My Topical Steroid Withdrawal update – Month 34

Yet another month has passed (how?!) and today I hit 34 months since I started Topical Steroid Withdrawal. It's been a crazy month in every way possible and there is a lot to discuss so I better get cracking:

• For most of the month apart from Verbier (which I will discuss below), my skin has continued to go from strength to strength. I had a random faint rash on my face for a few days (which I have included a picture of later in this post) and a one-day small issue on my hands on Friday 18th March (picture also included below).
• I had alcohol on 19th March for the first time since I started TSW and had absolutely NO reaction to it whatsoever (YAY!). It was the last thing I was avoiding just in case anything happened so to know I can have it now and not worry is absolutely fabulous.
• Just before I went away to Verbier, I noticed my skin coming up a little on my hands and I also had chapped lips and a faint small rash on my left arm. 
• When I went to Verbier in Switzerland for work on the 26th March my skin had a similar reaction to the last time I went in December/January - I have a video and blog post all about that trip here. Below are a few things I wanted to talk about in more detail from my experience this time around:

From the beginning of my trip, as my skin was already coming up before I left, it quickly got redder and more cracked on my hands, plus a little bit on my lips - although I have to say in the grand scheme of things, it was relatively mild and didn't affect me at all BUT on Friday 1st April I had really irritated skin on my hands and the rash I had on my left arm, spread and worsened. I also found the rash I had on my legs a few months ago start to resurface. This time when my skin came up though I knew it was more down to washing my hands a lot, wearing rubber gloves for a long period of time that day, eating real irritant foods plus many other things. The next day the irritation calmed right down but I was left with very sore skin. The rashes continued to calm down over the next few days and since returning to the UK on Sunday 3rd April, the recovery has been rapid to say the least! I am amazed by how my skin is now and it is wonderful over time how the areas of skin affected are decreasing - I didn't have any reaction whatsoever on my face bar my lips (which were definitely better than my last trip) and the skin itself was incredible! I want to say again that this was a work trip where I was dealing with a very different altitude and working long hours - if I went there to relax and not work it would have been a totally different story. It would appear that the last place I really have an issue is my hands and if I think about it logically, my hands are a year behind every other part of my body to get better so it's the case of just waiting it out. Even with everything that happened to my skin while I was away, it didn't really hinder me and I was still able to get on with my job. Also, this time when I was away I went a little crazy with the food - I'm not talking about the wonderful bread, cheese and chocolate that came my way (of which there was plenty), I'm talking about the crappy extras that I knew would be bad for me - and oddly, I didn't want but ate anyway because it was there.

I also want to mention that while I was away on Wednesday 30th March I came into contact with the ear drops Panotile that contain the steroid Fludrocortisone. Even though I had a few skin issues in Verbier, it appears that I had no reaction to the steroid itself so that is wonderful news as I have been curious about that for a while.

Lastly, I am still of the opinion that when my arms and legs start to come up it is more down to not looking after myself than TSW. I have talked about this in a blog post here. On top of everything I threw at my skin, I was averaging about 5/6 hours of sleep a night and not looking after myself. As per, I haven't got a damn clue what the hell really triggers my skin but as time passes, patterns are emerging - who knows, I'll probably be back next month with another set of theories.

What a month!

Stay strong guys, it DOES get better.
Cara xxx

A selection of photos from the last month (WARNING: it's very picture-heavy):

Next are two sets of photos from the same day - the first 4 are taken in the afternoon, the second 3 are taken late in the evening after a long day working, using rubber gloves for hours, eating high irritant foods plus many other skin no-nos.

AFTERNOON

LATE EVENING