My homie Thomas has decided to share his Topical Steroid Withdrawal story with his friends on Instagram! I’m super proud of him for being so courageous, it takes a lot of guts to put yourself out there, and I’m sure that he will reach many others just by honestly sharing his experience & his passion for healing with a whole foods plant based diet. He’s been in TSW now for about a year and has been pushing through like a trooper. Cheers to you Thomas! Keep on keepin’ on! 🙂
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I think its time to share what my life has been like for the past year. For all of you that have normal skin, take a moment and appreciate the hell out of it. Not only do I look like sh*t, but my confidence is non existent, it sometimes hurts to fully extend my arms, and I cant sleep through the entire night without waking up to an itch fest. Every day is a struggle just to get by. This is the worst its ever been so it can only get better right? What I have is eczema. In an attempt to cure this “incurable” condition, I changed my diet to only organic fruits and veggies. With the help of all the nutrition, my body now has enough energy to start dumping out all the bad stuff. Diseased cells and tissues are being disposed of and malfunctioning organs are being restored to life, and the toxins are coming out of my skin. The good news is eventually there is an end date to this misery, just don’t know when. All I can do now is have faith that my body will restore itself as long as I continue to provide it with good food, water, light, and love.
My skin has been craving some good ol’ vitamin D and a few days ago it was warm enough (55 degrees) to sit on the stoop and soak up some healing rays 🙂 I live in NYC and this winter has been quiet long, and pretty brutal. Being homebound and not being able to put on shoes to get out to take a walk and such has been pretty rough on me, but I’m so thankful that spring has finally sprung and the weather is warming up enough to get some sunlight on my deficient skin. I have no doubt that just soaking in some sun will help along my healing!
Vitamin D is so crucial for the human body and especially for eczema sufferers.
It can help the immune system reduce levels of inflammatory proteins called cytokines, and it strengthen your skin barriers.
Vitamin D causes skin cells to make more antimicrobial proteins, which is why people with low levels of vitamin D tend to have more skin infections.
Since I’m darker skinned, I will need to absorb the suns rays longer than someone of fairer skin. The melanin (substance that affects how light or dark your skin colour is) that is in my skin makes it harder for the UVB rays to enter my skin. So with less UVB being absorbed through the skin, less vitamin D is produced each minute.
The paler your skin type the more easily your skin can produce vitamin D. So, if you have skin type I to III, you produce vitamin D more quickly than if you have skin type IV to VI. For example, if you have skin type I, it might take around 15 minutes of sun exposure to get the vitamin D you need, while if you have skin type V or VI, it might take up to six times longer (up to 2 hours).
Because of all these factors – your skin type, where you live and the time of day or season – it can be difficult to work out how much time you need to spend exposing your skin to the sun in order to get the vitamin D you need. A good rule of thumb is to get half the sun exposure it takes for your skin to turn pink to get your vitamin D and expose as much skin as possible.
The best way to get vitamin D is of course through the sun, but you can get it through supplements and small amounts in certain foods. You can find this vitamin in a vegan food source…mushrooms! Just like humans, mushrooms have the capacity to produce vitamin D when exposed to ultraviolet light.
I have been taking a few whole food plant based supplements to help give me a lil boost of vitamin D while I’ve been hibernating this winter. This Premium Mushroom Blend supplement for vitamin D2 and another whole food plant based supplement for Vitamin D3. If you are interested in more info about it just shoot me an email! eczema.holistic.healing@gmail.com .
Here’s some info from the http://www.itsan.org q & a section about sunbathing…..
Q: I’ve heard that getting some sun on my skin may help me heal. Can you describe this in detail?
A: Sun is not promised to speed healing but is often found to help. It is only recommended for those in the later stages of Topical Steroid Withdrawal after flares have stopped, and when the skin is dry, thicker, and not pink or red. UV rays can help restore the dry, steroid-damaged skin to a normal, healthy state. You must be careful to avoid getting too much sun or getting too hot. Start with a short amount of time (10 minutes or less) and work your way up to 20 minutes. Cool sun is recommended.
April 4, 2015
April 4, 2015
April 4, 2015
April 4, 2015
April 4, 2015 – Didn’t end up going out with any moisturizer, kinda just forgot to.
*my skin’s looking quite dry in these photos because I didn’t apply any emollients like coconut oil, shea butter or micro algae lotion before going out. It wasn’t really a conscious thing, I guess I just forgot lol.
I saved a gross photo for last… some extreme skin flakes… check it out if you dare! 😛
I love experimenting with different hummus recipes and this one in particular ended up becoming my fave! It ended up having this amazing pizza like flavour with all of the delicious Italian seasonings I added. I don’t really follow recipes too much, I kinda just wing it when I’m in the kitchen, so if you’d like your hummus to be a bit smoother, you can just add more liquids to it. I like to eat this with organic tortilla chips, slather it on a rice cake, or have it with celery. Spreading this on a sprouted toasted tortilla wrap (like the Ezekiel brand) would be a great idea with some other tasty veggies and some nutritional yeast for a nice cheesy flavour…instant pizzas! There’s so many options with this super easy protein packed veggie snack, the possibilities are endless 🙂
Someone on the itsan forum posted this link for this eye opening doc called Bought – the truth behind vaccines, big pharma, and your food.It’s all about the corruption in the medical and food industries. It’s only available for free until the 15th of March. Check it out if you can before the 15th! 🙂
“Your health is now brought to you by Wall Street. If you thought they hurt us with the banks, wait till you see what they’re doing to our health care…”
This month is a milestone for me, 3 years free from the chains of topical steroid addiction!
I’m not sure exactly what day I started giving up the medications and enduring the withdrawal process, but it was definitely sometime in March of 2012 (I have 26 years steroid use, topical and injections plus chemo in 08′ for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma). When I first started, I had no desire to document, I didn’t want to even see myself in the mirror much less have actual photos of the hell I was experiencing. In the end I’m glad that I started taking photos, doing hard core research on detoxification/holistic healing, and putting my findings on this site :).
At my current state I’m doing REALLY well!!!
Only areas still working on restoring are my feet.
No oozing on my feet (the oozing on the rest of my body ended a LONG time ago).
My sleep can still be random. It’s not that my feet are insanely itchy, it’s more so that I’m just always thinking!! Mainly about cool things to do on this site lol. Most nights I fall right to sleep for a few hrs then I’m awake for a few, (slightly itchy sometimes) then back again to sleep. I do find relief when I drink my golden turmeric milk or if I take some extra proteolytic enzymes. These remedies help to take down the inflammation and itching when I go to bed. It would be amazing to sleep through the night with no interruptions. Soon enough though, soon enough 😉
The huge flaking I was having on my feet are down to light, thin flakes and minimal at that! The redness and inflammation is down significantly as well! I can stand for longer periods of time without any swelling or pain!
The blistered sore on the bottom of my left foot is healing nicely, due to this great antioxidant micro algae lotion I’ve been using, not only on the blister but all over my feet. I have two clients whom I’ve been coaching who have been using the lotion and finding awesome relief in it as well!… A blog post on that soon to come 🙂
As long as this wonderful healing keeps up, I have no doubt that by the end of the month (hopefully even sooner) I’ll be out and about, without pain from wearing socks and shoes! Whooo hooooo!
Things that I’ve been doing that have been helping my healing along…
REBOUNDING – Since my feet have been getting better and better, I’ve made it up to bouncing for 20 minutes on my rebounder! I just turn on some great dance music, and jump away! I’ve even been able to work up a good sweat which is great for getting some of those toxins out. Doing this fun exercise will stimulate the lymph system and get the blood circulation going which is very important to promote healing.
MICRO ALGAE LOTION – The antioxidant lotion that I mentioned above has been a game changer! It goes on silky smooth and instantly locks in the moisture. It doesn’t leave me itchy once I put it on like how coconut oil sometimes does… it’s actually very soothing and cooling. It has even been minimizing the thickness on my feet, and I know that will take a while to smooth out. This lotion is also known to help with the discolouration, so I’ll be looking forward to continually use it to help that along. Here are just some of the healing ingredients in this lotion: Organic Micro algae, organic aloe vera water, organic virgin coconut oil, jojoba oil, Beta Glucan, neem oil, rosemary oil & lemon peel oil. If you are interested in this lotion, and want to know more, just send me an email at eczema.holistic.healing@gmail.com !
KEEPING UP WITH PLANT BASED DIET & WHOLE FOOD SUPPLEMENTS – I’ve been eating vegan for months now, about since October and I know this is the diet for me. I have so much more energy when I get my nourishing fruit smoothies in every morning and my nutient dense green “dranks” at night! Like I mentioned above, the golden turmeric milk has been awesome at bringing down the inflammation in my skin, and has been a great natural sleep aid. I love coming up with new recipes and have been learning so much about food and how it can be healing for the body, there’s no way I’ll be going back to the SAD diet (Standard American Diet). The supplements I’ve been taking have kept my digestion working at an optimal level, and have been so nourishing at promoting healing for my body.
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It’s been a long journey with many ups and downs. Months of being homebound at times, and months of living a pretty normal life. It can only get better and better from here on out! I’m so thankful for this whole experience because it has opened my eyes up to so much and has shown me that my body is capable at transforming itself and that healing from this awful disease is possible! Thanks for reading and allowing me to share this milestone with you all!
Stay strong eczema warriors! Restoration is on the horizon, just make sure you’re listening to your body and giving it all the wonderful things it needs to heal ❤
Eczema Holistic Healing 