Day #75 - Cortisone Withdrawal Driven Facial Flares

The improvements are coming along, let there be no doubt of that, but with these advancements come an ever new set of trials and tribulations.  This week has been facial flaring, and whilst I would normally swoop on the opportunity to make a dirty joke and smile the pain away, I figure I better explain it so as to help others suffering distress over something similar.

This picture explains it better than any words.  Basically the skin became very soft and itchy and with just a light rub of a face cloth all the top layers of skin had been removed, revealing just a watery (weeping) mess of skin underneath.  This weeping is the lymphatic system and the goo that it produces, whilst good for skin, is messy and clunky when it dries.  The problem here is that you have to go to work, which means trying to clean yourself up as best possible, which often results in removing the top layers of skin again and thus the cycle continues.  I should also mention that the new skin growing back get itchy and even the slightest touch or rub of a course pillow will take you back to square one.

This leads to an equally concerning issue, the inability to sleep.  It's truly horrid, and I think in all honestly I've had about  5 hours of sleep in the last 3 days.  That's not to say I haven't dozed, but it scarcely counts as sleep.  The affect of sleep deprivation is a loss of cognitive function, motivation and drive.  I often find myself staring at a blank computer screen unwilling to progress with any task that that result in imminent repercussions.

Now my regular readers know I'm a man of positivity and I will continue this trend today.  Whilst it looks ugly and feels disgusting when it's weeping, it's really not slowing me down.  What I mean is that it's not like other symptoms, it's really only cosmetic, and barring the sleep dep, it's not effecting me.  The silver lining is that whilst the body is dealing with this issue, the rest of my body is pretty good.  My chest, arms and legs are peeling less and itching is minimal, so you have to take the good with the bad and enjoy the changes as they occur... variety is the spice of life right?