Hey guys,

Of course everything has gone downhill again. As it always seemingly does with me.

OK, so as of last Friday (23rd Jan) I could feel the itchiness around my nose/ mouth returning. This of course then reared its ugly head and manifested itself as the infection of the previous 2 months. I have no idea why it always starts around my nose/mouth area. We’ve done countless swabs and there just isn’t any rhyme or reason for it to occur. One of those many mysteries. So yes, back on the god damn antibiotics.

However, I also feel there may be a connection between these infections and the Ciclosporin intake. When I took Ciclo in the past, in the very first stages of my withdrawal, I kept getting countless infections, including MRSA, which was never an issue prior to this. For that reason I decided to stop it once again in August 2013 to give my body a break. Yet even still, the infections never manifested the same way each time as they do now. Although when I moved to Leeds everything flared up again and so if you have been reading my blog for a while you’ll know I’ve been backwards and forwards with all this and had to go back onto it again for the billionth time.

Most recently I’ve noticed with these infections is that it seems to be a week in to taking the full dose of Ciclo that my skin will clear up nicely but days later these infections develop. I think it may be finally time to call it a day after this round, providing my skin is tolerable enough after this bout of infection to carry on without involvement, unlike these previous months where I have been left in a worsened state.

I have no decent photos to show you of my most recent episode but I can assure you it has been just like the others, weeping yellow crusts, pain, soreness, extreme itching and all that jazz.

I do however have this picture I took today where you can see I have some more hair growth. This always makes me happy. One day I may even restore my hair to its thickness I had when I was 12, but I would be equally pleased with having my hair circa 2009.

In other news, I received a phone call from my derm nurse whilst I was initially typing out this post to see how I was getting on. I decided to enquire about my blood test results that I had taken nearly a fortnight ago. My iron levels were low but still in normal range – I had a reading of 10 and the normal ranges are 5-300 so it could probably do with some boosting. She couldn’t however find the Vitamin D test so I might have to have that done again.

Now, with my IgE testing this is where it gets somewhat interesting. She said my results fell into the bracket of “weak positive” but couldn’t tell me much more than that. Last time I had my levels tested I was well above the 5000 range but I have no idea how that even equates and what the unit of measurement for that is?

I did however find a site that stated a grading system for allergen ige levels:
0 being negative at a reading of <0.35KUA/L
1 being weak positive at a reading of 0.35-0.7KUA/L
all the way up to the highest at grade 6.

This kind of makes sense to me because when I was very first tested in 2009 I was giving ratings – 5/6 dust mites and 4/6 for cat dander which  seems to reflect the graded system. I want to know how my new reading equates to the “thousandth” measurement and what it would be now if I’m now a ‘weak positive’.

I can only evaluate from this set of results that my IgE levels have diminished since going into steroid withdrawal and for that I am ecstatic!

Sorry it’s a long winded one today and I must say, I thank each and every one of you for your kind advice and words. Maybe one day I will see the light but for now I plod on and get through this how I can.

Happy healing!

P.S. my blog is 2 years old now!
I Have Eczema

(August 2015)

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So itchy and painful… But NOTHING compared to early months.

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The later part of flares are always really really flakey.

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Right after shower

Skin feels super thick and inflamed

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More of the hot bumpy rash

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MY EAR… Been having trouble with this one…. Falls the eff apart when I flare.

No matter the flare, I can typicall get cleaned up pretty well…

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The stew DID ME IN.  SOOOOO itchy.  SO annoying.

Right after shower, but the inflammation from the stew is quite bad.

Peace Out Eczema

(9/1/2015 -9/30/2015)   

For this month I don’t have near as many pictures.  For one, I lost some of them when I had to get a new iPhone.  Two, I was super busy getting back to work.  This month started out with a bad flare from some stew that I ate.  I branched out and paid for it.  Hoping that some day I’ll be able to eat again.  


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DAY 2 AFTER STEW (I always am the worst 2 days after ingesting something)

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EVERY time I go to walmart this happens….

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I drank some tap water then had a shoot where I sweat.  I got hives on my tsw effected areas from it.

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By the end of my trip, I felt amazon.  Skin was feeling so strong.  This was right after a shoot.

Peace Out Eczema

Hi guys,

I didn’t mean to go so long without updating. Here is something I meant to tell you about. A day or so after writing my previous post, I developed pompholyx/ dyshidrotic eczema on my hands and feet. I’ve had it on my hands once in the past, to which the GP misdiagnosed it and told me I had scabies (lolwot?) and of course it wasn’t, though that’s a story for another day… It was this bubbly eczema stuff which went away with steroids, but of course that was before my steroid withdrawal so I panicked a bit this time knowing I might be in a bit of a pickle.

I’ve had to really up the contrast for you to see as it is ridiculously difficult to photograph.

Basically I was given antibiotics, which did their job of clearing up the infection and was told to restart my Ciclosporin to control the rest of my skin and to help the pompholyx and that was that… Although of course it’s never that. The pompholyx buggered off but the infection came back a few days after finishing the course. Urgh!!!

I rang up my dermatology nurse on Friday just to let her know it had come back and she wanted me to see someone, however there was no one available to see me and I didn’t want to resume the antibiotics so decided to try something different. For the first day or so I did what I normally do and let my skin dry out to cease the infection from spreading. However it was so unbearably painful that I needed to try something. I filled the sink up with water, epsom salts and a few drops of tea tree oil and used a face cloth and just planted it over my whole face. It was fine until it all dried out again.

Later on I tried just putting tea tree oil straight onto a damp face cloth. Never again. Oh my good God! The pain! It’s definitely one that needs diluting.

I then came up with the idea of mixing a few drops of tea tree oil in with my white soft paraffin, and sparingly applied it to the infected areas. It left my face a bit red but a bit later it had calmed down my face significantly and I was starting to peel all over. I repeated this all weekend, mass shedding occurred, and low and behold the infection has gone! Hurrah!! I’m still left with some spots and redness and stuff but as it isn’t a systematic treatment, I do expect it to take a bit longer. I’m so chuffed though.

From now on I’m going to be adding drops of tea tree oil to my emollient when I need to use it.

Three cheers for tea tree oil!

Also apologies for those who have emailed me and gotten no reply, I’ve been pretty much AWOL and moping around feeling sorry for myself. Hopefully I shall be back on form soon.

I Have Eczema

I tried vApple Cider Vinegar for my gut.  Woke up like this.  I tried 1/8 of a teaspoon….  It seemed to set into motion non stop flaring….

Peace Out Eczema

Peace Out Eczema

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Peace Out Eczema