When Janelle Norman started to experience red, patchy rashes on her hands and feet at age 24, she had no idea about the frightening road that lay ahead of her. It would soon become a battle for her health only imagined in her wildest nightmare, one that would teach her about a failing medical system and the depths of her own strength.
The outbreak of eczema at age 24 didn’t come as too much of a surprise, Janelle explains, having previously endured small, random outbreaks of eczema in her early childhood.
“My eczema showed up when I was fairly young, probably 3 or so. My mom, being a nurse, was pretty knowledgeable and tried to do what she could. I believe she used hydrocortisone a little bit, but used another product called ‘goose grease’ as well. I grew out of that stage in my early childhood.”
After seeing her doctor, Janelle was ordered to use a steroid cream once again, which eliminated the outbreak for a short while. Two weeks later, however, the rash had resurfaced, but this time with increased severity.
Janelle saw a repeating pattern taking place, that is, her eczema would clear up briefly whenever she applied the steroid cream, but would return with renewed force as soon as she stopped.
Concerned, Janelle asked her dermatologist to conduct allergy testing to see if there were any particular irritants that might be contributing to her outbreaks. He assured Janelle that she was likely hypersensitive to many foods, and that avoiding these triggers would prove to be difficult. Instead, he prescribed her a new cream.
When asked about any potential long-term side effects from using the cream, Janelle’s doctor answered, “I use this [product] on babies.”
Janelle’s Worsening Condition
But the steroid cream was showing poor results, as Janelle watched her body slowly succumb to the spread of a relentless disease. By this time, her thighs, arms, shoulders, and collarbone area were engulfed by a red, itchy rash.
In addition to her skin problems, Janelle was developing sensitivities to certain foods, including various fruits and spices. This prompted her to switch dermatologists to get a second opinion on her condition.
Lo and behold, her doctor found she was allergic to an array of plants native to her hometown Kamloops, a small city located in the semi-arid region of central British Columbia.
While her new dermatologist did his best to try and gain control over the situation, Janelle was beginning to realize that her eczema was now running the show. Whenever she tried to wean herself off of the creams, a vicious retaliation of eczema would always proceed her abandon.
Not to mention, Janelle’s asthma was now acting up, creating an unwelcome dependence on her steroid inhaler.
The Answer She Was Looking For
In what seemed like a universal dump of bad luck, Janelle’s new dermatologist revealed that he would be moving his practice across the
country, leaving Janelle in critical condition.
Her eczema had become the focal point of her existence, she said, affecting her sleep, career, and overall quality of life.
“I was now having lots of trouble sleeping due to the itching, having trouble finding comfortable clothing, and it was affecting my social life. I was having constant allergic reactions to almost everything I was eating… eventually I had to quit my dream job, I produced and sold over 400 paintings since 2009, an absolute dream career that was taken away from me because of my eczema.
“I was desperately searching for answers on the internet like I had become obsessed with [it]… No matter where I turned it seemed like nothing was going to help me.”
But then one day while searching for information on ‘incurable eczema’, Janelle came across the answer to her torment she’d been waiting for: “Have you tried everything to cure your eczema except stopping your steroid creams? You might have steroid addicted skin.”
This was a moment of revelation for Janelle.
“I all of sudden knew that this was the answer I had been looking for for the past few years. My skin had become hooked on the topical steroid creams, and it was inducing the condition to worsen and slowly damage the systems in my body.”
Finally, Janelle had found information on her mystery condition. For the first time in years, she felt relief. “The mystery was solved!” she thought.
The Worst Yet To Come
But there was a catch to the ‘light at the end of the tunnel,’ a catch perhaps more frightening than the disease itself.
“Almost immediately after quitting the creams, one goes through a massive withdrawal process in order to detoxify and heal the body. I saw pictures on [the forum] of horrible injuries to the face and limbs of people that looked like they had been burned. Some were mild and some were terrifying.”
Janelle figured her withdrawal symptoms wouldn’t be as bad as the more severe cases considering she had only been using the creams heavily for a few years. Unfortunately, no doctor had any answers for her. She was alone in her decision to move forward, but knew there was no other option.
“I felt very passed down through the medical system. I decided that if I was going to get any better I was taking my life into my own hands and trusting my gut. Even though I would go through hell I was determined to get my life back. It was time to quit the steroids. I came back home, and threw all the creams in the garbage on January 5, 2014.”
When Withdrawal Symptoms Became Life Threatening
“Never could I have prepared for what would take place over the next few weeks” Janelle says.
“The skin on my face started to split open all over… and my neck did the same. It was utterly horrific. It was like I was being set on fire and my skin was bursting open…”
Janelle’s mother arrived from out of town to find her daughter in serious condition. Her face had become infected from the large cracks in her skin, and fluid was now oozing out of the lesions, signalling it was due time to get Janelle to a hospital.
When she arrived in the emergency room, Janelle was met with a roomful of curious stares from both patients and nurses. The staff thought she was a chemical burn victim at first, Janelle explains.
Furthermore, the ER doctor was becoming frustrated because Janelle and her loved ones were refusing steroid shots meant to subdue inflammation. He had never even heard of steroid cream withdrawal before.
“He didn’t understand what I meant when I said I was addicted to the steroids.”
The Road To Recovery
After receiving antibiotic therapy to treat her infection, Janelle spent the rest of her healing phase at home.
The next few weeks proved extremely difficult for Janelle. The initial flare-up had deemed her face unrecognizable. Janelle explains how she basically “lived in her bathtub” due to the excruciating pain she was experiencing.
In the months that followed, Janelle faced many small flare-ups, the stress of which seemed to be causing her hair to fall out.
“My skin started to ooze fluid… I would soak through countless changes of clothes and the ooze was a terrible smell of burned raw skin. It was like I had been thrown into the most intense battleground for my health ever.”
Day by day, she patiently waited for her body to heal, with hope for the day she would see her recovery.
Janelle’s Passion To Spread Awareness About Steroid Cream Withdrawal
Like so many others going through steroid cream withdrawal, Janelle’s road to recovery doesn’t have a fixed happy ending. One year after her steroid cream cessation, Janelle is still dealing with withdrawal symptoms, though her most severe side effects have subdued. Many people experience random outbreaks for years to follow, an agonizing path that sees many people giving up and returning to the creams.
Today, Janelle finds herself passionate about speaking about steroid cream withdrawal, with the hope of helping others who may be experiencing the same thing, or even better, stopping people from using the creams in the first place.
“One year ago I jumped into the most intense journey I would ever take… the last 365 days have been a true test of willpower, strength, courage, humility, and hope,” she wrote to her friends and family on her Facebook page.
“I [was] hesitant to share my photos of what happened throughout 2014, but I feel the public should know how seriously horrific the [side-]effects of hydrocortisone and topical steroid creams can be.
I need to spread the word – because our dermatologists are NOT telling anyone about this. In fact very few of them even understand that it is a problem. There are few medical facilities that understand or acknowledge TSA/TSW, because the symptoms present themselves kind of on the sly.“
She urges anyone who may be experiencing symptoms of steroid cream withdrawal to visit itsan.org, a non-profit organization aimed at providing people with information and resources about SCW.
“I feel like if my skin condition was given proper care in the beginning (like further testing and exploration into the cause of my eczema) I may have been able to avoid [all of this]… Even when I had asked the first dermatologist to allergy test me, he had said to stick to the creams because my allergies would have been impossible to track down and address all together… So basically, he was treating the symptom with a bandaid for years… a bandaid that almost killed me.”
We have the power to stop this suffering from happening to more people, so please, share this story with your family and friends and get the word out about the dangers of steroid creams. This extends to people taking oral steroid medication and people using steroid inhalers for asthma as well. It is imperative to be asking your doctor about any and every side effect with any recommended medication, because as we’ve seen, the consequences can be fatal.
Have you or anyone you know experienced steroid cream withdrawal? Please share your story or thoughts with us in the comment section below!
Yes I did. Back in the eighties I had eczema on my hands so bad it deformed my fingernails. I was prescribed steroids, which worked amazingly well. After some time, it wasn’t working that well, and I suspected that perhaps the cream was old and had lost its effectiveness. The doctor told me I needed a stronger cream now, and it hit me like a ton of bricks that my skin was becoming addicted to the stuff. I weaned myself off of it, but luckily it wasn’t as painful as the story above.
I figured out on my own that eczema is my stress response. I’m not allergic to anything that I know of. I know that if it pops up, I just need to chill.
Yes it must be a terrible experience to endure such an extreme skin condition like this. I meet so many people who have eczema and there is no easy answer. One needs to start with diet, allergies as noted, stress, products being used on the body. I cannot believe doctors prescribe steroids to babies, when there are other safe natural alternatives. For this young woman I wonder if honey packs were ever offered to her, there are hospitals that use the honey packs when drugs no longer work for infections. My question is, why are honey packs are not being used as the first line of defence? Also using high dose injected vitamin C, this would help boost her immune system to speed up the healing process. But since this is all natural and it works there is no place for it in the Canadian medical system. So sad to see the direction of health care in this country and the direction of health in people. I have learned to take my own health in my own hands and help close family and friends that struggle with skin and other issues and have seen positive results. One needs to do research, test it and follow their own wisdom when it comes to their own body.
Very well written! So glad these stories are getting out and being made known. We need to end this laziness in prescribing steroids so freely. Doctors need to recognize the dangers in steroids. Amazing story written so well by Jeff about such a brave woman Janelle.
I suffered from eczema in 2013 on my scalp and part of my face. Eczema is a horrible experience. It’s not just the itching but the disfigurement and it causes horrible anxiety..a perpetual nervousness which makes you want to do anything to get rid of it. My dermatologist prescribed a strong steroid cream (he described it as ‘medium’ strength). He said I could use it indefinitely even though warnings on the label say to use it a short time. It worked but each time I quit the stuff would come back. I lost hair.. I could not sleep and finally I decided to quit after some months. My immune system had crashed…I got sick (steriods suppress the immune system) and it took me a year to recover although I was never the same afterwards. I figured out for myself what I was allergic to finally (I had told my doc about use of minoxidil but he insisted I could go on using it). Gradually I got better with the help of natural skin creams with Coq10 and shea butter. Beware of steroid use!
I had an addiction steroid creams as well. Now I try to treat my skin from the inside, with diet. Primarily focusing on a clean “gut” and liver. Some doctors are so cavalier when doling out medications, it’s terribly irresponsible.
This is scary! I’m using one now for my psoriasis……..
I’ve had these horrible places on my legs for about 8 years and have spent thousands of $ on medication & Dr’s with NO results.. My husband found this body gel & body wash called Soravil. after using for three days my legs are almost healed..I will always have the scars, but no more open nasty sores…You can order this online.. Research it.I am very impressed with it
Did she move? How is her eczema now? And how does she treat it now? I had the same experience as Deborah V back in the 80’s. My pinky nail actually fell off it was so bad. I went off steroid creams and tried other methods like coconut oil and Bag Balm until recently. I’m very laid back and practice meditation and eat organic whole foods but I still have spots that seem prone to it. Last year, one spot on my wrist was so bad that people were asking me if I got seriously burned. So after trying everything I could think of… alkalizing diets, non-steroid eczema creams, coconut oil… I caved and got a tube of steroid cream. It healed immediately but I felt defeated. Would love to know if she was able to heal at the root of the problem after the withdrawal symptoms subsided.
I mentioned this to Kathleen as well…. I have to tell you that I have been able to help many people overcome psoriasis and eczema with the SOOTHE skincare line from Rodan+Fields. If you are interested in learning about this option, please don’t hesitate to contact me… I am here to help, and am happy to add that these products come with a 60 day, 100% money back guarantee. https://nelina.myrandf.com/Pages/OurProducts/SOOTHE/CommonQuestions
Thank you for sharing your story.It is imperative that we are pro active in our own health.I’ve taken steroids for allergies in the past.I took them 3 years and gained 100 lbs. ,my immune system was weakened but what choice because I had to be able to breathe!Beware and do research.Everyone doesn’t react the same way.Remember that doctors are “practicing medicine”.
I’ve had bad eczema in 2013. It was covering my face, chest, both arms and even my thigh. I had to stop working as i was in customer services. I didnt want to go out and been seen by any of my friends.
Fortunatly, i’m one of them that don’t always belive that doctors have the absolute answer as i am more into natural heal process. So i went on internet and start to read about all possible cases of eczema and they sources. That’s how I find out that cortisone was the worsed treatment to have in this extreme case. I started to eat raw food and green juices to clean my blood at the maximum. I noticed that my eczema was leaving but as soon as i was thinking it was done, it came back and i had no idea why. But i kept going with this diet trying to notice which food had a good or a bad impact. Because my skin was it itching and swollen as hell, i had to find a solution. I’ve tried many natural treatment. At first, i was using coconot oil, bourrache ouil and almond oil because i read about their properties. It wasn’t aggraving it but it wasnt the response i wanted. The two best solutions i’ve found, was the the Aveeno colloidal oat that you but in your bath and soak for 20 min. That one really helps for the itching part. The second was Aloes verra that i was applying on my body. It as a cooling effect and my eczema stop swolling and even was healing slowly.
But even with all those treatments, i belive that eczema as a big relation with your mental. Stress, anxiety, hold of emotions are a big factors for eczema.
I’ve use cortidone in the past for small rashes of eczema but i’m happy that this time i didnt fall for the quick treatment and tried to resolve the source of it. My skin was as bad as the pictures but it took me 5 months to get rid of it. During all this process, i never ask any doctors or dermatologue because i knew what they will suggest me. There is no miracle solution but you have to treat the mental as well as the body in thos cases.
My son has suffered with eczema and asthma since birth, although they can not diagnose him with asthma at such a young age they have given him inhalers and they have given him many steroid tablets, injections and creams. We have always thought that he may have food intolerances from birth really but have had tests and said they were not significant enough to take the foods out of his diet. We now think that it may of been the medicine and steroid injections from birth that have affected his gut and messed up the bacteria etc. I myself have been looking up lots of things and have decided to take matters into our own hands we have recently taken out of the equation dairy and are working on repairing his gut with kefir he has had an outbreak from taking away the creams but we realise we are fixing the problem from the inside out, not only that but we are now growing our own and pretty much cooking and baking our own foods we believe that constant medication and exposure to GMO foods have played a part in his bad health and we are now going to fix the problem and no longer mask the problem with creams and medication I firmly believe that we should let food be thy medicine we have a natural state of being and all these chemicals that we are told to put into our body on a daily basis are serving us wrong if it’s not broke don’t fix it.
some of these problems sound like a d3 deficiency. Please search on youtube for Dr Michael Holick.
Some posts above mention skin conditions/psorisis and asthma, both of which seem to be related to d3.
Worth a look.
Steroid cream addiction and withdrawal are quite rare events, but very serious when they happen. Because 90+% of people use steroid creams find them safe and effective, doctors tend to use them as the treatment of choice for many skin conditions.
The danger is that the doctor becomes addicted to the treatment as well. Some will figure “If a 2% cream applied twice a day isn’t working, let’s try a 4% cream 4 times a day.”
As with any treatment, if your doctor’s prescription is not working, it is time to ask him/her for an alternative medication or further studies. If the doctor insists on upping the dose rate and refuse to look at alternative treatments it is time to find another doctor.
BTW, a “raw diet” is highly risky for a person with food allergies. Many plants contain toxins or other allergens which are neutralized by cooking. Potatoes and cashews are prime examples. The goal should be to eliminate the food or foods that are causing the allergic reaction, not just stop cooking them.
I don’t believe affirmative numbers of succesful synthetical medicine anymore, nobody should use stereoïd creams, everybody deserves real nutrition and real healing.
A raw food diet isn’t just stop cooking what you eat. It is switching to raw foods e.g. superfoods that are appropriate for you. Cook your food if you must/want but eat your superfoods raw. Heating will destroy the nutrients with specific (medicinal) properties. Not all superfoods might be appropriate for everyone, but all superfoods are suited to be consumed raw.
Spirulina and Klamath Blue Green Algae are (raw) superfoods, they contain Phycocianine, the blue pigment/antioxidant that blocks COX-25, an enzymatic inflammation reaction in the gut. On a therapeutical dosis these micro-algae heal. People all over the world use superfoods to heal their cancers and diseases.
People with eczema issues shouldn’t be eating potatoes (Black Nightshade).
Rgrds.
I could’ve written this story, it is that similar to mine. 2 1/2 years off of all steroids. Itsan, the nonprofit organization gave me my life back, the forum there has members from all over the world. Good luck Janelle! Press on! It is the best decision I ever made. You can also find a community of thousands of sufferers on Facebook by searching for topical steroid withdrawal. If your eczema seems to be worsening and the only thing that seems to offer temporary relief is the steroids, then this may be the answer you are searching for. It was for me.
OMG!!!
This could not have COME at a better time!! I am going through this RIGHT NOW!
I Suffered Chemical Poisoning on the Job in 2011, that has had me on & off oral & topical Steroids ever since!
I have been peeling and oozing BAD for the past week & half!!!
I ended up taking myself to the ER last Tuesday…….Guess what? STEROID SHOT!
This has cost me JOBS & RELATIONSHIPS, not to mention Quality of Life!
THANK YOU FOR THIS ARTICLE
My husband is going through topical steroid withdrawal (TSW) for approximately one year. It is hell for him and many others who go through it. My husband was on steroid creams as well as steroid shots on and off for around 30 years. None helped his worsening eczema. Finally, he found ITSAN.org,–International Topical Steroid Addiction Network which was started approximately 3 years ago and realized he was addicted to steroids. He immediately stopped steroids and has been going through the withdrawal. Without the support of the International Topical Steroid Addiction support group on Facebook, we would not know what to expect or try to relieve the horrible withdrawal symptoms which occur with TSW.
Thank you so much to Janelle for sharing her story. She is a true TSW warrior and thank you Jeff for telling it.
i have suffered from eczema in the past and have also had the same problems with steroid creams. I also believe that eczema needs to be treated from the inside out. I eventually stuck to a very bland diet of brown rice and vegetables and water. I found myself a homeopath and the tincture she gave me worked. Homeopathy doesn’t always work immediately, but its worth sticking with as the patient is looked at on an holistic level and it will quite often work out in the end. After many years of exploring and learning, Urtica cream and homeopathic tablets seem to be my wonder medicine. Urtica is made from nettles so every Spring time in the UK, i will pick the young nettles and make up some nettle tea, its a very good blood cleaner and anti-oxidant.
greatest thing I ever did… stopping the cortisone is a must for asthma!!!!
I had eczema for many years. Mostly on my hands but at times it was also on my back and chest. I am a bodyworker so you can guess how this affected my life. I never wanted to use the Steroids because they just made my hands worse almost itchier. I felt like it was a food allergy but of course Dermatologist said it was rare for food to cause Eczema. What? Seriously uneducated.
First of all when dealing with the itchiness, ICE was by far the best thing that worked for me. I would hold an ice pack at night while sleeping. Second, APTERA OLIVE OIL SOAP was the only soap i found that didnt burn my hands. It is a life saver. Most emolients were aggravating. The only thing that was bearable was pure unrefined shea butter. I did get an allergy test and the only that came back was peanuts. Through an elimination diet I realized I was reacting to things like sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and pretty much concluded they may have been contaminated with peanuts. Since I removed most of the items that can be contaminated, I’ve been pretty good. I buy walnuts from a farm that grows and processes just Walnuts. I even cracked my own mac nuts for a while: D For those suffering, go on an elimination diet. You will be happy you did. It took about 2 weeks before my skin felt better so be patient. In the meantime use the ice packs and find some pure soap.
i would try cannabis oil cut with coconut oil … im betting it would clear up … I also believe diet would play a big part helping with this as mentioned in an earlier post
My son developed eczema when he was 2 and the doctor prescribed cortisone/steroid cream. I only tried it a few times and didn’t really give it much of a chance because each time I applied the cream my son complained that it hurt. The days after using the prescriptions my son’s skin looked burned. After explaining this to the doctor she would prescribe stronger creams. I actually had an argument with her in the office after she suggested that she was going to prescribe a stronger cream because the one she gave me wasn’t effective. I told her to not to bother with the prescription because I wasn’t comfortable using my child as a lab rat to test cortisone creams.
I tried numerous natural remedies, various soaps, vitamins, supplements, elimination diets, anything I could and diarized his reaction to each new thing we tried…one at a time. Eventually I found shea butter…pure shea butter from a local resident who imported the shea from Africa. After 2 years of using exclusively shea and a healthy high fat diet (lots of avocados!) my son’s eczema cleared. It’s been 3 years of eczema free skin…thank God!
I’m not saying this will work for everyone – our bodies all react to things differently…but it has worked for my son and many of our friends.
For all of the eczema sufferers I hope you all find a cure. I watched my little guy suffer and it was so hard to watch!
I have taken steroid creams for years and about once a year, a flair up would occur on my hands. I would be given a steroid shot and last year, I was told to go on a 30 day taper (prednisone). About 5 months later, I was diagnosed with osteonecrosis (also known as avascular necrosis) in my hip. It is extremely painful, and I have a high tolerance for pain. I now need a total hip replacement.
I am curious if anyone else has experienced this as a result of prednisone?
Yes, prednisone can eat your joints. The docs should have told you of this possibility.
I suffer from the same thing but went to a naturopath, had my food sensitives test done, stopped eating food that i was sensitive too. Went on a year cleanse that also included grapeseed oil extract, probiotics, aloe vera juice, digestive enzyemes and herbal GI and no more eczema
Its devastating what has happened to you but thank you for spreading the word and your story! I know your pain all to well. When I was 2 weeks old I was diagnosed with Eczema and my doctor told my parents to use a steroid cream as freely as they needed!!! By the time the doctor properly read up about dosage my parents had been using it for days like a moisturizer, all over, every couple hours. This left horrible scaring on my delicate body and face for years after. 24 years later, my feet are still scared. My daughter now 18 months old began her life the same way. Once her eczema began I was very cautious what I fed her, cleaned her clothes in etc but unfortunately it got so bad – weeping, inflamed, infected- that I had to seek medical advise. I thought after so many years they would have an alternative treatment but shockingly she was prescribed excessive amounts of the most potent steroid creams!!! I was dumbfounded when an unbelievably STUPID doctor told me to use the cream as much as wanted and to ignore labelling promising me that my daughter would not have side effects or be scared!! Although in my most desperate times I did go as far as buying the creams, I could never bring myself to apply them to her skin. As with your story, the doctors told me food intolerance testing would not show significant change in her condition, I got it done anyway and now after being on a strict diet for just over 4 months she is eczema free with only an odd break out from teething!
I implore anyone suffering to get food INTOLERANCE tested! As hard as it may be to stick to a strict diet for an adult, it is imperative in healing this condition!
I have rheumatoid arthritis and was on biologics. Unfortunately I was allergic to them and ended up covered in weeping eczema. Steroid creams did very litle plus i was wary of them. It took months to clear after the cause was identified and stopped. I found half a cup of baking soda in a warm bath or finely ground oatmeal. Also coal tar ointment was very good.
My son is Also going through top wil steroid withdrawal. It has taken 3 years of our lives away and I am so happy to see the word being spread by a very brave warrior!! And am so thankful it http://www.itsan.org for spreading the word of the damage topical steroids can do! Here is my sons journey! http://klinestopicalsteroidhell.blogspot.com
Delighted this story is getting out there and that Janelle is getting better! I had a similar situation and it is horrific to go through. I was put in a skin clinic, bathed and wrapped in steroids for 8 hrs a day in a rubber suit. It did calm it down, but I knew in the long run steroids would kill me, they effect the liver, immune system etc.. So I went on a cleanse stopped eating all sugar, processed food, sweeteners, gluten, ate all organic fruits veggies and small amounts of protein. Took NAC, Milk Thistle, Probiotics, CQ10, green smoothies, black cumin seed oil, Coconut oil, used only goat milk soap for cleaning and it cleared up. The Dr’s were amazed asked what I was doing, I told them. One said to me, “You’ve probably found the cure for this but no one will ever know as its all natural and therefore no money in it for the pharmaceutical companies.” WOW! Kinda says it all folks. I firmly believe food/nutrition is our medicine, clear out the toxins and eat organic. With all the chemicals in our food and in products we put on our skin, 60% of which is absorbed into us, we are poisoning our bodies. Do your own research to see what works for you.
For anyone who might be reading this and feel they are going through this, there is also an Amazing support group on Facebook: Eczema & Topical Steroid Withdrawal-Red Skin Syndrome Support Group.
Our pediatrician said that our son looked like a “burn victim” at his 15 month well baby check-up. Our son is currently almost 18 months old and he is about 5 1/2 months into topical steroid withdrawal. This has definitely been the most challenging journey my husband and I have every experienced. What makes it worse is that we feel utterly helpless at times in being about to help and protect our son. It’s true, Doctors do prescribe it willy nilly to babies as well. This is the only life our son knows…it is extremely tragic.
Hello,
To Janelle and all the people out there suffering from (serious) eczema: Yes the raw food diet works, superfoods work, especially the blue pigment phycocianine found in Spirulina and Klamath Blue green Algae is very powerfull in blocking COX-25, an enzymatic inflammation reaction in the gut. I’ve suffered from severe eczema for 40 years and managed to cure it. Thank you David Wolfe for writing this in your book ‘Superfoods’ and to inform that these micro-algae are to be taken on a therapeutical dosis for their medicenal properties to work.
Most disease indeed start in the gut. Eat raw, organic food as much as you can!
Kind Regards, Eduard
Eduard, Thanks for your advice on eczema. But the article is about Topical Steroid Withdrawal resulting from topical steroid usage. People who suffer from this might try many, many different things including healing the gut to help. However, withdrawing from topical steroids is a process like any other withdrawal process. It is not eczema.
eczemajourney.wordpress.com is my blog, telling my story of the past 27 months of hell- total topical steroid withdrawal, cold turkey, starting 12/5/12. I am at a breaking point with severe infection of hands, continued neck symptoms and pain. I keep thinking my hands will improve, but so far, no relief whatsoever. I don’t know that I would encourage anyone to go down this road. I never knew it would be so hard. My health has improved in some ways, but this has basically ruined my life. Maybe a day will come when i will not say that. Best to all!
Hi! You don’t have to suffer much longer from eczema. A doctor who does nutritional response testing can gin out what is causing the eczema and treat it naturally with supplements and nutrition. Eczema is a sign something going on internally. It could be a sign of leaky gut, but it could also be your liver or kidney. My Mom had weeping eczema on her face so bad her face was swollen. Of course the doctor prescribed antibiotics and steroids. She took neither and nd went to see my doctor who does nutritional response testing and her it turned out to be her kidney. She took the supplements the doctor prescribed and now her face is completely healed. No eczema! You can start healing your eczema by healing your gut. Here is how to heal your gut. http://www.foodrenegade.com/eczema-cure-discover-root-cause-heal-yourself/
http://draxe.com/7-signs-symptoms-you-have-leaky-gut/
http://draxe.com/leaky-gut-diet-treatment/
Hi Karen,
Januarysteph is not suffering from eczema. She is suffering from topical steroid withdrawal (TSW) which is also what Janelle has been through and what the article is informing about. TSW is beyond eczema.
Leigh, the whole reason she started using steroids is because She suffered from eczema. That problem will still be there once she recover from the steroids. She is still going to need to heal the gut, and a doctor who does nutritional response testing can help her heal from her addiction to steroids and help heal her original problem of ezcema.
Good response. Topical Steroid Withdrawal (TSW) is a real problem that affects a small percentage of people who use steroid creams. For the majority of patients, topical steroids do provide temporary, if not permanent, relief. But you must always remember that “eczema” is a symptom, not a disease. Eczema can be caused by a number of factors including; food allergies, some medications, chemicals, bacteria, viruses, radiation and some causes as yet unknown. Treatment for one type of eczema will not be effective in every case. If the person is allergic to (say) broccoli, eating it raw won’t help, he must eliminate it from his diet. But if he is allergic to fabric softener, changing his diet won’t help.
Also remember that anecdotal claims are virtually worthless. Maybe your sister-in-law’s dentist’s brother cured his eczema by not eating broiled meat. But if your eczema is due to the detergent you use to wash your undies, changing diet won’t do you any good at all.
Allergists make their money by finding the cause of a specific person’s eczema and treating it. A GP will usually start off with a topical cream because it usually works. But if it doesn’t work or has nasty side effects, you have to do something else. But consult somebody who can examine YOUR body and treat YOUR symptoms, not some unknown person on the Internet who talks about conspiracies and is pushing Siberian marmot gland oils or Tanzanian acacia root extract.
I have Grover’s Disease and there seems to be nothing for it except the topical steroids… Anyone out there have any new suggestions for this condition? Thanks!
I am not familiar with Grover’s Disease, but I will caution you about taking any advice you receive on this website. As you can see from previous messages on this site, people have suggested all sorts of diets and supplements ranging from raw foods to exotic fruits, vegetables and extracts. Some are mutually contradictory, all are essentially worthless for you since nobody has run tests on you or examined you. I am sure that somebody will soon suggest an extract of a fungus growing bark of some Central American fig tree that must be harvested in the full of the moon during the iguana mating period.
Bear in mind that anecdotal evidence is worthless. Just because my lawyer’s mother-in-law’s sisters husband rubbed organic mango pulp on his eczema and made a full recovery does not mean it will work for you.
If you have been diagnosed with a specific disease that does not respond to your doctor’s suggested treatment, ask him/her to refer you to a specialist or find another doctor.
I disagree with rthurs666
I see nothing but valuable advice on this website so far, I disagree it is mutually contradictory, all the advice merely points out that food/nutrition has the power to heal you (Hippocrates). Anecdotal evidance pointing towards a holistic approach (such as Hippocrates) is a most valuable source of information, especially when you’re on a bad track. It opens new perspectives, it inspires to look further.
Getting refered to the next doctor or specialist doesn’t work for most people, on the contrary, it’s what gets most people into trouble. It nearly cost me my life, and that wasn’t just bad luck. Ofcourse doctors/therapists using a holistic approach with natural solutions are the exception on that.
The only way forward is to empower and inform yourself. Doctors/therapists with a broader/holistic vision can and will assist you, but in the end you alone decide and are responsable for your health.
The (medicinal) specific brain/body properties of every major superfood are described all over the internet and also in David Wolfe’s book ‘Superfoods’ (appendix2 holds references of scientific studies).
Empower yourself and learn about the awesome healing power of food and herbs, and I assure you one day you’ll be free of disease and whole again.
Kind Regards,
Eduard
If you really believe that the doctors, big pharmaceutical companies and agribusinesses are in a vast right-wing conspiracy to kill you, nothing I or anybody else says will convince you otherwise. I would point out that people depended on “natural” herbs and medicines for thousands of years and that life expectancy ta birth remained at 40-45 years for most of that time. In the past century, doctors, pharmaceutical companies and agribusiness have combined to raise the average life expectancy for an American female to 80 and for an American male to 78.
I remember as a child in the 40’s and 50’s that my parents and others dreaded the onset of summer because that’s when the polio epidemics would start. Thousands of kids wound up in iron lungs or crippled for life (like FDR). Vaccines eliminated that problem and polio is now rare in the USA and most of the Western World.
If you really want to go back to the days of “natural” cures – accept that you can plan on losing 1/3 to 1/2 of your children to disease before age 10, accept the fact that 1/3 of women will die in childbirth and that only 1/2 of the males born in the USA will reach age 50. So good luck with going back to treating disease with stump water, frog skin and eye of newt.
It is very obvious what big pharmaceutical companies and agribusinesses do to this world: they try to diminish the power of the individual and make it depend on their drugs and food for it gains them billions. To that cause they do everything. The effects of that strategy are visible all around us. Developing a few useful medicines is not a free pass to go on and rage about and dominate (the people on) this planet like they do. They have no respect and no integrity, none at all.
Regarding maleducated doctors (no holistic training), they don’t know untill they find out, after that some of them will integrate natural medicine again, after all they are doctors.
These life expectancy numbers are about white civilations or civilitations touched/destroyed by it. It has been a long time since white men was connected with nature and it’s weakness and sickness shows in the numbers you quote: depend on drugs or die too soon. Retirement homes are full of elderly people drugged to the bone. Longevity? None.
True power in people is a rare thing these days. It can be found among native people whose civilisations haven’t been touched/destroyed by ours. Their power might seem scary at first, but it merely shows what you can do yourself, live in harmony with nature and it will provide for you, that is empowerment.
Rgrds.
You should look into the polio and DDT connection and the renaming of polio. One could consider pharmaceutical efficacy as anecdotal with financial bias.
Polio was eradicated by vaccination, not by pharmaceuticals. And it was not spread by insect bites to any significant extent, thus the DDT controversy has no relevance. DDT was used for control of malaria, yellow fever, equine encephalomyelitis, dengue fever and other insect borne-diseases.
I now have steroid myopathy after taking prednisone for years for polymositis.
A doctor who does nutritional response testing can heal Grover’s disease. Usually skin issues are a sign of something interally going on. A doctor who does NRT can find out what is causing your skin issues and will treat it naturally with supplements and nutrition. It has completely changed my life. http://www.holistichealingandnutrition.com/2011/12/what-is-nutrition-response-testing/
Have you looked into essential oils or perhaps juicing? The documentary Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead is outstanding & convinced my husband & I to start juicing! That’s pretty powerful 😛 Anyhow, the guys in the documentary both had weird skin stuff that they were on steroids for, I believe & both were healed of that!! If you are interested in essential oil stuff, & want to know more, my email is penny.sweet6@gmail.com if you want me to help you find out anymore info, I have many, many friends who are way smarter & more educated than me in the field of all things weird & untreatable 🙂 I will be praying for you to find an answer. http://www.sweetandsmelly.com is my oil site if you want to look at them.
Thank you so much for sharing this story and information!
I am also going through TSW, soon entering month 4 of my withdrawal. My story is quite similiar to Janelle’s…. The last 4 months have been a total and complete hell. But, understanding the mystery of what has been happening to my body and skin for the past 13 years is obviously life-changing and gives me hope for a healthy body in the future. Much beauty and gifts have come from this experience too and I can’t imagine ever using steroids again. I know I will heal from this and am willing to endure this journey in it’s entirety because a life on steroids was really no life at all.
If there is anyone in the Halifax, Nova Scotia area going through TSW or is interested in talking or learning more I am working on creating a TSW network here as there is so little support from the medical community. Please feel free to reply to my post and get in touch. Stay strong & be well.
I would encourage anyone in your shoes to seek a doctor acquainted with your condition and get help from them in weaning yourself from the creams and such. Gradual tapering and other interventions can help a lot of people go through much less extreme withdrawal symptoms. I would at least look into the gradual tapering approach on my own if I couldn’t find medical help.
I am so lucky that when a doctor prescribed steroids in several forms to my allergic baby the pharmacist urged me to get a second opinion before giving them to my child. In fact he was quite strong in his opinion, called it abuse if I gave those to my child without looking into things further. I was quite insulted at the time, I was at my wits end and exhausted with a constantly crying and bleeding and sick child and got them filled anyway. But it when I got home I couldn’t help but think about his warnings and put the prescriptions aside and started my own research that eventually led to me being able to heal my child’s leaky gut with nutrition, all eczema and other symptoms GONE within just a few weeks of starting a new diet and healing protocol.
My heart breaks for all of you that were led on a path of steroid dependency. My new doctor WAS familiar with the dangers of using them and told me about helping some of his patients off of them.
I have a very similar story to the above also. My eczema has almost become the thing that defines me. It affects everything I do. Your sleep is your time for rest and peace and when you are not getting normal sleep your systems start to shut down. I would love to hear from more people with swollen lymph nodes too. It’s another side affect of all the meds. Bearing in mind I had a bad diet and smoked and drank alot in my 20s too it’s no wonder my body is going through hell. The only thing for me is that I did my tsw 2 years ago and my eczema is still very bad. I feel myself that the lymph system is blocked and that this is slowing down the detox or preventing it altogether. Anyone with info on this, I would love to hear from you. eimhincradock@gmail.com
Hi Eimhin,
Sorry about your continuing problems with eczema. Dare I suggest that you are still in withdrawal? Dr Marvin Rapaport suggests that the time spent healing is dependent on the time and amount spent using the corticosteroids. Of course there is more to it than that such as which types used. My hubby is in TSW and his lymph nodes are continuously swollen. There are plenty of people who are in TSW who write about this and more in the Eczema & Topical Steroid Withdrawal-Red Skin Syndrome Support Group on facebook. I wish you best of luck in your healing journey.
It appears that taking steroids did not cure your eczema and that withdrawing from steroids did not help either. It would appear that your eczema has some cause unrelated to steroids and you should approach it from another angle. There are many possible causes of eczema and what works for patient A may be worthless of even harmful for patient B. You can gel sorts of opinions and recommendations ranging from toad skins to milkweed sap, but you need to find a board-certified dermatologist who is willing to do a comprehensive medical history and embark on a series of studies. Or you can continue to seek quack nostrums from people with no medical training or experience on line.
Hi! I am studying to be a Registered Massage Therapist in Ontario and we have learned a technique called lymphatic manual drainage. This technique does actually ease swollen lymph nodes and helps the lymphatic system drain. I would definitely recommend seeking out an RMT in the area you live in!
As for the eczema, I’ve had it from a young age too and it does break out every once in a while, but not as bad as this woman was going through. I just try to keep my skin moisturzed, drink plenty of water and try not to scratch so much. Hope this helps!
I feel I might have a solution the conditions mentioned. Please contact me at tamapsc@live.ca
I have sewn so many Amazing results using Soothe from Rodan + Fields. I am a Consultant and would love to help anyone suffering from eczema, rosacea, psoriasis, or even sensative skin breakouts. I know that Janelle is also a Consultant for Rodan + Fields. You can contact me through Facebook private message.
Lsettembrino.myrandf.com
Hi, I have been through this 4 times, right now on my fourth time. I never knew what it as before until this time. But I never had it as bad as some of the people on the internet whose articles I am reading. Mine lasted a year all 3 times and this time it is clearing up after 2 months so I am hoping that’s all for this time. I was on strong steroid cream for 1 year only for my hands and another one fro my lip. After half a year I was getting food allergies to almost everything. Then at the 11 month I was taking the cream I broke out in hives all over my body. After two weeks of constant itching, I went to the doctor who gave me prednisone. I was so desperate to get rid of the hives which were affecting the quality of my life that I gave in and took it. The doctor and even my naturopath assured me that if they wean me off I would get no withdrawal. WRONG!!! It took weeks for the hives to go down and the marks are still there. Two days after I finished eczema came back and then the rash all over my body like burn marks, on top of the hives. My doctor said I needed more steroids and I refused.Then I started researching and after hearing what it was, I was super scared. But mine never got as bad as yours although it was almost unbearable. Then my daughter told me she had it for 5 months, along with food allergies. She also has eczema. So then I started researching and trying a variety of things. Here is what I did and I found it worked for me, but maybe not for everyone. First of all I was recommended silver gel at the health food store. One application and my eczema instantly stopped itching and in two days you could never tell I even had eczema on my hands. It was like a miracle, I recommend this silver gel to everyone who has eczema. It works by underneath the skin to a deeper level, and it also kills all the bacteria and dead skin. It shed it all in one day. It never came back and I have had it 47 years. The gel is called Clear 60 Ultral Gel – chemical free and organic. Silver was used back in the old days before penicilon was invented and works well. They still use it for burn patients to this day. Unfortunately it did not work as well for the withdrawal rash although it did work a bit. So here is what else I did and it worked for me. I drank 4 liters of water a day, I took herbal supplements from my naturopath for inflammation, stress, mood and sleep. Plus she also prescribed Neem cream for my skin to ease it. Then I took mega doses of Vitamin C with Lycine, 15 Nettle capsulses a day, (for hives), Vitamin B6, Vitamin D, Zinc pills. Then I would take a cold bath or shower, after I would use Witch Hazel all over my body. When that dried, I sprayed my whole body with colloidal silver water. Within a few days the rash was easing up a lot. Trouble is it would flare up again over and over. But it was a relief to get a few days of not having to itch or hurt. This is only two months later and I am so much better. I still have trouble wearing clothes, especially a bra (makes the rash worse) but I can now go to work and function at least. Today the hives are flat, still there but flat or the marks are there. And the rash is almost gone. I hope this is the end but who knows. I hope so. There is a doctor who did research on this and his name is Marvin J. Rapaport and he has a research paper on the internet and also a YouTube video. Please look him up as he has lots of useful information. And there is a lawsuit against the pharmeuctical company but I doubt very much it will win. Anyway, I hope this information can help someone. Get that silver gel, it works like a miracle. There is bad stuff on the internet about silver, but I don’t believe it. If hospitals use it, I’m sure its fine, just the parmaceutical companies don’t want us to know as it’s cheaper then their drugs. You can buy a machine and make your own colloidal silver water, I used to do it and me and my son drank it for years and we are fine. You will find reports of people using it whose skin turned blue. Well they took it in huge quantities. You can spray the water on your skin, it really soothes the rash and helps heal it. In one night, mine is almost gone. it does come back when I get stressed I notice. But still a huge improvement.
All the best,
Carol