BIG MISTAKE - Never go back to steroids!

Hey all,

Thought I would do a quick update here. So if you read my the last blog post I did a year ago, you can see that I caved in and went back to the steroids! Basically I was really struggling and wanted some relief. And I wanted to see what happened if I tried only really low doses of prednisone.. But boy, was that a huge mistake...!

Don't do it, do let the doctors talk you into going back to the steroids. I was on low doses of prednisone for about 6 months, plus using hydrocortisone here and there and it f'ed me up big time... I stopped the low dose steroids around July 2017 because I just kept getting worse and worse. Way worse then when I was 3 years into my first withdraw. So I knew steroids is not the answer and never will be the answer...

So I stopped the steroids (again!) July 2017. I knew I needed to go through withdraw again, so I moved to a tropical environment in Medellin, Colombia for 5 months because I know I do better where there is sun and humidity. And boy, did I go through total withdraw again. The oozing started again, then bright red skin, the intense flaking, the pain! Oh man fuck steroids...

Again it took months before my skin started showing signs of healing again. Around December things stated to improve for me again and I moved back to my parents house in Seattle. This is 6 months after stopping the low dose steroids. I then decided to take a trip to Miami Florida where there is plenty of sun and salt water. I wanted to try swimming in the ocean because I have been doing epsom salts baths at home and it seemed to help quite a bit. You have to make sure they are pure epsom salts and not mixed with any fragrance or anything. Also rinsing off with cold water helps a bunch too.

And boy, the salt water and sun here in Miami is freaking amazing! It has practically cleared me. My skin is no longer bright red and I feel the best I have in 5 years. It took about 5 swims and laying in the sun for an hour or two. The first swim freaking burns like hell... but after that it's bearable the next times.

I was looking at myself in the mirror the other day and couldn't believe this was my body. Not a scratch, with regular tone skin and no flaking. And even started crying and thanking god for this temporary relief.  I could literally feel the salt water burning the eczema out, and my lymph nodes getting smaller and less swollen. My energy returned, I felt alive again! So I think I need to live on the ocean here in the tropics somewhere. As the salt water/ ocean is a miracle worker.

I will try to post pictures here soon.

Good luck all, and swim in the Ocean!

Coming back from hell :) yeah

Almost 11 months in and hitting a major healing period, to where there is almost no red skin! And I haven’t used any moisturizer or cream what so ever on my skin for the last 2 months. It is still a little dry and red in places but nothing compared to 2 months in. I still think I might get another flare, but I am hoping for the best!

Things that seem to have helped in order:
1. Time.
2. Stopping all work and stress related activities to take time and let the body heal.
3. Time
4. Realization that my spirit has been badly damaged and there is a greater God that can guide you through this.
5. Time
6. Marijuana - especially heavy doses of editable once a week (100mg THC). Gives a knew perception on the damage done and how to heal. 
7.Time
8.No other Drugs - The last couple months I have not use any drug or cream or pill whatsoever. I believed this helped greatly, even though at times I suffered greatly. I would use only Marijuana to calm me down.
9. Acupuncture: I have been smoking Marijuana and going to get acupuncture every other day. For some reason this seems to be really helpful. It feels like the inflammation just drains from the body after a 1hr acupuncture session. And my sleep has returned greatly which is the biggest help of all.

10. Support and great understanding from loves one. The trip through hell is not easy to say the least…