugar. It will be interesting to see if there is a noticeable difference. If there is, we can start to investigate if my body is sensitive to certain food types.<br />
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I know some people will question why I wouldn't have worked this out earlier, however remember that earlier I would have been constantly exposed to this body stress and hence my body was only showing small signs of flushing. After coming off cortisone my diet has changed and it's possible that when my body gets a dose of something it's sensitive to, it's creating much more noticeable reactions.<br />
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The redness in my body has been mainly concentrated to my face, chest and hands and it's this localisation that also leads me to think that food may be playing a small role. Of course let me stress that the cortisone recovery is the main problem, we know this, but is food playing some role and can I get a better quality of life if I monitor my food?<br />
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Time will tell, stay tuned in readers :)</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10528954325994743167noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274703746592254875.post-46803283085221631072013-05-20T18:40:00.001-07:002013-05-20T18:40:15.340-07:00Short term flare up - Cortisone induced red skin recoveryThe recovery from cortisone induced eczema is a long and confusing road. Your body improves and improves, then all of a sudden it goes bad, takes time to recovery and repeats the process. Personally I don't let it bother me, I know it's a long term goal and any given day is nothing to measure success by, but it can be concerning to many (including my parents).<br />
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Over the weekend my body went from very good, quite white and just a light cover of dry skin, to terrible in the space of one night. I didn't do anything different, I wasn't any more stressed, or eat anything different to normal, just overnight my skin decided it would get very thin and any scratching or movement would bring moisture to the skin surface. When I say 'moisture', what I mean is that the skin is so thin that basically the top is being scratched off and the skin is oozing a slick moisture that never seems to stop.... it's pretty gross.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-X8F3cOcc8_0/UZrQP_vBjmI/AAAAAAAAAIM/kifyKUECCpM/s1600/cortisone+induced+red+skin+21:5:13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-X8F3cOcc8_0/UZrQP_vBjmI/AAAAAAAAAIM/kifyKUECCpM/s320/cortisone+induced+red+skin+21:5:13.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Me after 8 months of recovery, still quite pink in the face</div>
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I put a t-shirt over the top of the oozing and this stopped it across the day. I also concentrated on not scratching at all and of course this helped a lot. Over the next couple of days the top layer of my skin dried out completely, leaving the skin dry and cracked, but finally after 3 or 4 days, the dry skin peeled away and it's back to quite normal. The colour is white with a pink tinge and whilst a little dry, it's all pretty good.<br />
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I don't really know why this cycle continues to occur, but I know that it's just a matter of time. Every week is a little better, day by day, month by month I get closer to fully healed. I am thankful to my amazing family, supportive friends and of course Katherine who bears it all with a smile.<br />
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Hope everyone else is doing well, feel free to shoot any questions through.Joshua Strawczynskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02891141806965021549noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274703746592254875.post-71925666310670719062013-05-12T04:05:00.000-07:002013-05-12T04:05:07.030-07:008 Month recovery updateWell 8 months in and it has been a series of ups and downs. I had just recovered from a month worth of flare up on my chest when the occasion occurred that I had to take antibiotics, the first course I had taken in about a year. This brought about an important discovery... I'm allergic to antibiotics.<br />
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The result of the allergy was three days of bright redness, swelling and itchiness. The problem was that because I had to stop taking it, the staph infection that I had originally noticed was given time to spread to took over my entire face, neck and chest with a million pustules. This rendered me basically bed bound for week, but finally it's starting to go away.<br />
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Interestingly the colour of my skin improved dramatically with the use of non-penicilin based antibiotics. I would love to know the reason for this and will be keen to track the progress once I get off them and the staph has healed.<br />
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If you touch my skin at the moment you would notice it's still dry, but a top coat of moisture has started to form. The key is not scratching, as once you take the top layer off, then layers and layers of dry skin are underneath, it's a matter of not scratching.<br />
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Healing continues well, but as always, we just have to wait it out, stay health and positive, always looking forward.<br />
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All the best to you all my friends.<br />
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JoshJoshua Strawczynskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02891141806965021549noreply@blogger.com0